This is new (or 1930s old if you want to look at it that way) for Dunedin:
“There have been many reports of people asking strangers for money – and people begging on the footpath – in recent weeks. Rising living costs and displacement in the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes have been linked to the sometimes shocking and all-too-obvious signs of personal struggle.”
I’ve been asked for change at bus-stops a couple of times recently, and there’s always been the limited talent “buskers” (the kind you wouldn’t stop and listen to). The weather is fine this week, but it’s really not a town in which you want to be homeless during winter.
yeah happened to me on friday, a couple teens, i was with my 6 year old & they were quite in our faces. not good. but i guess with 20% (at least) of under 25s unemployed, this is what we should expect..
Afaik, everyone in NZ without cash assets, who doesn’t have enough money for groceries in a week, is entitled to financial support from WINZ. What does it say about us that people find it easier to beg from strangers on the street than strangers in the WINZ office?
Yeah that’s right phil, putting me down is the important thing here. But let me fix it, seeing as how logic isn’t your strong point and you would obviously rather point score and make it personal than further the conversation in a meaningful way.
NZ residents who pass an income and asset test are entitled to Special Needs Grants from WINZ. I’m sure that you can find fault with that statement if you try.
if you happen to be on some kind of stand down & maybe facing other penalties or run out of your ‘special needs’ grants its possible you wont get anything. some of these beggers might even have some work, minimum hours on minimum wage, its possible for these young ppl to have to beg so they can get some spare cash.
True, but most of those things aren’t in statute I think, they’re gate keeping at the office, hence my point about it being easier to beg from strangers on the street than it is to approach the govt agency responsible for looking after people who are really struggling.
… so your point was that it’s easier to beg from strangers on the street than it is from WINZ? (just to clarify). I’d go along with that from those beggars I’ve had conversations with around Wellington.
btw ….. sometimes I think you (and others), and PU should really kiss and make up. Holier than thou … and all that kaka.
Maybe we need a Nosher Powel to mediate (“Give him back his fuckn cuntry”)
Four shops a year from emergency WINZ grants – that’s if you are VERY Lucky.
And going to the foodbanks – you’re only allowed a couple of these a year. So if you run out of food and funds at other times in the year ……. you’ve just run out of luck and food !!
I would say the biggers with very few exceptions are obtaining a tax payer funded benefit as well. I observed a beggar on Friday for about thirty minutes. He got a. Few coins in the time I was watching. Certainly did not seem starved. Then he started a conversation on his smart phone. After that he went over and had a chat to a couple of other beggers about twenty metres away, had a smoke and then went back to his position.
There were reports that the beggers do quite well thank you very much.
It was an observation, not an in depth investigation. I never have and never would walk an inch in their shoes. These people have no self respect, and are not prepared to do what is necessary to improve their lives. Beginning with making intelligent life decisions. There is no excuse for their begging.they intimidate people.
I don’t personally find beggers intimidating, except in the sense of empathising with their plight. Generally I find I can spare a few coins for the downtrodden. If you do in fact ignore these people how can you be so certain of your generalisations about them (eg; “These people have no self respect, and are not prepared to do what is necessary to improve their lives”)? Street-collecting, protesting, or busking can be dispiriting enough; I don’t want to ever find out just how grinding the begging process is.
From the ODT article above:
“The Dunedin City Council has no bylaws addressing begging. A spokeswoman said the council had received no complaints about it.
In some centres, Work and Income has staff specifically assigned to deal with the homeless and very poor, but not in Dunedin.”
Sukie Damson
That was a plum one you landed TS with on that there link!
I had a close look at it and it is a send-up, a satire. And sounds as if it might be from some UK union or left-wing students mag (from when students usually had a left wing lean.)
What do YOU think?
We’ve whipped up our ignorant readers into a bigoted frenzy of hatred. Here’s the kind of hand outs they’d like to see dished out to the money grubbing …
Cut his cock off and make him eat it..said disabled war veteran Joe …82, of Leeds.
etc
Have your neighbours got a nicer house than you? Do they appear to be better off than you are? Or perhaps their garden is a mess, or their kids have got snotty noses. Ring us today….and tell us about your nightmare neighbours. Perhaps we can arrange for a lynching……
Looks just like a typical WhaleSpew/Kiwibog thread. BTW, I hate how Farrar has misappropriated our national bird, our symbol, the name of our league team, and part of our identity for his hate site.
Monty, if I may be so bold, What things you must see from your lofty tower. You must feel so disappointed, so aggrieved, so challenged by the audacity of it all that these beggars have the indecency to stain your eyes with their meagre presence. You don’t ask for much. All you want is to pass along the street your taxes built and not be harangued by society’s flotsam. They are of course the only ones responsible for their circumstances and deserve every pointy stick of shame they get. Not only for being worthless street scum, but for their subsequent lack of a real contribution to what is obviously your society. They should, quite simply, not be tolerated by decent hard working penguins who only want to be exposed to osh-approved representations of society as dictated by the latest fearfacts poll . (I could go on but it would just get kind of mean and I think the sarcasm would be tedious after the first thirty odd pages)
Absolutely there are scammers out there on the street. Lots of them. Devious sods each and every one. Dedicated, they chip away at it day after day. Working hard to grift your coin from your wallet. Most of them wear suits by the way. Dispersed between the suits you will see other people, the ones you belittled so confidently. I feel I should enquire as to your validation for doing so. Have you ever spoken to the person you are accusing of failure? Have you ever asked a question of them? I imagine you are more likely one of those whom bark life directives as you pass by, choking on the guilt a bit as you cast the soiled coins from your pocket.
Do you know of any of these people’s achievements for example?
There are many proud histories that sit dishevelled on street corners around New Zealand. Just because many of these fellow humans are garbed in the broken shells of what they could have been, that is no reason to spew your ignorance upon them.
I doubt you could honestly fathom the daily challenges many beggars have faced. Battling with their mental state, dumped into the machinery of hot potato bureaucracy and some of the lucky ones even survive their personal traumas of violence and sexual assault. Monty, for someone who has such obvious trouble accepting the existence of others’ difficulties, I am unconvinced your limpet-celled cerebellum could process the pressured choices that eventually led many of these people to reach out a hand in submission.
Now, to stand in judgement on strangers for a full half hour and come to such a clear conclusion that you state “There is no excuse for their begging” means you are either an omniscient form of idiot-savant who has a razor keen understanding of humanity (and live in rarefied air), or you are just an idiot.
Male or female, straight, gay, trans, black, white or brown, able bodied or not; capitalism considers over 95% of the human race disposable and replaceable in exploitation for profits.
the technology will do nothing for humanity.
Science and technology today serves human ambitions, aspirations and greed, all of which are now capitalist in nature.
You should move to Brazil, Monty. Most of the middle class think like you, and there are even more beggars to hate. You can even run them over and get away with it, or set fire to them. That teaches them not to be intimidating to good citizens.
Program by Philippa Tolley on whether the NZ Public Services democratic role is being undermined this morning very good!
…..very articulate experienced well educated professional speakers on the problems facing New Zealand’s public Service eg Foreign Affairs man Mr Leak?, Matthew Palmer? ( legal), Brenda Pilot (PSA).
….and Labour Party’s Maryan Street, Spokesperson for State Services …. also very competent …..talking about the problems facing Public Servants….
…..as a former Public Servant my heart goes out to Public Servants under a NACT Government …it must be hell!
…. problems of giving free and frank advice on what is best for New Zealand versus what the government wants to hear
….problems of working under the threat of being made redundant
…problems of having to carry on after your mates have been made redundant illegitimately
…problems of working under a huge workload ( remember Cave Creek….this happened after redundancies on the West Coast and impossible work loads carried by DOC staff)
I don’t agree that the running down of the public service under National is a beltway issue. It just needs to be framed in terms relevant to people’s lives – hospital waiting lists, class sizes, the amount of time it takes government departments to respond or deal with issues,
There is the possibility, depending upon what occurs in the next month, of an interesting story developing surrounding ”just how” this current Government is managing those hospital waiting lists…
Beltway…it means the political scene in Wellington. People in the beltway are in the Know. Apparently. It often gets used disparagingly here to refer to people who aren’t in touch with the rest of NZ.
public servants are everywhere…not just in Wellington….and their health and well-being is a litmus test for democracy…they are servants of the public…the people of NZ …. and our taxpayer dollar
….when they start to sqwark down the tunnels and kark it in the mines you know your democracy is in trouble
Like you Chooky, as a former PS (both in the pre-corporatisation, AND post-corporatisation eras), I feel for them.
’87 – we were promised
…. greater accountability
…… de-politicisation
……. fishinsy n fektivness
……….. and a whole lot of other BS.
In fact exactly the opposite has occured AND at greater expense if you take into account the salary largesse of ‘CEO’s’ (ffs!!!!! CEO’s in the Public Service – an anomaly in and of itself), and their ‘Senior Management’.
Actually, the result has been highly politicised little feifdoms, open to manipulation and scams, and an environment where actual public servants work IN SPITE of their ‘entitled’ management, rather than BECAUSE of them. Ask any at the coal face what they think of their so-called management – I dare ya!!
Be it Internal Affairs
Be it Defence,
Be it Te Puni Kokiri (present Hippolite excepted thus far, but we’ll wait and see)
Be it WINZ
Be it …. (name your poison)
I bothers me that ‘progressives’ (including the current Labour Party leadership claiming progressive credentials) can’t see the bleeding obvious
….this will be a big issue for Wellingtonians especially .
…and I might add ….a country is only as good as its high quality , independent Public Servants, committed to serving that country….so it is a very important political issue
I have to say Mayan Street spoke well on the issue
i got six paragraphs into today’s Herald column by Matt McCarten and found i had far far better activities to occupy my Sunday morning with than allowing Matt’s views to ruin yet another day,
According to Matt, the Alfred E. Nuemann of television reporting Patrick Gower is a ”frighteningly good journalist”,
i can only surmise that Matt considers Himself in with a chance, along with Bryce and Kerre of getting the nod to fill John Armstrong’s position at the Herald when the latter falls asleep at His computer for the final time…
Matt seems to be doing a job interview for his paymasters…..looky here see how I can spin it with the best, wondered about him in an election year at pravda, wonder no more.
Also no surprise that cammy is being positioned as some type of hard done by family man and crusader of worthy causes with bradbury thrown in for granny styled ‘balance’.
with shonkey aligning himself with the slater its nicely framed for WO to become every bit as ‘credible’ as granny with the payback for cammy probably escalated site hits and perhaps similar taxpayer gigs like farrars curia enjoys.
Yeah true, i suppose if McCarten is taking the Massah Bosses coin then He is beholden to write what will keep the Massah Boss passing over that 30 pieces of silver…
So another poll is coming out tonight. The rumours are that it is bad news for the left and good news for the right. I suspect it will have a bit of a slump for the greens and Labour with National who have run a tight ship this. Year possibly able to rule alone, or maybe with the help of act and Dunne.
Som what will a bad result mean for the left? Has Cunliffe finished the honeymoon only after six months, while John Key’s honeymoon continues six years into the Job.
If the poll results are bad will labour be capable of taking a hard look at their policy platform and realise that
A. The population generally do understand that National is doing a good job and the gains are not to be risked by a lurch to the left such as a green labour government would deliver
B. The left policies of more welfare in one form or another are not capturing the imagination of the public.
C. More taxes are not going to win any election. The promise of increased taxes has failed the last two elections, why do labour think it will work a third time. Isn’t it time the left dropped their hatred of success?
Hmmm Monty is pontificating on something and assuming the worst for Labour and then offering the benefit of his sage advice. What happens Monty if the poll shows increased support? I hear the internal polling is sound.
+1
Aus has a very large tax regime with the top personal rate nearly 50%, CGT, FBT, GST, Superannuation tax and thats before we look at state taxes like stamp duty those are federal taxes.
Those roads, schools, hospitals etc are paid for with taxes, rwnjs appear to be wilfully ignorant on the massive borrowing the nact perform to stop serious cracks appearing everywhere while they are in power.
if we pulled the tablecloths of cafe nacts tables now, you would see books, bricks, bodies propping up the legs theyve sawn off.
There has been a lot of bleating from the right about the living wage and they have very helpfully supplied figures to bolster their argument as to how much WFF will go down. Mostly in the billions.
