The Prime Minister has ordered a paid national day off work on the death of the Queen
The death of 50 Muslim men women and children murdered in Christchurch got only two minutes.
What does this say about us?
Christchurch mosque shootings: Two-minute silence on Friday to honour the dead, PM Jacinda Ardern announces
In your opinion which is more ridiculous? A one whole day national stoppage for the death on the other side of the world of the Queen of England in her bed? Or the two minutes national stoppage for innocent deaths of Muslims murdered at prayer in this country?
I would like to ask you, DB which commemoration is more ridiculous?
I know which one I think is more 'ridiculous'
DB I can't help thinking how much more significant and worthwhile it would have been for us if the PM had ordered the country to take a day off for us to reflect on the lives and cruel deaths of of 51 defenceless innocent Muslim men women and children here in our country at the hands of a racist white supremacist?
How much more significant and worthwhile this would have been than ordering the country to take the day off in honour of the life and death of an uber rich white women on the other side of the world?
Maybe our leaders could pass legislation as they have done for the Queen's death, order that on the next significant anniversary of the Christchurch killings, that we are insightful and caring enough to mark out of respect for the dead in the terrible tragedy in Christchurch with a one off day off.
I played the ball she replies with a bunch of personal pleas like one of those email ads trying to sell us a course for a motivational speaker. It may go on and on but I'm done with that speaker on that topic.
Also, you might have noticed – I short-ban myself if I get too tetchy.
Fuck off you and your clown shoes. I called you out when you, by name several times, tried drag me into your pathetic charade. You utter fuckwit.
[lprent: Less of that, please. While that is how I often think of you, I really don’t think that it adds anything to the debate. It is the act of a simpleton with poor control and no argument. ]
We could have a real debate to examine the real cost of private transport on deaths and environmental damage, and how to effectively lower the road toll.
Why should one off commemorations be limited to celebrating royalty?
Maybe having one off paid days off work could be the way to have a national discussion and debate to examine and reflect on such major questions. It may very well be a way to engage the public and enhance our democracy.
Anyone who believes that a day off work involves people engaging in national discussion and debate on major questions, is invited to observe how the majority of Kiwis spend Waitangi Day.
“Do you think there should be a day off for the Pike River miners as well?”
Jimmy
Yes.
It should have been done.
We can have a one off day for the death of the figurehead of one of the most brutal empires in the history of the world, but we can't have a day off to commemorate the deaths of honest working men who died arguably unnecessary deaths in the service of a fossil fuel company. .
Maybe if we had had a one off day to commemorate those men's deaths, it would have given us a chance to have a national debate to examine our collective consciences over whether those workers should have been engaged in that dangerous and environmentally damaging practice in the first place.
…..The most dangerous form of energy for workers is:
In raw number of deaths: coal (by a long shot).
….Britain built itself on dangerous coal mines. The Oaks colliery disaster in 1866 killed more than 380 miners, close to the number who have probably died in Soma. Industrial advancement has invariably killed thousands of coal miners. It's true that now, better means of extraction are available. But coal mining remains inherently dangerous. Maybe it's time for a better way to modernise?
Coal is a fossil fuel, and is the dirtiest of them all, responsible for over 0.3C of the 1C increase in global average temperatures. This makes it the single largest source of global temperature rise…..
Instead of being treated as adults and equals we are made to passively consume images of empty pageantry and rituals of a dying empire on the other side of the world. Spoon fed endless mindless discussion and debate over the smallest minutia of the British Royals' lives (and deaths). Not that any of this has any relevancy at all to most people's real lived experience. Except as a form of escapism.
we are made to passively consume images of empty pageantry and rituals of a dying empire on the other side of the world.
Ah, no. You are perfectly free to switch the channel on the TV coverage (should you actually watch that archaic form of media), and read/watch something else.
As, based on your frequent posts on international affairs, you clearly have done.
No one is forcing you to watch anything – either passively or actively.
Just as I (oh, heresy in NZ) am not particularly interested in rugby, and don't enjoy/watch or 'passively consume' the endless forensic analysis of the latest AB win or loss – and, therefore, choose not to watch/listen/read the coverage. However, I don't demand that the coverage cease to be produced for the benefit of those who do enjoy it – simply because I'm not interested.
A lot of time and money and effort has been put into encouraging us to become passive consumers of the pageantry and rituals of a moribund empire on the other side of the world. The purpose of course is not to change it. (to paraphrase mangle Marx)
Well, yes. That is just as true of the Kardashians, Johnny Depp & whoever the latest sports royalty is.
Railing against press coverage of something which demonstrably has a significant degree of popular interest – but which you don't happen to like – is an entirely futile activity.
With the wall to wall coverage, that would have been hard.
Even if you were actively averting your eyes I am sure Belladonna that you would have viewed at least some of this footage or been aware of the massive fandom generated by it. If you did the opposite and watched the MSM media all you liked and you would have found it hard to get news of the terrible climate disaster in Pakistan unfolding before our eyes, removed from before our eyes.
With the wall to wall coverage, hard to do in this case.
And I sure Belladonna that you, and probably everyone you know, would have watched at least some of it.
And even if you didn't, you would still have been aware of the massive Stan-dom being generated by this wall to wall coverage and hype.
But let's say, for arguments sake, you did the opposite to what you advocate, and didn't boycott the mainstream media.
The climate disaster and resulting deaths of ordinary people in Pakistan unfolding in front of our eyes removed from in front of our eyes, replaced with wall to wall coverage of the death of one, very white, very rich, very old lady.
You would have to be a hermit living in a cave to not be aware of the Queen's death. But you could easily be unaware of the climate catastrophe in Pakistan. Which is still ongoing, with little relief for the people caught in it.
Royal pageantry and ritual is the original and oldest way of generating Stan Culture. As Juvenal said give them circuses to keep the people diverted from public policy and civic duty.
"Bread and circuses"
…. is attributed to a poet active in the late first and early second century CE, and is used commonly in cultural, particularly political, contexts.
…..The phrase implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a [political] priority....
The Queen's greatest public service, for which she has been heaped endless praise and honours, has been to rehabilitate the reputation of imperialism and colonialism.
King Charles will be allowed to continue his mother's work and carry out his main political duty to white wash imperialism.
But Charles Windsor the former Prince of Wales has been reminded (more than once) of his civic duty, now that he is King, not to agitate on climate change and to concentrate on his main role.
……environmental campaigners will be watching closely to see if he continues to advocate for climate action and is able to help drive change as monarch.
In his first speech to the nation as monarch on Friday evening, Charles warned his new role will now limit his activism.
"It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply," he said in a televised address. "But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others.”
Unfortunately all the gold braid and pageantry in the world will not save us, or our King.
[You failed to provide the link to Wikipedia for your quote on “Bread and circuses”.
You changed the quoted text (aka butchered it) in a way that was not clear and this only became clear by going to the original text.
This may not seem a big deal, this time, even relatively harmless, but this apparent clumsiness with selective quoting, altering text, removing context, et cetera, is often used as a tool for influencing and manipulating.
When you quote we have to trust you that your quote is a perfect representation (aka copy & paste) of the original text and an accurate representation of the meaning/message. Please lift your game – Incognito]
Not really hard to avoid at all.
