“In pre-European times, tohunga would sit around a fire and wouldn’t have to physically talk to each other, they had some sort of telepathy. Who’s to say that wasn’t some kind of radio spectrum? Our traditional knowledge tells us there are eight to 13 heavens above us, and we also know that the radio spectrum has all of these different layers as well. All of this traditional knowledge can be adapted to teach the technology of the spectrum. I think if Māori had those stories in the marae, it could help to debunk some of those concerns.”
a Māori cultural adviser in the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) area, and a doctoral student at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. He says Māori communities are vulnerable to believing these ideas because of widespread, generational mistrust in the government. The “broken contracts, theft and various other crimes against Māori” over the last 250 years have understandably resulted in a broken relationship between the two groups, he says.
But who would expect the government to be able to delineate the relation between 5G, the various heavens, and the radio spectrum anyway? Westerners haven't even learnt how to count the number of heavens, have they? Being so far behind in cultural development, how can we be expected to catch up so fast?
At the very least, we need to create a government department specialising in cross-cultural theology. It could develop a multicultural basis upon which to proceed. Media ought to invite comment from the Chinese ambassador. The Han are known for their cultural supremacy. We ought to be able to benefit from their expertise.
Funny how projects like 5G claim to represent progress and civilisation, but the behaviour of the political class and economic elites is anything but civilised. All the profits will go to transnational corporations and the expenses lumped on ordinary Kiwis, as always
Thanks xanthe, looks like you intuit the big picture. Although I was being flippant I can't help it if my serious side comes through regardless! 😉 Finding common ground in our multicultural context will require that sort of focus to determine policy formulation, eh? So our academic tradition of silos will have to give way to multi-disciplinary formats to synthesise disparate views into an holistic composite…
All in your mind. I believe Maori cosmology adds value to Aotearoa. What is it that keeps driving leftists to see the dark side everywhere?
I also believe there is value in the thesis that humans have telepathic potential innate. I've read enough about how that creates real-life experiences for many folk to know that science-educated folks (such as myself) are fools to discount that part of human nature.
Mind-reading can usually be seen to be rationalisable on the basis of intuition & reading facial expressions and body language. Yet to assume all mind-to-mind communication amongst humans can be rationalised like this is actually a leap of faith. One that I have learned is foolish!
I think it's your commenting style not being a good match for my brain. I read the original comment three or four times and then the replies and it still looked like you were being sarcastic. Maybe it's too much time on twitter, where that questioning rhetoric is invariably mocking.
anyway, looking at the quotes Taiuru seems to be saying something very useful, and I too would welcome a shift to where Māori values and knowledge bases were well regarded and integrated.
There's a thing about self-reflective consciousness similar to the principle of reflexivity that Soros identified in market trading in the late '80s. I have a metaphysical framework for making sense of such analogies: the number archetypes. Holistic thought derives from one (as an active principle in nature) and binary thinking (dualism) from two.
So when you get discourse proceeding on the assumption of truth/falsity, always look for the third alternative! That's why I often refer to both/and logic in my comments. As this reasoning applies in respect of my framing (above) it can be read as mocking or not. Both takes are valid. The reader chooses (unconsciously, mostly). A reader who sees both interpretations is using their right brain hemisphere more than one who doesn't.
Just to round this off: Aotearoa is bicultural (if we use a binary frame) therefore we ought to see both sides of any issue involving Maori. We need not allow anyone to coerce us into a preference for one or the other. When we adopt this frame, operationally, we synthesise. In terms of the number archetypes our brain engages third gear when we do that!
What, me? Now why would you think that? Just doing my civic duty; pointing out the heavenly cultural context of politics in Aotearoa. I'll leave it to others to thrash out the finer details of how much bandwidth sharing gets produced by the political process.
Mathematicians and physicists, for instance, will probably be required to specify the layers of the atmosphere that correspond to each band, and measure those, even before the tech specs get to the policy makers. Bureaucratic heaven!! 🤩
I've commented on Keys discretion before, the man is a pig.
In any other western country he would have been dismissed immediately, I was overseas at the time when the incident was reported in the local newspapers, Dismissal was the only acceptable solution for this type of behaviour by the leader of a country.
In NZ we dismissed it as OK, cos, like, it's just John having some fun.
Morally Corupt was the man who was at the time NZs most popular PM and the public condoned it.
In any other western country he would have been dismissed immediately…
Really? In Great Britain? In Australia? In the United States?
Dismissal was the only acceptable solution for this type of behaviour by the leader of a country.
Key was an odious creep and a corrupt, malicious politician—but so are Messrs Morrison, Trump, Johnson, Trudeau, and Macron. Then-candidate Donald Trump claimed that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it; Key's bothering of that young woman fits into that same pattern of entitlement and almost guaranteed immunity. https://i.imgur.com/wT4XtDj.gif
So your saying it was OK for the Prime minister of NZ to fondle young girls hair on live TV and then not take responsibility for it.
The Leaders you list have come in a long time after the Key thing.
Morrison, despite being an idiot, would not last 30 seconds if he committed the same offence, the PEOPLE in Australia would DEMAND INSTANT DISMISSAL, and that's the difference between our countries.
We may be very different from Australia, but the public there would not tolerate that particular type of behaviour, maybe because they haven't had their moral compass compromised by a "used car salesman"
So your [sic] saying it was OK for the Prime minister of NZ to fondle young girls [sic] hair on live TV and then not take responsibility for it.
That is one of the most bizarre and inaccurate misconstruals to appear on this site.
Morrison, despite being an idiot, would not last 30 seconds if he committed the same offence…
He survived going on holiday overseas while an enormous area of his country was on fire. He survived laughing on air at the suffering of a political dissident. He's survived the scandal of Australian troops committing atrocities in Afghanistan. You think Australian politicians and media chatterboxes are more ethical than New Zealand's?
We may be very different from Australia…
Really? How so?
but the public there would not tolerate that particular type of behaviour,
So you are contending that the Australian public demands the HIGHEST standards from its politicians. Your view is very different to that of one of Israel's most respected journalists; he was horrified by the depravity and ignorance of Australian politicians.
In Canberra last week I met some Australian members of parliament. It gave me hope, because until I heard them speak I had always thought that Israel’s right wing politicians were the worst. —-(LAUGHTER)— I’ve never heard any Israeli politician speak about the Palestinian people the way that those Australian politicians did. But they are Australia’s problem, not mine. (LAUGHTER) I spoke with the Australian foreign minister; she talked and she was very nice but we could not agree on anything. (LAUGHTER)
— Gideon Levy speaking in Auckland, 3 December 2017
Morrisey you seem to have missed the point, Keys hair pulling is a lot different from a political position being held, Aussies were told it was ok to imprison valid refugees for 7yrs just to use them as a Deterent against people smugglers, highly political when you consider that 100s of migrants were pouring into Australia every day by plane.
But, Aussies have strong values on sexual behaviour surrounding children, as you probably aware with conviction Pell. Most of the Libs challenged the conviction and helped fund his release, but the ordinary citizen in Australia did not agree with that effort.
I've lived in Australia for 2 decades at different times and know how different society is there compared to NZ, my most recent return has taken a long time to adjust to the new NZ we have now, many returnees I've met have reiterated that, it's not the same country, a large adjustment at many different levels.
I'm not saying Aus is a better place, but their standard of morality for the behavior Key exhibited would have seen him gone
The last stint there I saw 5 new PMs in 7 yrs, so moving PMs along is no big deal, and the last 3 were for next to nothing, usually either to far to right or not far enough to right.
Unfortunately, Aus is headed for its lowest point in my lifetime.
In the current context of the ILG matter, our glorious ex leader, Mr Key’s behaviour is actually of some use. It was not a waiter, a subordinate, a server, pulling Mr Key’s hair was it?
Power is powerful, and which ever way you slice it is better not to have relationships with senior work colleagues. If the affair and buzz wears off–is the Minister going to leave? not that likely.
Judith Collins may regret going there, re Parliamentary affairs, before this election season is done.
Don't forget this wasn't an isolated incident, how many very young school girls hair was he filmed fondling, it's unacceptable behaviour for any person in the position on Prime Minister.
Hosking's intense dislike of Jacinda Ardern is borderline creepy, to be honest. The man's so partisan I suspect he's erected a shrine to John 'Ponytail' Key in his living room.
Also, expecting NewsTalkZB to exhibit any kind of editorial discretion is probably pissing into the wind. If they had standards, they wouldn't broadcast Hosking's condescending venom at all.
We don't have 'standards' as such just a self regulated club of owned outlets. Jude decided that it wasn't required at the time….funny that.
The material these partisan hacks would provide to an independent broadcasting standards authority my oh my. How busy would they be over what Woodhouse and Boag just got up to as a single example.
Even if not point taken…he may order one of JC as well once he is sure she is going to be there awhile….he was a bit annoyed at having to melt down the bronze on Toddy's one.
There is one way to stop all these myriad problems, from relationships to plagues to climate change once and for all.
Everybody, everywhere just has to stop fucking, immediately and permanently.
