New Zealand was at the forefront of the last great economic paradigm shift – neoliberalism. Can it do it again with whatever follows the shock of coronavirus?
A recent Stuff-Massey University survey suggested a surprising number of Kiwis – more than 60 per cent of those asked – agree now is a time to be thinking differently.
Labour, thinking itself clever, is pitching its campaign to the 40% minority who are slow learners: "Because they're just like us. Identity politics works."
The big picture view of history says things always swing like a pendulum because society first course corrects, then over-corrects, and so has to start heading back the other way.
Hegel, in the 19th century, deduced his dialectic principle from this. Applying it to politics, we get a synthesis of whichever key elements of left & right remain valid.
The Millennial and Zoomer generation might all be on McWages, but they haven’t been rioting in the streets.
Not desperate yet. Plus street protests hardly ever get the desired result nowadays.
National debts, especially in the US and Europe, have blown out with programmes of quantitative easing (QE) that have proved hard to bring to an end. Analysts say that all the “stimulus” hasn’t reached the real economy because the system is stagnant.
So Labour masterminds decide more of the same is the best prescription. If it is a total failure, let's do it! Dinosaur-brain Labour.
The fixes on offer are also in fact easy enough to identify. There is plenty of talk about them. The question is just whether they are starting to form a sufficiently compelling package. The main plank of many reforms is Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) – the giddy idea that money printing isn’t actually a problem.
The logic is that capital has changed from being wealth that actually exists – physical wealth like land, resources, gold – to being an ability to draw down on a better future.
Looks like social credit updated for the new millennium, huh?
In May, New Zealand’s own Reserve Bank announced $60b in QE to carry the country through the crisis. The next day, the Government rolled out its $50b Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund on the back of that move. So completely new possibilities are revealed once you change the conversation from viewing debt as a problem rather than a solution
So here's where a Labour apologist can say "Look, we're already doing social credit!! But we can't tell the truth to the public because nobody would vote for us! Voters are morons, right?"
To introduce MMT they first need to burst the bubble, break up the banks and deal with the resulting chaos…..no politician is willing to propose that even if enough would vote for it which is highly unlikely.
MMT is an economic theory which includes how money functions into its understanding of the economy. It describes how the economy works today.
Your probably claiming the government would need to do something before implementing Overt Monetary Financing. But in practice this is very similar to reversing the order of borrow and spend steps of QE (which its already doing today of course). Its also true that New Zealand has historically implemented OMF during the Savage era.
This strongly indicates your own economic theory doesn't fit the real world.
MMT as you well know is a description of how (some think) the political economy COULD operate as opposed to how it currently operates.
Leaving the assets with the private banks and liabilities with the debtors and retaining the private (offshore) banks with the ability to create credit does little to solve the problem aggregate spending capacity within the economy even with the availability of currency from the issuer….that simply provides the private banks with the opportunity to extract even more from the economy, and does nothing for the debtors in the short term.
QE without addressing these issues leaves exactly where we are right now….waiting for the whole house of cards to collapse and the assets to fall into the hands of the few solvent entities left standing.
This claim is incorrect. MMT purports to describe how public spending works with QE and without QE and in a lot of other circumstances such as the Eurozone.
To contrast one MMT prediction to parts of the mainstream, MMT describes why QE (e.g building bank reserves) has not caused inflation.
Of course there are some possibilities also described by MMT which are more or less untested, such as OMF. So how does MMT describe that? Well its understood to be basically similar to QE but with a slightly different order of steps, but basically ending up with the central bank owning a large part of the govt debt itself. However if thats true then we already have plenty of evidence that this is also not inflationary, contrary to mainstream claims. Such things are the testable hypotheses of macro-economics and if your paying attention then MMT is getting these things right, where the economics mainstream is getting them wrong.
As for the rest of your comment, you appear to be describing some final economic collapse, worse than both the GFC and lockdowns impacts and with govt having no ability to counteract it. I wouldn't go holding my breath waiting for this to manifest.
As I understand it, Socred advocated depriving private banks of the right to create money. That was certainly the case in Bruce Betham's day, though I'm not sure whether it still is. Their current policy seems to be to limit that right by making greater use of the reserve ratio tool.
I don't think the idea of Banks being unable to create money can be operationalised.
Initially (as in the Chicago plan) this was tied into the notion of a bank reserve constraint on bank lending. But reserve constraints don't limit bank lending unless your nation is willing to forego payment stability (which none are).
But the kind of money banks create resides on their balance sheets (its a record of owing a customer their deposit balance) and so if you need every doller created to be govt backed at the central bank (in the interbank accounts) then you are just signing the govt up to create reserve balances to back every payment. If the central bank fails to create the reserves needed to back bank lending then payment or reserve constraint failures occur. So this must be an acceptable outcome in operationalising such a policy.
Additionally bank credit and trade credit (where you pay for work, or even a meal, after its completed) doesn't look very different so I don't see much ability to legislate against banks ability to extend credit anyway.
This bit makes the RBA seem defender of the (neoliberal) faith:
the RBA has already purchased $A45,250 million worth of Australian Government bonds under its so-called – Long-dated Open Market Operations… The Government has not been saying much about this program for obvious reasons.
They don’t want the public to know that one arm of the currency-issuing government is accumulating a large proportion of the liabilities issued by another arm (Treasury) to follow the rise in the fiscal deficit.
If they explained what was going on in the real world to the public, it would become very clear that the central bank is effectively ‘funding’ a significant proportion of the increase in the fiscal deficit… It would also disabuse the public of notions that such coordination between the central bank and the treasury, which is at the heart of the understanding you get from learning about Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), is dangerously inflationary.
Conservative authorities always try to prevent progress, but adherence to a paradigm past the use-by date prevents govts adjusting to the real world. ScoMo will have to get real sometime soon & pull whatever strings are required to produce an RBA head willing to create a future-based strategy for steering the economy.
He may even be brainstorming the options as we write. I hope he initiates some kind of liaison to the RBNZ gov plus JA/GR since regional coherence would be best for future economic steering, eh?
Its possible, I don't think that is something which will necessarily occur.
Japan has been running QE for decades now. Recently MMT was discussed in their parliament and most factions denied that MMT provided a cogent description of their economy. Obviously a better description could increase the level of public discourse on economic policy and is desirable but I don't see any force actually mandating this occurs.
Its possible that discourse could continue with central banks and treasury running QE and still insisting that at some point they will have to wind it back due to building inflationary pressures. The public may or may not believe the narrative being presented to them.
For better public discourse it would help if the process was simplified with the reserve bank directly funding the treasury spending. Making this clear would help to show the public how public finance is working in practice and would make it difficult to oppose deficits and public spending programs politically with an invalid public debt narrative.
Of course in both New Zealand and Australia to a reasonable extent the shift towards fiscal policy was automatic. Across the lock-down the shift in spending from consumption to saving happened, as did the growth in deficits required to compensate for this. And it must have become obvious that the RBNZ had to fund the deficit more or less directly to the tune of $60 billion because that happened as well and in a timely fashion. If the long run outcome is that the forecast inflation never occurs and the governments self owned debt is not unwound as a result, well I don't see any important difference between that outcome and another where the inflation and public finance forecast was more realistic in the first place.
Your comment implies that the mainstream economic theory has had a period of validity, but this has never been the case. There has not been a period where a model of a barter economy was valid (which is the mainstream model, it literally attempts to model an economy with an impossible financial system). There has not been a period where there was a mandatory minimum unemployment rate (above 0) below which inflation accelerated (the NAIRU rate), so the model of unemployment is completely broken. And there has never been a period where the central bank can target the inflation rate by targeting official cash rates (and our RBNZ was never good at limiting house price increases even with the OCR about 10-12%). Monetary policy not working out as an inflation theory was as true prior to the GFC as it has been since the GFC (where its supposed to be able to increase inflation rates).
For better public discourse it would help if the process was simplified with the reserve bank directly funding the treasury spending. Making this clear would help to show the public how public finance is working in practice and would make it difficult to oppose deficits and public spending programs politically with an invalid public debt narrative.
This strikes me as helpful & sensible. I wonder if Reddell would agree. I get the impression you may be an economist by profession &/or someone with close prof experience of public finances. In the USA such people access political leverage via institutionalised think-tanks – do we have one such relevant here? If so, your suggestion ought to be examined collegially to crowd-source consensus in that context, with a view to lobbying the next govt to make the desired change.
Your comment implies that the mainstream economic theory has had a period of validity, but this has never been the case.
Maybe so – yet it was sufficiently plausible to win the adherence of both Labour and National for 35 years.
In my limited interactions with Reddell I would expect some kind of triangulation to occur. Basically when pushed MMT is all correct, nothing surprising and not any different to the present, but also we should not do away with the concept of central bank independence and should maintain the practice of needing an authority figure to tell us which kind of deficit will be inflationary rather than making it so obvious even joe public could understand it for themselves.
I think that equates to making the system "simple enough and no simpler" when your a PHD grade policy economist.
Expecting a mind to get made up is realistic in some limited contexts – as in using a recipe for baking a cake. When social & political contexts are ever-changing, a mind will view those as ever-movable feasts. 😋
The logic is that capital has changed from being wealth that actually exists – physical wealth like land, resources, gold – to being an ability to draw down on a better future.
Got that bit wrong didn't he.
MMT doesn't ignore resources. What it does is recognise that a nation's money is backed by that nation's economy and, as long as their is slack in the economy, then printing money is non-inflationary. Under such a system taxes become a form inflation control as interest rates are now (and don't which don't actually work as super-inflated house pricing shows).
So here's where a Labour apologist can say "Look, we're already doing social credit!! But we can't tell the truth to the public because nobody would vote for us! Voters are morons, right?"
The reason why Labour, National and ACT don't like MMT is because it proves that capitalists are bludgers.
Once the government becomes the sole supplier of money in the system the need for interest rates, shareholders and profits disappears. And where then would the Cullen Fund and our self-proclaimed VIP of business be?
MMT still uses a market economy – it just gets rid of capitalism.
MMT still uses a market economy – it just gets rid of capitalism
Seems like an insight worth recycling! I can't claim to comment from any perspective of expertise – my involvement with Greens economic policy development was always that of a radical heretic who had a partial grasp of establishment economics.
I suspect that others may quibble somewhat. Unless you have a design mechanism for eliminating held capital, those who hold it are alway likely to be players in the game, regardless of govt making radical rule changes.
Perhaps you are implying the incentive-structure of the game is sufficiently changed by govts using MMT that capitalist players will see no way to profit from playing?
Perhaps you are implying the incentive-structure of the game is sufficiently changed by govts using MMT that capitalist players will see no way to profit from playing?
With MMT properly put in place having money will no longer grant more money. No interest rates to charge workers for the privilege of borrowing
Existing owners will still be able to bludge but the economy will shift around them until they can’t. Its not an immediate fix but will come about over time.
With the government creating money openly the private will need to be stopped from doing so and thus will end the private banks and their bludging.
Always worthwhile to read Why we can't afford the rich to get a better understanding of how they bludge so much off of the rest of us and how getting rid of them will make the economy perform better and make the rest of us better off.
Capitalists are bludgers and they cost us billions every year. And that's just in NZ.
If the Labour Party were to suddenly grow a brain & a spine, what would they campaign on? A plan for the post-covid economy.
That's been true since Rogergnomics. But NZ politics has reached the point of decay where not releasing policies is more likely to win or retain votes. As it stands they're more like that song from How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying:
Finch: Is there anything you're against?
Twimble: Unemployment
Finch: When they want brilliant thinking from employees
Twimble: That is no concern of mine
Finch: Suppose a man of genius makes suggestions?
Twimble: Watch that genius get suggested to resign
Releasing policy would just give the floundering Gnats and their media sycophants something to focus their malice upon – better to let them stew in their febrile resentment – it doesn't resonate with voters.
It has proven infinitely safer for Labour to try to deliver some desirable outcome, like building houses, than it is to promise to do so. Pretty dysfunctional from a democratic perspective, but the media that ought long since to have pilloried and driven out epic non-performers like Brownlee and Smith is MIA on that front.