So if we can get the bottom end wages up, with a knock on effect up the scale through to the median ( and hopefully decrease the profit amounts going off shore) then we will have plenty more to spend on community needs. Bit like ditching the holiday highway and spending money on a few passing lanes and public transport.
Isn’t it time the left dropped their hatred of success?
The polls show that National is winning because it’s getting votes from the old – the same people who lived it up riotously on the generous postwar welfare state and who want to deny the same to the under 40s.
It really doesn’t have anything to do with what you say other than that the boomers are a worthless load of spongers.
Deficit = 1.79 billion dollars, now that’s what i call book balancing,
Gross Government Debt = 80+ billion dollars, when it hits 100 billion bucks the automatic invitation for the IMF to move in and loot the place on behalf of the creditors becomes active???,
Business Tax Evasion/Avoidance $179 million dollars in six months, s’pose Bill can always plug the hole with the loot from asset sales in the name of surplus at any cost,
The RockBottom Economy brought to you by Nationals stunning economic mismanagement circa 2008–2014…
I have always though that this election will be close. But recent polls have given the green labour bloc extreme cause for concern, with good reason given the nightmare of the past couple of weeks for the left to think the trend would have changed.
The labour and green policies to date have had no impact and have been easily dissected by us on the right ( with much joy I might add)
Nothing the green labour bloc has done has managed to impact on the ongoing strong and unprecedented support national continues to enjoy.
at this rate Winston will not be of benefit to the green labour bloc in forming a government. Besides I doubt he will go with David and Russel for the simple reason that his ego will not want him to play third fiddle.
I wonder if the recent grumpiness of labour MPs is related to on going poor polling.
Voters will vote for some more redistribution. There is widespread concern at persistent inequality. But they will not vote for policies that make New Zealand poorer.
As an example – The recent solar panel policy is such an example. It uses the Government (and its ability to tax and borrow) to promote an expensive generation mode over existing cheaper ones. It dishonestly portrays solar as cheaper by claiming that the interest subsidy is not really a subsidy, and by downplaying the ownership risks. If someone had a spare $15,000 and they did want to spend that on energy efficiency they would be well advised to spend it on top notch insulation, double glazing, installing a reverse cycle air hot water system and an efficient gas central heating system or a heat pump. These are proven technologies that also will add to capital value.
There is concern at inequality of opportunity. I am not at all convinced there is huge amounts at the level of concern around inequality of outcome.
The outcome is dependant upon so many factors such as ambition, priorities, life decisions, risks taken and outcome of those risks.
labour and the greens keep harping on about needing equality of outcomes. That is effectively socialism and means those who work hard, invest, make good decisions are penalised and their money taken to redistribute to those who make poor life decisions, don’t necessarily have the skills to make money.
Only if you measure the entire value of a human being by how many “skills to make money” they have Monty.
labour and the greens keep harping on about needing equality of outcomes.
Except nobody does. No-one is arguing for equality of outcomes. What we are pointing out is that in a world where just 85 people now control more wealth than the poorest 3.5 BILLION people on the planet – that there is plenty of room to reduce this gross extreme of wealth and poverty.
“labour and the greens keep harping on about needing equality of outcomes. That is effectively socialism and means those who work hard, invest, make good decisions are penalised and their money taken to redistribute to those who make poor life decisions, don’t necessarily have the skills to make money.”
Whilst I have no objection to taxing hard work only lightly, much of the higher incomes that we see are coming from economic rent and ticket clipping, and this should be providing the lion’s share of the tax take.
Sometimes. Though their income comes from the ownership of assets which contribute to the productive process, and they stand to lose their investment if the enterprise fails.
I was thinking more of interest recipients, who contribute nothing to the productive process, landlords, in respect of land, and administrators who are often grossly overpaid for what they actually contribute
Though their income comes from the ownership of assets which contribute to the productive process,
But they themselves don’t.
I was thinking more of interest recipients, who contribute nothing to the productive process,
Interest recipients are just indirect shareholders.
and administrators who are often grossly overpaid for what they actually contribute
Within a business administrators are an expense on the workers and so the workers should have a say how much that they’re paid.
Landlords should be administrators hired by the government on a fixed income to administer state rental properties. There should be no private rentals.
“Interest recipients are just indirect shareholders.”
Shareholders own assets – machines, tools, etc – which contribute to production, and which get used up through depreciation. Interest recipients hold promissory notes, or something similar, which contribute nothing.
“Within a business administrators are an expense on the workers and so the workers should have a say how much that they’re paid.’
They should be paid a fair price for the service they provide.
Shareholders own assets – machines, tools, etc – which contribute to production, and which get used up through depreciation.
Don’t kid yourself. The shareholders only “own” that hardware through legal fictions.
In the most common reality, the banks effectively own all that stuff. You can see this when a factory folds: the banks get all the money from the fire sale of those items, and the employees and shareholders get nothing.
Shareholders own assets – machines, tools, etc – which contribute to production, and which get used up through depreciation. Interest recipients hold promissory notes, or something similar, which contribute nothing.
Ownership of a machine doesn’t contribute to production.
They should be paid a fair price for the service they provide.
I didn’t say that they shouldn’t. It was more a statement that they shouldn’t set their wages.
Or even better you put up the panels, for the joy of shafting the power companies, and then with the reduction in the monthly bills, do all those other things so that the house is a net supplier. Maybe one would be allowed to donate the power to certain community facilites like schools or hospitals or towards the bill of an older or younger relative.
The recent solar panel policy is such an example. It uses the Government (and its ability to tax and borrow) to promote an expensive generation mode over existing cheaper ones. It dishonestly portrays solar as cheaper by claiming that the interest subsidy is not really a subsidy, and by downplaying the ownership risks.
When governments first started building sealed highways they were effectively subsidising a dearer mode of transport (cars) over an existing cheaper and more reliable one (horses).
SSLands i can nearly hear you sobbing from here at the Green Party having the temerity to cut out the profit making trading banks from the solar power equation, there is no ”interest subsidy” as you latest lie attempts to infer,
Those taking up the offer will be able to borrow up to $15,000 off of the Government and pay the same amount of interest the Government is charged to borrow the money on behalf of those borrowing to install solar,
You will probably be depressed to the point of self harm once the first low income families are housed under the Green Parties home ownership initiative where it will be up to the home owners how much of the mortgage they pay down on these Government housing loans which again cut out the profit making trading banks…
As an after-thought to your latest of whines formulated upon lies SSLands, you have to remember that the Government will be buying any spare generation off of those who choose to cleverly take up the Green Party initiative which lends the money to those wishing to install a solar energy system,
i should imagine that such solar producers will be given preference over the major generators when selling power to the Government wholesaler Labour/Green intend to install between the current generators and current retailers,
i would further imagine that the Government wholesaler will purchase that solar generation from the household generators at the fair price paid to the large generators which they will then on-sell to the retailers,
Obviously a single desk wholesale buyer of electricity generation will be able to use market forces to squeeze the margins and make a small profit so how you think the Government will lose money on the solar power start-up transaction is in fact beyond me…
It dishonestly portrays solar as cheaper by claiming that the interest subsidy is not really a subsidy, and by downplaying the ownership risks.
The lower interest isn’t a subsidy and there are very few, if any, downside risks. It will also make many NZers richer. The only ones that will get poorer will be the ones who bought our assets, against our will, with a look to get free money.
I have just read on Kiwiblog that Richard Prebble is returning to ACT to run their election campaign. On reading this my personal opinion is that the election is now sown up barring any major scandals.
This “in bed with the bloggers” article is thought provoking imo. Isn’t it interesting watching the meme develop that you have to be a ‘personality’ to be a blogger with impact or influence. I’m not against personalities but surely it is the ideas – oh sorry how naive of me.
I have to say that I am still struggling to get my head around the recent news that the prime minister rings slater up and chats – and the killer is, that is only if the lying dirty wanker is telling the truth – and he hardly ever does that! Dirty, dirty fight, dirty tactics, fight to win. Wake (further) up lefties the skirmishing is here.
Our PM is a well advised cold calculating banksta representing the hollowmen, time will tell why he did this.
IMO it was to give ‘credibility’ to WO who will become an outlet for the dirt etc that him and lusk etc have as their stock in trade.
you will not hear the end of the brown saga as one example as its all about throw as much shit as you can so more sticks to the ‘left’, its obvious with the nact cabal on akl council the scene has been set after sharon stewarts tanty last week which I highly doubt was her own work.
If any bloggers on here live in Sharon’s area might be good to get in touch with her office and suggest she gets on with running Auckland which is what she is paid to do. A bit of Faux concern about how the scandals are hurting the right wing image as icing on the cake.
Clearly a strong attempt to rehabilitate Slater. Which demonstrates exactly how important and central to the right-wing he is.
While I despise him with every fibre of my being – I never underestimated him. Slater is absolutely central to their value system and is now a prime channel for promulgating it. Key’s weekly chats with Slater are not an idle amusement in a bored moment; they will be a critical part of Key’s strategy and communications plan.
I do not really think Mr Key is that much in touch with Mr Slater. It was either a distraction ploy, (once Slater is hinted at we stop looking) or a deliberate effort to campaign amongst the Whale oil commentators. “I say chaps, John Key is one of us you know, so we should jolly well vote for him don’t you think?”
The context in which Mr Key hinted that Mr Slater was a confidante seemed to me that it was so unlikely that he was, and more likely that it was a slip-up being covered-up. It is true that Mr Key has not contacted me once this year even though I am freely available to offer considered opinions to him.
Sad really that only people who have conversations with Mr Key should offer opinions about his behaviours. The rest of you must remain silent!
Are you suggesting that Leaders should not “visit” those who likely would vote for them weka? Anyway, I just doubt the legitimacy of the belief in Key/Slater rapport.
Key isn’t talking to Slater weekly because he wants him to vote for National. I think leaders can visit whoever they like. But they will come under scrutiny if they lack judgement in who they visit. And let’s not forget the context of this particular contact between PM and constituent.
Lol, Pete George is on to that Herald article too and mentions you, and karol, and mickey savage, and zetetic……………..aww still thinking of you all. Ain’t that just the sweetest thing…………..
Auspylands
Serial lies again
Reverse cycle water heaters are dearer to run than a standard electric water heater because of the set up costs then a limited life span of the mechanism of 10 years.
Gas heating is also dearer.
Double glazing is only guaranteed for ten years needing expensive reglazing.
Insulation is a good idea.
But as usual National first changed govt funded retrofiting insulation so only wealthy people could afford it Now they have scraped it .
Donkeyotay would we well advised to steer clear of slater and his crew. They are on the road to being charged with fomenting civil disorder. They think they can get away with anything they like but the moment they step over the mark they will feel the full force of the law.
Hmm, having some technical difficulties, so I can’t amend my post… anyway, to add, the moron – some personoid, creature, whatever called Jonathan Milne – writing the piece thinks that the ability to attract advertising revenue is a measure of someone’s worth. He/it gives away a lot in that short statement.
That’s The Herald!
I’ve been watching House of Cards – the American remake with Kevin Spacey lately, and there’s a paper called “The Washington Herald”. Always, the camera frames it as “The Was”. That’s old media.
State of the country’s education
Not exactly a ringing endorsement from a former employer of his staff?
“When I was at Auckland Grammar, people would often say what a wonderful institution I was in charge of,” Morris says. “But there is no point having a nice building if you have lousy teachers.”
Of course, he would no doubt believe that when he was in the classroom he was a brilliant teacher. “Oh why couldn’t they all be like me …?
gee..!..that rory-the-green from politicheck…(over on that politcheck-thread..)
..is being very coy about answering my (quite straightforward to my mind) questions about the ideological-tinges/records of those helping him settle the form/function imperatives of this new political watchdog..
..i asked if truth-bender farrar is involved..if the rightwing trout hooten is involved..
..(but then..he did say he was staying away from ‘the fringe’..eh..?
..and libertarian hooten..and farrar…the main architect/peddler of the vile campaigns of lies/hatred against the weakest/poorest of our country..oh..!..since he started kiwiblog..?
..if they aren’t truth-bending fringe..who are..?
..and you know what..?
..i fear my wild guess on this..is correct..
..and if rory happens to be from the right/libertarian-wing of the green party..