Bullshit. Only if you equate fucking with misuse of power, misogyny, revenge porn and sending unsolicited unasked for nude pics.
As far as cheating goes, I don't like it, or accept it, what others like and accept is their business, as long as those relationships are equal. Cheaters are literally untrustworthy and untruthful, whether its fidelity to a partner in marriage or in business.
And interesting convos with my daughters, both under 13, the 12 year old feeling a bit of pressure because the boys in her class have "rated" the girls, this shit starts early.
I agree, I hate cheats and liars but I dislike dismissers, the only word I can think of but there must be a better one, to address the mythology that only men cheat. It is not possible for there to be say 20% or 30% of men cheating and only 5% to 10% of women, mathematics and research as outlined in the book X and Y establishes that the numbers must be almost equal. Both sexes are equally responsible. There are of course exploitive relationships but they cannot by any means be the norm as this just implies that women are not intelligent and as a male I firmly believe that women are the most intelligent sex. By only a little bit though.
Do you not think that girls do not also rank boys? My 11 year old son was given a cheap cellphone because he biked 14kms home after school, ( don't ask, he wanted to be a TdFrance rider), and it was a safety device for him but he ditched it because some girls were texting him with what were quite sweet messages that he made him aware that he was near the top of the league table and this was 15 years ago.
Young people have been ranking each other for thousands of years. It is human nature otherwise none of us would be here without the attraction imperative, we just have to learn to deal with it.
Of course women cheat, I was cheated on by one, but why whenever mens behaviour comes up we have to say "women suck too!!!". Once there's a flurry of women ministers resigning coz they can't keep it zipped up or sending revenge porn, if my daughters are rating boys and calling them out for being (male equivalent) sluts, lesbians or have "tampons stuck up your arse" then I'll call that out too.
It is better to look at one thing in isolation from all the world's ills. Looking at L-G, he has had a relationship with someone other than his official partner. He is spreading his love around. He should not do that and be true to his partner. And that is his business, and his partner's and also of the other.
Has he been indulging in orgies, where you go and get 'groovy' and feel free, and do whatever you feel like with anyone that you want? That would seem OTT, and not what you would expect a sober MP to do. That would raise questions of probity and decent restraint. There is a matter of balance to be applied in life, and I think it is frequently lacking these days.
This vox pop from Jordon Klepper gives us some idea of where you end up when people just react and have opinions, and don't think at all, just emote. I think that our idea of democracy and what it can do for the country is a lot of candyfloss. I don't want people like this who make no attempt to think deciding who will run a country!
To pre-empt all the whataboutery, if parliament was full of women, across the board, including women like Collins and Bennett, parliament's emotional and social intelligence would still have increased massively. Not because all men are rotten, but because women as a class actually want to do something about the rottenness rather than consolidating power.
thank you Cinny, yes was a great chat, letting them know they don't have to put up with this shit, but at the same time they will have to figure out how to deal with this as it will probably occur throughout their lives, such is the world in which we live. But! Schools should be a safe place, like our work places, and all forms of bullying are unacceptable. "This shit starts early", & obviously learnt in the home.
I will call it out, & support my sisters & daughters. (& maybe some men have never heard womens stories? or women haven't told them and those men way want to think why they've never been told?).
I Feel Love, you are doing a fantastic job at parenting and should feel very proud of yourself. I wish my dad had such conversations with me, would have made certain situations in my life a whole lot easier to navigate.
John Gray's a year older than me, and a retired political philosopher. His academic career featured tenure as a professor of politics at Oxford & Harvard, amongst others. I've got his book about utopianism, which was thought-provoking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gray_(philosopher)
Like Paweł Pawlikowski in Cold War (2018), Holland renders the human experience of communism with unflinching authenticity. The film reveals a kind of horror that can hardly be spoken, only shown — as when the Welshman joins famished children in eating stew, only to retch when he discovers what it is made from.
So why were western media barons on Stalin's side?? Binary politics. The truth must be made to serve vested interests. Therefore it must be covered up sometimes:
Gareth Jones, the Welsh journalist (and former private secretary to Lloyd George) who revealed the famine in Ukraine, was not the only person to tell the truth. So did the English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who visited the Soviet Union as a fellow-traveller only to have his illusions shattered around the same time. An American trade unionist named Fred Beal, sent to the country by the American Communist Party, visited Ukraine and found silent villages and fields littered with unburied bodies. No mainstream newspaper would publish Beal’s report, which eventually appeared in Yiddish in the New York Jewish socialist paper Daily Forward.
The campaign against Jones was a response to a question. How could the Soviet state afford its vast programme of industrialisation in the midst of the Great Depression? As the film shows, it was this question that fired Jones’s dogged persistence in search of the truth.
The answer was the export of grain. The Ukrainian famine was manufactured in Moscow as a by-product of the Soviet need for hard currency. (It was the same imperative that drove gold mining in slave labour camps in the Russian Far East, where hundreds of thousands of Gulag prisoners were worked to death.) Ukrainians starved not because there was no food, but because the food they produced was taken from them at gunpoint.
Gareth Jones’s achievement, which is well captured in James Norton’s powerfully expressive performance, was to discover the answer to a question that hardly anyone wanted to ask. Western resistance to his inquiry, which cost Jones his job and possibly his life, was partly a result of the belief among western intellectuals that the Soviet state was the last best hope of humankind, which must be defended at any cost.
For intellectuals, capitalism bad means communism good. For media barons, trade good means truth bad – where that wheat went is a truth defended by private property rights, so don't ask! Binary politics rules.
Which is why politics is always framed as a puppet show. Left hand puppets competing with right hand puppets. The binary structure assumes media consumers & voters will continually swallow the establishment's daily production of shit, and they do, so the system works well.
Belarus is trying to move out a leader who has been there since 1994? and elections are managed to keep him in place. Democracy is a word, the reality vanished and just theatre remains. And the play becomes closer to Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus*. The young people are sacrificing themselves in an attempt to gain back control of the country by the people. Watch out NZ, signs are here also.
"Christchurch Airport, which is 75 per cent owned by the Christchurch City Council and 25 per cent by the Crown, revealed yesterday it had already spent $45 million on the proposal. This would see a two-point-two kilometre runway capable of accomodating international jet aircraft "
I see this as a blocking move to prevent Queenstown Airport, 24.9% owned by Auckland Airport, doing anything that would threaten Christchurch Airport and the wider South Island tourist industry.
QAC / AIA were heading down the track of expanded / new airports when covid hit, that's all on backburner, supposedly, but lots of rumours circulating. Hopefully the government involvement in this move will put some realism into the situation and the interests of the wider South Island come into play rather than funnelling all the traffic through Auckland.
The site has a lot of potential as a transport or residential hub even if the airport idea is shelved or scaled back. Around 200 linehaul trucks go past it most days and that is growing very fast as Central grows. This growth requires a major re-think of transport modes into the region. Put another mode, say rail from Christchurch, into the mix and the site gets very interesting.
If…and thats the key word…the Gov were serious about CC mitigation there is no need to implement commercial blocking moves on industry players that protect the south island from Auckland airport ambitions.
The growth and transport issues remain but it is abundantly apparent the drivers have nothing to do with CC except as cover
reinstating rail from Dunedin port into Central. Even at the time, before climate awareness, the pulling up of those lines looked criminal to me.
If we start with the climate and ecological emergencies, the whole things looks completely different. If we start with unchecked growth then there's no hope of designing sustainable systems. If we start with greed and the need to make money, we may as well just set fire to everything right now. Sorry, got no time for the level of denial from those corporate people, there's no excuse anymore.
Collins anger over the Falloon issue got the better of her and she targeted Lees – Galloway.
Just like Muldoon's anger got the better of him when he targeted Moyle with an incident which occurred 17 months earlier.
Had so much not have occurred in the last 2 weeks Lees – Galloway would have lost his ministerial portfolios and probably he would have stayed on to fight his electorate seat.
I want Lees – Galloway to stand as an independent or to fight for his electoral seat as a Labour candidate.
Collins anger over the Falloon issue got the better of her and she targeted Lees – Galloway.
Just like Muldoon's anger got the better of him when he targeted Moyle with an incident which occurred 17 months earlier.
Had so much not have occurred in the last 2 weeks Lees – Galloway would have lost his ministerial portfolios and probably he would have stayed on to fight his electorate seat.
I want Lees – Galloway to stand as an independent or to fight for his electoral seat as a Labour candidate.
The Prime Minister's plan to announce a roughly $100 million recovery package for Southland, in the wake of the likely closure of the Tiwai Smelter, was scuppered by New Zealand First at the eleventh hour.
…
A week ago, Ardern, Robertson and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones visited Invercargill where they met with Southland mayors to discuss future job opportunities in the region.
That was a week after the smelter announced production would end in August 2021, putting more than 2500 jobs on the line.
It's understood the visit was originally meant to include the announcement of a 'Just Transition' package – similar to what was unveiled in Taranaki after the government banned future offshore oil and gas exploration.