I chose to stay up and watch the actual funeral coverage (I happen to like old buildings, pageantry and church music)
But it was a deliberate choice – it was hardly in prime time viewing (from about 10pm onwards).
And haven't paid attention to any other coverage subsequently. I read the papers online, and simply choose not to read any of the articles. And, in common with the majority of Kiwis under 60, I don’t watch TV news – and catch up with any programmes on demand (i.e I choose what to watch and when to watch it)
It hasn't been hard.
Disasters in Pakistan would still not have had high profile coverage in NZ – regardless of any royal pageantry. Our media is fairly parochial – and those of us with wider interests know that we have to supplement them from overseas.
Luckily, in this modern age, this is relatively easy to do.
Your complaint about saturation coverage might have had validity in the 1950s (King George VI's funeral and Elizabeth's coronation) – when there were few (if any) media alternatives in NZ – the local paper and the TV channel were the sum total. These days – people's consumption of media comes from so many sources that it's virtually impossible to achieve the slanted presentation that you appear to believe is the secret plan of the British monarchy.
I can assure you, that the coverage of the Kardashians, Johnny Depp and Roger Federer continues unabated (based on a quick sample of my newsfeeds this morning). All continuing to suck media attention away from Pakistan, Ukraine & climate change. Why are those circuses (without even bread) not a target for your ire?
"Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it"
George Santayana
If the government passed legislation that at the next significant anniversary of the Christchurch massacre a one off national day of reflection on the causes of this tragedy, it would be sign of our maturity as a nation.
We commemorate the war dead of the First and Second World Wars. We don't commemorate the war dead of the New Zealand Wars.
We condemn German and Japanese fascism but we don’t condemn British imperialism or colonialism.
Because alongside our culture of remembering and commemorating historical events, we have another culture of forgetting historical events that we don't want to remember.
I have heard a number of commentators saying that the death and life of the Queen of England will be remembered for ever in history. They are probably right.
How about this: Heeding George Santayana's caution, taking the precedent of a one off day to remember and reflect on life and death of the British Monarch. the government legislate; That at the next anniversary milestone of the Christchurch massacre a one off day stoppage will be called to reflect on this terrible tragedy committed in our midst, to learn and never forget, so that such a thing is never repeated.
We should all be heartilly sick of being global followers. John Key wanted us to be 'Fast Followers' It's time we stopped being followers and started being leaders. I have long supported calls for this country to be a global leader, in social in climate justice and peace issues.
P.S. It was very heartening to see on TV1 News tonight that New Zealand will be taking a global lead on dealing with plastic waste, especially encouraging are moves to sheet the responsibility back to the big plastic polluters at the point of production instead of the public at the point of consumption. Something I have long argued was sorely needed
Yeah I saw this. These economists and their banking buddies are worse than useless, they're detrimental to society.
The plan here is to make many people poor so they can't afford to participate in society. This will in turn reduce demand for goods so prices drop and rich people can get cheaper goods.
We could have put ceilings on corporate profitability – the prices got jacked by corporations, not consumers. We could have retrospectively hit them with windfall taxes, of course we have not.
They blame supply and demand. They blame employment figures. They blame subprime mortgages, wars, pandemics, markets – anything but the truth of bank and corporate roles in society today – to take everything they can get their grubby hands on.
Yesterday, after widespread advertising for stories of supermarket profit gouging, I noticed several exorbitant prices have suddenly shrunk overnight. Flax meal, tahini, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, vegan mayo – all came down significantly since the last shop… Almost like they've been taking the absolute piss.
These people are a fucking disgrace. But just try stop the profit gouging – communism!
Belive me I'm less than pleased that just when I finally got into a wage bracket that I thought might give me a chance of getting some security for my future, just got gobbled by the inflation monster, but I don't want 50,000 extra people on the dole to fix it for me.
No wasn't 'going there at all'. A large portion of the inflation is beyond NZ's control and would not matter who was in government.
Some though is definitely due to the reserve bank.
I genuinely think that making ends meet and affording petrol, groceries, mortgage and rent payments are the biggest and most immediate concern to many NZers. Many people have had pay increases this year (and it is a good time to ask the boss for a rise), but I think it will really tighten up next year with many companies unable to afford to give further pay increases.
As NZ inflation is mostly less than our trading partners.
No. It is not due to the reserve bank.
Except, of course for the house price inflation over the last several decades, Which is due to tax policy since the 90's, lack of curbs on foriegn "investment" and imported cheap labour numbers.
NZ inflation is greater then all our trading partners except the Americas and Europe.
The NZ $/US$ of which all trade is realized to include Freight and insurance has depreciated 14.4% YTD,
Our current account is 7.1% of gdp and is nearing the worst it has been,our debt loading is increasing as is government debt and with an increasing interest bill on sovereign debt doubling over the next 2 years.
High interest rates are here to stay,the days of easy money are gone,and can only be dampened when core inflation ( shelter,utilities and service inflation) reduces.
Nah, if there is such a concern of govt spending impacting interest rates then there will be a quiet conversation between Orr and Robertson (in a smoke filled room), followed by another round of QE and the govt owning more of its own debt.
If the RBNZ wanted interest rates at zero it could of course lower the OCR just as it has raised it recently.
This means sweet FA, but may well send you into a commenting frenzy.
The RBNZ balance sheet has increased around 7 billion since march,the so called QT has not happened as the RBNZ lent at OCR rates to Banks ( 12 billion to xmas)
NZ debt is firmly in the hands of the kindness of strangers very similar to the UK were debt rates go through the roof.
Nabarro at Citi said the changes in the markets will not have escaped the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee which will see declining investor confidence in British assets as an unwelcome complication in its fight against inflation and could leave interest rates higher for longer.
"We suspect at least some on the committee have observed the simultaneous sell-off in sterling and gilts with no small degree of concern," Nabarro said. "In our view, these risks should increasingly be at the centre of the UK policy discussion."
The only entity which can bankrupt a central bank is its legislature. This makes the question of central bank profit, loss and equity completely irrelevant. Unlike most entities, negative equity has zero impact on central banks ability to function.
Of course the way Citi bank talks about policy is in those terms because this is just the common language for "we recon the BofE should keep bumping interest rates up" (which co-incidentally helps Citi's profits). But, as Japans central bank policy is highlighting, alternate policies can equally be pursued at their discretion, including to lower interest rates.
Japan has 2 trillion in foreign exchange sitting in overseas banks,earning increasing interest payments.Its offshore investments outweigh its onshore foreign liabilities,this weak its 10 yr bond did not trade for 3 days.
The RBA decreased the ability to raise funds to protect its currency or Interest rates it de levered.
Sure, the RBA probably did for some combination of those reasons. But for some reason you didn't put it that way instead focusing on the "cost" of economic policy as if the RBA has any need to earn profits.
And regarding the BoJ (or other central banks) we can only evaluate any external limitations to its policy when they visibly buck market expectations and considering how that works. Highlighting foreign exchange reserves on a balance sheet is about as credible as the old story that, Japans long history of avoiding inflation while running QE for decades, was due to Japanese house wives saving rates.