..well then..this politicheck thing is a rightwing attack-machine..
phil, is there much point in screaming fire if no-one has actually opened the box of matches ?
I hope they find a way to make politicheck work and this is the line that holds most promise, imho.
In the interests of transparency, all our researchers will have their affiliations listed and their names published on the articles they worked on, much the same as mine.
Not an easy statement to back away from if they do fail to deliver [unbiased] fact checking
Phil,
I am not saying you are wrong,
just looking at the facts.
The site is new, it’s looking for volunteers, there is probably a fair bit of mail for the crew to get through, and as yet there has not been one published “checked fact” for anyone to comment on, let alone the vast conspiracy you seem to be consigning the site to. Have you considered the lack of immediate action in the site getting back to you might actually be a good thing? If they had gotten back to everyone straight away would that have not raised much bigger alarm bells as to how they are resourced?
I have not read the thread you reference, (guessing you mean yesterday’s posting on politicheck?) I saw the politicheck site link, went and looked at the site and now wait for updates on their status so further assessment can occur.
the situation reminds me of reviews based on trailers and not the film itself
often the critics are correct, but every now and then . . . egg on face
don’t let it happen to you is all
I see you are being foul mouthed and rude as usual today. On a related topic, did you see you are (in)famous on Kiwiblog? Although they are too polite to call you a fuckwit.
It is not gambling any more than the stockmarket is. Do you direct that your retirement savings not be invested in stocks? No, didn’t think so. Because presumably you are not a fuckwit.
Ipredict is authorised by the Securities Commission as a futures dealer.
And for your own sake stop being so foul mouthed and rude. It is disgusting.
SSLands, if i am attracting abusive comments on one or other of the Sewers channels it simply means that those who i have given a verbal slapping are too thin skinned and have run off to whine like dogs over there,
And no, i do not feel a need to dirty myself reading such rubbish as the blog you mention so my infamy or otherwise in the sewers network is immaterial,
What is more important given that National/ACT have decided to spend YOUR money, Ha-ha-ha upon brand new white-ware for ME, Ha-ha-ha, is the little question i have for you being my adopted bill payer SSLands, silver or white for the new fridge/freezer YOU are paying for SSLands, Ha-ha-ha…
Your point about my retirement savings is also an amusement SSLands, although you obviously not having a sense of humor never intended this to be thus,
My retirement savings are all on deposit in the Bank of Tane Mahuta SSLands, the Tararua branch of the ”bank” to be exact, lolz, you might be able to see the particular ”branch” below which my deposit lurks from your lounge window, Ha-ha-ha…
Hey fuckwit. That is the same trader you highlighted the other day. Obviously, his order for 2.5K shares on that stock still hasn’t been fulfilled since he is buying for the low price of $0.36. The price for that stock is effectively fixed at ~$0.36 because this large buy order is dominating all other buy orders, as I said would happen. I can’t see why the fuck you think that ipredict tells you anything – the volume traded is so low that one or two traders with a bit of cash to spare can set the price to whatever they want.
As I pointed out to you then, if he was really a rich leftie manipulating the stock, he would have simply used his money to mop up all those shares that are being sold at >$0.36 and push the price of the stock up. You really are a clueless fuck, aren’t you?
Or perhaps that is your buy order and you are trying to suck people into selling at the price to make a tidy profit when Cunliffe because our next PM? You certainly have been pushing ipredict a lot these past few weeks.
Take your keys off the keyboard and go outside and enjoy the summer. Ipredict is subject to manipulation. It also has a right wing bias. This is why lefties can actually do quite well with it.
Kim Dotcom’s hearing to be delayed again. I haven’t got much love for him , but I agree when he says that the delay will save John Key embarrassment during an election campaign.
Hard not to believe that the Minister of Jackets didn’t give a little push for the Court’s decision.
Really? If Dotcom was an going to be an embarrassment I would have thought Key would want him out of the country pronto? If
he is corrupt enough to delay a hearing then surely he is corrupt enough to bring one forward?
That makes no sense at all. If embarrassing details are going to come out at the hearing, Key would want to put it off until after the elections. He wouldn’t want them fresh in the mind of voters while they line up at the polls, and despite the best efforts of NAct’s crack legal team of Collins and Finlayson, a finding against Dotcom is still not guaranteed.
Latest Colmar Brunton is out. It claims National is up 6% to 51%, Labour is unchanged on 34%, Greens are down 5% to 8%, NZ First down 1% to 3%, the conservatives are on 1% as is the Maori Party.
The poll appears to be a rogue. I do not know why National should benefit from Green vote.
And Monty it appears that everything you have been saying today is, with respect, incorrect. How about an apology?
A real little amusement isn’t it MS, the Green Party losing 5% of their vote to the National Party, only in the dreams of the little tory that obviously thrills at making shit up,
Winston’s lot on 3%, the propaganda machine is having to stretch reality past the bounds of credibility with this one,
i was tho amused with the ”art” of those kids at that school in Slippery the PM’s electorate, trust the young to see everything for what it is befor the brainwashing begins to sink in,
The PM’s face being depicted in the kids painting of a mural sitting comfortably framed by a Donkey’s arse fits nicely with my oft stated proposition that Slippery the PM covers over the Large bald spot on His nut with the soft anal hairs plucked from a donkeys arse,
Wonder if the kids named that particular donkey Brucie, great painting, shame the same couldn’t be said about the rush of polls bullshitting us, as they did last election, with the Governing alone crap…
Why would you think Nats have pinched from Greens?
A far more sensible explanation would be that Lab have taken some at the lunatic end with the cash for breeders policy but lost some at the less nutty end to the Nats.
Barnsly Bill, your award for the dull Dunces comment of the day is in the post, the Labour poll % hasn’t moved since the last propaganda release from Colmar/National…
Um think you missed the point.. for arguments sake, the greens lost 5 points to Labour and Labour in turn lost five to the nats…. in terms of labour maybe they gained some votes at the left end of the spectrum but lost some of the more neolib inclined supporters to the nats. Tis possible labour has moved back left and has a leader that appeals to the left wing base now…
Or its just an outlier….
What Barnsley is saying (whether he’s right or not is another issue) is that National while went up and Greens went down, it wasn’t all one group of voters moving from the Greens to National.
Rather, Labour was on 34%. It gained 5% from the Greens due to strong left-wing policy. It then lost 5% to National due to centrist leaving. Therefore National goes up, Greens goes down, Labour stays the same.
Whether that’s right or wrong (it’s probably wrong) is up to debate… but you ended up looking like the dunce for not understanding that.
Poor old Disraeli Gallstone, obviously you believe in Christmas and other fairy tales as well, just like Barnsley Bill obviously does,
Colmar/national always polls National 3-4% above their actual support and the Green Party 3-5% below,
The fact that you and BB the Dunce place any real credence whatsoever in these fairy tales as anything but propaganda and then proceed to embellish that propaganda with a little narrative speculating on this and that proves nothing about the previous comment i made to BB, it simply proves that the pair of you along with the ‘wing-nut’ chorus are happy to indugle in bouts of public masterbation…
“Whether that’s right or wrong (it’s probably wrong)”
That’s what I said to you.
I don’t think this poll is right.
I was just merely commenting on your abysmal skills of reading comprehension. Amazingly, your response is another example of poor reading comprehension.
Disraeli Gallstone, wrong, i fully comprehend the little mathematics game the ‘wing-nuts’ choose to play to explain this particular piece of propaganda,
i just choose to use ignorance to portray my disbelief and it works a treat especially on those ‘wing-nuts’ that choose to pile in to blow their flatulence claiming victory across the pages of the Standard where those same ‘wing-nuts’ have little history of commenting here previously,
You may choose to believe that 10% of the left’s voters have chosen to suddenly engage in an electoral shuffle of their support toward the right, or, you may chose as i do to see these polls as having an element of manufacture within them with an actual intent of swaying softer voters intentions,
Of course if you have the slightest belief in the latter proposition then my belief is that showing any sign of belief in the little ‘wing-nut’ theory of a 10% shift of the left’s vote to the right is to put yourself in the position of a soft voter able to be swayed by the media bullshit, in other words a mere serf to the likes of Patrick Gower etc,
There are enough here who engage in the ‘wailing’ after each successive negative poll for the left to form a large enough ‘chorus of tears’ and i do not propose to become one of them, IF defeat occurs in 2014 i will only concede at the point the vote is counted,
Until then i will happily engage the ‘wing-nuts’ who fly in to spew on a momentary basis with derision which includes the pretense of deliberately misrepresenting the content of any of their particular comments, a little trick i learned from them…
Simple. The policies announced by Labour had pulled support from the greens, to Labour, but has sent labour support to the Nats. Assuming the 6% that National has gained has come from the Greens who lost 5% and claiming that to be the reason for the poll being rogue is a bit rich.
Is it not possible that Green vote at the margin moved to Labour and Labour vote at the margin moved to National rather than Green vote leapfrogging Labour to National?
Denial, now what was Colmar Brunton polling National at prior to the 2011 election, oh that’s right a ‘Govern Alone 50%’,
The desperate from the sewer pour into the Standard to try and convince us of a victory, remember your stupidity after the vote in 2014 which will see National not as governing alone, but, as the biggest opposition party yet under the MMP system…
Right so you are a true believer then, last election colamr/national polled the Tory’s at 50.3% just befor the election, what was the actual result again,
Oh that’s right 47%, please keep dreaming the National governing alone rubbish it will be all the sweeter when National wind up as a very large opposition after the 2014 vote is taken…
Sponge – You raise an interesting and potentially valid point. Whether it was as the MSM portray it (which I question), that Norman more or less went “begging” to Dotcom to not start his Internet Party, or not, it raised the possibility that he did.
In the public eye, even amongst some otherwise loyal Green voters, this could have led to serious disappointment, as the Greens have previously always tried to maintain an image of honesty, openness, transparency and independence.
The same media reports about Winston Peters having visited Dotcom, allegedly 3 times, then Peters reacting angrily, first denying this, and later claiming that Key may have had the GCSB spy on him, that will likely have disappointed some otherwise rather loyal supporters of NZ First and Winston.
I think that whether justified or not, bot suffered some loss of credibility in the public’s perception, hence the support in this poll went down for both parties, and significantly.
The Green’s solar energy policy release may not have impacted on this poll, but even that release was only moderately well received by the media, as it seems.
The MSM are ridiculed by some here, but sadly, most people out there still use them for most of their “humble” and poor quality information uptake, to base decisions on.
Abuse aside, do you not admit that the reason for the flow of votes outlined by several of us makes sense?
It is fricking obvious, surely!
You have gained some votes from fruitcakes but lost some of the middle-ground people.
Swings and roundabouts.
I’ll bet you that even Chris Trotter would agree with me.
It may not be “nice” but the truth sometimes hurts….
The key for the Left remains turning out the bottom 50% of the population to vote.
That means policies and politicians directly engaging with that part of the electorate, while emphasising to the top 50% of voters that not only is it the right thing to do to leave no one behind, but that it is economically crucial for the long term well being of society.
Now now, Felix, BM is just a lovely fellow who simply wants the best for NZ, and his comments here are simply honest and intelligent advisories on how we can all bring about the best for NZ.
He’s certainly not a lying prick shilling for a government of thieves and crooks, simply to lower his tax bill by a few percent and callous as to the tragic effect this will have on the lives of others. /sarc
I hope you remember to keep laughing when National win in October and royally fuck you and all your lefie mates in the arse as well sell this country to our bankster mates and Chinese overlords
But the bottom 50 per cent may be better off with a $ 16 minimum wage, ideally at least a living wage, no GST on essential food and other common use items, perhaps even a universal basic income (also used as a direct tax credit for those that earn above that annual UBI amount), and a more comprehensive housing policy, than something like “Best Start”, which sounds ok, but is just another WFF type benefit, costing much to administer.
With a UBI and radical tax reform, and reducing WINZ to focus only on topping up those that have extra needs due to disability, illness, parenting, accommodation, huge amounts could be saved on bureaucracy.
They may also be better off with some comprehensive state investments (SOEs) in infrastructure projects to build better public transport, value adding production plants for agricultural products, more wind-farms, solar thermal energy generation plants, geothermal projects, with a clear strategy for boosting local manufacturing (tax holidays or reductions as incentives for businesses to set up manufacturing here), with having more comprehensive training and more accessible education, combined with high-calibre research projects to develop niche foodstuffs, to research particular areas in health and environmental areas, and so forth.