Another clear signal that NZfist aren't just a handbrake on labour/green policies, they're also the shit on your shoe, the fly in your soup and rotten apple in the barrel. Time to get this mob out of parliament for good.
If you want a progressive labour led government, only party vote green or labour.
What I heard was about business relating to coal mines, but apparently radionz can't resist practising populist journalism. (Though it is important to accept prostitution as a righteous occupation, relating to mental and physical health.) And Jones referring to 'woke' – well I just think it is time that he practised keeping schtum, as his backwoods bloke approach doesn't fit these ultra-senstive times of sadness and madness.
The list of businesses Kiwibank says do harm to people or the environment include companies dealing fossil fuel extraction, tobacco, palm oil, casinos, predatory lending, synthetic drugs and weapons.
Not bank's role to make moral judgements – Shane Jones
Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises, questioned why companies that deal with the extraction, production and manufacturing of coal are included.
He told Morning Report Kiwibank should "get out of the pulpit".
"It's the role of the Crown to regulate whether or not there are bads associated with the extractive sector or any other sector.
"My warning to the chairman of Kiwibank is that the bank that goes woke may end up broke.
edit
I wonder if this song would be suitable to go on the authorised political promotion column. I’ve been looking at things I don’t want to see anywhere and feeling depressed. So this is a positive statement for our future. 'I want to be happy' with Bing Crosby.
Starts: I want to be happy, but I can't be happy, till I make you happy too.
It seems to me that is the basis of what I am trying for. Everyone getting a chance for a happy life and each person supporting a constructive political system in the country that enables that for everyone.
Liked that Pharrell Williams one lots to look at there as well as the music. Thanks. I use Happy to change my mindset often. I try to see something different every time I look at it.
Bit of a tech weenie piece on how to adapt and manage EV charging so it doesn't overload an apartment building's existing supply. It's a useful example of how to adapt to increased electrification without requiring the massive upgrades the naysayer fossilheads falsely cite to argue against electrification.
That was interesting. Now here in central Wellington we need a solution that lets the parked on the street overnight cars charge from a house's stored domestic solar supply. Lets make the power companies redundant!
It's a lovely sunny day here today. ( Wind comments are tactfully ignored). There is some on roof solar – I've just been having a general look – based on the number one motivation of all New Zealanders – shafting the power companies.
More generally – with deposit rates and borrowing being way down – $10,000 returns only $100 to $200 p.a.- just about any solar system is likely to take at least that off an annual power bill. Maybe panels first then battery storage . Unfortunately the gap between plug in electric vehicles and petrol still isn't small enough.
This is the farmer who loves his land. That trite saying, that fudges everything such as the idea that a farmer is actually a guardian of his land.
This is the bloke who works on common-sense – which Einstein is supposed to have said is – What you have learned by age 18. The land has been in the family for a long time and now he is bringing it face to face in his lifetime with maximum Extraction of Profit and Efficiency.
"when he cleared mānuka on his property to make room for pasture"
"He denied Chartres had cleared any trees older than 20 years, and said Chartres had existing land use rights.
"Te Anau Downs Station has had a long history of pastoral farming. Nothing has changed over the period of time that the property has been farmed. There has, [from] time to time, been regrowth of native scrub which has, [from] time to time, been cleared to allow pastoral farming to be continued," he said."
There is a vast difference between "Native Forest" and "regrowth of native scrub"
… and it has yet to be proven that any "trees" older than 20 years have been removed.
A bit of balance is required if farmers are to "save" us with their production for export!
"[fhe site] has had a long history of disturbance from fire and pastoral activity however, the review of aerial photographs and the tree ring analysis provides evidence that the majority of the area has not been disturbed for over 30 years. The ecological values and effects of the clearance are considered to be high based on the removal of threatened flora and fauna habitat, the removal of the buffering effect on wetlands that were excluded from the clearance and the opportunity for the natural succession of the vegetation toward a beech forest community. The ecological investigation has found clearance of the mature manuka-bog pine shrubland would not have been permitted under the operative district plan or the previous district plan. The younger bracken fern-manuka-bog pine community may have been permitted under Rule HER.3 of the previous district plan but not under Rule BI0.1 of the operative district plan."
"….The Te Anau Downs East clearance covers an area of approximately 25 ha and appears to have had limited disturbance for over 100 years….."
Looks careless and intentional to me, and typically there's quite a high threshold before Council's start taking action, so it must be quite bad.
News headline, news headline …….human farmer found living under a rock…new creature with no eyes to read with or ears to hear with.
If this is a pastoral lease then permission must be sought for all of these farming ops.
Manuka and native scrub if left and possibly fenced off will revert. So press report is quite correct to say 'manuka' and 'regrowth native scrub'.
The tide went out at least 20 years ago or more on the wholesale clearance of so-called 'worthless' manuka and native regrowth. How will we ever find a tree over 20 years if they are all cultivated away?
The wool that will 'save' us on these high country farms is fine wool from merino sheep. Merino sheep thrive on dry stony areas and not, generally, on lush low country. They have a predisposition to foot rot that is exacerbated by damp etc.
The area may have been cleared to work up for on farm crop or for low country sheep. Low country wool production is not going to save us, not sure about the meat side of it.
A farmer working to the terms of their pastoral lease and the pastoral farming ethos does not need to increasingly bring new areas in for cultivation.
The type of 'bony' lowland country here might be ideal for testing the regenerative farming concept. It does not growth normal grass/crops very well without large inputs of fertiliser etc.
If not a pastoral lease and private then good on the Council. Hope they win.
Travellers to the formerly spectacular Mackenzie basin will have seen the growth of factory farming there and the loss of native cover and awe inducing views.
It is good to note that this government has committing to stop the tenure review process for Crown pastoral leases that has been responsible for the growth of factory farming, and for a large dollop of unearned capital asset floating the farmers way from the Crown or people of NZ
Hon Eugenie Sage Min of Land Information introduced a bill on 16/7/20 doing just this.
'This omnibus bill amends the Crown Pastoral Land Act 1998 and the Land Act 1948, with a single broad policy to amend these Acts to end tenure review and redesign the regulatory system to deliver improved Crown pastoral land outcomes.'
And this guys prejudice was obvious – he believed that he could do as he damn well pleased no matter what. Unfortunately, he probably won't have the land taken from him despite his abuse of it.
Yeah, but the false equivalence National were striving for with the ILG release has already been established. As long as the public think "plague on all your houses" then it’s Mission Accomplished for the Nats and their media acolytes.
19 September will be mission accomplished for the voters.
When it comes to unbecoming conduct of a leader, minister or an MP, the powers of the speaker of the house and the leader/s of a party need to be managed independently. I have no problem with MPs or members of the public being a witness to a hearing with name suppression.
All scandals are disruptive to the running of the country because the leader of the affected party has to address the problem.
Maybe AB, that was certainly the DP plan, but not many think cheating is that much of a scandal, certainly nowhere near sending unsolicited porn. A lot of relationships are ppl who got together cheating, I can name some journalist couples that did (but I won't name here, but not that hard to figure out). & notice not many MPs condemning ILG, ha!!!
What's going on with the census? The 2013 census, which was only average, cost $90million. The 2018 census cost $126 million and was a complete mess.
For 2023 the option picked costs $210 million. The gold plated version would be $216 million.
So why has the cost of the census soared by so much when wages have barely moved?
And it looks like they want it to be a lot more intrusive of minority groups. Haven't they heard of data set reintegration.
"It balances the need to maintain the current time series of data with a desire for ever-richer, high-quality data about small groups of the population. [It] delivers improvements to the wider data system."
Yes I wondered about that. Or have they got tied into privatised contracts that are escalating?
Or does it have mission creep and the money is being used to support that highly intrusive database that Bill English set up that aggregates all the data that the government holds on each citizen and should be dumped? It only needs one bad actor getting into it.
The 2013 census, which was only average, cost $90million. The 2018 census cost $126 million and was a complete mess.
And when they didn't do the census it was even cheaper and most certainly wasn't a complete mess. Just that the government didn't have the data that they needed to plan with.
The 2018 one was a change in systems and could be expected to go wrong in unexpected ways. I actually suspect that the previous census were also a complete mess but that things had been swept under the rug and/or simply not noticed due to the manual system not being fast enough. Census have always failed to complete on a single day and the stats department would spend months backtracking.
So why has the cost of the census soared by so much when wages have barely moved?
Well, the wages for the plebs have stayed low or even gone backwards but the wages for the execs has sky-rocketed. And they're probably buying new equipment.
Dirty politics is the new NZ politic, although it is no resounding revelation that dirty tactics have been visible in the land of plenty (and well covered) for many a decade.
Nowadays though, "the bigger the whale the greater the impact" seems to be the perpetual catch phrase and the most preferred ammunition of choice.
What ever happened to the good old days of political government, simply instilling fear into the populous, and working their way to power on the back of that?