The only reason they are keeping the experts hidden must be because they are not credible. Reti's reason for not naming them was weak.
("They work for for other governments and organisations")
This epidemic is the most important issue facing the country and I think the public are entitled to know where National’s advice is coming from so we can judge the soundness of advice for ourselves. The whole thing smacks of ‘we know best’
When does Jacinda Ardern get a break? Not for her the games of golf with other Leaders or celebrities. Her few days off are spent with Clarke and Neve out of the spotlight.
I hope she is getting affirmations for her unrelenting positivity genuine mahi and care for all citizens.
I have been accused of being a Jacinda fan. Well, yes I am, as she is remarkable.
Yes, I worry about her too Patrica. She looks too thin to me. Not surprising given the huge load she is currently carrying. Yet I get the impression that if she dares to let up and have a short break she will be loudly criticised by her opponents – notwithstanding her predecessors were known to have good sized breaks from time to time.
Patricia Brenner. I heartily endorse your comment on Jacinda. She is thrown to the wolves every day but counters everything with grace, good manners, non confrontation in reply and is unfailingly unflappable. I would say the same of the frontline team. I am in awe of their ability to front up to lower level reporters who seem to be there mainly to force them into *owning up* to supposed cock ups, debacles, shambles etc and stay calm in the face of such unmitigated jackalism. New word. Just invented it. They are indeed the dream team and nobody expects them to get everything right first up. They are human. And their ability to accept and then reset immediately is in my book amazing and calming. Go the dream team. My opinion only.
Agree Patricia. There was a rumour on #hellholeNZ that Jacinda, C lark and Neve were at Oriental Bay yesterday. Hope it was true……..
I am concerned labour are in a precarious position now due to the outbreak. There is unrelentingly negative publicity about it. Donald Trump is inadvertently the only one bringing some perspective (unintended of course).
People are not commenting on the remarkable response to the outbreak and how effective it has been. Gorman etc are getting air time saying how poor the contract tracing has been which is laughable. UK got private firm doing contract tracing, rates of 50%
i read the first two sentences of what you wrote Denis “if Labour would grow a spine and a brain”………………..wow man where have you been the last six months? What the fuck do you think labour has been doing? Brain and spine more than evident in covid response, so wake the fuck up. Right now covid and it’s immediate aftermath is all that matters.
This election we either vote in a labour led govt or a National led govt. if you have bleated on here about labour and spines etc, don’t come crying when Collins is running the show
Look at this poll, shows how out of step the TV1 & Herald & Stuff & National Party etc … are, they don't represent the public mood at all, how ever much they try to rile people up. Maybe the constant attacks are making the public like the present Govt more, it seems no one expects perfection, unlike some commentators even here, the Govt are competent. I for one can't be bothered reading many journalists anymore, the disconnect with reality is getting more & more telling, I can see with my own eyes that NZ is not a hellhole, even the anti lockdown 'protest' was just pathetic, more people go watch Sat morning sport & the field up the road.
The chosen approach gets another month to rub over the electorate and now Reti has to dance on the head of a pin. How good will those dance moves be.
That internet thing means folk don't just consume the duplicity/tawdrey/hosk spin. Also kiwis abroad keep whanau in the real picture they live each day outside the pacifica zone.
aj I agree. Vote as if your life depended on it but it likely does actually. Who do you trust to lead us through Covid. That will be the task of the next Govt.
This election we either vote in a labour led govt or a National led govt – Whilst National is lacking Labour still IMO still be subjected to critical review of what they are proposing. Otherwise we have what the USA had in their last election – Voting for the 2nd worst option
If the boarder issues regarding testing had not been questioned, would the current testing regime of frontline staff have been ramped up and so promptly ?
Herodotus, I don't see Labour as the 2nd worst option and I don't believe they are. They are the best option.
The Govt had understood from the MoH that border staff were being tested. They ramped it up when they found out it wasn't. Turns out the tardiness of implementing the border checks hasn't lead to wide spread community outbreak. It has lead to one matanance man getting Covid and I fully sympathize with him………
We still don't know the origin of the Auckland cluster………its possible that a returnee tested negative on 12th day and took it into the community as the virus is tricky and the tests not 100% reliable.
Perhaps I poorly constructed the comment. With a poor opposition all the current govt has to do is out perform a crap performing National party. There is no challenge to have a coherent and well planned out implementation of policy. Need I detail The Kiwi Build, and Labour decided to increase the build from 50k to 100k ??
"Turns out the tardiness of implementing the border checks hasn't lead to wide spread community outbreak" – How many fortunate outcomes can we hope for ? We shouldn't he hoping for chance to help us out. We should expect mistakes and see modification/evolving of policy to reduce the risk.
Herodotus our Govt has outperformed nearly every govt in the world. Just in terms of Covid nos everyday I check the figures and NZ has just gone down the order we are now 140.
We have to hope for all the lucky breaks we can get with this virus while doing absolutely everything to the highest standard possible. To date Labour have had an inquiry into contract tracing sometime in April? and found it wanting and so ramped it up. This has clearly paid dividends in this latest outbreak. Outstanding response. Then there were the issues around testing returnees uncovered in June and since then testing regime up and running….then the idiot people absconding from quarantine, they fixed it. And now they have ramped up the testing of staff..
We also have to hope for chance or good luck because despite all our best effort we can get unlucky e.g. the worker who tested positive likely after touching a lift button.
Grow a spine, what a line,
From some Trumped up fellow,
Do you mean like NAT cold blue,
Or perhaps like ACT of yellow.
Red is a warm and friendly colour,
Green is quite soothing too,
But to grow a spine, a stupid line,
Is just a pile of poo.
I usually don't bother to read Denis. Too long and so gave him a shot this morning and he opened with the brain/spine comment, which I thought was ignorant beyond belief and that sort of commentary both angers and scares me (in Covid times). I am not too bothered where Denis sits on the left/right continuum slating a govt that has managed the hardest crisis NZ has had in lifetimes when they have done an outstanding job is a plain ignorant. They have saved 100s/1000s of lives by exercising their brain and spine.
why? It is because he is left to labour that he raises some questions that are fair imo.
Raising question about the long term planning is fair. It is election time, so please Labour talk. I read the speech at the campaing release, and to be honest i am underwhelmed in the parts that i expect to be the big issues in the next years. Unemployment, future investment into employment and the current issue of women losing their jobs at a higher rate then men, older more then younger, etc. IF labour thinks that promising to double the flexi scheme invented by Paula Benefit will get me or others hot n bothered, they need to think again. Promising a few dollars to those that have lost their jobs to maybe start their own business? Lol, and then they get a phone call and they are in Level 3 and can't work. lol.
The government's existing Flexi-wage scheme – a wage subsidy to help employers hire those on a benefit at risk of long-term unemployment – would be revamped and expanded under a re-elected Labour Party, with the average amount a business can access to hire a worker more than doubling.
The party believes scaling up the scheme could enable 40,000 people to be employed.
Jacinda Ardern, speaking at the launch today, said $30 million will also be ring-fenced to help unemployed people start a business through an expanded Flexi-wage self employment programme, which will provide the equivalent of the minimum wage for up to 30 hours a week.
not wanting to say anything, but that undermines the min wage like big time if you only offer wages for 30 hours while someone ends up working double or more. Nevermind tho, its the thought that counts? Right? Also anyone not being able to work from home and or in roading/heavy infrastructure/shovel ready government investment is at risk of long term unemployment in the current global situation. Any government that fools itself in believing that 7500 $ is an attractive amount to hire people is deluding themselves, but then maybe earning several thousand of dollars per week might just have an impact on that thinking when it comes the poor.
he main elements of the scheme:
Business subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New Zealanders
Up to 40,000 jobs to be supported by $311 million investment in keeping people off the unemployment benefit
Ring-fenced fund to help unemployed people start their own business
The scheme would be paid for out of the underspend from the targeted wage subsidy extension.
Just take the 'underspend' and distribute it fairly among the unemployed so that they can eat and have a roof, and chances are that would help the community and create employment….but then we don't actually want to increase unemployment and social welfare. And i don't count the extra 25 per covid level week an increase, even tho its tacked to the main benefit, as it is temporary and can be cancelled at any moment.
She said the wage subsidy scheme – due to finish on 1 September – had prevented a spike in unemployment.
"We need to keep moving with our plan. The Flexi-wage is just the latest addition to the raft of jobs initiatives and business support we have already put in place to drive our economic recovery," Ardern said.
The wage subsidy did effectively that, flatten the curve of unemployment, and the Covid unemployement rate (cause unequal is us (TM) ) will expire 12 weeks after that.
Mind this article was from 8.8. and thus before the new outbreak showed up, but i do hope that they consider what they actually expect from people ….to start up a business, to rehire people, while at the same time not being able to have any stability at all. All it takes is a bullhorn at 8 am in the morning and you are in Level 2 – 4 and can't work.
Yes, Labour needs to do better, personally i would rather see some ideas of early retirement, a proper increase in base benefits to the level of the wage subsidy as this is now a proven amount in regards to let people have a roof and eat.
Not all questions are put downs, and it is jarring that there seems to be a reflex reaction to shout down those that dare ask.
The government's existing Flexi-wage scheme – a wage subsidy to help employers hire those on a benefit at risk of long-term unemployment – would be revamped and expanded under a re-elected Labour Party, with the average amount a business can access to hire a worker more than doubling.
Which is fully against the standard economic theory (or any market based theory really). If the business could afford to employ more people to expand then they would already be doing it. They're not which means that that business has already reached its limits and throwing money at it probably won't help.
Better for the government to help create some new businesses and actually develop our economy. That would probably employ more people and the businesses would be more likely to be sustainable.
She said the wage subsidy scheme – due to finish on 1 September – had prevented a spike in unemployment.
Yep, that worked well but it's not a viable long term plan. Short term and even mid term to allow businesses to adjust to the new paradigm but we're going to need something beyond that and that is mean developing new businesses and it can't be left to the bludging rich. They just don't get it nor do they care.
The government needs to look at what needs to be done to develop the economy across a range of industries that presently aren't here. Then, and only then, will we have a viable plan.
personally i would rather see some ideas of early retirement
Yeah, that's going to happen. Too many people retiring and not enough workers to support them. That's why governments have been raising the retirement age for the last few decades and importing lots and lots of people.
Well, the other option is to increase unemployment level and instruct the Winz drones that part of kinder and gentler means to not harrass people into applying for jobs that don't exist and will need to be created first.
And i have total confidence that new businesses will be created, people are good like that. But unless we have a hang on the covid crisis, and are no longer a phone alert away from a total lockdownm it is cynical in my books to expect people to actually do that.
Sabine have you read the budget? There is a long term plan along with short term covid beating ideas.
I note how scathingly you write. Do you think the Government has not done enough? Covid is our present danger and our poor are not being left to fend for themselves, neither are they being blamed or vilified by their leaders as has happened elsewhere.
The actual election has not started yet. Those things you want are fine in normal times, but life has changed, it will never be what it was, as we are running to dodge this evil but still may be overtaken by the larger problem of climate change.
By putting wellbeing at the centre of planning we have a new social contract with this Government. People again see the Public Service as being there for their good. All of this takes time and clever balanced planning.
In spite of the naysayers, much has been achieved, and we are doing an exceptional job in containing this virus once again. There will be great struggle to overcome the effects of the virus on the world. We are lucky to be doing that without the ongoing deaths associated with that.
I am fearful that those who want "instant solutions to complex problems" may whittle support 'till we end up with the "bullying parent". That would be grim.
I have read the budget, i have linked to the the article outlining the budget and used Jacindas words. Nothing scathingly about, unless now the only opinion that is allowed is that of flowery positive humbug. Sorry, but i find that hard to believe, and again, some of us have a different perspective about certain things.