People would see this agenda as revolutionary and a game changer, targeted at the long term future of the country, rather than what Labour has presented so far, which is a patchwork of bits here and there, but not changing the system as it is.
The top 50 % (certainly top 25 to 30 %) need to be held to account and do their share to build for the future, and not get away with just planning for secure personal nest-eggs and personal savings plans, while forgetting the country.
A clear difference in policy direction to National and ACT is overdue, all else is just not going to “thrill” people that much now.
Micky, surely your are joking?
The last FOUR polls in recent weeks have ALL showed national gaining and labour/greens declining with National being able to (or almost able to) govern alone.
According to many commenters on this site, the last 6 Years polls are rogue. Surely you aren’t going to fall into this rhetoric as well?
Just to give the Bob above a fair go (I am guessing your lack of patience with him is due to our differring views in the past), it wasn’t me making that comment (although I completely agree with everything the other Bob has stated).
Lots of people think that 51% is the high point of National polling. I suspect not. The margin of error suggests that it could be currently sitting at 54.1%. That figure still seems surprisingly low. The total ineptitude of the Greens and Labour suggest that many of their supporters will not be bothered voting. As the good news keeps coming in week after week we could well be seeing a historic landslide.
The trends Brett Dale are saying that colmar/national have just released another piece of propaganda which has got all the wing-nuts going from simply being heavy breathing porn watchers to being true believers that displays of public masterbation will enable national to govern alone after the vote in 2014…
I think this poll is probably slightly high for national but not by much so National can still govern alone. If NZ first gets in then Labour is quite far from being in government.
Please,please, stop with the funnies will you, my gut has just started processing dinner and the laughter is a definite interference in that process,
National heading for the prize of being the largest opposition since the beginning of MMP, even Slippery the PM couldn’t raise a smile when commenting on the latest piece of propaganda, although it was gut busting to see the PM depicted in a mural as a semi-part of a donkeys arse…
When new immigrants are sucked into believing that “…the Conservative Party is good for Christians, Green Party good for environment, Labour Party good for the poor and National Party good for business” then it’s obviously time for Labour to get off it’s lazy entitled ass, and start shifting that perception through clever social media advertising.
It’s the only way to shift that bitch!
National is only good for BIG business, but sucks for our entrepreneurs. Labour is the party for the workers, and wants to ensure that all workers benefit from any economic upside – National only wants the CEOs to benefit and the people that do the hard work, our everyday workers, to not receive any benefit but to be happy with the crumbs from the table.
The message should be that Labour is not ashamed to say it stands for ensuring that every person who wants to work, can, BUT should be entitled to receive a fair days wage for a fair days pay. Labour needs to be UPFRONT and thunder that it is WRONG and UNCONSCIONABLE for overseas corporations to treat New Zealand workers like COTTON PICKERS!
It’s emotive language for sure, but emotions win elections. Labour and the Greens won’t get anywhere being namby pamby and focusing on Key. KEY is the WRONG area to target. National policies needs to be ignored and Labour needs to start highlighting NOW! Stop banging on about what National has done or not, start banging on NOW!
NOW: Your wages haven’t moved in 5 years, yet the cost of living has gone up. Labour wants to ensure that you can afford to live and have enough to save for the things you want.
NOW: Your power prices are amongst the highest in the OECD. Labour wants you to stop paying so much for power, and have money for the things that matter.
NOW: New Zealand has lost too many workers in the forestry sector thanks to unregulated activities causing death. Labour wants every worker to be safe at work, and not be at risk of dying for the corporate.
NOW: There aren’t enough jobs for everyone who wants one. Labour wants people to have every opportunity to find a job, and if they can’t, help people while they look for work.
NOW: Education has become too expensive for many people. Labour believes in free education for everyone under 18 and will work to restore the right to free education.
NOW: People aren’t being fairly remunerated for a 40 hour week. Labour believes the corporates have more than enough ability to adequately compensate their employees with a fair wage.
NOW: Labour believes that New Zealanders are being targeted by overseas corporates with no regard for the true cost of living in New Zealand. Labour will work to ensure that New Zealanders are treated on a level playing field with the cost of goods and services.
It is so simple and easy to do. The soundbites are easy, and National have done fine on a “less said the better” policy when it comes to people talking about what they perceive National to be doing.
The left get sucked into believing that they need to counter the lack of concrete substance by National with a marshmallow puffed policy which is WRONG. Labours issue when they release policy is that they release far too much of it, giving their opponents grist for the mill.
Compare and CONTRAST:
National: – New policy. High performing teachers will be paid more and we’ll have special principals overlooking a number of different schools. Yada yada yada, more money but education good! Yay!
Nil critical aspect, nil detail, and just a vague outline of what they propose.
Labour: First time babies, $60 per week, except and unless, first year, second year, third year, $150,000, or not. Parental leave! Look! Details! More more details! Part time income! Working for Families! Entitlement! Everyone! Universal! Oh, no, wrong. Stop talking! Shoosh. Shucks, we flubbed it.
Too much information, too much room for interpretation.
Far better would have been: New policy: First start. All parents with babies will receive assistance and support. Further details released closer to election.
Easy! Simple! Even Paddy Gower wouldn’t have been able to fuck that up.
There are over 4 million reasons wrong with this country, where the CEO of a parasitic organisation can earn nearly 100 times more than the people that do the daily grind in the teller role, and are arguably more valuable to ANZ than the high falutin’ CEO. The tellers are the ones that keep the customers happy at the end of the day.
Labour lose the plot when it comes to articulating their vision for a better New Zealand. It’s almost like they don’t understand the KISS principle. If they did, they might be better off.
Labour needs to articulate the fact that they are the government for the PEOPLE. National are the government for OVERSEAS interests.
Sing it loud, sing it proud. No need to proffer proof. Just keep tying OVERSEAS INTERESTS back to WARNER BROTHERS – RIO TINTO – BANK OF NEW YORK (and it’s 8 million shares in our former SOE)
OVERSEAS INTERESTS = NATIONAL
NEW ZEALANDERS = LABOUR
So what do you want Kiwis? A government for New Zealand, or a Government for Overseas Interests?
Make it the boogy man. Overseas Interests are the new “Reds under the Bed”
I just get so frustrated and annoyed at what should be relatively simple politics and keep watching Labour stumble every time headlong into the catchers mitt that has been placed there so artfully by the likes of Gower et al.
If only Labours media managers would stop insisting on having so much policy released upfront, and stop muzzling Cunliffe or whoever from being so restrained, Labour might actually have a chance to win.
As I outlined above, the framing is right there, it’s NOW.
As we’ve seen in the last two weeks with Progressive Enterprises, the mood is right to capture New Zealanders thinking about OVERSEAS INTERESTS and definitely put the framing square onto LABOUR for NEW ZEALAND and National for OVERSEAS INTERESTS!
Easy framing, right timing.
In politics, Timing is Everything.
The Timing is Now, the framing is ready to roll.
But who the heck is going to listen? I’m just another Labour party member that has no links to the hallowed halls of hell, nor do I have any inclination to get involved with the pit of self absorption that is the local LEC.
If only Labours media managers would stop insisting on having so much policy released upfront, and stop muzzling Cunliffe or whoever from being so restrained, Labour might actually have a chance to win.
Well as I see it that’s exactly what theyre doing. Chinless wonder says what ever he wants and the only policy Labour has is regurgitated Greens policy or 1950s socialist propaganda.
simple effective slogans, used by all, ad nauseum, chimpboy, gooner and co cant twist it and the likes of mallard and goff cant grandstand with it.
I hope some deadwood gets cleared out also but thats unlikely.
Nats got in on a smile and wave with one liners , labour should do similar, the missing voters cant cope with unecessary detail, a change is what they will vote for.
You raise valid points there, and believe in passion being part of politics, and it surely does and must be getting its fair share.
The problem you will have with that approach is, that the MSM (mainstream media) will of course see this, and jump at it straight away, and than claim, it is just about “whipping up emotions”, but without any evidence to prove the arguments. They will take that approach to pieces, and then Labour and Greens will have to come and try and prove their arguments, and we are back to nitty gritty back and fro arguments about details, and hollowing out of what the message is meant to say.
What we have here is a repeat of the last election campaigns, where the MSM are already largely feeding the public with the usual BIASED commentary and information (no background info, no analysis, treating Key and Nats with the soft brush, and Labour and Greens with a knife and hammer), all coming from the supposedly “independent” reporters and “media personalities” (having their personal “views”), and the public hear and read little else.
The public then think, that is how it is, and hence they poll as they do, which reinforces again the conviction of the MSM that they are right with their (idiotic or manipulative) assessments. So you end up in a catch 22 situation, where polls feed and shape perception, and that again shapes commentary and views coming from the MSM, which again brings about the polls like a self fulfilling prophecy.
The challenge is to go beyond the MSM, to go and hold public meetings, run public events and campaigns, aggressively and widely use social media, and to network and meet people face to face. There is no alternative to such damned hard work, and the first thing the Labour MPs in caucus can do, is start on Monday, doing exactly that.
Visit work places, factories, council staff, drain layers, road workers, hospital nurses and doctors, people rebuilding in Christchurch, talk with the exploited foreign workers here, expose this, talk with the taxi drivers working 12 hour days for less than minimum pay per hour, talk with social workers, drug and alcohol counsellors, with stressed out teachers, with ECE workers, with beneficiaries struggling, and so forth it must go!
Clusterfuck Cunliffe is Nationals greatest asset, the only thing saving him is Norman collapsing greens support by sucking up to the fat German fraudster.
If he’s a ‘Naki’ man, then he’s only a thirty-something jerk, probably from Taranaki but not yet a man. It’s talk from the same generation as the ‘hard-core’ bullshit used to sell tee-shirts.
Deconstructing his moniker is a tediously embarrassing business for anybody who’s actually lived an adult-hood in the place.
Of course if Naki man was actually Taranaki man with the emphasis on the Tara from the more oblique usage of that particular word in some tribal dialects i could well believe Him to be that…
the johnkey donkey mural was funnier. i’m trying to get a good screen capture so share the laughs. & the look on keys face when he had to sign its arse, hilarious!
Lolz there are some extremely clever kids in Slippery’s electorate, the mouthful of tea ended up expelled all over the place when i got a look at that…
SSLands, what the hell are you on about now, have not i told you on numerous occassions to stay off the internet when you have been on the bottle all day,
Commenting when your pissed just makes you come across as more ludicrous than normal, i know that for you is probably a badge of honor as you seem incapable of anything but the ludicrous but you should have a small modicum of shame even in your drunken state,
My advice of course is in your best interests as you should cease to turn up for your employment as a minor bean counting serf in your lonely little bean counters cubicle with a raging and patently obvious whisky hangover as despite your thinking otherwise your employment is far from assured into the future with your boss looking to increase profits by cutting out the under-performers,
Is there any truth to the rumor that you consider your employment status to be safe during the upcoming restructuring of the company you are a serf for because as far as the boss is concerned you out of all the slaves gives the best blow-jobs…
I was looking forward to the Roy Morgan poll (a poll that the folks here seem to place a lot of faith in) showing Labour clawing back some ground, but unfortunately it showed gains to the Nats. The lack of discussion on this borad re the RM poll said it all. This latest poll reinforces National’s position, albeit with a different Left distribution. No matter how you slice & dice it, the CB poll is not good news for the Left, and Cunliffe slipping in the preferred PM stakes is a concern also (I can’t recall what Shearer was polling when he was rolled).
IMO Labour are spending too much time attacking the Nats, and not enough time & energy promoting their own policy. Also, with the exception of recent performances from Jones, Labour don’t seem to have any depth to their team. What happened to the energy that Robertson exhibited during the leadership contest? If Cunliffe is struggling in the popularity stakes, his team need to step up, take some of the heat and show some passion, engage in intelligent & positive dialogue with the MSM, and act like a team that is capable of leading NZ.