This is a very interesting story, yet to be verified, but somehow has a ring of truth. Is it skepticism, or is there some substance that we should all be concerned about.
was having trouble posting this link so will post the body of the article from Taimi Allan who works in mental health (article from Radio NZ)……
I was making this point a couple of days back that Falloon's behaviour separate to any issues of grief he is experiencing. Thought this article expressed it better than I did
Opinion – Mental distress is not an excuse for sexual harassment – let's establish that right away. There is nothing in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) that refers to sending unsolicited sexual images as a symptom of any known mental illness.
Disgraced National MP Andrew Falloon. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
We have heard little detail around Falloon's mental health concerns, and that's okay, our mental health challenges are nobody else's business.
We know he experienced a recent loss of a friend, raising unresolved grief from similar losses earlier in life, and we know that grief and suicide touch most of us, and can leave an enormous psychological toll.
What we also know however, is that sending unsolicited graphic images to someone is not a known coping mechanism and will not make you 'feel better'.
Yesterday we heard that when Falloon sent these images, he had been drinking heavily.
At least one woman has accused him of gaslighting – manipulative behaviour that makes the receiver of such communication feel like or believe they are going crazy. It's concerning that someone who is capable of deliberately making someone else question their sanity has also used mental health problems as an excuse for their inappropriate behaviour towards a teenager.
Who knows if these claims are simply a desperate measure to control a narrative, to shift blame and avoid personal responsibility. I can't say if Falloon is genuinely in mental distress or not. I haven't spoken with him and don't know the full details, but I have no doubt that the unwanted attention by the public, his own party and the media he is now getting, will almost certainly be contributing to him feeling some sort of distress.
No, not specifically included, but there is a considerable amount of material in that mental disorders manual which covers various forms of behavioral disorders (including various forms of sexual deviancy), activity which would be consistent with this sort of behavior.
Also, many disorders which appear to be of a sexual in motivation are often more accurately and appropriately linked to, or associated with individuals seeking gratification by way of disturbing others or dominating others, and even attempting to control others.
They might, at least, fit into the first two categories mentioned above, that is to shock people or to bully them. We have seen this in the behavior of many parliamentarians.
I often wonder whether or not the behavior we observe in relation to those holding or seeking publicly recognized positions might also point to a problem, and perhaps a wider problem for New Zealand.
Falloon's display (I guess) may have inadvertently pulled one of a number of issues out of the box which would seriously beg the deliberation over whether or not New Zealand professionals in public office should be regularly evaluated in relation to both their psychological and emotional disposition.
Also, in relation to sexting images. Persons (male or female) who directly receive such material where they had neither requested nor encouraged such activity might well be more shocked than offended by such images.
After all, this isn't just some anonymous server sending unsolicited images to an unknown requester only identified by an internet address, and it wasn't a spam server generating the material as far as the public can ascertain.
If any of his recipients had just received these out of the blue, they might seriously wonder just what it is the National Party are promoting, not what some errant MP is trying to deliver.
If the recipients had previously engaged and, in part, encouraged the activity initially, that would be an entirely different story of course. Even individuals providing personal mobile numbers need to be aware that certain approaches can be misconstrued by some people.
What we also know however, is that sending unsolicited graphic images to someone is not a known coping mechanism and will not make you 'feel better'.
If you are referring to the exchange in the previous thread…..just to be clear I have never said or implied that grief was/is the cause of people coping by sending inappropriate pictures over the the phone. My views were always in the context of what people do to self medicate to resolve grief. Many drink to excess. Many of these who 'cope' in this way are males.
When we (royal we) drink to excess we often become disinhibited and do things our more in control selves would not do. Sometimes we (royal we) wake the next morning and think 'wow did I really do that silly DJ act or dance like that.'…other times we, broadly speaking again, may wake knowing we have had an accident, our car is a write off or we have killed someone.
We don't have an underlying condition as a killer of people or a destructor of cars. We drank, we became disinhibited and our more in control selves were put aside.
You advised your view then that as a person is while sober, as they are drunk.
I disagree wholeheartedly with this. My life in the world with people knows that this is not true. I have seen, lived with and been friends with too many people to know this is not correct.
I haven't spoken with him and don't know the full details, but I have no doubt that the unwanted attention by the public, his own party and the media he is now getting, will almost certainly be contributing to him feeling some sort of distress.
I get the feeling that dealing with grief, unresolved or not is does not even pass muster as some 'sort of distress' and note that you have not mentioned the suicides of friends as a contributor to his 'distress' in this sentence.
It seems that there is a hierarchy and that 'real' MH is the permanent MH conditions while real, serious and other happenings are 'some sort of distress' as you quaintly put it.
Hopefully this is not the view of too many out in the caring community. We want to encourage people to go for help not put them off.
It appears 'Dr' Judith Collins is also of that view though. She is angry that his 'distress' is also not a 'real' MH condition. He apparently deceived her about mental health issues when really he was sending smutty pictures. She too is operating at the 'act' level not the 'causation' level.
I guess you can realise by now I don't think much of your linked article. We do not know what caused the bad behaviour and until we can knock out of contention the heavy drinking and the unresolved grief it behoves us to be a bit careful don't you think?
But again the writer of the article will be pleased to know that Dr Collins also shares her view….Falloon apparently just was just not 'mad' enough to be a person suffering anything to do with mental health, who drank and did bad things to deal with it.
Because I have these views I do does not mean that I am rationalising.
Because I have these views it does not mean I am a member of the National Party as was your suggestion before.
Never have been and never will be.
In point of fact due to my career decision to join the Public Service, right from the very start I have never ever even joined or donated to a political party as I wanted to work in an apolitical arena as an apolitical person and to be seen as such.
Weka so were a police inspector and the cop you were complaining about to have sent switch messages to each other saying "Ramblings of a mad woman, psychologically sick
While it remains unclear exactly where the interaction between the Chinese navy and Australian warships took place, the ABC reported that the warships sailed near the Spratly Islands last week.
Five Australian warships – HMAS Canberra, Hobart, Stuart, Arunta and Sirius – left Darwin on 5 July and are taking part in drills with Japan and the United States in the Philippine Sea this week, before they head to Hawaii to join a US-led military exercise known as Rimpac.
Firstly, let's protest to all parties and tell them that it's not a Fair Go. Then, we can warn them that if they persist they will feel the wrath of New Zealand verbal firepower.
Further, we must tell them that our green and turf heroes and our warriors will mount waka and blockade them if they start firing shots at each other.
We may then absolutely prove that with a vision of our mythical ancestors, as a nation, we can stop bullets and salvos.
If that's not our position greywarshark, it god damn should be!
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender our expression, our opinions and our perspectives.
Green and brown warriors, knowing how envious the rest of the world is of our pride and our independence.
That’s my quarter of a dollars worth greywarshark.
Now. Where’s that mother freakin’ pipe?
The drains are blocked and welfare won’t cough up the dough to unblock it. That’s government immorality for you, yet again!
Goldsmith doesn't know diddly about economics cutting spending in a recession only makes it worse less money flowing through the economy means lower tax take requiring lower govt spending creating a downward spiral which is National Party austerity their go to policy.
The health system has been exposed by Covid it needs a massive investment.
We need to have a world class health system not 30th placed in the OECD.
The Daily Blog computer is having a foggy morning all day long. Send over Lprent.
I wonder at all the early day commenters here. Fresh air is sweet but evening is a more contemplative time surely. I could make an argument against these free-time commenters versus the originators of the people's movement. But I accept you're all old timers who've got out the other end and prefer cold water and bracing mornings.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 → ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
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 is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
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 ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
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. ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
If you want to be distracted from the various shenanigans happening in parliament, why not muse over the cultural interface between Maori, 5G, and telepathy? Heavens above! https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/14-07-2020/why-maori-communities-are-more-vulnerable-to-5g-conspiracies/
Thus spake Karaitiana Taiuru (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rārua).
But who would expect the government to be able to delineate the relation between 5G, the various heavens, and the radio spectrum anyway? Westerners haven't even learnt how to count the number of heavens, have they? Being so far behind in cultural development, how can we be expected to catch up so fast?
At the very least, we need to create a government department specialising in cross-cultural theology. It could develop a multicultural basis upon which to proceed. Media ought to invite comment from the Chinese ambassador. The Han are known for their cultural supremacy. We ought to be able to benefit from their expertise.
Funny how projects like 5G claim to represent progress and civilisation, but the behaviour of the political class and economic elites is anything but civilised. All the profits will go to transnational corporations and the expenses lumped on ordinary Kiwis, as always
" a government department specialising in cross-cultural theology."
Now thats about the first helpful contribution to the debate i have heard in a long time!
Thanks xanthe, looks like you intuit the big picture. Although I was being flippant I can't help it if my serious side comes through regardless! 😉 Finding common ground in our multicultural context will require that sort of focus to determine policy formulation, eh? So our academic tradition of silos will have to give way to multi-disciplinary formats to synthesise disparate views into an holistic composite…
If you actually want to find common ground I'd suggest not mocking Māori culture would be a good place to start.
All in your mind. I believe Maori cosmology adds value to Aotearoa. What is it that keeps driving leftists to see the dark side everywhere?