Obviously when we consider some of the actual outcomes of RBNZ policy (e.g maybe 50,000 additional unemployed) some people are proposing its time to actually run some of the experiments and see how these theories stack up. Frankly if the NZ exchange rate fluctuates 2% off US inflation coming in low (but somehow also above market expectations), we could maybe focus on the economic policy bits we can actually control.
The Japanese household saving rate in July (last data) was 37.7% of disposable income..
With unemployment and some model showing 50k,would it not be better to reduce immigration,( which is a similar number) or would there be just a pool of unemployable.
Jobs full time positions increased by 7000 in the week ending 14/8.When the data reflects a decrease in value,the first affects will be in the service industry which it seems is not affected.
Sure, maintaining the lower immigration rate does seem to be having some positive outcomes for NZ.
As far as RBNZ policy implementation goes, their official policy position of running a raised cash rate, is supposed to flow through to the economy via elevated unemployment. AFAIK their expectations should be that domestic inflation will not decrease without the extra 50,000 unemployed. But this seems to have changed since they were initially just saying the country would need to accept the transitory (e.g. supply side) inflation and spread its burden fairly until it abated.
And inputs expensive…and it is all relative as your 'trading partner inflation rate' comment indicates.
A major issue is our exchange rate volatility….it makes long term investment decisions problematic…who will (either onshore or off) commit capital when any decision can be rendered a loser with a currency swing such as we have been subjected to the past 40 years?…a low of 0.39 to near parity with the world default trading currency and widly variable in between.
True,some will have local substitution possibilities such as cereal imported from Aus,where a new bulker on the coast will make shipping competitive SI-NI,cheaper then oz-nz. (up 70m in August)
How much further away from a notion of a decent society is that 5% of the people should be unemployed so that others may prosper. This latest advocate talks of a necessary pain. One Mark Lister gives away the mantle of altruism to the unemployed when he would better serve us and himself by trying a little altruism in his own life.
“You’ve got to cause some pain. You’ve
got to create some unemployment” he said. Marlborough Express Sept 23 2022 page 7 Business section
Have these people not twigged the inherent stupidity of their version of an economy where it is argued that we need more workers and also we need more unemployment?
If it's supply and demand issues, then we must get rid of the useless from the workforce, not the actual workers who produce the supply! Anything else would be madness. We know who is essential now (we've always known), the people who actually keep the lights on.
But there are others:
Economists are clearly useless, how many of them are there?
There's bound to be plenty of middle management playing paper-go-round in plenty of places.
Economists are funny, one day they say we need more unemployment to reduce inflation BUT the next day they say the economy lacks workers and we need more migration.
These two things are not coherent. They and their neo-liberal school are out of their depth in the real world 2022.
I'll note that when Muldoon was PM 1976-1981 there was 5 years of wage growth/inflation during which house prices flatlined and fell in real terms.
Inflation reduces the real value of assets (which one can note are overvalued) and debt (good for coming out of the QE debt of the GFC and pandemic). Containing inflation by holding down wages merely to preserve the asset wealth of a privileged elite (after a period of extreme inequality) is risible.
RBG's applying neo-liberal policy are going to risk populist pressure to the democratic fabric in way not seen since the 1930's.
You can have both national proved that I believe last time , flood the country with cheep foreign labour ,have kiwis on the dole , added bonus is a bigger target for right wingers to hate on.
… they'll allow prison for profit growth to manage homelessness (known as three strikes and clearances for urban renewal in the USA and here to manage the lack of housing).
one day they say we need more unemployment to reduce inflation BUT the next day they say the economy lacks workers and we need more migration.
That is actually coherent. More imported cheap labour = in their minds, more unemployed, less wage rises and less inflation.
The idea that you fight inflation by driving down wage price pressure regardless of other factors.
Obviously it means workers, and unemployed pay all the coats of reducing inflation. But we can't have banks and assett/housing speculators taking the pain instead, can we??
Hubby and I banked with ANZ – well firstly the National Bank, for 55 years. We told them where to go 3 years ago and moved to Kiwibank. We'd had enough of their utterings from John Key and the CEO in Melbourne (who I believe is a Kiwi) who threatened to close the N Z division down. I guess he was bluffing, but sheesh, what a tosser. Sharon Zollner also needs to pull her head in, but of course the unemployment subject is a favourite among such pointy heads who wouldn't be at all affected by such a move. Just don't get me going on the report in the Herald today about the Mood of the Boardroom
The Former Guy claims he declassified the documents he removed from the White House just by thinking about it. We didn't know he has the amazing superpower of teledeclassification.
Plotting, scheming, embezzling, gouging, dodging, lying, bullying–all skills Mr Mango Mussolini has amply demonstrated–but thinking? is a stretch.
In a fairer world Mr Trump would have been locked up years ago, but the US political establishment really has not chosen its battles with the ex President wisely at all.
New Zealand's very own Fox News, the NZ Herald, running their annual hit job on the left today. It is laughably titled, "The Mood of the Boardroom" – a name so suffused with fake gravitas it can only have come from the ponderously dull Fran O'Sullivan. The conclusion of 90 CEOs and 18 Directors is that this is the worst government since Muldoon. Yawn – rich, powerful private sector interests wanting the playing field tipped in their favour, and completely without irony, equating that with good economic management.
The winter of discontent team leader (2000) also ran an ad/editorial demanding New Zealand voters prevent a Labour-Green government (2005). Must have been so sad there when one law for all, across the board tax cuts (less money for poor families), keep interest on tertiary loans Don Brash was defeated
(Winston Peters kept his word to go with the party with more votes – Labour)(but in its way NZH represents the Koch brothers denial of need for global warming action and maintenance of a neo-liberal global regime)
Yep, and one of the Herald and ZB adherents – who also happens to be a relative – told me yesterday we have a Communist government and its going to go next year before we are all destroyed.
Does anyone know where I can locate a membership form for the VFF crowd so I can send it to her? Or the Brash crowd will do – Hobson's Choice they call themselves? 😛
But, but, but if we have a Communist Government it is headed by a 'pretty little communist' isn't it and that must count for something surely. I mean better a pretty little communist than some idiot riding a bear? Your relative should thank their lucky stars. I didn't see the man on the bear being pressed to speak at the UN or being invited to the Queen's funeral.
I know the 'pretty little comm' is correct as I read it on a poster on the tractors and trucks in the Groundswill protest. And farmers know everything don't they? Those ones do anyway.
Perhaps get a membership form for Groundswell too so she can feel the faint pulse of this crowd from the rural sector. They are not supported by the majority of rural dwellers that I can see so should be a good match for VFF & Brash's rush of blood to the head group.
Actually I think it is the "pretty little communist:" who started it cos the plc is very attractive and intelligent and she's younger and oh so popular with her overseas peers.
Its called jealousy and afflicts a lot of women. HDPA is another example.