No the government has not done enough just yet – not because i say so, but because they know that they have not done enough yet, themselves. Hence the increase in the flexi wage system and the rolling out of a few dollars to some hapless unemployed people now so that they can start their business so as to not clutter the unemployemnt queues more then that. Hence the extra 2 weeks wage subsidy. Without it Labour by now would be dead in the water and way more people would be unemployed. So Labour looks good because it did the easiest and fastest things, re-fund us some of the taxes we pay via the wage subsidy. The shovel ready jobs, nice, helped get men of the unemployment queue, now do something for the women for whom unemployment has increased.
The actuall election started on 08.08 with the start of the election campaign, and the roll out of the budget and the promises of things to come. I personally am happy that it got extended and if only for the Government – which btw is more then just Labour, as it is also Green and NZF, to revisit some of their ideas and maybe adjust them to the new reality of Covid in the community from a as of now unknown source.
And no a well being app is nothing worse to be proud of. So far no societal contract has been established that looks after the poorest, the homeless, the beneficiaires etc, they are still on their starvation rations via Winz and no changes in the air. (that much vounted $ 25 per week is a Covid benefits – mind any day they would like to they could just make that permanent – after all they will claw it back with the decrease of fringe benefits to the same amount).
And if you state that much has been achieved as a Yes sayer, please link to all the things that have been achieved for those that need it the most. That is my litmus test. Will the changes benefit those that have it the hardest in our society and frankly no they have done the bare minimum as of yet.
I don't want instant solutions nor have i ever asked for them, i have been for years now very much asking for the same things. Better housing, better benefits for those that need it, better public transport and cheaper, less cutting down of trees to build garages and such.
As of the election, it is Labours and the Coalitions to lose, it always was. And for those that want to see Labor go it alone or only with the Greens, well it is your job to give reasons to those that a. sit on the sidelines, b. can't be arsed to vote because non of the party cares for them (1 million last time around, and c. might actually have to live with the fact that again they need NZfirst. The supporters of the No mates party will do what they want, and personally i don't care, as i will never in my life time consider voting for them.
And personally i would very much enjoy a good write about by some of our less scathingly writing peeps, detailing us all the good things Labour has in place for us, specially the unemployed.
it is used commonly against others. And Ardern may be the leader of the Labour Party and the PM of the country but she is not 'alone' labour. There are other members in this party that are in government and some could benefit from a brain and a spine.
Not everything is about Jacinda Ardern. Some is literally just about the Party and like Aunty Helen, we will have to live with the Party longer then with Aunty Jancinda.
Fair enough – in my experience "grow a brain & a spine" jibes are unhelpful, but maybe now is the hour as NZ fumbles & bumbles along. Still, could be worse, eh?
So if things are looking really bad
you're thinking of givin' it away
Remember New Zealand's a cracker
and I reckon come what may
If things get appallingly bad
and we all get atrociously poor
If we stand in the queue with our hats on
we can borrow a few million more.
We don't know how lucky we are, mate
We don't know how lucky we are.
It can always be worse, but that is not the matter at hand , the matter is can we ask more from the Labour Party without being accused of being negative, bitter, or against the current leader of the party.
And yes, most people don't know how lucky they are or they know it and want to do their best to keep it that way often at the expense of others. We already have quite a few people in the country for whom things are appallingly bad and who are atrociously poor. It might just not be you or me atm, but these things can change fast.
Sabine of course you can ask for more. People are entitled to post whatever (within moderator reason) they want.
One of the many reasons I like the Standard is because right now since the outbreak it gets me away from the unrelenting negativity of the msm. No perspective, only blame. F..k if I was Ashleigh Bloomfield fielding what are mostly ridiculous gotcha type questions from the media, I would be very tempted to say "Right that's it. I have f..king had enough, the job is hard enough without you pack of wankers with your gotcha ill informed questions. None of you do a job that is worth much, unlike my poor staff who actually do something useful for a living and may earn nowhere near as much as you. I suspect most of you couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, but too bad, if you think you could do better, f…king take over"
Agreed anker. 'Shock jock' jibes along the lines of "grow a brain & a spine" are unpleasant, unnecessary and, most importantly, detract from otherwise constructive criticism. Just my opinion (and choice of reaction), of course.
If some feel they are "accused of being negative, bitter, or against the current leader of the [Labour] party" to the extent that it is inhibiting their commenting, then that would be cause for concern. Otoh, instances of negatively and bitterness occasionally come across as purely vindictive – intent is so easy to misread, depending on one's perspective.
"Right that's it. I have f..king had enough, the job is hard enough without you pack of wankers with your gotcha ill informed questions. None of you do a job that is worth much, unlike my poor staff who actually do something useful for a living and may earn nowhere near as much as you. I suspect most of you couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, but too bad, if you think you could do better, f…king take over"
I suggest that you stay away from the telly, radio and news print for a while, as you seem to not be managing the vitriol coming from it, i know i could not and thus did so years ago.
As for you having 'fucking had enough'? the same counts for the people that have lost their jobs, their homes, and those that will in the near future.
There are a lot of people in this country and elsewhere who have had fucking had enough. And you know what? It seems that no one cares. Go figure.
When you write "It seems that no one cares.", are you referring to politicians and bureaucrats, or to NZers in general?
"The first thing we did was scale up school and community programmes with an additional 100,000 fruit and vegetable boxes to children over 10 weeks. We also met the cost of processing and distributing surplus pork meat to families in need to help resolve an oversupply of New Zealand pork, while providing high-quality nutrition. The Government also provided $32 million for funding foodbanks and food rescue."
"We are the envy of the world. We seem to want to beat ourselves up for every infringement, and as a citizen I find that surprising," Roche told Newstalk ZB's Mike H*****g.
Asked by H*****g. why tests on border workers hadn't been happening, as expected, Roche said that was the "very elusive" question.
"Everyone's acknowledged that what they thought was happening, didn't. So there has to be an intervention to remedy that and I'm part of the intervention."
He urged perspective. "A mistake was made, there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of risk. No one goes to work to make a mistake; we shouldn't overstate it. There have been mistakes made. There have been some mis-communications – let's just simplify it, sort it out and move on."
Asked if there were far too many people and departments involved, Roche said: "I think that sums up the public sector but at one level it's a cheap shot. They all work together very well. This is a cross Government thing – it's led by health, the health voice is very loud but it requires a collective effort. Not everybody works as easily in that environment as you would hope."
Leadership was important at a political and administrative level. "I have had the privilege of lifting the hood at public health units. I was humbled by what I saw. The work they are doing on our behalf is unbelievable – and we have lost just a sense of perspective. Yes, this has come back, we have deployed hundreds and hundreds of people to safeguard the community. They have done it in an incredibly professional and sensitive way."
So pleased Sir Brian Roche took ignorant Hosking on regarding what is really happening. A decent sensible man talking to a jumped up self-opinionated unpleasant person.
Q and A this morning had a short story on Taiwans experience with Sars and Covid, they already had a dedicated organization for dealing with pandemics after Sars had taken so many lives, they developed a system to eradicate the virus.
The interesting thing was that the strategy was predominantly around prevention through having systems in place to to prevent and trace infections.
Taiwan has a population of around 25million, their Rate of Testing is way below ours, testing only catches infections after the fact, where as prevention prevents the infection in the first place.
The main prevention tools are Masks, Social Distancing and an excellent tracing process.
Today Taiwan has six new cases of Covid, the same number as NZ.
Testing after the fact is TOO LATE, the prevention is Far more important.
The NZs srtategy by any standard is Gold Plated, any politician critising it should be held to account, as do some members of the media that harped on about the testing regime that existed, yet, Not a Single Case was detected due to the "Failed Testing Regime".
That is the evidence that proves that testing is Not the Primary response, it's simply a backstop to prove the existing preventitive sytems are working.
Testing of boarder workers for the Covid Virus alone is a waste of time, that will only show an individual currently infectuous, we need to also be blood sampling for antibodies to see who has previously been infected, that may show the cause of current infections.This may have been happening but who would know ?.
I'm just repeating what the Taiwanese Pandemic Expert had indicated given they had a specicialised Pandemic Response Organisation all ready set up.
Taiwan was hammered by the SARS virus and learnt a lot about how to minimise the Human and Financial costs of a Pandemic, they have already gone through the "Learning Curve", and one of those lessons was that Prevention is where the majority of effort should be focused.
Focusing on just one aspect, which, thus far hasn't been proven to be a contributing factor in the current outbreak (or any other issue) is time wasting and an unnecessary use of resources.
In Manufacturing the same applies, there is an old saying, "you cannot inspect quality into a product, no matter how much time you spend inspecting it", it has to made to a standard through a process that ensures the required outcome.
I've been looking at our tax system in NZ for ordinary folks. Not terribly much info from IRD specifying percentages of tax charged for each code, and they are many. Their main message is you need to pay tax and then give a few chosen examples. I found what I wanted to know eventually looking at all the sites, public and private. Not straightforward, need more figures less generalisation and explanation.
Accommodation supplement is murky. Yet just about everyone can get it if you are ordinary people, probably the wealthy have their own channels. This was written in June 2019 and quoted this from Treasury in 2017:
In 2017, even Treasury agreed "AS [accommodation supplement] does not adequately alleviate housing stress" and New Zealand's existing housing subsidy structure is "not fit-for-purpose".
That doesn't mean they want something better for the citizen, it may be that there is a hole in its efficiency that they want to stop up. When we are finally allowed to have our election and the party that tries to be good is returned to the bouncy castle, from each office in the Beehive there will be such a buzz and rush they will turn up the cool air conditioning. Please, please vote and see if anyone around you needs a lift to a polling booth, provided of course it's not a lockdown area.
For all these reasons, the Child Poverty Action Group's just released report, The Accommodation Supplement: the wrong tool to fix the house, calls for the Government to remove the AS for most recipients while significantly raising incomes of all benefit recipients and low-wage workers. We authored this report with Alan Johnson, co-convenor of the CPAG.
Bad design of the Accommodation Supplement fuels NZ's housing crisis
– This story was originally published on Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.
The Q&A this morning had the best summary of how Taiwan manages so well. Having a health system set up to operate well. ($10 doctors visit.) Having an understood/trusted pandemic process already in place. (I don't think masks are mandatory? but widely worn.) Absence of public undermining. Can't find the Taiwan on Q&A but worth a look.
Melania's renovated Rose Garden is a metaphor for what Trump has done to this country.
Removed all the well established beautiful things, took out all the color, and turned it all white, and charged the American tax payer way to much to do it.
Fortunately, we're not heading toward a brutal winter.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is banning large gatherings, closing beaches, shutting nightspots and churches and removing fans from professional sports in strict new measures announced Saturday as it battles the spread of the coronavirus.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo announced the steps shortly after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 332 new cases — the ninth straight day of triple-digit increases. The national caseload is now at 17,002, including 309 deaths.
While most of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, which has been at the center of the viral surge in recent weeks, infections were also reported in practically every major city and town, raising concerns that transmissions are slipping out of control.
[…]
As of Saturday afternoon, nearly 800 infections have been linked to a Seoul church led by a vocal critic of the country’s president. Sarang Jeil Church pastor Jun Kwang-hun was hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday after participating in an anti-government protest last week where he shared a microphone on stage with other activists. More than 100 infections have been tied to protesters.
Police raided the church late Friday while trying to secure a more comprehensive list of its members who remain out of contact. Health workers have used cellphone location data to identify some 50,000 people who spent more than 30 minutes on the street during the protest last Saturday and have been alerting them to get tested. Around 18,000 of them have been tested, said Kwon Jun-wook, director of South Korea’s National Health Institute.
Morrah on Mediawatch, 'we aren't here to make friends' regarding the way he's treating Bloomfield, my memory goes back to when that is exactly how he treated Peter fucking Whittall https://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/peter-whittall-it-is-personal-2010120217 or maybe Morrah has learned since then. I just remember the media back then wanting to Knight Peter fucking Whittall, so Morrah, I don't believe your weasel words.
Siouxie Wiles, the biochemist who has contributed a lot of easy to understand material throughout the pandemic so far, has written another useful and cogent article in the Spinoff on how to improve the Covid response, including an analysis of National's proposals. Worth a read.