I also believe there is value in the thesis that humans have telepathic potential innate. I've read enough about how that creates real-life experiences for many folk to know that science-educated folks (such as myself) are fools to discount that part of human nature.
Mind-reading can usually be seen to be rationalisable on the basis of intuition & reading facial expressions and body language. Yet to assume all mind-to-mind communication amongst humans can be rationalised like this is actually a leap of faith. One that I have learned is foolish!
I think it's your commenting style not being a good match for my brain. I read the original comment three or four times and then the replies and it still looked like you were being sarcastic. Maybe it's too much time on twitter, where that questioning rhetoric is invariably mocking.
anyway, looking at the quotes Taiuru seems to be saying something very useful, and I too would welcome a shift to where Māori values and knowledge bases were well regarded and integrated.
FWIW, I concur and I spend no time on Twitter at all 😉
There's a thing about self-reflective consciousness similar to the principle of reflexivity that Soros identified in market trading in the late '80s. I have a metaphysical framework for making sense of such analogies: the number archetypes. Holistic thought derives from one (as an active principle in nature) and binary thinking (dualism) from two.
So when you get discourse proceeding on the assumption of truth/falsity, always look for the third alternative! That's why I often refer to both/and logic in my comments. As this reasoning applies in respect of my framing (above) it can be read as mocking or not. Both takes are valid. The reader chooses (unconsciously, mostly). A reader who sees both interpretations is using their right brain hemisphere more than one who doesn't.
Just to round this off: Aotearoa is bicultural (if we use a binary frame) therefore we ought to see both sides of any issue involving Maori. We need not allow anyone to coerce us into a preference for one or the other. When we adopt this frame, operationally, we synthesise. In terms of the number archetypes our brain engages third gear when we do that!
It was in my mind too. Dammit, maybe there is something in this telepathy praxis eh.
You being sly again, eh?
What, me? Now why would you think that? Just doing my civic duty; pointing out the heavenly cultural context of politics in Aotearoa. I'll leave it to others to thrash out the finer details of how much bandwidth sharing gets produced by the political process.
Mathematicians and physicists, for instance, will probably be required to specify the layers of the atmosphere that correspond to each band, and measure those, even before the tech specs get to the policy makers. Bureaucratic heaven!! 🤩
I do recall a colleague with a tanned upper shoulder area, mocking Maori claims to the sky that aeroplanes used.
He didn't have an answer for the state's right to being able to 'sell' frequencies for radio and television.
This cross-cultural theology is a great idea.
"National has a misogyny problem"… great thread by @juliefairey
https://twitter.com/juliefairey/status/1285799779255988224
& then Minister of Women Louise Upston https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67981595/minister-for-women-standing-by-prime-minister-after-ponytail-incident
I’d add that too, great thread.
I've commented on Keys discretion before, the man is a pig.
In any other western country he would have been dismissed immediately, I was overseas at the time when the incident was reported in the local newspapers, Dismissal was the only acceptable solution for this type of behaviour by the leader of a country.
In NZ we dismissed it as OK, cos, like, it's just John having some fun.
Morally Corupt was the man who was at the time NZs most popular PM and the public condoned it.
In any other western country he would have been dismissed immediately…
Really? In Great Britain? In Australia? In the United States?
Dismissal was the only acceptable solution for this type of behaviour by the leader of a country.
Key was an odious creep and a corrupt, malicious politician—but so are Messrs Morrison, Trump, Johnson, Trudeau, and Macron. Then-candidate Donald Trump claimed that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it; Key's bothering of that young woman fits into that same pattern of entitlement and almost guaranteed immunity. https://i.imgur.com/wT4XtDj.gif
So your saying it was OK for the Prime minister of NZ to fondle young girls hair on live TV and then not take responsibility for it.
The Leaders you list have come in a long time after the Key thing.
Morrison, despite being an idiot, would not last 30 seconds if he committed the same offence, the PEOPLE in Australia would DEMAND INSTANT DISMISSAL, and that's the difference between our countries.
We may be very different from Australia, but the public there would not tolerate that particular type of behaviour, maybe because they haven't had their moral compass compromised by a "used car salesman"
So your [sic] saying it was OK for the Prime minister of NZ to fondle young girls [sic] hair on live TV and then not take responsibility for it.
That is one of the most bizarre and inaccurate misconstruals to appear on this site.
Morrison, despite being an idiot, would not last 30 seconds if he committed the same offence…
He survived going on holiday overseas while an enormous area of his country was on fire. He survived laughing on air at the suffering of a political dissident. He's survived the scandal of Australian troops committing atrocities in Afghanistan. You think Australian politicians and media chatterboxes are more ethical than New Zealand's?
We may be very different from Australia…
Really? How so?
but the public there would not tolerate that particular type of behaviour,
So you are contending that the Australian public demands the HIGHEST standards from its politicians. Your view is very different to that of one of Israel's most respected journalists; he was horrified by the depravity and ignorance of Australian politicians.
Morrisey you seem to have missed the point, Keys hair pulling is a lot different from a political position being held, Aussies were told it was ok to imprison valid refugees for 7yrs just to use them as a Deterent against people smugglers, highly political when you consider that 100s of migrants were pouring into Australia every day by plane.
But, Aussies have strong values on sexual behaviour surrounding children, as you probably aware with conviction Pell. Most of the Libs challenged the conviction and helped fund his release, but the ordinary citizen in Australia did not agree with that effort.
I've lived in Australia for 2 decades at different times and know how different society is there compared to NZ, my most recent return has taken a long time to adjust to the new NZ we have now, many returnees I've met have reiterated that, it's not the same country, a large adjustment at many different levels.
I'm not saying Aus is a better place, but their standard of morality for the behavior Key exhibited would have seen him gone
The last stint there I saw 5 new PMs in 7 yrs, so moving PMs along is no big deal, and the last 3 were for next to nothing, usually either to far to right or not far enough to right.
Unfortunately, Aus is headed for its lowest point in my lifetime.
The politicians in Australia ganged up on woman PM Julia Gillard. And the people didn't stop it.
In the current context of the ILG matter, our glorious ex leader, Mr Key’s behaviour is actually of some use. It was not a waiter, a subordinate, a server, pulling Mr Key’s hair was it?
Power is powerful, and which ever way you slice it is better not to have relationships with senior work colleagues. If the affair and buzz wears off–is the Minister going to leave? not that likely.
Judith Collins may regret going there, re Parliamentary affairs, before this election season is done.
Don't forget this wasn't an isolated incident, how many very young school girls hair was he filmed fondling, it's unacceptable behaviour for any person in the position on Prime Minister.
Young Act, Boogaloo, sexual harassment, libertarians thinking they're above social rules. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/young-act-sexual-abuse-allegations?amp=1&__twitter_impression=true
A
Just to add to the misogyny, Mike Hosking calls the PM "Queen Cindy" but NZME purges it from the "transcript"
https://twitter.com/nzmrichards/status/1285809489933856769?s=20
Has the campaign started and where is Mike Hoskings campaign promoter statement?
$15million? Money very well spent!
Hosking's intense dislike of Jacinda Ardern is borderline creepy, to be honest. The man's so partisan I suspect he's erected a shrine to John 'Ponytail' Key in his living room.
Also, expecting NewsTalkZB to exhibit any kind of editorial discretion is probably pissing into the wind. If they had standards, they wouldn't broadcast Hosking's condescending venom at all.
We don't have 'standards' as such just a self regulated club of owned outlets. Jude decided that it wasn't required at the time….funny that.
The material these partisan hacks would provide to an independent broadcasting standards authority my oh my. How busy would they be over what Woodhouse and Boag just got up to as a single example.
I suspect he's erectioned a shrine to John 'Ponytail' Key in his living room.
Fify
Was that a Freudian slip?
Even if not point taken…he may order one of JC as well once he is sure she is going to be there awhile….he was a bit annoyed at having to melt down the bronze on Toddy's one.
There is one way to stop all these myriad problems, from relationships to plagues to climate change once and for all.
Everybody, everywhere just has to stop fucking, immediately and permanently.
Lets see how that turns out.
Well that would solve the core problem of too many humans and our unsustainable environmental footprint.
Bullshit. Only if you equate fucking with misuse of power, misogyny, revenge porn and sending unsolicited unasked for nude pics.
As far as cheating goes, I don't like it, or accept it, what others like and accept is their business, as long as those relationships are equal. Cheaters are literally untrustworthy and untruthful, whether its fidelity to a partner in marriage or in business.
And interesting convos with my daughters, both under 13, the 12 year old feeling a bit of pressure because the boys in her class have "rated" the girls, this shit starts early.
I agree, I hate cheats and liars but I dislike dismissers, the only word I can think of but there must be a better one, to address the mythology that only men cheat. It is not possible for there to be say 20% or 30% of men cheating and only 5% to 10% of women, mathematics and research as outlined in the book X and Y establishes that the numbers must be almost equal. Both sexes are equally responsible. There are of course exploitive relationships but they cannot by any means be the norm as this just implies that women are not intelligent and as a male I firmly believe that women are the most intelligent sex. By only a little bit though.