As a swing voter looking for excuses to stay with Labour, I'm finding it harder by the day. This so called '' hit job'' on Labour was in reality a reflection of what many voting people are pondering. Grant Robertson taking at hit in the ratings should be ringing alarm bells. He has generally until now been well tolerated by the opposition and general public. For me there were some surprises in the survey. Co-governance having some support for example. Labour has been given fair warning. They can continue to flip off such findings as the deluded rantings of rich white boys wanting more bucks in their pockets, or they can cross reference this survey with public opinion polls, gain a reality check, and do something about it.
Blimey ! You appear to be the first tragically-smug Woke dogmatist here to conspicuously break ranks from the well-rehearsed narrative that Vitamin D is all part of some Far Right Trumpist conspiracy theory to deliberately perplex the hoi polloi who lack the "unusually refined moral & intellectual sensibilities" of those wannabe elites trapped in your stifling little echo-chamber.
How did dear old muttonbird put it, again ? … oh yes:
The conspiracy theorists will be disappointed, Anne. Perhaps drowning their sorrows with horse-paste and Vitamin D cocktails under tin foil umbrellas.
Meanwhile the Medical Council of NZ says that Vitamin D supplementation is not required, except in some very specific population categories:
Supplementation is not recommended for the general population, but it can be considered for individuals from groups at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
At-risk groups are identified in this guidance: people with deeply pigmented skin, especially those who wear full-body coverage clothing; people who actively avoid sun exposure; people with low mobility who are frail or housebound; people in southern regions who spend a limited amount of time outdoors; and people with certain medical disorders (eg, kidney failure, malabsorption syndromes).
Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, Kiwis in general get enough sun exposure to ensure our levels are well within the healthy range.
Vitamin D prescription in NZ doesn't correlate with a reduction in the known medical consequences of low rates (rickets, etc). And is no longer prescribed for prevention of osteoporisis (no clinical benefit). It seems as though most prescriptions are to the 'worried well'
Collectively, these findings suggest that the supplementation of vitamin D in New Zealand needs to change. Although vitamin D supplements are inexpensive to prescribe to an individual, their widespread use creates substantial costs for the health system and individual patients, and there is no clear clinical benefit from this expenditure.
Stuart-listen to this afternoon's The Panel on RNZ. Fran O'Sullivan got a roasting, got pissed off and basically fell apart when questioned by Panel members about the Mood of the Boardroom survey.
I'm going to differ with you there. Fran is a damned good journalist when she sets her mind to it. I'll grant you, that may be less than half the time, but she knocks sad idiot panel hacks out of the park from time to time. It's just that she spends too much time rubbing elbows with CEOs to be a full-on Blomkvist.
Perhaps Shanreagh and Anne describe it better below, but I stand by the fact that O'Sullivan was very unimpressive, mostly because she was defending the indefensible because the Mood of the Boardroom survey is wrong to attack the performance of this government.
From about 10.00 in. But, but, splutter is a good summary of Fran's response to some of Simon Wilson's questions…she quickly switched to saying it was a snapshot of a mood and overseas there was inflation that the CE's were reflecting on.
Most unimpressive but then these are not a group given to self reflection or acknowledgement that we have faced tough times. She did not seem to have an answer to the query about pushback on paying workers more being a way to lift people out of poverty……something that the CE's group are ostensibly concerned about.
The best response was made by Wallace Chapman when he pointed out that the report did not acknowledge the fact this government had been through a major pandemic that no other government in NZ has had to grapple with, and was able to bring NZ through in far better shape than most other countries.
I note Fran O'Sullivan immediately changed tack and pointed out that the pandemic emergency has passed, and the CEO's are concerned about what is happening now.
I paraphrase both responses.
Surely what is happening now is a direct consequence of that pandemic and the world wide disruptions etc. it created. All the blame cannot be laid at the feet of the government. It will take time to re-establish normality in all sections of society including the business sector, so it is disingenuous to pass judgement at this stage of the procedure.
I gather also there was no mention of the impact being felt over the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
Yes Anne, 'disingenuous' is a good word to describe the responses from the CEOs being discussed with Fran O'Sullivan.
As well there have been thoughts that while the situation was 'fluid' we could generally have a look at whether we wanted to go back to BAU circa 2021 or if we could be 'nimble' and take the opportunities for change.
NZ used to have a reputation for this nimbleness in days gone by not so long ago. Nimbleness is not a product of $$$$ or of handouts but of far-sightedness in business and brains working. Also adequate R & D and product and market investigation and investment.
Perhaps the CEs have been struck down by a late arriving variant of the Moaning Minnie virus that my ‘research’ showed accompanied earlier Covid variants in the general population.
This Covid virus has been long lasting, we have had to help those affected and so we have had to take time to deal with it. Some of the responses I have seen have built on the bull kaka that every country in the world except NZ has moved on. Partner is in the south of Italy travelling by public transport and says operators of public transport are fanatical about continued mask wearing on buses etc. NB NZ has no mask wearing restrictions on public transport.
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Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
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The Prime Minister has ordered a paid national day off work on the death of the Queen
The death of 50 Muslim men women and children murdered in Christchurch got only two minutes.
What does this say about us?
What a ridiculous comparison.
Ridiculous?
How?
DB could you expand on your objection
In your opinion which is more ridiculous? A one whole day national stoppage for the death on the other side of the world of the Queen of England in her bed? Or the two minutes national stoppage for innocent deaths of Muslims murdered at prayer in this country?
I would like to ask you, DB which commemoration is more ridiculous?
I know which one I think is more 'ridiculous'
DB I can't help thinking how much more significant and worthwhile it would have been for us if the PM had ordered the country to take a day off for us to reflect on the lives and cruel deaths of of 51 defenceless innocent Muslim men women and children here in our country at the hands of a racist white supremacist?
How much more significant and worthwhile this would have been than ordering the country to take the day off in honour of the life and death of an uber rich white women on the other side of the world?
Maybe our leaders could pass legislation as they have done for the Queen's death, order that on the next significant anniversary of the Christchurch killings, that we are insightful and caring enough to mark out of respect for the dead in the terrible tragedy in Christchurch with a one off day off.
Would that be ridiculous or too much to ask?
You may ask of me nothing you ridiculous fake.
'
"…..they should have been safe in New Zealand."
Prime Minister Ardern, March 20, 2019
There goes my Good Friday …
I played the ball she replies with a bunch of personal pleas like one of those email ads trying to sell us a course for a motivational speaker. It may go on and on but I'm done with that speaker on that topic.
Also, you might have noticed – I short-ban myself if I get too tetchy.
Sorry, you took it the wrong way – it was meant as a very subtle response to Jenny’s … musings. I used capitals …
"I played the ball she replies with a bunch of personal pleas…."
DB Brown
With respect DB, you didn't play the ball you replied to me with an ad hominem insult.
"You may ask of me nothing you ridiculous fake."
DB Brown
Fuck off you and your clown shoes. I called you out when you, by name several times, tried drag me into your pathetic charade. You utter fuckwit.
[lprent: Less of that, please. While that is how I often think of you, I really don’t think that it adds anything to the debate. It is the act of a simpleton with poor control and no argument. ]
Do you think there should be a day off for the Pike River miners as well?
And certainly one for the people killed in road accidents (over 350 of them every year)
Now there's a thought.
Great idea.
Again. Why not?
We could have a real debate to examine the real cost of private transport on deaths and environmental damage, and how to effectively lower the road toll.