Ben Hur, faith in the Roy Morgan, you have that slightly wrong, the Roy Morgan is of much more interest to us political junkies as it is produced on a far greater number of occasions than the other media polls and thus makes an interesting watch for ‘the trend’,
Faith though is a measurement of respect in what is clearly a neutral polling organization and i for one have seen none of them recently which includes the Morgan poll in the none of them,
Gary Morgan, son of Roy, and the current named proprietor of the Roy Morgan polling organization is heavily invested in Australian mining interests and if you think that such interests can fit in with a polling company being unbiased i fear for your sanity…
IMO Labour are spending too much time attacking the Nats, and not enough time & energy promoting their own policy.
WRONG. The Nats and their acolytes are doing the attacking. And what’s more the claims are bogus lies and the MSM know it. Still, they let them get away with it. Labour and the Greens are the parties releasing damm good policies. By and large, the MSM are ignoring them – mind bogglingly concentrating on petty issues instead.
The Nats have got their policy out there and understood, so arguably have the time to attack the Left. It will be interesting to see if there is any fallout with Bradbury stating that he talks with Cunliffe, and the fact (and therefore linkage) that Bradbury was in the pay of Dot Com.
Labour policies like turning people on $149k into beneficiaries and Greens policy like subsidised
PV panels that are not cost effective, there is no need to tell lies these clowns are shooting themselves in the foot.
The MSM is corporate dominated, the top media bosses, the editors, the “media personalities”, they are clearly in their vast majority having a personal bias towards maintaining the status quo! And now APN have even bought the majority or total share holding of what was the Radio Network (1ZB and so forth).
Just having listened to the conversations about the Shane Taurima incident or “scandal” at TVNZ, and how that was commented on by many, that sent shivers down my spine. The majority of the private media journalists and moderators try to portray themselves as “independent” and TVNZ and Radio NZ as “left leaning”. And they get away with it. Even Radio NZ disappointed me a bit with their last summary of this on Media Watch:
A shocker to me was the last Focus on Politics program last Friday, and how that started, almost showing National in the best of light to fight poverty and social problems!? Hear it here, if you did not:
I did not hear the whole of Insight this morning, but I think it also tried to be overly “balanced” (careful to not upset the government) to report on how the public service have been treated under this government, and that is on Radio NZ National:
Forget TVNZ, they are now so scared to say or present anything that may just slightly show Labour or Greens in a positive light, being “scared” by the reports of mostly private media persons, that they are “left leaning” and prone to bias. So the MSM is anything but helpful, it will NOT be useful to communicate to the public what matters, they are not going to do their job!
But despite of this, I am still flabber-ghasted why Labour and Greens do not hammer Bennett on welfare issues, of which there are a many, and I know that others (besides myself) have sent some of the MPs a fair bit of very revealing, useful information, which is probably sitting and gathering dust, or has been deleted as too complex email communication.
What they do wrong is going on about the same again and again and again, slogan like, but not expand the line of attack, and not fire with studied information, questions and arguments. Some of them are in my view not capable of doing their jobs, simple fact.
The elephant in the room: why hasn’t David Cunliffe (and Labour) purged the likes of Phil Goff, Annette King and the treacherous Trevor Mallard? Why do these old-timers continue warming the benches and doing nothing sweet fuck all?
Unless a miracle happens New Zealand is looking to another three years of a National-Act government. There is time for a change, but it is running out quickly.
Good point,a lot depends on how the pollsters frame the questions to those prepared to respond, of course if you were planning on having a fiddle with the outcome after the poll had been taken the ‘undecided’ column would be a good place to start…
It is alot, what that means is of the 11% there are plenty of voters not happy with National and are holding out to see what policies come out from Labour. You can count on NZF voters not wanting a National deal done.
The Greens are losing cred by both the Dotcom support and Norman has soiled his previous good work by engaging in a silly tussle with God Botherer Collin Craig. The Greens are better off keeping their head down and remaining silent, coming out when they have sensible things to say. People voted NZF last election because Peters is a one man wrecking ball. Look for Winston to come out boxing and trim National back in popularity. A scandal exposing Key, further slamming the assets sale with the GE sale and the aftermath with price hikes, and the total costs of the ticket clippers from across the ditch.
Once the interest rates start to climb and China clips Nationals wings with a strategic drop in bidding for our milk powder causing the price to slump. China will not be happy with Key and his sucking up to Uncle Sam. The TPPA is heavy weighted in the Yanks favour and we are in China’s part of the globe, we are going to get a sharp reminder of this very soon.
James,
I don’t think anti foreign companies is quite the right way to approach that for a major party. It works better in the hands of Winston and he will just out xenophobe you.
I think instead you can just focus on Big corporations, in particular dodgy advertising but also other practices.
The pitch can be a much stronger and much more aggressive commerce commission. Find some illegal stuff then say you need broarder laws to catch the similar but marginally legal activities.
In the same theme one could go after tax loopholes etc. Maybe use closing them as revenue source in a way that will catch the public’s attention.
In terms of all the normal policies – the 2 key things for labour to win is
1) for it to sell itself as being responsible party of government – So it needs to look fiscally responsible to the public – more so as often as possible than national. (eg push the super issue as a cost).
2) It also needs to distance itself from the Greens and sell the idea that it can control the greens. Because the swing voters fear greens.
Hmm .. am not sure what Labour will really stand for and what next will happen with maintaining the entitlement age for super, given that the new ACT leader is now pushing for the increase.
John Key and National’s dirty work already being done by ACT … and David Parker?
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In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
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This is new (or 1930s old if you want to look at it that way) for Dunedin:
“There have been many reports of people asking strangers for money – and people begging on the footpath – in recent weeks. Rising living costs and displacement in the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes have been linked to the sometimes shocking and all-too-obvious signs of personal struggle.”
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/292394/beggars-streets-dunedin
I’ve been asked for change at bus-stops a couple of times recently, and there’s always been the limited talent “buskers” (the kind you wouldn’t stop and listen to). The weather is fine this week, but it’s really not a town in which you want to be homeless during winter.
yeah happened to me on friday, a couple teens, i was with my 6 year old & they were quite in our faces. not good. but i guess with 20% (at least) of under 25s unemployed, this is what we should expect..
Youth unemployment in Dunedin is circa 30% or higher AFAIK
Afaik, everyone in NZ without cash assets, who doesn’t have enough money for groceries in a week, is entitled to financial support from WINZ. What does it say about us that people find it easier to beg from strangers on the street than strangers in the WINZ office?
@ weka..
“..everyone in NZ without cash assets, who doesn’t have enough money for groceries in a week, is entitled to financial support from WINZ…”
..factually incorrect there..weka…
..where on earth do you get this miss-information from..?
..how out of touch with the realities of life for so many are you..?
..and you a ‘green’..eh..?
..you’d think you’d know better..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Yeah that’s right phil, putting me down is the important thing here. But let me fix it, seeing as how logic isn’t your strong point and you would obviously rather point score and make it personal than further the conversation in a meaningful way.
NZ residents who pass an income and asset test are entitled to Special Needs Grants from WINZ. I’m sure that you can find fault with that statement if you try.
if you happen to be on some kind of stand down & maybe facing other penalties or run out of your ‘special needs’ grants its possible you wont get anything. some of these beggers might even have some work, minimum hours on minimum wage, its possible for these young ppl to have to beg so they can get some spare cash.
True, but most of those things aren’t in statute I think, they’re gate keeping at the office, hence my point about it being easier to beg from strangers on the street than it is to approach the govt agency responsible for looking after people who are really struggling.
oh right, yep, exactly. who really wants to have anything to do with the govt if it can be helped.
… so your point was that it’s easier to beg from strangers on the street than it is from WINZ? (just to clarify). I’d go along with that from those beggars I’ve had conversations with around Wellington.
btw ….. sometimes I think you (and others), and PU should really kiss and make up. Holier than thou … and all that kaka.
Maybe we need a Nosher Powel to mediate (“Give him back his fuckn cuntry”)
WINZ have turned discouraging people (I mean “clients”) from accessing their entitlements into an art form.
+1
@ weka..i fact-checked you because you used the words..’in a week’..
..thus implying that any week this could happen..
..that is not correct..
..if you time it right..you might get four shops a year out of them..in emergency-grants..
..then you are sent to the foodbanks..
..then you…
..phillip ure..
Yes WINZ are gate keeping at the office, hence my comment that it’s easier to beg on the streets.
No, I didn’t mean every week of the year. I meant that WINZ usually income and asset test for the week that you apply.
Four shops a year from emergency WINZ grants – that’s if you are VERY Lucky.
And going to the foodbanks – you’re only allowed a couple of these a year. So if you run out of food and funds at other times in the year ……. you’ve just run out of luck and food !!
I would say the biggers with very few exceptions are obtaining a tax payer funded benefit as well. I observed a beggar on Friday for about thirty minutes. He got a. Few coins in the time I was watching. Certainly did not seem starved. Then he started a conversation on his smart phone. After that he went over and had a chat to a couple of other beggers about twenty metres away, had a smoke and then went back to his position.
There were reports that the beggers do quite well thank you very much.
you sound almost envious there..monty..
..after yr in-depth investigation of the matter..
..will you be submitting yr conclusions to an academic-journal..?
..for a peer-review..?
..walked a mile in their shoes..did you..
..you ineffably shallow/simplistic little-man..
..you..
..phillip ure..
It was an observation, not an in depth investigation. I never have and never would walk an inch in their shoes. These people have no self respect, and are not prepared to do what is necessary to improve their lives. Beginning with making intelligent life decisions. There is no excuse for their begging.they intimidate people.
They are best ignored.
Monty
I don’t personally find beggers intimidating, except in the sense of empathising with their plight. Generally I find I can spare a few coins for the downtrodden. If you do in fact ignore these people how can you be so certain of your generalisations about them (eg; “These people have no self respect, and are not prepared to do what is necessary to improve their lives”)? Street-collecting, protesting, or busking can be dispiriting enough; I don’t want to ever find out just how grinding the begging process is.
From the ODT article above:
“The Dunedin City Council has no bylaws addressing begging. A spokeswoman said the council had received no complaints about it.
In some centres, Work and Income has staff specifically assigned to deal with the homeless and very poor, but not in Dunedin.”
And my casual observation is that you have simply sketched this tried & tested meme out of thin air.
Now, if you are looking for a masterclass in benny bashing, look no further.
http://t.co/BpR85fUCqe
That link!
Sukie Damson
That was a plum one you landed TS with on that there link!
I had a close look at it and it is a send-up, a satire. And sounds as if it might be from some UK union or left-wing students mag (from when students usually had a left wing lean.)
What do YOU think?
We’ve whipped up our ignorant readers into a bigoted frenzy of hatred. Here’s the kind of hand outs they’d like to see dished out to the money grubbing …
Cut his cock off and make him eat it..said disabled war veteran Joe …82, of Leeds.
etc
Have your neighbours got a nicer house than you? Do they appear to be better off than you are? Or perhaps their garden is a mess, or their kids have got snotty noses. Ring us today….and tell us about your nightmare neighbours. Perhaps we can arrange for a lynching……
Looks just like a typical WhaleSpew/Kiwibog thread. BTW, I hate how Farrar has misappropriated our national bird, our symbol, the name of our league team, and part of our identity for his hate site.
Read Orwell’s “Down and Out in Paris and London” Monty.
..how about down and out in Melbourne and Sydney?…no benefit for NZers
Monty, if I may be so bold, What things you must see from your lofty tower. You must feel so disappointed, so aggrieved, so challenged by the audacity of it all that these beggars have the indecency to stain your eyes with their meagre presence. You don’t ask for much. All you want is to pass along the street your taxes built and not be harangued by society’s flotsam. They are of course the only ones responsible for their circumstances and deserve every pointy stick of shame they get. Not only for being worthless street scum, but for their subsequent lack of a real contribution to what is obviously your society. They should, quite simply, not be tolerated by decent hard working penguins who only want to be exposed to osh-approved representations of society as dictated by the latest fearfacts poll . (I could go on but it would just get kind of mean and I think the sarcasm would be tedious after the first thirty odd pages)
Absolutely there are scammers out there on the street. Lots of them. Devious sods each and every one. Dedicated, they chip away at it day after day. Working hard to grift your coin from your wallet. Most of them wear suits by the way. Dispersed between the suits you will see other people, the ones you belittled so confidently. I feel I should enquire as to your validation for doing so. Have you ever spoken to the person you are accusing of failure? Have you ever asked a question of them? I imagine you are more likely one of those whom bark life directives as you pass by, choking on the guilt a bit as you cast the soiled coins from your pocket.