Do you not think that girls do not also rank boys? My 11 year old son was given a cheap cellphone because he biked 14kms home after school, ( don't ask, he wanted to be a TdFrance rider), and it was a safety device for him but he ditched it because some girls were texting him with what were quite sweet messages that he made him aware that he was near the top of the league table and this was 15 years ago.
Young people have been ranking each other for thousands of years. It is human nature otherwise none of us would be here without the attraction imperative, we just have to learn to deal with it.
Of course women cheat, I was cheated on by one, but why whenever mens behaviour comes up we have to say "women suck too!!!". Once there's a flurry of women ministers resigning coz they can't keep it zipped up or sending revenge porn, if my daughters are rating boys and calling them out for being (male equivalent) sluts, lesbians or have "tampons stuck up your arse" then I'll call that out too.
It is better to look at one thing in isolation from all the world's ills. Looking at L-G, he has had a relationship with someone other than his official partner. He is spreading his love around. He should not do that and be true to his partner. And that is his business, and his partner's and also of the other.
Has he been indulging in orgies, where you go and get 'groovy' and feel free, and do whatever you feel like with anyone that you want? That would seem OTT, and not what you would expect a sober MP to do. That would raise questions of probity and decent restraint. There is a matter of balance to be applied in life, and I think it is frequently lacking these days.
This vox pop from Jordon Klepper gives us some idea of where you end up when people just react and have opinions, and don't think at all, just emote. I think that our idea of democracy and what it can do for the country is a lot of candyfloss. I don't want people like this who make no attempt to think deciding who will run a country!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-dannQQ0Q
https://twitter.com/MaahunuiII/status/1285712936258985984
Wouldn't hurt, at least for a while.
To pre-empt all the whataboutery, if parliament was full of women, across the board, including women like Collins and Bennett, parliament's emotional and social intelligence would still have increased massively. Not because all men are rotten, but because women as a class actually want to do something about the rottenness rather than consolidating power.
Sounds good, Mothers especially would be more likely to legislate with a view to future generations rather than short term profits
pretty much.
Yes it does, and it's horrid. Much love to your girls, please let them know they are not alone.
Part of the issue I think is the objectification of women in porn and the easy access to porn because of the internet.
thank you Cinny, yes was a great chat, letting them know they don't have to put up with this shit, but at the same time they will have to figure out how to deal with this as it will probably occur throughout their lives, such is the world in which we live. But! Schools should be a safe place, like our work places, and all forms of bullying are unacceptable. "This shit starts early", & obviously learnt in the home.
I will call it out, & support my sisters & daughters. (& maybe some men have never heard womens stories? or women haven't told them and those men way want to think why they've never been told?).
I Feel Love, you are doing a fantastic job at parenting and should feel very proud of yourself. I wish my dad had such conversations with me, would have made certain situations in my life a whole lot easier to navigate.
I'm proud of you my friend, you are a good dad.
John Gray's a year older than me, and a retired political philosopher. His academic career featured tenure as a professor of politics at Oxford & Harvard, amongst others. I've got his book about utopianism, which was thought-provoking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gray_(philosopher)
On Unherd, he has a review of "Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s film Mr Jones, now released on Netflix". https://unherd.com/2020/07/what-the-woke-movement-shares-with-communism/
So why were western media barons on Stalin's side?? Binary politics. The truth must be made to serve vested interests. Therefore it must be covered up sometimes:
For intellectuals, capitalism bad means communism good. For media barons, trade good means truth bad – where that wheat went is a truth defended by private property rights, so don't ask! Binary politics rules.
Worth noting that the entire MSM is foreign owned, except TVNZ and RNZ.
Our information is controlled by big news corporations, Silicon valley psychos, or State actors.
Which is why politics is always framed as a puppet show. Left hand puppets competing with right hand puppets. The binary structure assumes media consumers & voters will continually swallow the establishment's daily production of shit, and they do, so the system works well.
The oligarchs have figured out how to hack democracy… endless torrents of disinformation and paranoia to get people voting against their own interests
Belarus is trying to move out a leader who has been there since 1994? and elections are managed to keep him in place. Democracy is a word, the reality vanished and just theatre remains. And the play becomes closer to Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus*. The young people are sacrificing themselves in an attempt to gain back control of the country by the people. Watch out NZ, signs are here also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnpzDr1T-14
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Andronicus_(character)
How seriously do our governing bodies (local and national) take climate change?…..their actions belie their rhetoric.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018756214/some-tarras-locals-horrified-by-international-airport-plans
"Christchurch Airport, which is 75 per cent owned by the Christchurch City Council and 25 per cent by the Crown, revealed yesterday it had already spent $45 million on the proposal. This would see a two-point-two kilometre runway capable of accomodating international jet aircraft "
Game of Thrones amongst airport companies.
I see this as a blocking move to prevent Queenstown Airport, 24.9% owned by Auckland Airport, doing anything that would threaten Christchurch Airport and the wider South Island tourist industry.
QAC / AIA were heading down the track of expanded / new airports when covid hit, that's all on backburner, supposedly, but lots of rumours circulating. Hopefully the government involvement in this move will put some realism into the situation and the interests of the wider South Island come into play rather than funnelling all the traffic through Auckland.
The site has a lot of potential as a transport or residential hub even if the airport idea is shelved or scaled back. Around 200 linehaul trucks go past it most days and that is growing very fast as Central grows. This growth requires a major re-think of transport modes into the region. Put another mode, say rail from Christchurch, into the mix and the site gets very interesting.
If…and thats the key word…the Gov were serious about CC mitigation there is no need to implement commercial blocking moves on industry players that protect the south island from Auckland airport ambitions.
The growth and transport issues remain but it is abundantly apparent the drivers have nothing to do with CC except as cover
reinstating rail from Dunedin port into Central. Even at the time, before climate awareness, the pulling up of those lines looked criminal to me.
If we start with the climate and ecological emergencies, the whole things looks completely different. If we start with unchecked growth then there's no hope of designing sustainable systems. If we start with greed and the need to make money, we may as well just set fire to everything right now. Sorry, got no time for the level of denial from those corporate people, there's no excuse anymore.
Collins anger over the Falloon issue got the better of her and she targeted Lees – Galloway.
Just like Muldoon's anger got the better of him when he targeted Moyle with an incident which occurred 17 months earlier.
Had so much not have occurred in the last 2 weeks Lees – Galloway would have lost his ministerial portfolios and probably he would have stayed on to fight his electorate seat.
I want Lees – Galloway to stand as an independent or to fight for his electoral seat as a Labour candidate.
Collins anger over the Falloon issue got the better of her and she targeted Lees – Galloway.
Just like Muldoon's anger got the better of him when he targeted Moyle with an incident which occurred 17 months earlier.
Had so much not have occurred in the last 2 weeks Lees – Galloway would have lost his ministerial portfolios and probably he would have stayed on to fight his electorate seat.
I want Lees – Galloway to stand as an independent or to fight for his electoral seat as a Labour candidate.
a few days ago Collins said he needs support and is mentally unwell, now she's saying he's a monster.
Had Collins said unwell this would have come across as being sincere.
Winston First playing politics with Tiwai transition funding https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/421801/pm-s-announcement-of-100m-southland-recovery-package-scuppered-by-nz-first
Another clear signal that NZfist aren't just a handbrake on labour/green policies, they're also the shit on your shoe, the fly in your soup and rotten apple in the barrel. Time to get this mob out of parliament for good.
If you want a progressive labour led government, only party vote green or labour.
edit
Shane Jones this am on Radionz having a go at KiwiBank for being responsible and future oriented and having probity.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/421807/kiwibank-steps-back-from-ban-on-business-with-brothels
What I heard was about business relating to coal mines, but apparently radionz can't resist practising populist journalism. (Though it is important to accept prostitution as a righteous occupation, relating to mental and physical health.) And Jones referring to 'woke' – well I just think it is time that he practised keeping schtum, as his backwoods bloke approach doesn't fit these ultra-senstive times of sadness and madness.
The list of businesses Kiwibank says do harm to people or the environment include companies dealing fossil fuel extraction, tobacco, palm oil, casinos, predatory lending, synthetic drugs and weapons.
Not bank's role to make moral judgements – Shane Jones
Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises, questioned why companies that deal with the extraction, production and manufacturing of coal are included.
He told Morning Report Kiwibank should "get out of the pulpit".
"It's the role of the Crown to regulate whether or not there are bads associated with the extractive sector or any other sector.
"My warning to the chairman of Kiwibank is that the bank that goes woke may end up broke.
edit
I wonder if this song would be suitable to go on the authorised political promotion column. I’ve been looking at things I don’t want to see anywhere and feeling depressed. So this is a positive statement for our future. 'I want to be happy' with Bing Crosby.
Starts: I want to be happy, but I can't be happy, till I make you happy too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC4yJujsor4
It seems to me that is the basis of what I am trying for. Everyone getting a chance for a happy life and each person supporting a constructive political system in the country that enables that for everyone.
https://youtu.be/LlY90lG_Fuw
More like this one.