The Wiles piece in discussing the National’s Border Protection Agency misses the main point. "It seems to me this policy runs the very real risk of stranding New Zealanders overseas while doing nothing to actually increase the security of our border."
The policy is not about actually increasing the security of our border, t's about the election and making out you have somehow come up with a magic formula. Will people understand or realise the logistical stuff, the reality that Wiles mentions?
"It will certainly stop some people who may be infectious from being able to travel. But given how far some New Zealanders have to travel to get home, it won’t stop people getting infected on the way."
You get a test, it comes back negative and somehow, before you get on a plane, however long that is, in whichever part of the world you're in with all the local circumstances, you know, we know, Judith Collins knows, you haven't got Covid-19 when you board your plane?
I'd like to hear how those who think that Collins is Wonder Woman can be certain no-one getting on a plane has the virus given the way the world works.
He's right out of view as is Tiffany! – when I posted I tied a width of 500 thinking that would shrink the image enough but it seems that that wasn't enough. I tried to edit it but the process was beyond my capabilities 🙁
They just don't get no respect, those two. Even dumb algorithms diss them.
(I haven't yet found a way to get the image size right on first go, but what works for me with the images is posting it without trying to change anything the image button does, then immediately go back in and edit the comment and add width="500" just before the /> )
Yes I have done that too in the past. Now Lynn has given us an image qualities button/option that lets you define the width before submitting; but it didn't seem to work in this case – and when I went back to edit, it came up with a lot of html script I wasn't confident in playing with.
As for the line up at the RNC – obviously they are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
BTW if you missed Michelle Obama's speech at the DNC – no worries – you can hear it again when Melania gives her speech.
BREAKING: leaked recording of @realDonaldTrump’s sister confirms claim he paid someone else to take the SATs in order for him to get into University of Pennsylvania.
Trump is obsessed with talking about how he went to an Ivy League school (Obama went to two, for context). pic.twitter.com/oipQiGRVvK
Maryanne Trump Barry was serving as a federal judge when she heard her brother, President Trump, suggest on Fox News, “maybe I’ll have to put her at the border” amid a wave of refugees entering the United States. At the time, children were being separated from their parents and put in cramped quarters while court hearings dragged on.
“All he wants to do is appeal to his base,” Barry said in a conversation secretly recorded by her niece, Mary L. Trump. “He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this.”
Barry, 83, was aghast at how her 74-year-old brother operated as president. “His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”
The Standard isn't working using my Android Smartphone.
The mobile version won't start/load sometimes today and the reply function hasn't worked for me since Friday evening. The desktop version will open, but when the reply function is clicked, I then can't type anything in the comment box.
Everything worked earlier last week, so maybe The Standard IT gurus can investigate.
There’s no denying we live in deeply partisan times and a new poll out of New Hampshire exemplifies this divide. Its results say a majority of New Hampshire Democrats said they’d rather “a giant meteor strikes the earth, extinguishing all human life” than President Donald Trump win re-election. Yikes.
Every now and then I get a blissful moment when I forget that Kim Jong Orange possesses a tremendous bigly and more powerfully button that actually works. If he feels too much that nobody likes him, he might just choose to show us all. That would indeed be a pretty close facsimile of SMoD.
Do you really want the White House, or are you actually more interested in the grossly swollen head (housing a remarkably small brain) of the current occupant? The latter is a somewhat larger target with correspondingly larger chances.
There is no support here for women in NZ. We have been forced to remove our bras in order to keep a fence warm. We will become a Nation of Nipples at Knees in no time.#NZHellholepic.twitter.com/Q0i0fGWo0T
Thousands of Aucklanders are desperately turning to food banks as increasing job losses wipe out family incomes.
There are now 29 registered food banks serving the city. Prior to Covid-19 there were fewer than five, and one long-standing emergency food provider believes too many food banks could be counterproductive.
In Takanini yesterday, cars formed queues kilometres long for food parcels from the local Sikh temple, Takanini Gurdwara Sri Kalgidhar Sahib.
Benny was among them, having lost his job with Air New Zealand during the last lockdown.
"Tons of people have been laid off. You know, we've gone through a hard time finding a job … but because of this kind of charity's donations it's really helped."
Bradley Taylor works as a landscaper, but the work has dried up so he and his young family have turned to the food bank.
"At the moment we're not getting a lot of jobs due to the second wave – people are really taking a step back now and trying to save their money," he said.
“If we think this is just Covid-related, we’re missing the point.”
Before the pandemic, research by the Mission estimated that 10 per cent of Kiwis were living in food poverty.
That group has now doubled, Farrelly said.
The upside is that the pandemic has shone a light on food insecurity. There is growing awareness of the scale of the problem and the Mission is receiving proactive offers of help from the Government, Auckland Council and community groups, he said.
As well as distributing food parcels to families, the Mission has been handing out 250 takeaway bags of food daily to homeless and vulnerably housed people who do not have access to cooking facilities.
Not shits and giggles for all in #NZHellhole. #PrettyfuckingshitbeforeCovid
It's a worry 9 are in hospital but hasn't New Zealand done stunningly well? Middle of winter, second outbreak, zero deaths so far, and community cases coming back to zero.
One of New Zealand’s biggest electricity generators, Genesis Energy, has given the go-ahead for a large solar farm near Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains, an hour’s drive south of Christchurch. It is part of Genesis’ strategy of replacing thermal baseload with renewable generation – a mix of wind and solar. ...
Buzz from the Beehive We found just one fresh announcement on the Beehive website this morning, when we made our first visit since 4 February. It was posted in the name of Nanaia Mahuta, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, and explained why she was not at Waitangi at the weekend. ...
Hipkins is doing the right thing for New Zealanders already living in Australia, but there’s now a growing risk of a fresh surge of net emigration of frustrated young Kiwis across the Tasman. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Employers here in Aotearoa are desperate to keep their best-trained, most-productive ...
This post contains two guest posts from readers, both of which were sent to us after the flooding on Friday 27 January, both of which discuss how we handle our stormwater. This is a guest post from Ed Clayton, who’s written for us before about Auckland’s relationship with freshwater, ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key breaking news, scoops and links I’ve found since 4 am this morning, as of 7 am, including:A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 in Turkey near its border with Syria; ReutersMetService has warned a new cyclone is forming north of Aotearoa that ...
The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. There is a new wave of Maori activism, which sees the Treaty as a living ...
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
New Zealand will immediately provide humanitarian support to those affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by these earthquakes. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones affected,” ...
An historic Northland pā site with links to Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika is to be handed back to iwi, after collaboration by government, private landowners and local hapū. “It is fitting that the ceremony for the return of the Pākinga Pā site is during Waitangi weekend,” said Regional Development Minister ...
The Government is investing in a suite of initiatives to unlock Māori and Pacific resources, talent and knowledge across the science and research sector, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Two new funds – He tipu ka hua and He aka ka toro – set to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
The Government is supporting one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant historic sites, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, as it continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. “The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a taonga that we should protect and look after. This additional support will mean people can continue to ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
A potential cyclone that could bring more severe wet weather to the upper North Island is now forecast to form a day earlier, Stuff reports. Due to ideal cyclone-formation conditions over the Coral Sea, a low south of the Solomon Islands has a high chance of turning into a cyclone ...
Author I.S. Belle reveals the top five influences on her debut LGBT horror/paranormal YA novel, Zombabe.Zombabe is a LGBT found family horror/paranormal YA about a group of friends putting down an ancient evil inextricably linked to their sleepy town of Bulldeen, Maine. Does all of that bring anything to ...
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese are holding a joint press conference in Canberra. Watch live here. ...
The New Zealand government is providing $1.5 million in humanitarian support to those affected by destructive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last night, foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced. The contribution of $1m to Turkey and $500,000 to Syria will be made via the International Federation of Red Cross and ...
In a state-of-the-nation-style lunchtime speech in Auckland today, the leader of the Act Party has taken aim at both major party leaders. “Throughout this speech,” David Seymour told supporters at the Maritime Museum, “I will do my best to differentiate between the Chrisses, but it may not be easy.” Seymour ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has met with Australia’s Anthony Albanese in Canberra, exchanging a few brief words to gathered reporters before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Hipkins was driven into the courtyard of Parliament House, where he was greeted by Albanese in person. “Welcome prime minister,” said Albanese. A beaming ...
The acclaimed fashion designer has been crowned the ‘undisputed king of the frock’ – but with identical dresses widely available on fast fashion outlets, questions are being asked about his design practices.This story was first published on Stuff. He has been described as the “knight of New Zealand fashion”, his ...
In Canberra New Zealand’s media pack has arrived at Australia’s parliament ahead of this afternoon’s visit from prime minister Chris Hipkins. The PM will be met by his counterpart Anthony Albanese in the courtyard of parliament house, before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Following the 45 minute meeting, ...
Two new funding initiatives, totalling $22 million, have been approved by Cabinet today to help ensure the cultural sector has the “certainty and support to thrive”, announced Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. $10 million of Covid-19 recovery funding will support established arts, cultural and diversity festivals, while $12 ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayWAITANGI, CO-GOVERNANCE, THREE WATERS Thomas Cranmer: Waitangi Day and the quiet revolution Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Waitangi in 2023: Plenty ...
ACT leader David Seymour has delivered a speech painting National and Labour as two sides of the same coin, and calling co-governance a "culture war". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Quigley, Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of Melbourne Mustafa Karali / AP A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced. The first quake, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kalinda Griffiths, Scientia lecturer, UNSW Sydney Getty/Marianne Purdie Cancer figures provide stark evidence of the gap between the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people in Australia. The difference is confronting – and it’s increasing over ...
NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have used a joint media conference to affirm the nations' relationship is that of "family". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Alcohol bans are being reimposed on Northern Territory Indigenous communities, as the federal and territory governments grapple with intractable problems in Alice Springs and elsewhere in the NT. The situation in Alice Springs and the ...
I was told to avoid gluten. I was told it was all in my head. When 10% of women experience endometriosis, why does it take so long for its classic symptoms to be recognised? It was 2011 when I had my first period. It felt like a very exciting moment ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has touched down in Australia’s capital – his first overseas visit since becoming prime minister just three weeks ago. After disembarking from the Airforce Boeing, Hipkins was greeted by his former caucus colleague and current high commissioner to Australia, Dame Annette King. The pair hugged on ...
The rise of TikTok-inspired ‘algospeak’ is making online communication even more of a nightmare, writes SYSCA‘s Lucy Blakiston.This is an excerpt from the Shit You Should Care About daily newsletter – sign up here.Content warning: sexual assault The other day I was chatting with a friend about algospeak – ...
School, finally, is back this week in the nation’s largest city to howls of relief from many parents and (one hopes) some students also. Yet the resumption of normal service shouldn’t obscure a curious inconsistency. The past few weeks have shown ...
MediaRoom column: On the eve of a Cabinet decision on the fate of the proposed public broadcasting merger, questions emerge over the engagement by the TVNZ chief executive of two former National government aides to change the narrative and push TVNZ's view on the Government's plan Within weeks of taking over ...
Olivia Sisson performs a good old-fashioned cost comparison – and it might change the way you buy your veges.The price of food in New Zealand is shocking. So, how to cope? The recommendations are starting to feel like the avo-toast-flat-white trope. Cut those items out and there it is, ...
An early morning fire at an egg-laying farm in Orini, Waikato yesterday has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 hens. The farm is operated by New Zealand’s largest egg producer Zeagold, the country’s biggest egg producer, whose eggs are sold under ...
The Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill will make resource management issues worse and should be withdrawn, Federated Farmers has told the Environment Select Committee. "Farmers agree the costly, slow and unpredictable processes ...
New police minister Stuart Nash has met with new health minister Ayesha Verrall to talk about the issue with the aim of preventing ram raids. Nash wants to speed up the scheduled reduction of dairies that can sell cigarettes. Nash made the comments at a police graduation ceremony in Porirua last ...
It’s Tuesday, February 7 and welcome to a special edition of The Spinoff’s live updates. Stewart Sowman-Lund will be on the ground in Canberra today as PM Chris Hipkins meets with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. What you need to know Chris Hipkins will meet Australian PM ...