Why should one off commemorations be limited to celebrating royalty?
Maybe having one off paid days off work could be the way to have a national discussion and debate to examine and reflect on such major questions. It may very well be a way to engage the public and enhance our democracy.
Bring on this national debate I say.
Anyone who believes that a day off work involves people engaging in national discussion and debate on major questions, is invited to observe how the majority of Kiwis spend Waitangi Day.
‘
“Do you think there should be a day off for the Pike River miners as well?”
Jimmy
Yes.
It should have been done.
We can have a one off day for the death of the figurehead of one of the most brutal empires in the history of the world, but we can't have a day off to commemorate the deaths of honest working men who died arguably unnecessary deaths in the service of a fossil fuel company. .
Maybe if we had had a one off day to commemorate those men's deaths, it would have given us a chance to have a national debate to examine our collective consciences over whether those workers should have been engaged in that dangerous and environmentally damaging practice in the first place.
Instead of being treated as adults and equals we are made to passively consume images of empty pageantry and rituals of a dying empire on the other side of the world. Spoon fed endless mindless discussion and debate over the smallest minutia of the British Royals' lives (and deaths). Not that any of this has any relevancy at all to most people's real lived experience. Except as a form of escapism.
Ah, no. You are perfectly free to switch the channel on the TV coverage (should you actually watch that archaic form of media), and read/watch something else.
As, based on your frequent posts on international affairs, you clearly have done.
No one is forcing you to watch anything – either passively or actively.
Just as I (oh, heresy in NZ) am not particularly interested in rugby, and don't enjoy/watch or 'passively consume' the endless forensic analysis of the latest AB win or loss – and, therefore, choose not to watch/listen/read the coverage. However, I don't demand that the coverage cease to be produced for the benefit of those who do enjoy it – simply because I'm not interested.
Point taken.
If I hadn't rushed I would have written;
A lot of time and money and effort has been put into encouraging us to become passive consumers of the pageantry and rituals of a moribund empire on the other side of the world. The purpose of course is not to change it. (to
paraphrasemangle Marx)Public opinion is a manufactured product.
Well, yes. That is just as true of the Kardashians, Johnny Depp & whoever the latest sports royalty is.
Railing against press coverage of something which demonstrably has a significant degree of popular interest – but which you don't happen to like – is an entirely futile activity.
Vote with your feet (or eyes in this case).
“Vote with your feet (or eyes in this case).”
With the wall to wall coverage, that would have been hard.
Even if you were actively averting your eyes I am sure Belladonna that you would have viewed at least some of this footage or been aware of the massive fandom generated by it. If you did the opposite and watched the MSM media all you liked and you would have found it hard to get news of the terrible climate disaster in Pakistan unfolding
before our eyes, removed from before our eyes.[deleted]
I’ve deleted the paragraphs that looked like they were copy and pastes but didn’t have any formatting to show that and didn’t link to the source.
‘
"Vote with your feet (or eyes in this case)."
Belladonna
With the wall to wall coverage, hard to do in this case.
And I sure Belladonna that you, and probably everyone you know, would have watched at least some of it.
And even if you didn't, you would still have been aware of the massive Stan-dom being generated by this wall to wall coverage and hype.
But let's say, for arguments sake, you did the opposite to what you advocate, and didn't boycott the mainstream media.
The climate disaster and resulting deaths of ordinary people in Pakistan
unfolding in front of our eyesremoved from in front of our eyes, replaced with wall to wall coverage of the death of one, very white, very rich, very old lady.You would have to be a hermit living in a cave to not be aware of the Queen's death. But you could easily be unaware of the climate catastrophe in Pakistan. Which is still ongoing, with little relief for the people caught in it.
Royal pageantry and ritual is the original and oldest way of generating Stan Culture. As Juvenal said give them circuses to keep the people diverted from public policy and civic duty.
The Queen's greatest public service, for which she has been heaped endless praise and honours, has been to rehabilitate the reputation of imperialism and colonialism.
King Charles will be allowed to continue his mother's work and carry out his main political duty to white wash imperialism.
But Charles Windsor the former Prince of Wales has been reminded (more than once) of his civic duty, now that he is King, not to agitate on climate change and to concentrate on his main role.
Unfortunately all the gold braid and pageantry in the world will not save us, or our King.
[You failed to provide the link to Wikipedia for your quote on “Bread and circuses”.
You changed the quoted text (aka butchered it) in a way that was not clear and this only became clear by going to the original text.
This may not seem a big deal, this time, even relatively harmless, but this apparent clumsiness with selective quoting, altering text, removing context, et cetera, is often used as a tool for influencing and manipulating.
When you quote we have to trust you that your quote is a perfect representation (aka copy & paste) of the original text and an accurate representation of the meaning/message. Please lift your game – Incognito]
Mod note
Not really hard to avoid at all.
I chose to stay up and watch the actual funeral coverage (I happen to like old buildings, pageantry and church music)
But it was a deliberate choice – it was hardly in prime time viewing (from about 10pm onwards).
And haven't paid attention to any other coverage subsequently. I read the papers online, and simply choose not to read any of the articles. And, in common with the majority of Kiwis under 60, I don’t watch TV news – and catch up with any programmes on demand (i.e I choose what to watch and when to watch it)
It hasn't been hard.
Disasters in Pakistan would still not have had high profile coverage in NZ – regardless of any royal pageantry. Our media is fairly parochial – and those of us with wider interests know that we have to supplement them from overseas.
Luckily, in this modern age, this is relatively easy to do.
Your complaint about saturation coverage might have had validity in the 1950s (King George VI's funeral and Elizabeth's coronation) – when there were few (if any) media alternatives in NZ – the local paper and the TV channel were the sum total. These days – people's consumption of media comes from so many sources that it's virtually impossible to achieve the slanted presentation that you appear to believe is the secret plan of the British monarchy.
I can assure you, that the coverage of the Kardashians, Johnny Depp and Roger Federer continues unabated (based on a quick sample of my newsfeeds this morning). All continuing to suck media attention away from Pakistan, Ukraine & climate change. Why are those circuses (without even bread) not a target for your ire?
It says alot about you.
Trying to beat up a story where none exists.
'
"Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it"
George Santayana
If the government passed legislation that at the next significant anniversary of the Christchurch massacre a one off national day of reflection on the causes of this tragedy, it would be sign of our maturity as a nation.
We commemorate the war dead of the First and Second World Wars. We don't commemorate the war dead of the New Zealand Wars.
We condemn German and Japanese fascism but we don’t condemn British imperialism or colonialism.
Because alongside our culture of remembering and commemorating historical events, we have another culture of forgetting historical events that we don't want to remember.
I have heard a number of commentators saying that the death and life of the Queen of England will be remembered for ever in history. They are probably right.
How about this: Heeding George Santayana's caution, taking the precedent of a one off day to remember and reflect on life and death of the British Monarch. the government legislate; That at the next anniversary milestone of the Christchurch massacre a one off day stoppage will be called to reflect on this terrible tragedy committed in our midst, to learn and never forget, so that such a thing is never repeated.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57322/for-the-fallen
Do you think we needed to have assassinated the queen before we were entitled to a day off?