Do you know of any of these people’s achievements for example?
There are many proud histories that sit dishevelled on street corners around New Zealand. Just because many of these fellow humans are garbed in the broken shells of what they could have been, that is no reason to spew your ignorance upon them.
I doubt you could honestly fathom the daily challenges many beggars have faced. Battling with their mental state, dumped into the machinery of hot potato bureaucracy and some of the lucky ones even survive their personal traumas of violence and sexual assault. Monty, for someone who has such obvious trouble accepting the existence of others’ difficulties, I am unconvinced your limpet-celled cerebellum could process the pressured choices that eventually led many of these people to reach out a hand in submission.
Now, to stand in judgement on strangers for a full half hour and come to such a clear conclusion that you state “There is no excuse for their begging” means you are either an omniscient form of idiot-savant who has a razor keen understanding of humanity (and live in rarefied air), or you are just an idiot.
yeah i’m going with you are an idiot
Beautifully said, Freedom, as always.
Monty’s shallow smug callousness could bring tears to one’s eyes – to consider that we live along side those who are so hateful of humanity.
And thanks for the lolz SukieDamson. That is classic Viz.
+1
@ freedom..
1..
..very well said…
phillip ure
Global Capitalism Has Written Off The Human Race
We are already seeing this truth today. In fact, we’ve been seeing it for several decades but we’ve been ignoring it.
Male or female, straight, gay, trans, black, white or brown, able bodied or not; capitalism considers over 95% of the human race disposable and replaceable in exploitation for profits.
Science and technology today serves human ambitions, aspirations and greed, all of which are now capitalist in nature.
There are scientists who do care about their work and its effect for good to the public.
did you have an empathy bye-pass at birth..there..monty..?
..what/how else to explain yr bleak/dark heart..?
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
“I would say the biggers with very few exceptions are obtaining a tax payer funded benefit as well”
So? You do realise that benefits are intentionally set below a liveable level.
Why do you think that only people who ‘look’ starved deserve help?
Why do you think that someone with a smart phone isn’t hungry or needing to pay a power bill before their power gets cut off?
Why do you have a problem with people who beg socialising with each other?
You should move to Brazil, Monty. Most of the middle class think like you, and there are even more beggars to hate. You can even run them over and get away with it, or set fire to them. That teaches them not to be intimidating to good citizens.
Program by Philippa Tolley on whether the NZ Public Services democratic role is being undermined this morning very good!
…..very articulate experienced well educated professional speakers on the problems facing New Zealand’s public Service eg Foreign Affairs man Mr Leak?, Matthew Palmer? ( legal), Brenda Pilot (PSA).
….and Labour Party’s Maryan Street, Spokesperson for State Services …. also very competent …..talking about the problems facing Public Servants….
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
…..as a former Public Servant my heart goes out to Public Servants under a NACT Government …it must be hell!
…. problems of giving free and frank advice on what is best for New Zealand versus what the government wants to hear
….problems of working under the threat of being made redundant
…problems of having to carry on after your mates have been made redundant illegitimately
…problems of working under a huge workload ( remember Cave Creek….this happened after redundancies on the West Coast and impossible work loads carried by DOC staff)
Beltway issue. Labour needs policy that people can relate to to get votes.
I don’t agree that the running down of the public service under National is a beltway issue. It just needs to be framed in terms relevant to people’s lives – hospital waiting lists, class sizes, the amount of time it takes government departments to respond or deal with issues,
There is the possibility, depending upon what occurs in the next month, of an interesting story developing surrounding ”just how” this current Government is managing those hospital waiting lists…
…what does beltway mean?
It means people watched too much West Wing
Beltway…it means the political scene in Wellington. People in the beltway are in the Know. Apparently. It often gets used disparagingly here to refer to people who aren’t in touch with the rest of NZ.
eerh thanx …..
public servants are everywhere…not just in Wellington….and their health and well-being is a litmus test for democracy…they are servants of the public…the people of NZ …. and our taxpayer dollar
….when they start to sqwark down the tunnels and kark it in the mines you know your democracy is in trouble
Like you Chooky, as a former PS (both in the pre-corporatisation, AND post-corporatisation eras), I feel for them.
’87 – we were promised
…. greater accountability
…… de-politicisation
……. fishinsy n fektivness
……….. and a whole lot of other BS.
In fact exactly the opposite has occured AND at greater expense if you take into account the salary largesse of ‘CEO’s’ (ffs!!!!! CEO’s in the Public Service – an anomaly in and of itself), and their ‘Senior Management’.
Actually, the result has been highly politicised little feifdoms, open to manipulation and scams, and an environment where actual public servants work IN SPITE of their ‘entitled’ management, rather than BECAUSE of them. Ask any at the coal face what they think of their so-called management – I dare ya!!
Be it Internal Affairs
Be it Defence,
Be it Te Puni Kokiri (present Hippolite excepted thus far, but we’ll wait and see)
Be it WINZ
Be it …. (name your poison)
I bothers me that ‘progressives’ (including the current Labour Party leadership claiming progressive credentials) can’t see the bleeding obvious
+100..Tim
….this will be a big issue for Wellingtonians especially .
…and I might add ….a country is only as good as its high quality , independent Public Servants, committed to serving that country….so it is a very important political issue
I have to say Mayan Street spoke well on the issue
i got six paragraphs into today’s Herald column by Matt McCarten and found i had far far better activities to occupy my Sunday morning with than allowing Matt’s views to ruin yet another day,
According to Matt, the Alfred E. Nuemann of television reporting Patrick Gower is a ”frighteningly good journalist”,
i can only surmise that Matt considers Himself in with a chance, along with Bryce and Kerre of getting the nod to fill John Armstrong’s position at the Herald when the latter falls asleep at His computer for the final time…
Matt seems to be doing a job interview for his paymasters…..looky here see how I can spin it with the best, wondered about him in an election year at pravda, wonder no more.
Also no surprise that cammy is being positioned as some type of hard done by family man and crusader of worthy causes with bradbury thrown in for granny styled ‘balance’.
with shonkey aligning himself with the slater its nicely framed for WO to become every bit as ‘credible’ as granny with the payback for cammy probably escalated site hits and perhaps similar taxpayer gigs like farrars curia enjoys.
Yeah true, i suppose if McCarten is taking the Massah Bosses coin then He is beholden to write what will keep the Massah Boss passing over that 30 pieces of silver…
As we all know WO is a pretty revolting specimen. It is indicative of Key’s outlook on life that he can’t see this.
My guess is that there are wavering voters who will be put off Key by his closeness to the Whale.
Cue Labour repeating often that Key has fireside chats with the Oily One=more votes.
So another poll is coming out tonight. The rumours are that it is bad news for the left and good news for the right. I suspect it will have a bit of a slump for the greens and Labour with National who have run a tight ship this. Year possibly able to rule alone, or maybe with the help of act and Dunne.
Som what will a bad result mean for the left? Has Cunliffe finished the honeymoon only after six months, while John Key’s honeymoon continues six years into the Job.
If the poll results are bad will labour be capable of taking a hard look at their policy platform and realise that
A. The population generally do understand that National is doing a good job and the gains are not to be risked by a lurch to the left such as a green labour government would deliver
B. The left policies of more welfare in one form or another are not capturing the imagination of the public.
C. More taxes are not going to win any election. The promise of increased taxes has failed the last two elections, why do labour think it will work a third time. Isn’t it time the left dropped their hatred of success?
Hmmm Monty is pontificating on something and assuming the worst for Labour and then offering the benefit of his sage advice. What happens Monty if the poll shows increased support? I hear the internal polling is sound.
“Montificating”…
It is certainly time to scroll past Montykins scrawlings.
Perhaps Labour need new pollsters? Tonights OneNews poll is a disaster.
In the 1990’s National cut taxes by closing hundreds of hospitals around the country and cutting other services that help New Zealand.
FACT: you can only cut taxes by cutting services. Raising taxes to pay for services that help New Zealanders is the only way forward in this country.
That is not a fact Millay.
What is a fact is that throwing money at a problem does not necessarily resolve it.
Whereas not spending money on a social problem generally makes it worse.
+1
Aus has a very large tax regime with the top personal rate nearly 50%, CGT, FBT, GST, Superannuation tax and thats before we look at state taxes like stamp duty those are federal taxes.
Those roads, schools, hospitals etc are paid for with taxes, rwnjs appear to be wilfully ignorant on the massive borrowing the nact perform to stop serious cracks appearing everywhere while they are in power.
if we pulled the tablecloths of cafe nacts tables now, you would see books, bricks, bodies propping up the legs theyve sawn off.
Or realigning what you do with the taxes.
There has been a lot of bleating from the right about the living wage and they have very helpfully supplied figures to bolster their argument as to how much WFF will go down. Mostly in the billions.
So if we can get the bottom end wages up, with a knock on effect up the scale through to the median ( and hopefully decrease the profit amounts going off shore) then we will have plenty more to spend on community needs. Bit like ditching the holiday highway and spending money on a few passing lanes and public transport.
“hundreds of hospitals”, hundreds????
I am in possession of a document obtained under the Offical Information Act that I can provide a link to if you like.
The polls show that National is winning because it’s getting votes from the old – the same people who lived it up riotously on the generous postwar welfare state and who want to deny the same to the under 40s.
It really doesn’t have anything to do with what you say other than that the boomers are a worthless load of spongers.
RockBottom Economy,
Deficit = 1.79 billion dollars, now that’s what i call book balancing,
Gross Government Debt = 80+ billion dollars, when it hits 100 billion bucks the automatic invitation for the IMF to move in and loot the place on behalf of the creditors becomes active???,
Business Tax Evasion/Avoidance $179 million dollars in six months, s’pose Bill can always plug the hole with the loot from asset sales in the name of surplus at any cost,
The RockBottom Economy brought to you by Nationals stunning economic mismanagement circa 2008–2014…
$1.8 billion crown deficit, $82.95 billion gross government debt and rising.
Good job indeed. Maybe in a parallel, upside-down universe.
Truly a Rock-Bottom Economy and Slippery the PM has no plans on altering anything if given a third term…
I have always though that this election will be close. But recent polls have given the green labour bloc extreme cause for concern, with good reason given the nightmare of the past couple of weeks for the left to think the trend would have changed.
The labour and green policies to date have had no impact and have been easily dissected by us on the right ( with much joy I might add)
Nothing the green labour bloc has done has managed to impact on the ongoing strong and unprecedented support national continues to enjoy.
at this rate Winston will not be of benefit to the green labour bloc in forming a government. Besides I doubt he will go with David and Russel for the simple reason that his ego will not want him to play third fiddle.
I wonder if the recent grumpiness of labour MPs is related to on going poor polling.
Voters will vote for some more redistribution. There is widespread concern at persistent inequality. But they will not vote for policies that make New Zealand poorer.
As an example – The recent solar panel policy is such an example. It uses the Government (and its ability to tax and borrow) to promote an expensive generation mode over existing cheaper ones. It dishonestly portrays solar as cheaper by claiming that the interest subsidy is not really a subsidy, and by downplaying the ownership risks. If someone had a spare $15,000 and they did want to spend that on energy efficiency they would be well advised to spend it on top notch insulation, double glazing, installing a reverse cycle air hot water system and an efficient gas central heating system or a heat pump. These are proven technologies that also will add to capital value.
There is concern at inequality of opportunity. I am not at all convinced there is huge amounts at the level of concern around inequality of outcome.
The outcome is dependant upon so many factors such as ambition, priorities, life decisions, risks taken and outcome of those risks.
labour and the greens keep harping on about needing equality of outcomes. That is effectively socialism and means those who work hard, invest, make good decisions are penalised and their money taken to redistribute to those who make poor life decisions, don’t necessarily have the skills to make money.
It is a very dangerous road to go down.,
Only if you measure the entire value of a human being by how many “skills to make money” they have Monty.
labour and the greens keep harping on about needing equality of outcomes.
Except nobody does. No-one is arguing for equality of outcomes. What we are pointing out is that in a world where just 85 people now control more wealth than the poorest 3.5 BILLION people on the planet – that there is plenty of room to reduce this gross extreme of wealth and poverty.