Politicking by politicians was less overt but whether there was less politics probably depends on your definition of the word and what lay beneath the optics, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Why is it becoming harder to achieve debt-free status? Money Sweetspot is a new company that uses compassion and incentives to help people pay off their debts. Co-founder Sasha Lockley talks to Simon about using gamification to increase financial literacy, breaking the cycle of poverty, and how she intends to ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins is heading to Australia today for his first face-to-face meeting with an international leader. He’ll be meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese during his single-day visit to Canberra. The Spinoff live updates will be on the ground in Australia as the meeting takes place and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney Pexels/Uriel Mont The question of whether and to what extent face masks work to prevent respiratory infections such as COVID and influenza ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Mackinnon, Professor and Director, Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, Queensland University of Technology Superconducting cables transmit electicity without lossesShutterstock For most of us, transmitting power is an invisible part of modern life. You flick the switch and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University Shutterstock Many students are returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit teaching of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Dudek, Associate professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University Universal Life is full of surprises – some pleasant and some painful – but there can be no surprises without expectations. We expect the sun to come up ...
News stories have honed in on the fact Wayne Brown and his staff were left off a ‘vital’ email distribution list on the night of the Auckland floods. But internal emails from the mayor’s chief of staff show he was getting regular briefings from officials.Internal council emails obtained by ...
In a reality shaped by climate crisis, how do you think and feel about the changed present – and the changing future – without spiralling into despair?In the midst of a flood there’s not much time to think about the future. But when the water recedes, the reality of ...
06 Feb The news today of the death of 75,000 chickens at an egg farm in Waikato is yet another outrageous and avoidable tragedy. “The fact that so many hens died in this fire in the Waikato is a testament to the systemic neglect and disregard ...
Lawmakers are being urged to bridge the legal and scientific divide over braided rivers. David Williams reports What is a river? More particularly, what is a braided river? An expert group known as The Land The Law Forgot is urging politicians considering the Natural and Built Environment Bill – one ...
Someone left the Swift out in the rain - insurance agents are overloaded with calls about flood-damaged vehicles It’s been a big week for testing the submarining abilities of the family station wagon. Thousands of cars around the upper North Island have been written off following the devastating floods of ...
The first of the air force's new Poseidon aircraft has landed in New Zealand. But is this the sort of workhorse the military needs? Our old heroes of the Air Force, the P-3 Orions, have retired after 56 years of service - and the first of the flash new Poseidon ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as Prime Minister comes on relatively friendly territory. But while there have been marked improvements in the trans-Tasman relationship since a change in Canberra, there is still plenty to discuss, as Sam Sachdeva writes In many ways, it is fitting Chris Hipkins should make Australia the ...
Fiordland National Park is the crowning jewel of our national parks and arguably our greatest tourist magnet. But conservationists warn that marine life has been put at risk because the park’s waters are unprotected. Heidi Bendikson’s investigation shows they are right. Tourists on the 'M.V Sinbad' clamber to the bow to ...
As Auckland copes with unprecedented flooding, Mairi Jay points to lessons from extreme weather events in British Columbia that could be vitally important for policy-makers and administrators here “Expect extreme weather events” the climate scientists tell us. But sometimes the extreme is beyond our imagining. On Thursday January 26, New Zealand’s Met Service predicted ...
UK and US deals for NZ novels Three of the best New Zealand novels of recent years are about to be published in the UK and the US. All three books – She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall, Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly, and The New Animals ...
Confidence from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell kept markets buoyant. But mortgage payments and job losses could dampen consumer spending in NZ ...
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RNZ News New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described today’s Waitangi Day dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. Hundreds of people gathered before dawn to commemorate 183 years since Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed. Hipkins said the national ...
By Hilaire Bule, RNZ Pacific Vanuatu correspondent in Port Vila Vanuatu’s prime minister has stressed any future employment within the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat must be from MSG member countries. Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, who is also chair of the MSG Secretariat, made the statement following the recruitment of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Yamin Kogoya On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces. The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was ...
By Kālino Lātū, editor of Kaniva News Dr Sitiveni Halapua, former deputy leader of Tonga’s Democratic Movement, has died aged 74. Born on February 13, 1949, he was a respected academic, a pioneer of Tonga’s democratic reforms and pioneer of a conflict resolution system based on traditional practices. Halapua earned ...
COMMENTARY:By Richard Naidu in Suva Five weeks on from Christmas Eve, I think most of us are still a bit stunned at what has happened in Fiji. A new government came to power in dramatic circumstances. It took not one but two Sodelpa management board meetings to change it, ...
By Red Tsounga Another house done, and onto the next . . . Volunteers working in Mount Roskill community over the past few days helping those suffering from Auckland’s flash flood devastation have done us proud. Tremendous work by everybody. Here are some random photos of our volunteer teams on ...
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 Mick Tsikas/AAP Senator Lidia Thorpe announced on Monday that she would be leaving the Greens. Thorpe had split with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast The news of a so-called “Chinese spy balloon” being shot down over the US has reignited interest in how nation-states spy on one another. It’s not confirmed that the ...
Today, at a Waitangi ki Waititi concert hosted by Te Whānau o Waipareira at Hoani Waititi Marae, West Auckland; Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp was officially announced as Te Pāti Māori Candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau for the 2023 Election. Hailing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Sure, Scotty Morrison’s Māori At Work is a wonderful resource for Aotearoa’s collective te reo Māori journey. But is it judgemental enough for the modern office environment?First published September 12 2019 The growing strength of te reo is palpable across Aotearoa, with record numbers of people participating in Mahuru ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Mills, Professor and Dean La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Shutterstock It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University Chad Fish/AP Was the balloon that suddenly appeared over the US last week undertaking surveillance? Or was it engaging in research, as China has claimed? While the answers to these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described this morning's Waitangi dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. ...
Screenwriter Dana Leaming’s debut comedy series Not Even is out now on Prime and Neon. This is the out the gate story of how it got there.Kia ora, Hi, What up? Up to? U up? …I’m Dana. I wrote and co-directed (with Ainsley Gardiner) the TV show Not Even ...
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 Mick Tsikas/AAP A federal Newspoll, conducted February 1-4 from a sample of 1,512, gave Labor a 55-45 lead, unchanged on ...
The Human Rights Commission, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, last week released two reports on racism and the impact of colonialism in Aotearoa. Among their many insights was the necessity of a wider understanding of how racism manifests itself. I was honoured to accept an invitation by Te Kāhui Tika Tangata ...
Vincent O’Malley reviews a history of the battle of Gate Pā.First published February 5, 2019 Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. The road, named after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Murray Goot, Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University Support for embedding an Indigenous Voice to parliament in the Constitution has fallen. The polls provide good evidence once you work out how to find it. However, the voters who have ...
If the Labour Party were to suddenly grow a brain & a spine, what would they campaign on? A plan for the post-covid economy.
John McCrone compiles an overview: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122379921/a-kinder-greener-fairer-economics-to-replace-neoliberalism-questioning-new-zealands-chances-of-making-the-move
Labour, thinking itself clever, is pitching its campaign to the 40% minority who are slow learners: "Because they're just like us. Identity politics works."
Hegel, in the 19th century, deduced his dialectic principle from this. Applying it to politics, we get a synthesis of whichever key elements of left & right remain valid.
Not desperate yet. Plus street protests hardly ever get the desired result nowadays.
So Labour masterminds decide more of the same is the best prescription. If it is a total failure, let's do it! Dinosaur-brain Labour.
Looks like social credit updated for the new millennium, huh?
So here's where a Labour apologist can say "Look, we're already doing social credit!! But we can't tell the truth to the public because nobody would vote for us! Voters are morons, right?"
To introduce MMT they first need to burst the bubble, break up the banks and deal with the resulting chaos…..no politician is willing to propose that even if enough would vote for it which is highly unlikely.
MMT is an economic theory which includes how money functions into its understanding of the economy. It describes how the economy works today.
Your probably claiming the government would need to do something before implementing Overt Monetary Financing. But in practice this is very similar to reversing the order of borrow and spend steps of QE (which its already doing today of course). Its also true that New Zealand has historically implemented OMF during the Savage era.
This strongly indicates your own economic theory doesn't fit the real world.
MMT as you well know is a description of how (some think) the political economy COULD operate as opposed to how it currently operates.
Leaving the assets with the private banks and liabilities with the debtors and retaining the private (offshore) banks with the ability to create credit does little to solve the problem aggregate spending capacity within the economy even with the availability of currency from the issuer….that simply provides the private banks with the opportunity to extract even more from the economy, and does nothing for the debtors in the short term.
QE without addressing these issues leaves exactly where we are right now….waiting for the whole house of cards to collapse and the assets to fall into the hands of the few solvent entities left standing.
This claim is incorrect. MMT purports to describe how public spending works with QE and without QE and in a lot of other circumstances such as the Eurozone.
To contrast one MMT prediction to parts of the mainstream, MMT describes why QE (e.g building bank reserves) has not caused inflation.
Of course there are some possibilities also described by MMT which are more or less untested, such as OMF. So how does MMT describe that? Well its understood to be basically similar to QE but with a slightly different order of steps, but basically ending up with the central bank owning a large part of the govt debt itself. However if thats true then we already have plenty of evidence that this is also not inflationary, contrary to mainstream claims. Such things are the testable hypotheses of macro-economics and if your paying attention then MMT is getting these things right, where the economics mainstream is getting them wrong.
As for the rest of your comment, you appear to be describing some final economic collapse, worse than both the GFC and lockdowns impacts and with govt having no ability to counteract it. I wouldn't go holding my breath waiting for this to manifest.
As I understand it, Socred advocated depriving private banks of the right to create money. That was certainly the case in Bruce Betham's day, though I'm not sure whether it still is. Their current policy seems to be to limit that right by making greater use of the reserve ratio tool.
I don't think the idea of Banks being unable to create money can be operationalised.
Initially (as in the Chicago plan) this was tied into the notion of a bank reserve constraint on bank lending. But reserve constraints don't limit bank lending unless your nation is willing to forego payment stability (which none are).
But the kind of money banks create resides on their balance sheets (its a record of owing a customer their deposit balance) and so if you need every doller created to be govt backed at the central bank (in the interbank accounts) then you are just signing the govt up to create reserve balances to back every payment. If the central bank fails to create the reserves needed to back bank lending then payment or reserve constraint failures occur. So this must be an acceptable outcome in operationalising such a policy.
Additionally bank credit and trade credit (where you pay for work, or even a meal, after its completed) doesn't look very different so I don't see much ability to legislate against banks ability to extend credit anyway.
McCrone undermined himself unfortunately by not knowing what an Overton Window is. Interesting read otherwise.
There is a similar discussion going on in Australia at present.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=45630
The public seems to think the whole national debt malarky is getting tiresome, but the government economists are pretty attached to it.
This bit makes the RBA seem defender of the (neoliberal) faith:
Conservative authorities always try to prevent progress, but adherence to a paradigm past the use-by date prevents govts adjusting to the real world. ScoMo will have to get real sometime soon & pull whatever strings are required to produce an RBA head willing to create a future-based strategy for steering the economy.
He may even be brainstorming the options as we write. I hope he initiates some kind of liaison to the RBNZ gov plus JA/GR since regional coherence would be best for future economic steering, eh?
Its possible, I don't think that is something which will necessarily occur.
Japan has been running QE for decades now. Recently MMT was discussed in their parliament and most factions denied that MMT provided a cogent description of their economy. Obviously a better description could increase the level of public discourse on economic policy and is desirable but I don't see any force actually mandating this occurs.
Its possible that discourse could continue with central banks and treasury running QE and still insisting that at some point they will have to wind it back due to building inflationary pressures. The public may or may not believe the narrative being presented to them.
For better public discourse it would help if the process was simplified with the reserve bank directly funding the treasury spending. Making this clear would help to show the public how public finance is working in practice and would make it difficult to oppose deficits and public spending programs politically with an invalid public debt narrative.