Now that would’ve been an event worth commemorating with a day off. [Sarc.]
We're just following the practice of others – to commemorate the end of an era of a head of state. These are (normative) national occasions.
The argument for the utility of another memorial is a separate matter – and there was a planned one (annual, pandemic impacted).
'
"We're just following the practice of others…."
SPC
We should all be heartilly sick of being global followers. John Key wanted us to be 'Fast Followers' It's time we stopped being followers and started being leaders. I have long supported calls for this country to be a global leader, in social in climate justice and peace issues.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/our-plan-to-change-the-government/#comment-1183829
P.S. It was very heartening to see on TV1 News tonight that New Zealand will be taking a global lead on dealing with plastic waste, especially encouraging are moves to sheet the responsibility back to the big plastic polluters at the point of production instead of the public at the point of consumption. Something I have long argued was sorely needed
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/129960960/50000-people-may-need-to-lose-their-jobs-to-bring-inflation-under-control
Maybe the cold hearted zolner lady needs to go and come up with a better plan than fucking people lives to lower inflation
Yeah I saw this. These economists and their banking buddies are worse than useless, they're detrimental to society.
The plan here is to make many people poor so they can't afford to participate in society. This will in turn reduce demand for goods so prices drop and rich people can get cheaper goods.
We could have put ceilings on corporate profitability – the prices got jacked by corporations, not consumers. We could have retrospectively hit them with windfall taxes, of course we have not.
They blame supply and demand. They blame employment figures. They blame subprime mortgages, wars, pandemics, markets – anything but the truth of bank and corporate roles in society today – to take everything they can get their grubby hands on.
Yesterday, after widespread advertising for stories of supermarket profit gouging, I noticed several exorbitant prices have suddenly shrunk overnight. Flax meal, tahini, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, vegan mayo – all came down significantly since the last shop… Almost like they've been taking the absolute piss.
These people are a fucking disgrace. But just try stop the profit gouging – communism!
Banks have taken 30$ per week in PROFIT from every person in NZ
Can you link to where that figure came from? Sounds excessive…
It's more like $22 per person…..x52 x5million.
Last quarter 1.74 billion profit / 5 mill in 12 weeks
Is 29$
That's $7.8 billion in bank profits per annum I think they are about $6 billion altogether so that would be $23 per week from every person in NZ
Ouch
Don't shoot the messenger, wags. Thats just a more or less plain english description of what the RBNZ is planning to achieve via monetary policy.
The messenger is part of the establishment, so fuck im ,fire at will!!
'been spending most of life….living in a banksters….paradise'!
"THERE HAS GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY "
the profit Lenny Kravitz I believe
I think, in general, that jobs might be lost if people demanded higher wages to compensate for the inflation. That would seem to be the theory.
Belive me I'm less than pleased that just when I finally got into a wage bracket that I thought might give me a chance of getting some security for my future, just got gobbled by the inflation monster, but I don't want 50,000 extra people on the dole to fix it for me.
Now that you have received an increase in income, do you feel that you are better off than before?
Yes but inflation has nicked a decent chunk of it, and no I don't think it's 'cindys' fault if that's where you going jimmy old boy.
No wasn't 'going there at all'. A large portion of the inflation is beyond NZ's control and would not matter who was in government.
Some though is definitely due to the reserve bank.
I genuinely think that making ends meet and affording petrol, groceries, mortgage and rent payments are the biggest and most immediate concern to many NZers. Many people have had pay increases this year (and it is a good time to ask the boss for a rise), but I think it will really tighten up next year with many companies unable to afford to give further pay increases.
As NZ inflation is mostly less than our trading partners.
No. It is not due to the reserve bank.
Except, of course for the house price inflation over the last several decades, Which is due to tax policy since the 90's, lack of curbs on foriegn "investment" and imported cheap labour numbers.
NZ inflation is greater then all our trading partners except the Americas and Europe.
The NZ $/US$ of which all trade is realized to include Freight and insurance has depreciated 14.4% YTD,
Our current account is 7.1% of gdp and is nearing the worst it has been,our debt loading is increasing as is government debt and with an increasing interest bill on sovereign debt doubling over the next 2 years.
High interest rates are here to stay,the days of easy money are gone,and can only be dampened when core inflation ( shelter,utilities and service inflation) reduces.
Nah, if there is such a concern of govt spending impacting interest rates then there will be a quiet conversation between Orr and Robertson (in a smoke filled room), followed by another round of QE and the govt owning more of its own debt.
If the RBNZ wanted interest rates at zero it could of course lower the OCR just as it has raised it recently.
This means sweet FA, but may well send you into a commenting frenzy.
The RBNZ balance sheet has increased around 7 billion since march,the so called QT has not happened as the RBNZ lent at OCR rates to Banks ( 12 billion to xmas)
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/series/reserve-bank/our-balance-sheet
The Australian RBA took a hit removing all equity for a 36b loss on the effects of QE .
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/21/australias-central-bank-has-equity-wiped-out-by-billions-in-bond-losses.html
NZ debt is firmly in the hands of the kindness of strangers very similar to the UK were debt rates go through the roof.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/suspicious-minds-leave-uk-assets-all-shook-up-2022-09-14/
The only entity which can bankrupt a central bank is its legislature. This makes the question of central bank profit, loss and equity completely irrelevant. Unlike most entities, negative equity has zero impact on central banks ability to function.
Of course the way Citi bank talks about policy is in those terms because this is just the common language for "we recon the BofE should keep bumping interest rates up" (which co-incidentally helps Citi's profits). But, as Japans central bank policy is highlighting, alternate policies can equally be pursued at their discretion, including to lower interest rates.
Japan has 2 trillion in foreign exchange sitting in overseas banks,earning increasing interest payments.Its offshore investments outweigh its onshore foreign liabilities,this weak its 10 yr bond did not trade for 3 days.
The RBA decreased the ability to raise funds to protect its currency or Interest rates it de levered.
Sure, the RBA probably did for some combination of those reasons. But for some reason you didn't put it that way instead focusing on the "cost" of economic policy as if the RBA has any need to earn profits.
And regarding the BoJ (or other central banks) we can only evaluate any external limitations to its policy when they visibly buck market expectations and considering how that works. Highlighting foreign exchange reserves on a balance sheet is about as credible as the old story that, Japans long history of avoiding inflation while running QE for decades, was due to Japanese house wives saving rates.
Obviously when we consider some of the actual outcomes of RBNZ policy (e.g maybe 50,000 additional unemployed) some people are proposing its time to actually run some of the experiments and see how these theories stack up. Frankly if the NZ exchange rate fluctuates 2% off US inflation coming in low (but somehow also above market expectations), we could maybe focus on the economic policy bits we can actually control.
The Japanese household saving rate in July (last data) was 37.7% of disposable income..
With unemployment and some model showing 50k,would it not be better to reduce immigration,( which is a similar number) or would there be just a pool of unemployable.
Jobs full time positions increased by 7000 in the week ending 14/8.When the data reflects a decrease in value,the first affects will be in the service industry which it seems is not affected.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/employment-indicators-weekly-as-at-19-september-2022/
Sure, maintaining the lower immigration rate does seem to be having some positive outcomes for NZ.