Liked that Pharrell Williams one lots to look at there as well as the music. Thanks. I use Happy to change my mindset often. I try to see something different every time I look at it.
Bit of a tech weenie piece on how to adapt and manage EV charging so it doesn't overload an apartment building's existing supply. It's a useful example of how to adapt to increased electrification without requiring the massive upgrades the naysayer fossilheads falsely cite to argue against electrification.
https://electrek.co/2020/07/22/charging-hundreds-of-evs-parked-at-a-condo-is-a-solvable-problem-heres-how/
That was interesting. Now here in central Wellington we need a solution that lets the parked on the street overnight cars charge from a house's stored domestic solar supply. Lets make the power companies redundant!
There's a few thoughts here.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-7732287/Oxford-installs-UKs-pop-chargers-rise-pavement.html
Gotta admit, I'm kinda surprised domestic solar is a viable option in Wellie. Woulda thought the better option was something wind-based.
It's a lovely sunny day here today. ( Wind comments are tactfully ignored). There is some on roof solar – I've just been having a general look – based on the number one motivation of all New Zealanders – shafting the power companies.
More generally – with deposit rates and borrowing being way down – $10,000 returns only $100 to $200 p.a.- just about any solar system is likely to take at least that off an annual power bill. Maybe panels first then battery storage . Unfortunately the gap between plug in electric vehicles and petrol still isn't small enough.
Collins is just about to announce she's sacked Phil Twyford.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122220744/live-national-party-leader-judith-collins-to-make-a-transport-announcement
Now were Collin's to announce how long she knew about ILG and saved it up for a rainy day, that would be something.
Would it be a resigning offence?
See Falloon issue still more women affected by his behaviour.
Did you note the other Headline about Falloon, a 5th complaint has been recieved.
This is the farmer who loves his land. That trite saying, that fudges everything such as the idea that a farmer is actually a guardian of his land.
This is the bloke who works on common-sense – which Einstein is supposed to have said is – What you have learned by age 18. The land has been in the family for a long time and now he is bringing it face to face in his lifetime with maximum Extraction of Profit and Efficiency.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/421825/te-anau-farmer-accused-of-destroying-800-hectares-of-native-forest-in-two-years
He might find himself being evicted if he's in breach of his lease. Though that's really only something for poor people to worry about.
Rich white guy, the judge will be lenient
Ummm – "Native Forest" ???
From the article:
"when he cleared mānuka on his property to make room for pasture"
"He denied Chartres had cleared any trees older than 20 years, and said Chartres had existing land use rights.
"Te Anau Downs Station has had a long history of pastoral farming. Nothing has changed over the period of time that the property has been farmed. There has, [from] time to time, been regrowth of native scrub which has, [from] time to time, been cleared to allow pastoral farming to be continued," he said."
There is a vast difference between "Native Forest" and "regrowth of native scrub"
… and it has yet to be proven that any "trees" older than 20 years have been removed.
A bit of balance is required if farmers are to "save" us with their production for export!
Ecologist in the Environment Court report:
"[fhe site] has had a long history of disturbance from fire and pastoral activity however, the review of aerial photographs and the tree ring analysis provides evidence that the majority of the area has not been disturbed for over 30 years. The ecological values and effects of the clearance are considered to be high based on the removal of threatened flora and fauna habitat, the removal of the buffering effect on wetlands that were excluded from the clearance and the opportunity for the natural succession of the vegetation toward a beech forest community. The ecological investigation has found clearance of the mature manuka-bog pine shrubland would not have been permitted under the operative district plan or the previous district plan. The younger bracken fern-manuka-bog pine community may have been permitted under Rule HER.3 of the previous district plan but not under Rule BI0.1 of the operative district plan."
"….The Te Anau Downs East clearance covers an area of approximately 25 ha and appears to have had limited disturbance for over 100 years….."
Looks careless and intentional to me, and typically there's quite a high threshold before Council's start taking action, so it must be quite bad.
https://environmentcourt.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/2020-NZEnvC-101-Southland-District-Council-v-Chartres-Others.pdf
News headline, news headline …….human farmer found living under a rock…new creature with no eyes to read with or ears to hear with.
If this is a pastoral lease then permission must be sought for all of these farming ops.
Manuka and native scrub if left and possibly fenced off will revert. So press report is quite correct to say 'manuka' and 'regrowth native scrub'.
The tide went out at least 20 years ago or more on the wholesale clearance of so-called 'worthless' manuka and native regrowth. How will we ever find a tree over 20 years if they are all cultivated away?
The wool that will 'save' us on these high country farms is fine wool from merino sheep. Merino sheep thrive on dry stony areas and not, generally, on lush low country. They have a predisposition to foot rot that is exacerbated by damp etc.
The area may have been cleared to work up for on farm crop or for low country sheep. Low country wool production is not going to save us, not sure about the meat side of it.
A farmer working to the terms of their pastoral lease and the pastoral farming ethos does not need to increasingly bring new areas in for cultivation.
The type of 'bony' lowland country here might be ideal for testing the regenerative farming concept. It does not growth normal grass/crops very well without large inputs of fertiliser etc.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/416143/regenerative-agriculture-how-a-dairy-farmer-learned-to-trust-his-instincts
https://pureadvantage.org/news/2020/04/30/insight-into-regenerative-agriculture-in-new-zealand-the-good-the-bad-and-the-opportunity/
If not a pastoral lease and private then good on the Council. Hope they win.
Travellers to the formerly spectacular Mackenzie basin will have seen the growth of factory farming there and the loss of native cover and awe inducing views.
It is good to note that this government has committing to stop the tenure review process for Crown pastoral leases that has been responsible for the growth of factory farming, and for a large dollop of unearned capital asset floating the farmers way from the Crown or people of NZ
Hon Eugenie Sage Min of Land Information introduced a bill on 16/7/20 doing just this.
'This omnibus bill amends the Crown Pastoral Land Act 1998 and the Land Act 1948, with a single broad policy to amend these Acts to end tenure review and redesign the regulatory system to deliver improved Crown pastoral land outcomes.'
ttps://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_99486/crown-pastoral-land-reform-bill
.
And this guys prejudice was obvious – he believed that he could do as he damn well pleased no matter what. Unfortunately, he probably won't have the land taken from him despite his abuse of it.
Common Sense Isn't.
Victim number five comes forward in the Falloon/National Party dirty sexting scandal.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12350394
Yeah, but the false equivalence National were striving for with the ILG release has already been established. As long as the public think "plague on all your houses" then it’s Mission Accomplished for the Nats and their media acolytes.
19 September will be mission accomplished for the voters.
When it comes to unbecoming conduct of a leader, minister or an MP, the powers of the speaker of the house and the leader/s of a party need to be managed independently. I have no problem with MPs or members of the public being a witness to a hearing with name suppression.
All scandals are disruptive to the running of the country because the leader of the affected party has to address the problem.
Maybe AB, that was certainly the DP plan, but not many think cheating is that much of a scandal, certainly nowhere near sending unsolicited porn. A lot of relationships are ppl who got together cheating, I can name some journalist couples that did (but I won't name here, but not that hard to figure out). & notice not many MPs condemning ILG, ha!!!
Apparently he was a Young Act once.
Police have launched a new investigation into former National Party MP Andrew Falloon.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122228519
What's going on with the census? The 2013 census, which was only average, cost $90million. The 2018 census cost $126 million and was a complete mess.
For 2023 the option picked costs $210 million. The gold plated version would be $216 million.
So why has the cost of the census soared by so much when wages have barely moved?
And it looks like they want it to be a lot more intrusive of minority groups. Haven't they heard of data set reintegration.
"It balances the need to maintain the current time series of data with a desire for ever-richer, high-quality data about small groups of the population. [It] delivers improvements to the wider data system."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/421792/stats-nz-advised-risk-2023-census-option-would-produce-very-poor-quality-data
It's more expensive because technology is being used to reduce costs.
Yes I wondered about that. Or have they got tied into privatised contracts that are escalating?
Or does it have mission creep and the money is being used to support that highly intrusive database that Bill English set up that aggregates all the data that the government holds on each citizen and should be dumped? It only needs one bad actor getting into it.
😆
no idea, but I'd look first to Key's govt cutting costs.
And when they didn't do the census it was even cheaper and most certainly wasn't a complete mess. Just that the government didn't have the data that they needed to plan with.
The 2018 one was a change in systems and could be expected to go wrong in unexpected ways. I actually suspect that the previous census were also a complete mess but that things had been swept under the rug and/or simply not noticed due to the manual system not being fast enough. Census have always failed to complete on a single day and the stats department would spend months backtracking.
Well, the wages for the plebs have stayed low or even gone backwards but the wages for the execs has sky-rocketed. And they're probably buying new equipment.
More bad news for Judith Collins' favourite attack dog
With this dirty politics continuing, Collins and Ardern must both answer questions about Slater … because "Both Sides"!
how many court cases has he lost now?
It is easier to count the number that he has won. Which I think totals about zero.