Of course in both New Zealand and Australia to a reasonable extent the shift towards fiscal policy was automatic. Across the lock-down the shift in spending from consumption to saving happened, as did the growth in deficits required to compensate for this. And it must have become obvious that the RBNZ had to fund the deficit more or less directly to the tune of $60 billion because that happened as well and in a timely fashion. If the long run outcome is that the forecast inflation never occurs and the governments self owned debt is not unwound as a result, well I don't see any important difference between that outcome and another where the inflation and public finance forecast was more realistic in the first place.
Your comment implies that the mainstream economic theory has had a period of validity, but this has never been the case. There has not been a period where a model of a barter economy was valid (which is the mainstream model, it literally attempts to model an economy with an impossible financial system). There has not been a period where there was a mandatory minimum unemployment rate (above 0) below which inflation accelerated (the NAIRU rate), so the model of unemployment is completely broken. And there has never been a period where the central bank can target the inflation rate by targeting official cash rates (and our RBNZ was never good at limiting house price increases even with the OCR about 10-12%). Monetary policy not working out as an inflation theory was as true prior to the GFC as it has been since the GFC (where its supposed to be able to increase inflation rates).
For better public discourse it would help if the process was simplified with the reserve bank directly funding the treasury spending. Making this clear would help to show the public how public finance is working in practice and would make it difficult to oppose deficits and public spending programs politically with an invalid public debt narrative.
This strikes me as helpful & sensible. I wonder if Reddell would agree. I get the impression you may be an economist by profession &/or someone with close prof experience of public finances. In the USA such people access political leverage via institutionalised think-tanks – do we have one such relevant here? If so, your suggestion ought to be examined collegially to crowd-source consensus in that context, with a view to lobbying the next govt to make the desired change.
Your comment implies that the mainstream economic theory has had a period of validity, but this has never been the case.
Maybe so – yet it was sufficiently plausible to win the adherence of both Labour and National for 35 years.
In my limited interactions with Reddell I would expect some kind of triangulation to occur. Basically when pushed MMT is all correct, nothing surprising and not any different to the present, but also we should not do away with the concept of central bank independence and should maintain the practice of needing an authority figure to tell us which kind of deficit will be inflationary rather than making it so obvious even joe public could understand it for themselves.
I think that equates to making the system "simple enough and no simpler" when your a PHD grade policy economist.
jfc, make up your mind.
Expecting a mind to get made up is realistic in some limited contexts – as in using a recipe for baking a cake. When social & political contexts are ever-changing, a mind will view those as ever-movable feasts. 😋
Got that bit wrong didn't he.
MMT doesn't ignore resources. What it does is recognise that a nation's money is backed by that nation's economy and, as long as their is slack in the economy, then printing money is non-inflationary. Under such a system taxes become a form inflation control as interest rates are now (and don't which don't actually work as super-inflated house pricing shows).
The reason why Labour, National and ACT don't like MMT is because it proves that capitalists are bludgers.
Once the government becomes the sole supplier of money in the system the need for interest rates, shareholders and profits disappears. And where then would the Cullen Fund and our self-proclaimed VIP of business be?
MMT still uses a market economy – it just gets rid of capitalism.
MMT still uses a market economy – it just gets rid of capitalism
Seems like an insight worth recycling! I can't claim to comment from any perspective of expertise – my involvement with Greens economic policy development was always that of a radical heretic who had a partial grasp of establishment economics.
I suspect that others may quibble somewhat. Unless you have a design mechanism for eliminating held capital, those who hold it are alway likely to be players in the game, regardless of govt making radical rule changes.
Perhaps you are implying the incentive-structure of the game is sufficiently changed by govts using MMT that capitalist players will see no way to profit from playing?
With MMT properly put in place having money will no longer grant more money. No interest rates to charge workers for the privilege of borrowing
Existing owners will still be able to bludge but the economy will shift around them until they can’t. Its not an immediate fix but will come about over time.
With the government creating money openly the private will need to be stopped from doing so and thus will end the private banks and their bludging.
Always worthwhile to read Why we can't afford the rich to get a better understanding of how they bludge so much off of the rest of us and how getting rid of them will make the economy perform better and make the rest of us better off.
Capitalists are bludgers and they cost us billions every year. And that's just in NZ.
Hegel is the reason why Marx wrote a shit prescription even though he was a brilliant diagnostician.
Haven't they got enough on their plate right now?
If the Labour Party were to suddenly grow a brain & a spine, what would they campaign on? A plan for the post-covid economy.
That's been true since Rogergnomics. But NZ politics has reached the point of decay where not releasing policies is more likely to win or retain votes. As it stands they're more like that song from How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying:
Finch: Is there anything you're against?
Twimble: Unemployment
Finch: When they want brilliant thinking from employees
Twimble: That is no concern of mine
Finch: Suppose a man of genius makes suggestions?
Twimble: Watch that genius get suggested to resign
Releasing policy would just give the floundering Gnats and their media sycophants something to focus their malice upon – better to let them stew in their febrile resentment – it doesn't resonate with voters.
It has proven infinitely safer for Labour to try to deliver some desirable outcome, like building houses, than it is to promise to do so. Pretty dysfunctional from a democratic perspective, but the media that ought long since to have pilloried and driven out epic non-performers like Brownlee and Smith is MIA on that front.
Reti, Q&A: Sunlight on our policies, but we'll keep our experts secret.
Way more lucid than his 'leader' though, eh.
The only reason they are keeping the experts hidden must be because they are not credible. Reti's reason for not naming them was weak.
("They work for for other governments and organisations")
This epidemic is the most important issue facing the country and I think the public are entitled to know where National’s advice is coming from so we can judge the soundness of advice for ourselves. The whole thing smacks of ‘we know best’
Yesterday, Reti invited his experts to present themselves if they wished.
So far, tumbleweeds.
Following National's devastation in October, it will be time for that hapless "Health spokesman" to RETIre, methinks.
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Geddit?
Ah, National getting its instructions from their foreign owners.
When does Jacinda Ardern get a break? Not for her the games of golf with other Leaders or celebrities. Her few days off are spent with Clarke and Neve out of the spotlight.
I hope she is getting affirmations for her unrelenting positivity genuine mahi and care for all citizens.
I have been accused of being a Jacinda fan. Well, yes I am, as she is remarkable.
Yes, I worry about her too Patrica. She looks too thin to me. Not surprising given the huge load she is currently carrying. Yet I get the impression that if she dares to let up and have a short break she will be loudly criticised by her opponents – notwithstanding her predecessors were known to have good sized breaks from time to time.
She's the Churchill of the war on Covid.
Just keep on PM Jacinda and the time will fly. Then get a few things going and a quiet break in Cook Islands?
Think she had family connections in Nuie – though there are plenty of quiet local places who'd be glad to have her come to that.
I imagine such breaks depend on having talent holding the fort – Megan & Chippie seem to be growing into that role.
The first bloke might like a bit of time to hone his artistic response to the best fishing program of all time too.
Patricia Brenner. I heartily endorse your comment on Jacinda. She is thrown to the wolves every day but counters everything with grace, good manners, non confrontation in reply and is unfailingly unflappable. I would say the same of the frontline team. I am in awe of their ability to front up to lower level reporters who seem to be there mainly to force them into *owning up* to supposed cock ups, debacles, shambles etc and stay calm in the face of such unmitigated jackalism. New word. Just invented it. They are indeed the dream team and nobody expects them to get everything right first up. They are human. And their ability to accept and then reset immediately is in my book amazing and calming. Go the dream team. My opinion only.
" My opinion only."
A good opinion though.
Agree Patricia. There was a rumour on #hellholeNZ that Jacinda, C lark and Neve were at Oriental Bay yesterday. Hope it was true……..
I am concerned labour are in a precarious position now due to the outbreak. There is unrelentingly negative publicity about it. Donald Trump is inadvertently the only one bringing some perspective (unintended of course).
People are not commenting on the remarkable response to the outbreak and how effective it has been. Gorman etc are getting air time saying how poor the contract tracing has been which is laughable. UK got private firm doing contract tracing, rates of 50%
i read the first two sentences of what you wrote Denis “if Labour would grow a spine and a brain”………………..wow man where have you been the last six months? What the fuck do you think labour has been doing? Brain and spine more than evident in covid response, so wake the fuck up. Right now covid and it’s immediate aftermath is all that matters.
This election we either vote in a labour led govt or a National led govt. if you have bleated on here about labour and spines etc, don’t come crying when Collins is running the show
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/23-08-2020/exclusive-new-poll-how-have-testing-issues-and-the-new-outbreak-affected-public-confidence/
Look at this poll, shows how out of step the TV1 & Herald & Stuff & National Party etc … are, they don't represent the public mood at all, how ever much they try to rile people up. Maybe the constant attacks are making the public like the present Govt more, it seems no one expects perfection, unlike some commentators even here, the Govt are competent. I for one can't be bothered reading many journalists anymore, the disconnect with reality is getting more & more telling, I can see with my own eyes that NZ is not a hellhole, even the anti lockdown 'protest' was just pathetic, more people go watch Sat morning sport & the field up the road.
The chosen approach gets another month to rub over the electorate and now Reti has to dance on the head of a pin. How good will those dance moves be.
That internet thing means folk don't just consume the duplicity/tawdrey/hosk spin. Also kiwis abroad keep whanau in the real picture they live each day outside the pacifica zone.
Are we a miserable whining lot with a fair number only thinking of me, me.
I'm suggesting people vote as if their lives depend on it. Because it just might be that.
aj I agree. Vote as if your life depended on it but it likely does actually. Who do you trust to lead us through Covid. That will be the task of the next Govt.
This election we either vote in a labour led govt or a National led govt – Whilst National is lacking Labour still IMO still be subjected to critical review of what they are proposing. Otherwise we have what the USA had in their last election – Voting for the 2nd worst option
If the boarder issues regarding testing had not been questioned, would the current testing regime of frontline staff have been ramped up and so promptly ?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/08/covid-19-testing-for-border-workers-ramped-up-after-government-pulled-big-lever-to-make-it-compulsory-chris-hipkins.html
Herodotus, I don't see Labour as the 2nd worst option and I don't believe they are. They are the best option.
The Govt had understood from the MoH that border staff were being tested. They ramped it up when they found out it wasn't. Turns out the tardiness of implementing the border checks hasn't lead to wide spread community outbreak. It has lead to one matanance man getting Covid and I fully sympathize with him………
We still don't know the origin of the Auckland cluster………its possible that a returnee tested negative on 12th day and took it into the community as the virus is tricky and the tests not 100% reliable.
Perhaps I poorly constructed the comment. With a poor opposition all the current govt has to do is out perform a crap performing National party. There is no challenge to have a coherent and well planned out implementation of policy. Need I detail The Kiwi Build, and Labour decided to increase the build from 50k to 100k ??
"Turns out the tardiness of implementing the border checks hasn't lead to wide spread community outbreak" – How many fortunate outcomes can we hope for ? We shouldn't he hoping for chance to help us out. We should expect mistakes and see modification/evolving of policy to reduce the risk.
Herodotus our Govt has outperformed nearly every govt in the world. Just in terms of Covid nos everyday I check the figures and NZ has just gone down the order we are now 140.
We have to hope for all the lucky breaks we can get with this virus while doing absolutely everything to the highest standard possible. To date Labour have had an inquiry into contract tracing sometime in April? and found it wanting and so ramped it up. This has clearly paid dividends in this latest outbreak. Outstanding response. Then there were the issues around testing returnees uncovered in June and since then testing regime up and running….then the idiot people absconding from quarantine, they fixed it. And now they have ramped up the testing of staff..
We also have to hope for chance or good luck because despite all our best effort we can get unlucky e.g. the worker who tested positive likely after touching a lift button.
Grow a spine, what a line,
From some Trumped up fellow,
Do you mean like NAT cold blue,
Or perhaps like ACT of yellow.
Red is a warm and friendly colour,
Green is quite soothing too,
But to grow a spine, a stupid line,
Is just a pile of poo.
funny.