As far as RBNZ policy implementation goes, their official policy position of running a raised cash rate, is supposed to flow through to the economy via elevated unemployment. AFAIK their expectations should be that domestic inflation will not decrease without the extra 50,000 unemployed. But this seems to have changed since they were initially just saying the country would need to accept the transitory (e.g. supply side) inflation and spread its burden fairly until it abated.
The fundamental question appears unstated….what can the NZD provide?
The answer is very little…. and even less if it is undesired offshore.
A low nz$ makes assets very cheap,especially rural land.
And inputs expensive…and it is all relative as your 'trading partner inflation rate' comment indicates.
A major issue is our exchange rate volatility….it makes long term investment decisions problematic…who will (either onshore or off) commit capital when any decision can be rendered a loser with a currency swing such as we have been subjected to the past 40 years?…a low of 0.39 to near parity with the world default trading currency and widly variable in between.
True,some will have local substitution possibilities such as cereal imported from Aus,where a new bulker on the coast will make shipping competitive SI-NI,cheaper then oz-nz. (up 70m in August)
So. Most of them. As I said.
No .not by price or volume.
https://www.worldstopexports.com/new-zealands-top-trade-partners/
Trading partners are not only "exports".
From your own link. Which is about export reciepts.
Imported inflation comes from imports and services supplied from overseas, does it not?
Global inflation tracker: see how your country compares on rising prices | Financial Times (ft.com)
Of the top 10 import countries into NZ,only the US and Germany have higher inflation rates.
The largest increases in cost are actually freight rates,insurance etc,with import values include CIF, which are now starting to contract.
The argument was not all our trading partners have high inflation,which excluding the Americas and Europe (excluding switzerland) they do not.
President of France Jacques Chirac knew in 1996. Hs told the ILO that the economy serves the people and not the other way round.
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_008059/lang–en/index.htm
How much further away from a notion of a decent society is that 5% of the people should be unemployed so that others may prosper. This latest advocate talks of a necessary pain. One Mark Lister gives away the mantle of altruism to the unemployed when he would better serve us and himself by trying a little altruism in his own life.
“You’ve got to cause some pain. You’ve
got to create some unemployment” he said. Marlborough Express Sept 23 2022 page 7 Business section
Anybody's pain but mine…….
What a truly ugly man
Have these people not twigged the inherent stupidity of their version of an economy where it is argued that we need more workers and also we need more unemployment?
Locally in Rotorua its 11%. – per the pre election report from the current Rotorua council.
5%unemployment in Rotorua currently would be awesome.
Shift the pain and 50 thousand pawns, play the blame game!!!
Will somebody please ask Luxon for his 'wisdom' on this.
Wisdom? Best laugh of the day Barfly!! Opinion yes… Wisdom lol, no!! He will lead with his arrogant chin.
Here's an interesting take on this:
Which 50 000 has to go?
If it's supply and demand issues, then we must get rid of the useless from the workforce, not the actual workers who produce the supply! Anything else would be madness. We know who is essential now (we've always known), the people who actually keep the lights on.
But there are others:
Economists are clearly useless, how many of them are there?
There's bound to be plenty of middle management playing paper-go-round in plenty of places.
Who must go?
Reminds me of the Douglas Adams Golgafrinchams
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/golgafrincham.shtml
We do know that the social value of a banker is negative but hospital cleaners add x15 the value of their salary.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/dec/14/new-economics-foundation-social-value
Economists are funny, one day they say we need more unemployment to reduce inflation BUT the next day they say the economy lacks workers and we need more migration.
These two things are not coherent. They and their neo-liberal school are out of their depth in the real world 2022.
I'll note that when Muldoon was PM 1976-1981 there was 5 years of wage growth/inflation during which house prices flatlined and fell in real terms.
Inflation reduces the real value of assets (which one can note are overvalued) and debt (good for coming out of the QE debt of the GFC and pandemic). Containing inflation by holding down wages merely to preserve the asset wealth of a privileged elite (after a period of extreme inequality) is risible.
RBG's applying neo-liberal policy are going to risk populist pressure to the democratic fabric in way not seen since the 1930's.
You can have both national proved that I believe last time , flood the country with cheep foreign labour ,have kiwis on the dole , added bonus is a bigger target for right wingers to hate on.
… they'll allow prison for profit growth to manage homelessness (known as three strikes and clearances for urban renewal in the USA and here to manage the lack of housing).
That is actually coherent. More imported cheap labour = in their minds, more unemployed, less wage rises and less inflation.
The idea that you fight inflation by driving down wage price pressure regardless of other factors.
Obviously it means workers, and unemployed pay all the coats of reducing inflation. But we can't have banks and assett/housing speculators taking the pain instead, can we??
All the costs???
Both will take the hit…a consequence of the interest rate hikes is asset depreciation. (or revaluation)
Wealth destruction,global sharemarkets 25 trillion ytd,Crypto 2 trillion,Housing will be big here as the half billion pumped bubble implodes.
https://edition.cnn.com/markets/fear-and-greed
Why do you think, speculators and banks are so keen on wages taking the hit to contain inflation?
So they don't, of course!
I would argue the stimulus from population growth (more migrants) would in fact increase demand/inflation.
Hubby and I banked with ANZ – well firstly the National Bank, for 55 years. We told them where to go 3 years ago and moved to Kiwibank. We'd had enough of their utterings from John Key and the CEO in Melbourne (who I believe is a Kiwi) who threatened to close the N Z division down. I guess he was bluffing, but sheesh, what a tosser. Sharon Zollner also needs to pull her head in, but of course the unemployment subject is a favourite among such pointy heads who wouldn't be at all affected by such a move. Just don't get me going on the report in the Herald today about the Mood of the Boardroom
Exactly Jilly Bee.
The Former Guy claims he declassified the documents he removed from the White House just by thinking about it. We didn't know he has the amazing superpower of teledeclassification.
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/22/2124549/-Donald-Trump-claims-he-declassified-documents-by-thinking-about-it-but-that-s-not-the-worst-thing
Plotting, scheming, embezzling, gouging, dodging, lying, bullying–all skills Mr Mango Mussolini has amply demonstrated–but thinking? is a stretch.
In a fairer world Mr Trump would have been locked up years ago, but the US political establishment really has not chosen its battles with the ex President wisely at all.
Donald who?
He's not a well man.
https://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo/status/1573012229661810694
New Zealand's very own Fox News, the NZ Herald, running their annual hit job on the left today. It is laughably titled, "The Mood of the Boardroom" – a name so suffused with fake gravitas it can only have come from the ponderously dull Fran O'Sullivan. The conclusion of 90 CEOs and 18 Directors is that this is the worst government since Muldoon. Yawn – rich, powerful private sector interests wanting the playing field tipped in their favour, and completely without irony, equating that with good economic management.
The winter of discontent team leader (2000) also ran an ad/editorial demanding New Zealand voters prevent a Labour-Green government (2005). Must have been so sad there when one law for all, across the board tax cuts (less money for poor families), keep interest on tertiary loans Don Brash was defeated
(Winston Peters kept his word to go with the party with more votes – Labour)(but in its way NZH represents the Koch brothers denial of need for global warming action and maintenance of a neo-liberal global regime)
The government must be doing something right then.