He has just been avoiding the mire severe consequences by being bankrupt again and again.
Eeewww I just saw that too on RNZ. Back into the hot seat for Whaley-boy.
Dirty politics is the new NZ politic, although it is no resounding revelation that dirty tactics have been visible in the land of plenty (and well covered) for many a decade.
Nowadays though, "the bigger the whale the greater the impact" seems to be the perpetual catch phrase and the most preferred ammunition of choice.
What ever happened to the good old days of political government, simply instilling fear into the populous, and working their way to power on the back of that?
For Graig it is about the winning and not the payment for defamation damages.
Slater finally got what he had coming with his key board.
This is a very interesting story, yet to be verified, but somehow has a ring of truth. Is it skepticism, or is there some substance that we should all be concerned about.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12350414
Is there a story in the hibbledribble that interests you?
Three Pro Democracy Chinese Nationals heading to Wellington to present a petition to Parliament killed in accident near Toupo
was having trouble posting this link so will post the body of the article from Taimi Allan who works in mental health (article from Radio NZ)……
I was making this point a couple of days back that Falloon's behaviour separate to any issues of grief he is experiencing. Thought this article expressed it better than I did
Opinion – Mental distress is not an excuse for sexual harassment – let's establish that right away. There is nothing in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) that refers to sending unsolicited sexual images as a symptom of any known mental illness.
Disgraced National MP Andrew Falloon. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
We have heard little detail around Falloon's mental health concerns, and that's okay, our mental health challenges are nobody else's business.
We know he experienced a recent loss of a friend, raising unresolved grief from similar losses earlier in life, and we know that grief and suicide touch most of us, and can leave an enormous psychological toll.
What we also know however, is that sending unsolicited graphic images to someone is not a known coping mechanism and will not make you 'feel better'.
Yesterday we heard that when Falloon sent these images, he had been drinking heavily.
At least one woman has accused him of gaslighting – manipulative behaviour that makes the receiver of such communication feel like or believe they are going crazy. It's concerning that someone who is capable of deliberately making someone else question their sanity has also used mental health problems as an excuse for their inappropriate behaviour towards a teenager.
Who knows if these claims are simply a desperate measure to control a narrative, to shift blame and avoid personal responsibility. I can't say if Falloon is genuinely in mental distress or not. I haven't spoken with him and don't know the full details, but I have no doubt that the unwanted attention by the public, his own party and the media he is now getting, will almost certainly be contributing to him feeling some sort of distress.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/421783/andrew-falloon-may-be-in-distress-but-that-s-no-excuse-for-bad-behaviour
[Link included and image re-sized]
Responding to the DSM reference.
No, not specifically included, but there is a considerable amount of material in that mental disorders manual which covers various forms of behavioral disorders (including various forms of sexual deviancy), activity which would be consistent with this sort of behavior.
Also, many disorders which appear to be of a sexual in motivation are often more accurately and appropriately linked to, or associated with individuals seeking gratification by way of disturbing others or dominating others, and even attempting to control others.
They might, at least, fit into the first two categories mentioned above, that is to shock people or to bully them. We have seen this in the behavior of many parliamentarians.
I often wonder whether or not the behavior we observe in relation to those holding or seeking publicly recognized positions might also point to a problem, and perhaps a wider problem for New Zealand.
Falloon's display (I guess) may have inadvertently pulled one of a number of issues out of the box which would seriously beg the deliberation over whether or not New Zealand professionals in public office should be regularly evaluated in relation to both their psychological and emotional disposition.
Also, in relation to sexting images. Persons (male or female) who directly receive such material where they had neither requested nor encouraged such activity might well be more shocked than offended by such images.
After all, this isn't just some anonymous server sending unsolicited images to an unknown requester only identified by an internet address, and it wasn't a spam server generating the material as far as the public can ascertain.
If any of his recipients had just received these out of the blue, they might seriously wonder just what it is the National Party are promoting, not what some errant MP is trying to deliver.
If the recipients had previously engaged and, in part, encouraged the activity initially, that would be an entirely different story of course. Even individuals providing personal mobile numbers need to be aware that certain approaches can be misconstrued by some people.
If you are referring to the exchange in the previous thread…..just to be clear I have never said or implied that grief was/is the cause of people coping by sending inappropriate pictures over the the phone. My views were always in the context of what people do to self medicate to resolve grief. Many drink to excess. Many of these who 'cope' in this way are males.
When we (royal we) drink to excess we often become disinhibited and do things our more in control selves would not do. Sometimes we (royal we) wake the next morning and think 'wow did I really do that silly DJ act or dance like that.'…other times we, broadly speaking again, may wake knowing we have had an accident, our car is a write off or we have killed someone.
We don't have an underlying condition as a killer of people or a destructor of cars. We drank, we became disinhibited and our more in control selves were put aside.
You advised your view then that as a person is while sober, as they are drunk.
I disagree wholeheartedly with this. My life in the world with people knows that this is not true. I have seen, lived with and been friends with too many people to know this is not correct.
I get the feeling that dealing with grief, unresolved or not is does not even pass muster as some 'sort of distress' and note that you have not mentioned the suicides of friends as a contributor to his 'distress' in this sentence.
It seems that there is a hierarchy and that 'real' MH is the permanent MH conditions while real, serious and other happenings are 'some sort of distress' as you quaintly put it.
Hopefully this is not the view of too many out in the caring community. We want to encourage people to go for help not put them off.
It appears 'Dr' Judith Collins is also of that view though. She is angry that his 'distress' is also not a 'real' MH condition. He apparently deceived her about mental health issues when really he was sending smutty pictures. She too is operating at the 'act' level not the 'causation' level.
I guess you can realise by now I don't think much of your linked article. We do not know what caused the bad behaviour and until we can knock out of contention the heavy drinking and the unresolved grief it behoves us to be a bit careful don't you think?
But again the writer of the article will be pleased to know that Dr Collins also shares her view….Falloon apparently just was just not 'mad' enough to be a person suffering anything to do with mental health, who drank and did bad things to deal with it.
Because I have these views I do does not mean that I am rationalising.
Because I have these views it does not mean I am a member of the National Party as was your suggestion before.
Never have been and never will be.
In point of fact due to my career decision to join the Public Service, right from the very start I have never ever even joined or donated to a political party as I wanted to work in an apolitical arena as an apolitical person and to be seen as such.
[Fixed typo in user name]
Weka so were a police inspector and the cop you were complaining about to have sent switch messages to each other saying "Ramblings of a mad woman, psychologically sick
The wonderful Emerson https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12349525
Poor Crusher/Gunner Collins.
She's having man all guns meantime on her Man O War.
She’s feistier than paper darts, that’s for sure.
.
A change from the usual men's games – Australian league etc.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-23/australian-warships-encounter-chinese-navy-south-china-sea/12481514
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/23/south-china-sea-australian-warships-encounter-chinese-navy-in-disputed-waters
South China Sea: Australian warships encounter Chinese navy in disputed waters
Canberra downplays the ‘unplanned interactions’ amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between two countries…
While it remains unclear exactly where the interaction between the Chinese navy and Australian warships took place, the ABC reported that the warships sailed near the Spratly Islands last week.
Five Australian warships – HMAS Canberra, Hobart, Stuart, Arunta and Sirius – left Darwin on 5 July and are taking part in drills with Japan and the United States in the Philippine Sea this week, before they head to Hawaii to join a US-led military exercise known as Rimpac.
What is our position about this?
Firstly, let's protest to all parties and tell them that it's not a Fair Go. Then, we can warn them that if they persist they will feel the wrath of New Zealand verbal firepower.
Further, we must tell them that our green and turf heroes and our warriors will mount waka and blockade them if they start firing shots at each other.
We may then absolutely prove that with a vision of our mythical ancestors, as a nation, we can stop bullets and salvos.
If that's not our position greywarshark, it god damn should be!
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender our expression, our opinions and our perspectives.
Green and brown warriors, knowing how envious the rest of the world is of our pride and our independence.
That’s my quarter of a dollars worth greywarshark.
Now. Where’s that mother freakin’ pipe?
The drains are blocked and welfare won’t cough up the dough to unblock it. That’s government immorality for you, yet again!
Guess who will be first online when the US gives out vaccines.
I thought that we were the vaccine. A cure all for the entire world.
Goldsmith doesn't know diddly about economics cutting spending in a recession only makes it worse less money flowing through the economy means lower tax take requiring lower govt spending creating a downward spiral which is National Party austerity their go to policy.
The health system has been exposed by Covid it needs a massive investment.
We need to have a world class health system not 30th placed in the OECD.
With out this we are extremely vulnerable
Who (or WHO) knows? Alan Gibbs and Peter Goodfellow may have come up with the final solution for New Zealand after all.
The Daily Blog computer is having a foggy morning all day long. Send over Lprent.
I wonder at all the early day commenters here. Fresh air is sweet but evening is a more contemplative time surely. I could make an argument against these free-time commenters versus the originators of the people's movement. But I accept you're all old timers who've got out the other end and prefer cold water and bracing mornings.