Dennis is left of Labour in case that matters.
it's a commenting style that doesn't suit everyone.
I usually don't bother to read Denis. Too long and so gave him a shot this morning and he opened with the brain/spine comment, which I thought was ignorant beyond belief and that sort of commentary both angers and scares me (in Covid times). I am not too bothered where Denis sits on the left/right continuum slating a govt that has managed the hardest crisis NZ has had in lifetimes when they have done an outstanding job is a plain ignorant. They have saved 100s/1000s of lives by exercising their brain and spine.
why? It is because he is left to labour that he raises some questions that are fair imo.
Raising question about the long term planning is fair. It is election time, so please Labour talk. I read the speech at the campaing release, and to be honest i am underwhelmed in the parts that i expect to be the big issues in the next years. Unemployment, future investment into employment and the current issue of women losing their jobs at a higher rate then men, older more then younger, etc. IF labour thinks that promising to double the flexi scheme invented by Paula Benefit will get me or others hot n bothered, they need to think again. Promising a few dollars to those that have lost their jobs to maybe start their own business? Lol, and then they get a phone call and they are in Level 3 and can't work. lol.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/423061/labour-launches-re-election-campaign-with-300m-plan-to-create-thousands-of-new-jobs
not wanting to say anything, but that undermines the min wage like big time if you only offer wages for 30 hours while someone ends up working double or more. Nevermind tho, its the thought that counts? Right? Also anyone not being able to work from home and or in roading/heavy infrastructure/shovel ready government investment is at risk of long term unemployment in the current global situation. Any government that fools itself in believing that 7500 $ is an attractive amount to hire people is deluding themselves, but then maybe earning several thousand of dollars per week might just have an impact on that thinking when it comes the poor.
Just take the 'underspend' and distribute it fairly among the unemployed so that they can eat and have a roof, and chances are that would help the community and create employment….but then we don't actually want to increase unemployment and social welfare. And i don't count the extra 25 per covid level week an increase, even tho its tacked to the main benefit, as it is temporary and can be cancelled at any moment.
The wage subsidy did effectively that, flatten the curve of unemployment, and the Covid unemployement rate (cause unequal is us (TM) ) will expire 12 weeks after that.
Mind this article was from 8.8. and thus before the new outbreak showed up, but i do hope that they consider what they actually expect from people ….to start up a business, to rehire people, while at the same time not being able to have any stability at all. All it takes is a bullhorn at 8 am in the morning and you are in Level 2 – 4 and can't work.
Yes, Labour needs to do better, personally i would rather see some ideas of early retirement, a proper increase in base benefits to the level of the wage subsidy as this is now a proven amount in regards to let people have a roof and eat.
Not all questions are put downs, and it is jarring that there seems to be a reflex reaction to shout down those that dare ask.
Which is fully against the standard economic theory (or any market based theory really). If the business could afford to employ more people to expand then they would already be doing it. They're not which means that that business has already reached its limits and throwing money at it probably won't help.
Better for the government to help create some new businesses and actually develop our economy. That would probably employ more people and the businesses would be more likely to be sustainable.
Yep, that worked well but it's not a viable long term plan. Short term and even mid term to allow businesses to adjust to the new paradigm but we're going to need something beyond that and that is mean developing new businesses and it can't be left to the bludging rich. They just don't get it nor do they care.
The government needs to look at what needs to be done to develop the economy across a range of industries that presently aren't here. Then, and only then, will we have a viable plan.
Yeah, that's going to happen. Too many people retiring and not enough workers to support them. That's why governments have been raising the retirement age for the last few decades and importing lots and lots of people.
Well, the other option is to increase unemployment level and instruct the Winz drones that part of kinder and gentler means to not harrass people into applying for jobs that don't exist and will need to be created first.
And i have total confidence that new businesses will be created, people are good like that. But unless we have a hang on the covid crisis, and are no longer a phone alert away from a total lockdownm it is cynical in my books to expect people to actually do that.
Sabine have you read the budget? There is a long term plan along with short term covid beating ideas.
I note how scathingly you write. Do you think the Government has not done enough? Covid is our present danger and our poor are not being left to fend for themselves, neither are they being blamed or vilified by their leaders as has happened elsewhere.
The actual election has not started yet. Those things you want are fine in normal times, but life has changed, it will never be what it was, as we are running to dodge this evil but still may be overtaken by the larger problem of climate change.
By putting wellbeing at the centre of planning we have a new social contract with this Government. People again see the Public Service as being there for their good. All of this takes time and clever balanced planning.
In spite of the naysayers, much has been achieved, and we are doing an exceptional job in containing this virus once again. There will be great struggle to overcome the effects of the virus on the world. We are lucky to be doing that without the ongoing deaths associated with that.
I am fearful that those who want "instant solutions to complex problems" may whittle support 'till we end up with the "bullying parent". That would be grim.
Well said Patricia
I have read the budget, i have linked to the the article outlining the budget and used Jacindas words. Nothing scathingly about, unless now the only opinion that is allowed is that of flowery positive humbug. Sorry, but i find that hard to believe, and again, some of us have a different perspective about certain things.
No the government has not done enough just yet – not because i say so, but because they know that they have not done enough yet, themselves. Hence the increase in the flexi wage system and the rolling out of a few dollars to some hapless unemployed people now so that they can start their business so as to not clutter the unemployemnt queues more then that. Hence the extra 2 weeks wage subsidy. Without it Labour by now would be dead in the water and way more people would be unemployed. So Labour looks good because it did the easiest and fastest things, re-fund us some of the taxes we pay via the wage subsidy. The shovel ready jobs, nice, helped get men of the unemployment queue, now do something for the women for whom unemployment has increased.
The actuall election started on 08.08 with the start of the election campaign, and the roll out of the budget and the promises of things to come. I personally am happy that it got extended and if only for the Government – which btw is more then just Labour, as it is also Green and NZF, to revisit some of their ideas and maybe adjust them to the new reality of Covid in the community from a as of now unknown source.
And no a well being app is nothing worse to be proud of. So far no societal contract has been established that looks after the poorest, the homeless, the beneficiaires etc, they are still on their starvation rations via Winz and no changes in the air. (that much vounted $ 25 per week is a Covid benefits – mind any day they would like to they could just make that permanent – after all they will claw it back with the decrease of fringe benefits to the same amount).
And if you state that much has been achieved as a Yes sayer, please link to all the things that have been achieved for those that need it the most. That is my litmus test. Will the changes benefit those that have it the hardest in our society and frankly no they have done the bare minimum as of yet.
I don't want instant solutions nor have i ever asked for them, i have been for years now very much asking for the same things. Better housing, better benefits for those that need it, better public transport and cheaper, less cutting down of trees to build garages and such.
As of the election, it is Labours and the Coalitions to lose, it always was. And for those that want to see Labor go it alone or only with the Greens, well it is your job to give reasons to those that a. sit on the sidelines, b. can't be arsed to vote because non of the party cares for them (1 million last time around, and c. might actually have to live with the fact that again they need NZfirst. The supporters of the No mates party will do what they want, and personally i don't care, as i will never in my life time consider voting for them.
And personally i would very much enjoy a good write about by some of our less scathingly writing peeps, detailing us all the good things Labour has in place for us, specially the unemployed.
And far above, clearly.
I saw the "grow a brain & a spine" line and read no further, so thanks to Dennis I guess for having the 'courage' to lead with it.
Ardern has brain, heart and courage in spades, IMHO, but she’s a hard road finding the perfect PM.
drowsy couldn't have put it better myself
it is used commonly against others. And Ardern may be the leader of the Labour Party and the PM of the country but she is not 'alone' labour. There are other members in this party that are in government and some could benefit from a brain and a spine.
Not everything is about Jacinda Ardern. Some is literally just about the Party and like Aunty Helen, we will have to live with the Party longer then with Aunty Jancinda.
Fair enough – in my experience "grow a brain & a spine" jibes are unhelpful, but maybe now is the hour as NZ fumbles & bumbles along. Still, could be worse, eh?
It can always be worse, but that is not the matter at hand , the matter is can we ask more from the Labour Party without being accused of being negative, bitter, or against the current leader of the party.
And yes, most people don't know how lucky they are or they know it and want to do their best to keep it that way often at the expense of others. We already have quite a few people in the country for whom things are appallingly bad and who are atrociously poor. It might just not be you or me atm, but these things can change fast.
Sabine of course you can ask for more. People are entitled to post whatever (within moderator reason) they want.
One of the many reasons I like the Standard is because right now since the outbreak it gets me away from the unrelenting negativity of the msm. No perspective, only blame. F..k if I was Ashleigh Bloomfield fielding what are mostly ridiculous gotcha type questions from the media, I would be very tempted to say "Right that's it. I have f..king had enough, the job is hard enough without you pack of wankers with your gotcha ill informed questions. None of you do a job that is worth much, unlike my poor staff who actually do something useful for a living and may earn nowhere near as much as you. I suspect most of you couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, but too bad, if you think you could do better, f…king take over"
[Fixed typo in user name]
Agreed anker. 'Shock jock' jibes along the lines of "grow a brain & a spine" are unpleasant, unnecessary and, most importantly, detract from otherwise constructive criticism. Just my opinion (and choice of reaction), of course.
If some feel they are "accused of being negative, bitter, or against the current leader of the [Labour] party" to the extent that it is inhibiting their commenting, then that would be cause for concern. Otoh, instances of negatively and bitterness occasionally come across as purely vindictive – intent is so easy to misread, depending on one's perspective.
Quote for the month. 😀
I suggest that you stay away from the telly, radio and news print for a while, as you seem to not be managing the vitriol coming from it, i know i could not and thus did so years ago.
As for you having 'fucking had enough'? the same counts for the people that have lost their jobs, their homes, and those that will in the near future.
There are a lot of people in this country and elsewhere who have had fucking had enough. And you know what? It seems that no one cares. Go figure.
When you write "It seems that no one cares.", are you referring to politicians and bureaucrats, or to NZers in general?
A drop in the bucket for sure, but better than nothing.
Sabine it is hard to defeat billionaires, they have marked the cards.
So now we have a chance to change aspects of the game. Hear the squawks
Got their colours sorted.
A diamond in the shit pile.
H*****gs and Sir Brian Roche
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-h*****g-breakfast/audio/sir-brian-roche-on-nzs-covid-response-we-are-the-envy-of-the-world/
"We are the envy of the world. We seem to want to beat ourselves up for every infringement, and as a citizen I find that surprising," Roche told Newstalk ZB's Mike H*****g.
Asked by H*****g. why tests on border workers hadn't been happening, as expected, Roche said that was the "very elusive" question.
"Everyone's acknowledged that what they thought was happening, didn't. So there has to be an intervention to remedy that and I'm part of the intervention."
He urged perspective. "A mistake was made, there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of risk. No one goes to work to make a mistake; we shouldn't overstate it. There have been mistakes made. There have been some mis-communications – let's just simplify it, sort it out and move on."
Asked if there were far too many people and departments involved, Roche said: "I think that sums up the public sector but at one level it's a cheap shot. They all work together very well. This is a cross Government thing – it's led by health, the health voice is very loud but it requires a collective effort. Not everybody works as easily in that environment as you would hope."
Leadership was important at a political and administrative level. "I have had the privilege of lifting the hood at public health units. I was humbled by what I saw. The work they are doing on our behalf is unbelievable – and we have lost just a sense of perspective. Yes, this has come back, we have deployed hundreds and hundreds of people to safeguard the community. They have done it in an incredibly professional and sensitive way."
So pleased Sir Brian Roche took ignorant Hosking on regarding what is really happening. A decent sensible man talking to a jumped up self-opinionated unpleasant person.
Q and A this morning had a short story on Taiwans experience with Sars and Covid, they already had a dedicated organization for dealing with pandemics after Sars had taken so many lives, they developed a system to eradicate the virus.
The interesting thing was that the strategy was predominantly around prevention through having systems in place to to prevent and trace infections.