“labour and the greens keep harping on about needing equality of outcomes. That is effectively socialism and means those who work hard, invest, make good decisions are penalised and their money taken to redistribute to those who make poor life decisions, don’t necessarily have the skills to make money.”
Whilst I have no objection to taxing hard work only lightly, much of the higher incomes that we see are coming from economic rent and ticket clipping, and this should be providing the lion’s share of the tax take.
+1
The biggest bludgers are the shareholders.
“The biggest bludgers are the shareholders.”
Sometimes. Though their income comes from the ownership of assets which contribute to the productive process, and they stand to lose their investment if the enterprise fails.
I was thinking more of interest recipients, who contribute nothing to the productive process, landlords, in respect of land, and administrators who are often grossly overpaid for what they actually contribute
But they themselves don’t.
Interest recipients are just indirect shareholders.
Within a business administrators are an expense on the workers and so the workers should have a say how much that they’re paid.
Landlords should be administrators hired by the government on a fixed income to administer state rental properties. There should be no private rentals.
“Interest recipients are just indirect shareholders.”
Shareholders own assets – machines, tools, etc – which contribute to production, and which get used up through depreciation. Interest recipients hold promissory notes, or something similar, which contribute nothing.
“Within a business administrators are an expense on the workers and so the workers should have a say how much that they’re paid.’
They should be paid a fair price for the service they provide.
Don’t kid yourself. The shareholders only “own” that hardware through legal fictions.
In the most common reality, the banks effectively own all that stuff. You can see this when a factory folds: the banks get all the money from the fire sale of those items, and the employees and shareholders get nothing.
Ownership of a machine doesn’t contribute to production.
I didn’t say that they shouldn’t. It was more a statement that they shouldn’t set their wages.
“Ownership of a machine doesn’t contribute to production.”
This is just playing with words. The machine itself contributes to production.
No, it’s not playing with words. The ownership of the machine doesn’t contribute to production.
are they those same shareholding-elites who are part of the $5 billion in criminally-avoided tax in nz..?
..(and as a benchmark at the other end..benefit-fraud in the last measured year was $23 million..)
..there is yr funding to end poverty..
..right there..
..that..and a financial transaction tax on the inter-institution trading of banks/finance-companies etc..
..and we will have poverty done and dusted..
..and we will even have enough to start cleaning up the mess we have made of this place..
..just those two measures will be enough..
..tell that to those who wring their hands..
..and claim there is nothing we can do..
..to end this poverty-blight..
..and to clean up our country..
..phillip ure..
Or even better you put up the panels, for the joy of shafting the power companies, and then with the reduction in the monthly bills, do all those other things so that the house is a net supplier. Maybe one would be allowed to donate the power to certain community facilites like schools or hospitals or towards the bill of an older or younger relative.
The recent solar panel policy is such an example. It uses the Government (and its ability to tax and borrow) to promote an expensive generation mode over existing cheaper ones. It dishonestly portrays solar as cheaper by claiming that the interest subsidy is not really a subsidy, and by downplaying the ownership risks.
When governments first started building sealed highways they were effectively subsidising a dearer mode of transport (cars) over an existing cheaper and more reliable one (horses).
SSLands i can nearly hear you sobbing from here at the Green Party having the temerity to cut out the profit making trading banks from the solar power equation, there is no ”interest subsidy” as you latest lie attempts to infer,
Those taking up the offer will be able to borrow up to $15,000 off of the Government and pay the same amount of interest the Government is charged to borrow the money on behalf of those borrowing to install solar,
You will probably be depressed to the point of self harm once the first low income families are housed under the Green Parties home ownership initiative where it will be up to the home owners how much of the mortgage they pay down on these Government housing loans which again cut out the profit making trading banks…
As an after-thought to your latest of whines formulated upon lies SSLands, you have to remember that the Government will be buying any spare generation off of those who choose to cleverly take up the Green Party initiative which lends the money to those wishing to install a solar energy system,
i should imagine that such solar producers will be given preference over the major generators when selling power to the Government wholesaler Labour/Green intend to install between the current generators and current retailers,
i would further imagine that the Government wholesaler will purchase that solar generation from the household generators at the fair price paid to the large generators which they will then on-sell to the retailers,
Obviously a single desk wholesale buyer of electricity generation will be able to use market forces to squeeze the margins and make a small profit so how you think the Government will lose money on the solar power start-up transaction is in fact beyond me…
The lower interest isn’t a subsidy and there are very few, if any, downside risks. It will also make many NZers richer. The only ones that will get poorer will be the ones who bought our assets, against our will, with a look to get free money.
sryland..
..did you ever find the evidence of yr bullshit claims yesterday..?
..or doesn’t that really matter..
..every day is just bullshit-groundhog-day for you..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
I have just read on Kiwiblog that Richard Prebble is returning to ACT to run their election campaign. On reading this my personal opinion is that the election is now sown up barring any major scandals.
But isn’t Prebble the RNZ go to commentator for ‘what’s going on in the Labour party’? So confusing…
This “in bed with the bloggers” article is thought provoking imo. Isn’t it interesting watching the meme develop that you have to be a ‘personality’ to be a blogger with impact or influence. I’m not against personalities but surely it is the ideas – oh sorry how naive of me.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11208097
I have to say that I am still struggling to get my head around the recent news that the prime minister rings slater up and chats – and the killer is, that is only if the lying dirty wanker is telling the truth – and he hardly ever does that! Dirty, dirty fight, dirty tactics, fight to win. Wake (further) up lefties the skirmishing is here.
Our PM is a well advised cold calculating banksta representing the hollowmen, time will tell why he did this.
IMO it was to give ‘credibility’ to WO who will become an outlet for the dirt etc that him and lusk etc have as their stock in trade.
you will not hear the end of the brown saga as one example as its all about throw as much shit as you can so more sticks to the ‘left’, its obvious with the nact cabal on akl council the scene has been set after sharon stewarts tanty last week which I highly doubt was her own work.
If any bloggers on here live in Sharon’s area might be good to get in touch with her office and suggest she gets on with running Auckland which is what she is paid to do. A bit of Faux concern about how the scandals are hurting the right wing image as icing on the cake.
Waste of time IMO, thats exactly what her, brewer, krum, quax etc are paid to do, continue to undermine brown.
Supercity is nacts vehicle to take over akl assets, the poodles led by banks jnr will not stop yapping until thats achieved.
Getting rate and taxpayers to fund that agenda is a bonus, not that they need the cash as I hear Waitemata trust is very flush.
Wow, that’s a really long article, with some interesting biases. Am curious as to why Tiso attracts so much criticism.
Also interesting to see the humanising and cleaning up of Slater’s image underway.
Ideas vs personality, heh.
Mouth still open – the “warm and cuddly Slater image” ?
As to bias no women mentioned, I think, Herald gotta problem, woman ban in place?
Clearly a strong attempt to rehabilitate Slater. Which demonstrates exactly how important and central to the right-wing he is.
While I despise him with every fibre of my being – I never underestimated him. Slater is absolutely central to their value system and is now a prime channel for promulgating it. Key’s weekly chats with Slater are not an idle amusement in a bored moment; they will be a critical part of Key’s strategy and communications plan.
I do not really think Mr Key is that much in touch with Mr Slater. It was either a distraction ploy, (once Slater is hinted at we stop looking) or a deliberate effort to campaign amongst the Whale oil commentators. “I say chaps, John Key is one of us you know, so we should jolly well vote for him don’t you think?”
I do not really think Mr Key is that much in touch with Mr Slater.
When were you last in touch with a Prime Minister – ever?
Exactly! That is the point – well put red.
+1 – but I would put it the other way around. When was a PM directly in touch with you?
A question several journalists (Herald ones) tweeted each other sarcastically just after the Key statement. re his calling WO regularly.
The context in which Mr Key hinted that Mr Slater was a confidante seemed to me that it was so unlikely that he was, and more likely that it was a slip-up being covered-up. It is true that Mr Key has not contacted me once this year even though I am freely available to offer considered opinions to him.
Sad really that only people who have conversations with Mr Key should offer opinions about his behaviours. The rest of you must remain silent!
You think that Slater’s crowd don’t already vote on the right?
Are you suggesting that Leaders should not “visit” those who likely would vote for them weka? Anyway, I just doubt the legitimacy of the belief in Key/Slater rapport.
Key isn’t talking to Slater weekly because he wants him to vote for National. I think leaders can visit whoever they like. But they will come under scrutiny if they lack judgement in who they visit. And let’s not forget the context of this particular contact between PM and constituent.
marty mars
Lol, Pete George is on to that Herald article too and mentions you, and karol, and mickey savage, and zetetic……………..aww still thinking of you all. Ain’t that just the sweetest thing…………..
http://yournz.org/
Lol alright – thanks Rosie 🙂
Auspylands
Serial lies again
Reverse cycle water heaters are dearer to run than a standard electric water heater because of the set up costs then a limited life span of the mechanism of 10 years.
Gas heating is also dearer.
Double glazing is only guaranteed for ten years needing expensive reglazing.
Insulation is a good idea.
But as usual National first changed govt funded retrofiting insulation so only wealthy people could afford it Now they have scraped it .
Donkeyotay would we well advised to steer clear of slater and his crew. They are on the road to being charged with fomenting civil disorder. They think they can get away with anything they like but the moment they step over the mark they will feel the full force of the law.
“How is it, then, that bloggers can be so outspokenly partisan, can get into bed with the politicians and still call themselves journalists?”
Oh my God, the irony, it burns.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11208097
Hmm, having some technical difficulties, so I can’t amend my post… anyway, to add, the moron – some personoid, creature, whatever called Jonathan Milne – writing the piece thinks that the ability to attract advertising revenue is a measure of someone’s worth. He/it gives away a lot in that short statement.
That’s The Herald!
I’ve been watching House of Cards – the American remake with Kevin Spacey lately, and there’s a paper called “The Washington Herald”. Always, the camera frames it as “The Was”. That’s old media.
State of the country’s education
Not exactly a ringing endorsement from a former employer of his staff?
“When I was at Auckland Grammar, people would often say what a wonderful institution I was in charge of,” Morris says. “But there is no point having a nice building if you have lousy teachers.”
Of course, he would no doubt believe that when he was in the classroom he was a brilliant teacher. “Oh why couldn’t they all be like me …?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11208096
gee..!..that rory-the-green from politicheck…(over on that politcheck-thread..)
..is being very coy about answering my (quite straightforward to my mind) questions about the ideological-tinges/records of those helping him settle the form/function imperatives of this new political watchdog..
..i asked if truth-bender farrar is involved..if the rightwing trout hooten is involved..
..(but then..he did say he was staying away from ‘the fringe’..eh..?
..and libertarian hooten..and farrar…the main architect/peddler of the vile campaigns of lies/hatred against the weakest/poorest of our country..oh..!..since he started kiwiblog..?
..if they aren’t truth-bending fringe..who are..?
..and you know what..?
..i fear my wild guess on this..is correct..
..and if rory happens to be from the right/libertarian-wing of the green party..
..well then..this politicheck thing is a rightwing attack-machine..
..how can it not be..?
..rory-the-green really needs to come-clean..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
moderation..
phillip ure..
and imagine if..say..that other far-right trout jordan carter were also involved..?
..whoar..!
..eh..?
..(and here’s a knee-slapper..!..)..maybe they even have acceptable-gatekeeper-wannabe edwards-the-younger on board..
..(snigger/snort!’..he could be their ersatz-‘leftie’..eh..?..
..and of course with him..they would also be blessed with/by the presence of one pete george..whoar..!..eh..?..)
..and as for rory-the-green..?
it’s really a matter of:..
‘..politichecker..!..first politicheck thyself..!..’
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
phil, is there much point in screaming fire if no-one has actually opened the box of matches ?
I hope they find a way to make politicheck work and this is the line that holds most promise, imho.
Not an easy statement to back away from if they do fail to deliver [unbiased] fact checking
freedom..
..it’s more the ‘screaming’ silence ..since a really simple question was asked..
..look at my first comment in that thread..to see my initial reaction to this..
..but we are allowed no questions..?
..especially of this person who has done a seagull-drop..
..and then flown away..?
..the questions aren’t going to go away..eh..?
..’cos america has versions of what this may be..