Yep, and one of the Herald and ZB adherents – who also happens to be a relative – told me yesterday we have a Communist government and its going to go next year before we are all destroyed.
Does anyone know where I can locate a membership form for the VFF crowd so I can send it to her? Or the Brash crowd will do – Hobson's Choice they call themselves? 😛
But, but, but if we have a Communist Government it is headed by a 'pretty little communist' isn't it and that must count for something surely. I mean better a pretty little communist than some idiot riding a bear? Your relative should thank their lucky stars. I didn't see the man on the bear being pressed to speak at the UN or being invited to the Queen's funeral.
I know the 'pretty little comm' is correct as I read it on a poster on the tractors and trucks in the Groundswill protest. And farmers know everything don't they? Those ones do anyway.
Perhaps get a membership form for Groundswell too so she can feel the faint pulse of this crowd from the rural sector. They are not supported by the majority of rural dwellers that I can see so should be a good match for VFF & Brash's rush of blood to the head group.
Actually I think it is the "pretty little communist:" who started it cos the plc is very attractive and intelligent and she's younger and oh so popular with her overseas peers.
Its called jealousy and afflicts a lot of women. HDPA is another example.
Yes indeed.
The Mood of the Boardroom in the Herald is just more right wing propaganda. Plenty more to come daily from Ganny Herald folks.
As a swing voter looking for excuses to stay with Labour, I'm finding it harder by the day. This so called '' hit job'' on Labour was in reality a reflection of what many voting people are pondering. Grant Robertson taking at hit in the ratings should be ringing alarm bells. He has generally until now been well tolerated by the opposition and general public. For me there were some surprises in the survey. Co-governance having some support for example. Labour has been given fair warning. They can continue to flip off such findings as the deluded rantings of rich white boys wanting more bucks in their pockets, or they can cross reference this survey with public opinion polls, gain a reality check, and do something about it.
25-26% of rain forest loss …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIdwf717p0w
A study on Vitamin D levels and health outcomes.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8541492/
.
Blimey ! You appear to be the first tragically-smug Woke dogmatist here to conspicuously break ranks from the well-rehearsed narrative that Vitamin D is all part of some Far Right Trumpist conspiracy theory to deliberately perplex the hoi polloi who lack the "unusually refined moral & intellectual sensibilities" of those wannabe elites trapped in your stifling little echo-chamber.
How did dear old muttonbird put it, again ? … oh yes:
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03-08-2022/#comment-1903527
I was posting John Campbell on this back in 2020. and also on old fashioned “aspiration” in vaccination.
The only reason I take my vitamins is when instructed by my partner, and I don't think they are doing anything either.
I will now compare myself to Niels Bohr.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/magic-shows/miscellany/niels-bohrs-lucky-horseshoe
Meanwhile the Medical Council of NZ says that Vitamin D supplementation is not required, except in some very specific population categories:
Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, Kiwis in general get enough sun exposure to ensure our levels are well within the healthy range.
Vitamin D prescription in NZ doesn't correlate with a reduction in the known medical consequences of low rates (rickets, etc). And is no longer prescribed for prevention of osteoporisis (no clinical benefit). It seems as though most prescriptions are to the 'worried well'
https://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal-articles/vitamin-d-deficiency-supplementation-and-testing-have-we-got-it-right-in-new-zealand
Has anyone seen this rating of each Auckland Councillor?
Rating every Auckland councillor: Bernard Orsman and Simon Wilson give their verdicts – NZ Herald
It's Herald Premium content – but Aucklander's with a library card should be able to view it using Press Reader, through the library website.
I think this is absolutely accurate
CEOs give the govt. a fail report card. 'Wost Govt since Muldoon': Ardern, Robertson blasted by business leaders in CEO survey (msn.com)
Even from the title the illiteracy of said CEOs suggests their opinion is less than bankable.
Yes just get woser and woser really.
Stuart-listen to this afternoon's The Panel on RNZ. Fran O'Sullivan got a roasting, got pissed off and basically fell apart when questioned by Panel members about the Mood of the Boardroom survey.
Here it is:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018859987
Fran O….ex NBR…now with NZ Herald ….is so biased it's hard to take her…seriously.
I'm going to differ with you there. Fran is a damned good journalist when she sets her mind to it. I'll grant you, that may be less than half the time, but she knocks sad idiot panel hacks out of the park from time to time. It's just that she spends too much time rubbing elbows with CEOs to be a full-on Blomkvist.
"Fran O'Sullivan got a roasting, got pissed off and basically fell apart when questioned by Panel members about the Mood of the Boardroom survey."
Think we must have listened to a different panel discussion
Perhaps Shanreagh and Anne describe it better below, but I stand by the fact that O'Sullivan was very unimpressive, mostly because she was defending the indefensible because the Mood of the Boardroom survey is wrong to attack the performance of this government.
From about 10.00 in. But, but, splutter is a good summary of Fran's response to some of Simon Wilson's questions…she quickly switched to saying it was a snapshot of a mood and overseas there was inflation that the CE's were reflecting on.
Most unimpressive but then these are not a group given to self reflection or acknowledgement that we have faced tough times. She did not seem to have an answer to the query about pushback on paying workers more being a way to lift people out of poverty……something that the CE's group are ostensibly concerned about.
The group does not include large NGOs
The best response was made by Wallace Chapman when he pointed out that the report did not acknowledge the fact this government had been through a major pandemic that no other government in NZ has had to grapple with, and was able to bring NZ through in far better shape than most other countries.
I note Fran O'Sullivan immediately changed tack and pointed out that the pandemic emergency has passed, and the CEO's are concerned about what is happening now.
I paraphrase both responses.
Surely what is happening now is a direct consequence of that pandemic and the world wide disruptions etc. it created. All the blame cannot be laid at the feet of the government. It will take time to re-establish normality in all sections of society including the business sector, so it is disingenuous to pass judgement at this stage of the procedure.
I gather also there was no mention of the impact being felt over the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
Yes Anne, 'disingenuous' is a good word to describe the responses from the CEOs being discussed with Fran O'Sullivan.
As well there have been thoughts that while the situation was 'fluid' we could generally have a look at whether we wanted to go back to BAU circa 2021 or if we could be 'nimble' and take the opportunities for change.
NZ used to have a reputation for this nimbleness in days gone by not so long ago. Nimbleness is not a product of $$$$ or of handouts but of far-sightedness in business and brains working. Also adequate R & D and product and market investigation and investment.
Perhaps the CEs have been struck down by a late arriving variant of the Moaning Minnie virus that my ‘research’ showed accompanied earlier Covid variants in the general population.
This Covid virus has been long lasting, we have had to help those affected and so we have had to take time to deal with it. Some of the responses I have seen have built on the bull kaka that every country in the world except NZ has moved on. Partner is in the south of Italy travelling by public transport and says operators of public transport are fanatical about continued mask wearing on buses etc. NB NZ has no mask wearing restrictions on public transport.