Taiwan has a population of around 25million, their Rate of Testing is way below ours, testing only catches infections after the fact, where as prevention prevents the infection in the first place.
The main prevention tools are Masks, Social Distancing and an excellent tracing process.
Today Taiwan has six new cases of Covid, the same number as NZ.
Testing after the fact is TOO LATE, the prevention is Far more important.
The NZs srtategy by any standard is Gold Plated, any politician critising it should be held to account, as do some members of the media that harped on about the testing regime that existed, yet, Not a Single Case was detected due to the "Failed Testing Regime".
That is the evidence that proves that testing is Not the Primary response, it's simply a backstop to prove the existing preventitive sytems are working.
Testing of boarder workers for the Covid Virus alone is a waste of time, that will only show an individual currently infectuous, we need to also be blood sampling for antibodies to see who has previously been infected, that may show the cause of current infections.This may have been happening but who would know ?.
Just is justice is about finding the Truth so you are claiming to be a health expert.
Its very easy to criticize but without the full array of facts it just helps fuel hysteria.
Trickledown
I'm just repeating what the Taiwanese Pandemic Expert had indicated given they had a specicialised Pandemic Response Organisation all ready set up.
Taiwan was hammered by the SARS virus and learnt a lot about how to minimise the Human and Financial costs of a Pandemic, they have already gone through the "Learning Curve", and one of those lessons was that Prevention is where the majority of effort should be focused.
Focusing on just one aspect, which, thus far hasn't been proven to be a contributing factor in the current outbreak (or any other issue) is time wasting and an unnecessary use of resources.
In Manufacturing the same applies, there is an old saying, "you cannot inspect quality into a product, no matter how much time you spend inspecting it", it has to made to a standard through a process that ensures the required outcome.
Inspection is the backup system
So if you don't know where or the size of the outbreak it doesn't matter.
Every country is different.
This disease can outsmart the best efforts.
I've been looking at our tax system in NZ for ordinary folks. Not terribly much info from IRD specifying percentages of tax charged for each code, and they are many. Their main message is you need to pay tax and then give a few chosen examples. I found what I wanted to know eventually looking at all the sites, public and private. Not straightforward, need more figures less generalisation and explanation.
Accommodation supplement is murky. Yet just about everyone can get it if you are ordinary people, probably the wealthy have their own channels. This was written in June 2019 and quoted this from Treasury in 2017:
In 2017, even Treasury agreed "AS [accommodation supplement] does not adequately alleviate housing stress" and New Zealand's existing housing subsidy structure is "not fit-for-purpose".
That doesn't mean they want something better for the citizen, it may be that there is a hole in its efficiency that they want to stop up. When we are finally allowed to have our election and the party that tries to be good is returned to the bouncy castle, from each office in the Beehive there will be such a buzz and rush they will turn up the cool air conditioning. Please, please vote and see if anyone around you needs a lift to a polling booth, provided of course it's not a lockdown area.
For all these reasons, the Child Poverty Action Group's just released report, The Accommodation Supplement: the wrong tool to fix the house, calls for the Government to remove the AS for most recipients while significantly raising incomes of all benefit recipients and low-wage workers. We authored this report with Alan Johnson, co-convenor of the CPAG.
Bad design of the Accommodation Supplement fuels NZ's housing crisis
– This story was originally published on Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Susan St John and Janet McAllister 13:01, Jun 03 2019
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/113200606/bad-design-of-the-accommodation-supplement-fuels-nzs-housing-crisis
Agreed Just is.
The Q&A this morning had the best summary of how Taiwan manages so well. Having a health system set up to operate well. ($10 doctors visit.) Having an understood/trusted pandemic process already in place. (I don't think masks are mandatory? but widely worn.) Absence of public undermining. Can't find the Taiwan on Q&A but worth a look.
ETTD
Oh help -looks like the front garden of a good many Hernia Bay villas nowadays – boring!!!!!!!
Fortunately, we're not heading toward a brutal winter.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is banning large gatherings, closing beaches, shutting nightspots and churches and removing fans from professional sports in strict new measures announced Saturday as it battles the spread of the coronavirus.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo announced the steps shortly after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 332 new cases — the ninth straight day of triple-digit increases. The national caseload is now at 17,002, including 309 deaths.
While most of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, which has been at the center of the viral surge in recent weeks, infections were also reported in practically every major city and town, raising concerns that transmissions are slipping out of control.
[…]
As of Saturday afternoon, nearly 800 infections have been linked to a Seoul church led by a vocal critic of the country’s president. Sarang Jeil Church pastor Jun Kwang-hun was hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday after participating in an anti-government protest last week where he shared a microphone on stage with other activists. More than 100 infections have been tied to protesters.
Police raided the church late Friday while trying to secure a more comprehensive list of its members who remain out of contact. Health workers have used cellphone location data to identify some 50,000 people who spent more than 30 minutes on the street during the protest last Saturday and have been alerting them to get tested. Around 18,000 of them have been tested, said Kwon Jun-wook, director of South Korea’s National Health Institute.
https://apnews.com/489bac2e4af8ddc0ea1a745dbf3529db?
Morrah on Mediawatch, 'we aren't here to make friends' regarding the way he's treating Bloomfield, my memory goes back to when that is exactly how he treated Peter fucking Whittall https://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/peter-whittall-it-is-personal-2010120217 or maybe Morrah has learned since then. I just remember the media back then wanting to Knight Peter fucking Whittall, so Morrah, I don't believe your weasel words.
I’m starting to wonder if there’s anyone left in the media to take potshots at the government this weekend?
Siouxie Wiles, the biochemist who has contributed a lot of easy to understand material throughout the pandemic so far, has written another useful and cogent article in the Spinoff on how to improve the Covid response, including an analysis of National's proposals. Worth a read.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/23-08-2020/siouxsie-wiles-what-does-a-robust-covid-response-look-like-for-new-zealand/
(Posted in yesterday's Open Mike by mistake!)
You ate right Koff. Wellworth a read.
The Wiles piece in discussing the National’s Border Protection Agency misses the main point. "It seems to me this policy runs the very real risk of stranding New Zealanders overseas while doing nothing to actually increase the security of our border."
The policy is not about actually increasing the security of our border, t's about the election and making out you have somehow come up with a magic formula. Will people understand or realise the logistical stuff, the reality that Wiles mentions?
"It will certainly stop some people who may be infectious from being able to travel. But given how far some New Zealanders have to travel to get home, it won’t stop people getting infected on the way."
You get a test, it comes back negative and somehow, before you get on a plane, however long that is, in whichever part of the world you're in with all the local circumstances, you know, we know, Judith Collins knows, you haven't got Covid-19 when you board your plane?
I'd like to hear how those who think that Collins is Wonder Woman can be certain no-one getting on a plane has the virus given the way the world works.
Thanks Koff. Siouxie is a gem.
50% of the speakers at the RNC are named Trump!!! 🙄
[Add width=”100%” before /> and she’ll be right – Incognito]
Where's Eric?
He's right out of view as is Tiffany! – when I posted I tied a width of 500 thinking that would shrink the image enough but it seems that that wasn't enough. I tried to edit it but the process was beyond my capabilities 🙁
They just don't get no respect, those two. Even dumb algorithms diss them.
(I haven't yet found a way to get the image size right on first go, but what works for me with the images is posting it without trying to change anything the image button does, then immediately go back in and edit the comment and add width="500" just before the /> )
Yes I have done that too in the past. Now Lynn has given us an image qualities button/option that lets you define the width before submitting; but it didn't seem to work in this case – and when I went back to edit, it came up with a lot of html script I wasn't confident in playing with.
As for the line up at the RNC – obviously they are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
BTW if you missed Michelle Obama's speech at the DNC – no worries – you can hear it again when Melania gives her speech.
Just the one new community case today. Well done, team Auckland.
Nobody likes me…
Maryanne Trump Barry was serving as a federal judge when she heard her brother, President Trump, suggest on Fox News, “maybe I’ll have to put her at the border” amid a wave of refugees entering the United States. At the time, children were being separated from their parents and put in cramped quarters while court hearings dragged on.
“All he wants to do is appeal to his base,” Barry said in a conversation secretly recorded by her niece, Mary L. Trump. “He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this.”
Barry, 83, was aghast at how her 74-year-old brother operated as president. “His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”
http://archive.li/SX2EB (wapo)
Ever day – a new WTF moment.
If there's only one … it counts as a peaceful low-stress day.
The Standard isn't working using my Android Smartphone.
The mobile version won't start/load sometimes today and the reply function hasn't worked for me since Friday evening. The desktop version will open, but when the reply function is clicked, I then can't type anything in the comment box.
Everything worked earlier last week, so maybe The Standard IT gurus can investigate.
SMoD 2020!
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/22/us/asteroid-earth-november-2020-scn-trnd/index.html
It's going to be a sucky disappointment though, like everything else about 2020. It's only about 2m diameter and only has a 0.41% chance of hitting.
Be careful about what you wish for..
There’s no denying we live in deeply partisan times and a new poll out of New Hampshire exemplifies this divide. Its results say a majority of New Hampshire Democrats said they’d rather “a giant meteor strikes the earth, extinguishing all human life” than President Donald Trump win re-election. Yikes.
https://time.com/5780556/meteor-poll-trump-new-hampshire/
True dat.
Every now and then I get a blissful moment when I forget that Kim Jong Orange possesses a tremendous bigly and more powerfully button that actually works. If he feels too much that nobody likes him, he might just choose to show us all. That would indeed be a pretty close facsimile of SMoD.
What are the chances of a direct hit on the White House? Show your working.
Do you really want the White House, or are you actually more interested in the grossly swollen head (housing a remarkably small brain) of the current occupant? The latter is a somewhat larger target with correspondingly larger chances.
went to the shops today to buy some trousers. I do that every six odd years, buy three pairs, be done with it.
No one wearing masks, literally no one. Felt a bit 'outstanding' but i needed new trousers for work.
Where are you Sabine? I went to my local supermarket today. Countdown Mt Eden and mask compliance would have been well north of 85-90%.
Rotorua. I think i saw maybe two people wearing them and they were security guys. The partner and I felt like aliens.
We really need some public education about wearing of masks, keeping distance and such.
Lmfao !!! #NZHellhole
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12358058
Thousands of Aucklanders are desperately turning to food banks as increasing job losses wipe out family incomes.
There are now 29 registered food banks serving the city. Prior to Covid-19 there were fewer than five, and one long-standing emergency food provider believes too many food banks could be counterproductive.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/covid-19/423952/thousands-of-aucklanders-turning-to-food-banks
In Takanini yesterday, cars formed queues kilometres long for food parcels from the local Sikh temple, Takanini Gurdwara Sri Kalgidhar Sahib.
Benny was among them, having lost his job with Air New Zealand during the last lockdown.
"Tons of people have been laid off. You know, we've gone through a hard time finding a job … but because of this kind of charity's donations it's really helped."
Bradley Taylor works as a landscaper, but the work has dried up so he and his young family have turned to the food bank.
"At the moment we're not getting a lot of jobs due to the second wave – people are really taking a step back now and trying to save their money," he said.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122525430/coronavirus-food-bank-demand-triples-as-auckland-returns-to-alert-level-3
“If we think this is just Covid-related, we’re missing the point.”
Before the pandemic, research by the Mission estimated that 10 per cent of Kiwis were living in food poverty.
That group has now doubled, Farrelly said.
The upside is that the pandemic has shone a light on food insecurity. There is growing awareness of the scale of the problem and the Mission is receiving proactive offers of help from the Government, Auckland Council and community groups, he said.
As well as distributing food parcels to families, the Mission has been handing out 250 takeaway bags of food daily to homeless and vulnerably housed people who do not have access to cooking facilities.
Not shits and giggles for all in #NZHellhole. #PrettyfuckingshitbeforeCovid
#ActionWEAGrecommendations #Vote4atrueleftwinggovernment
It's a worry 9 are in hospital but hasn't New Zealand done stunningly well? Middle of winter, second outbreak, zero deaths so far, and community cases coming back to zero.
Well done team of 3.5 million.
test