..rightwing attack-machines cloaked in ‘fact-checking’-robes..
..and..i hope i am proved to be questioning unecessarily..
..(i again refer back to my initial comment in that thread..)
..phillip ure..
Where did all these mountains come from? Weren’t there molehills there before?
Phil,
I am not saying you are wrong,
just looking at the facts.
The site is new, it’s looking for volunteers, there is probably a fair bit of mail for the crew to get through, and as yet there has not been one published “checked fact” for anyone to comment on, let alone the vast conspiracy you seem to be consigning the site to. Have you considered the lack of immediate action in the site getting back to you might actually be a good thing? If they had gotten back to everyone straight away would that have not raised much bigger alarm bells as to how they are resourced?
I have not read the thread you reference, (guessing you mean yesterday’s posting on politicheck?) I saw the politicheck site link, went and looked at the site and now wait for updates on their status so further assessment can occur.
the situation reminds me of reviews based on trailers and not the film itself
often the critics are correct, but every now and then . . . egg on face
don’t let it happen to you is all
peace
Translated: someone failed tp pay attention to phil, so it’s a fringe-right wing conspiracy
bit harsh McFlock!
phil has valid questions, and i am sure answers will eventually arrive
Can’t see how Rory McCarthy owes anyone anything at this stage.
oh noes………eh
how could they …
the inventor of nationalisation ….eh
and 3 dots …
libertarians, eh….
….eh?
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=PM.2014.LABOUR
I see that rich prick leftie is “manipulating” the ipredict market yet again with a 1925 Buy order on “PM Labour”.
What was that claim again? Oh yes the market can be manipulated by a fuckwit with a spare thousand.
SSLands, is that why you gamble on that site, fuck-wit is what we usually attach to you as an epithet,
Glad to see you agree with us all here at the Standard on the important issues…
I see you are being foul mouthed and rude as usual today. On a related topic, did you see you are (in)famous on Kiwiblog? Although they are too polite to call you a fuckwit.
It is not gambling any more than the stockmarket is. Do you direct that your retirement savings not be invested in stocks? No, didn’t think so. Because presumably you are not a fuckwit.
Ipredict is authorised by the Securities Commission as a futures dealer.
And for your own sake stop being so foul mouthed and rude. It is disgusting.
SSLands, if i am attracting abusive comments on one or other of the Sewers channels it simply means that those who i have given a verbal slapping are too thin skinned and have run off to whine like dogs over there,
And no, i do not feel a need to dirty myself reading such rubbish as the blog you mention so my infamy or otherwise in the sewers network is immaterial,
What is more important given that National/ACT have decided to spend YOUR money, Ha-ha-ha upon brand new white-ware for ME, Ha-ha-ha, is the little question i have for you being my adopted bill payer SSLands, silver or white for the new fridge/freezer YOU are paying for SSLands, Ha-ha-ha…
Hey shit head
Since you hold the bottom 95% of NZers in contempt and disdain, your concept of “politeness” is just an elitist farce.
“..on Kiwiblog? Although they are too polite ..”
now..that is one thing i have never heard said before..
..of the denizens of the kiwiblog-swamp..
..that they are ‘too polite’…
..and not something..i must say..i ever saw..
..phillip ure..
Your point about my retirement savings is also an amusement SSLands, although you obviously not having a sense of humor never intended this to be thus,
My retirement savings are all on deposit in the Bank of Tane Mahuta SSLands, the Tararua branch of the ”bank” to be exact, lolz, you might be able to see the particular ”branch” below which my deposit lurks from your lounge window, Ha-ha-ha…
lol…i do so love your comments to SSLands
”It” being a simpleton does make it an easy target tho…
Why don’t Ipredict run market for how many people do or don’t turn up to vote?
Framing a Non Voters market you would think 800,000+ would be 100-1
300,000- set at about 2-1
Sound about right Shrilland?
Hey fuckwit. That is the same trader you highlighted the other day. Obviously, his order for 2.5K shares on that stock still hasn’t been fulfilled since he is buying for the low price of $0.36. The price for that stock is effectively fixed at ~$0.36 because this large buy order is dominating all other buy orders, as I said would happen. I can’t see why the fuck you think that ipredict tells you anything – the volume traded is so low that one or two traders with a bit of cash to spare can set the price to whatever they want.
As I pointed out to you then, if he was really a rich leftie manipulating the stock, he would have simply used his money to mop up all those shares that are being sold at >$0.36 and push the price of the stock up. You really are a clueless fuck, aren’t you?
Or perhaps that is your buy order and you are trying to suck people into selling at the price to make a tidy profit when Cunliffe because our next PM? You certainly have been pushing ipredict a lot these past few weeks.
Worse than that, SSLands is clueless with deliberation…
srylands let it go …
Take your keys off the keyboard and go outside and enjoy the summer. Ipredict is subject to manipulation. It also has a right wing bias. This is why lefties can actually do quite well with it.
Kim Dotcom’s hearing to be delayed again. I haven’t got much love for him , but I agree when he says that the delay will save John Key embarrassment during an election campaign.
Hard not to believe that the Minister of Jackets didn’t give a little push for the Court’s decision.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9754895/Kim-Dotcom-hearing-to-be-delayed
Really? If Dotcom was an going to be an embarrassment I would have thought Key would want him out of the country pronto? If
he is corrupt enough to delay a hearing then surely he is corrupt enough to bring one forward?
That makes no sense at all. If embarrassing details are going to come out at the hearing, Key would want to put it off until after the elections. He wouldn’t want them fresh in the mind of voters while they line up at the polls, and despite the best efforts of NAct’s crack legal team of Collins and Finlayson, a finding against Dotcom is still not guaranteed.
Latest Colmar Brunton is out. It claims National is up 6% to 51%, Labour is unchanged on 34%, Greens are down 5% to 8%, NZ First down 1% to 3%, the conservatives are on 1% as is the Maori Party.
The poll appears to be a rogue. I do not know why National should benefit from Green vote.
And Monty it appears that everything you have been saying today is, with respect, incorrect. How about an apology?
Only 51% for National. Surely this is a rogue poll . It should be near 60%
The greens are predominately a middle/upper class white party.
I think Normans silliness over the last few weeks has really hurt the greens and put a lot of people off.
That’s right. Upper/middle class green voters don’t want solar power rolled out across the country 🙄
A real little amusement isn’t it MS, the Green Party losing 5% of their vote to the National Party, only in the dreams of the little tory that obviously thrills at making shit up,
Winston’s lot on 3%, the propaganda machine is having to stretch reality past the bounds of credibility with this one,
i was tho amused with the ”art” of those kids at that school in Slippery the PM’s electorate, trust the young to see everything for what it is befor the brainwashing begins to sink in,
The PM’s face being depicted in the kids painting of a mural sitting comfortably framed by a Donkey’s arse fits nicely with my oft stated proposition that Slippery the PM covers over the Large bald spot on His nut with the soft anal hairs plucked from a donkeys arse,
Wonder if the kids named that particular donkey Brucie, great painting, shame the same couldn’t be said about the rush of polls bullshitting us, as they did last election, with the Governing alone crap…
Why would you think Nats have pinched from Greens?
A far more sensible explanation would be that Lab have taken some at the lunatic end with the cash for breeders policy but lost some at the less nutty end to the Nats.
Barnsly Bill, your award for the dull Dunces comment of the day is in the post, the Labour poll % hasn’t moved since the last propaganda release from Colmar/National…
Um think you missed the point.. for arguments sake, the greens lost 5 points to Labour and Labour in turn lost five to the nats…. in terms of labour maybe they gained some votes at the left end of the spectrum but lost some of the more neolib inclined supporters to the nats. Tis possible labour has moved back left and has a leader that appeals to the left wing base now…
Or its just an outlier….
Oh. Oh dear. You looked very silly.
What Barnsley is saying (whether he’s right or not is another issue) is that National while went up and Greens went down, it wasn’t all one group of voters moving from the Greens to National.
Rather, Labour was on 34%. It gained 5% from the Greens due to strong left-wing policy. It then lost 5% to National due to centrist leaving. Therefore National goes up, Greens goes down, Labour stays the same.
Whether that’s right or wrong (it’s probably wrong) is up to debate… but you ended up looking like the dunce for not understanding that.
Poor old Disraeli Gallstone, obviously you believe in Christmas and other fairy tales as well, just like Barnsley Bill obviously does,
Colmar/national always polls National 3-4% above their actual support and the Green Party 3-5% below,
The fact that you and BB the Dunce place any real credence whatsoever in these fairy tales as anything but propaganda and then proceed to embellish that propaganda with a little narrative speculating on this and that proves nothing about the previous comment i made to BB, it simply proves that the pair of you along with the ‘wing-nut’ chorus are happy to indugle in bouts of public masterbation…
“Whether that’s right or wrong (it’s probably wrong)”
That’s what I said to you.
I don’t think this poll is right.
I was just merely commenting on your abysmal skills of reading comprehension. Amazingly, your response is another example of poor reading comprehension.
Disraeli Gallstone, wrong, i fully comprehend the little mathematics game the ‘wing-nuts’ choose to play to explain this particular piece of propaganda,
i just choose to use ignorance to portray my disbelief and it works a treat especially on those ‘wing-nuts’ that choose to pile in to blow their flatulence claiming victory across the pages of the Standard where those same ‘wing-nuts’ have little history of commenting here previously,
You may choose to believe that 10% of the left’s voters have chosen to suddenly engage in an electoral shuffle of their support toward the right, or, you may chose as i do to see these polls as having an element of manufacture within them with an actual intent of swaying softer voters intentions,
Of course if you have the slightest belief in the latter proposition then my belief is that showing any sign of belief in the little ‘wing-nut’ theory of a 10% shift of the left’s vote to the right is to put yourself in the position of a soft voter able to be swayed by the media bullshit, in other words a mere serf to the likes of Patrick Gower etc,
There are enough here who engage in the ‘wailing’ after each successive negative poll for the left to form a large enough ‘chorus of tears’ and i do not propose to become one of them, IF defeat occurs in 2014 i will only concede at the point the vote is counted,
Until then i will happily engage the ‘wing-nuts’ who fly in to spew on a momentary basis with derision which includes the pretense of deliberately misrepresenting the content of any of their particular comments, a little trick i learned from them…
You’re not even addressing what I’m saying anymore. You’re ignoring my post and having a completely separate conversation.
Essentially, you are arguing with yourself. So I’ll leave you to it. Good luck.
You are famous again!
His response is another example of his shocking rudeness.
OK forget the polls. Bad12 says the Greens will get between 12 and 15%. Everything is fine.
PLus you can’t spell “masturbation”. Although that is secondary to your vileness in using the word in this context. You should be ashamed.
awwww, like you’re so fucking pristine.
Oh.
OH.
My time machine worked. I’m back in the 1950s!
Seriously. Bad12 apparently can’t read or spell, but saying that using the word “masturbation” is vile?
Really?
SSLands please refer to my comment posted at 8.26pm, my ‘rudeness’ actually knows no bounds when directed at a ‘wing-nut’ like you…
Correct, BB.
Simple. The policies announced by Labour had pulled support from the greens, to Labour, but has sent labour support to the Nats. Assuming the 6% that National has gained has come from the Greens who lost 5% and claiming that to be the reason for the poll being rogue is a bit rich.
Is it not possible that Green vote at the margin moved to Labour and Labour vote at the margin moved to National rather than Green vote leapfrogging Labour to National?
Old Tony, it is also possible that there really are little Green Men, have you seen any recently…
Possible but I do not see why the Green vote would go to Labour.
This is a rogue. Polling is getting more and more random.
Ahhhhh… the sweet sound of denial…….. 🙂
Keep it up! (Shhhhh…. don’t tell anyone that you are really a Nats “plant”……. 🙂 )
Denial, now what was Colmar Brunton polling National at prior to the 2011 election, oh that’s right a ‘Govern Alone 50%’,
The desperate from the sewer pour into the Standard to try and convince us of a victory, remember your stupidity after the vote in 2014 which will see National not as governing alone, but, as the biggest opposition party yet under the MMP system…
Desperate….. moi….. ?
Why would we be “desperate” when three recent polls have shown us to be pushing 50%?
Desperation is for the 30 percenters……. 🙂
Right so you are a true believer then, last election colamr/national polled the Tory’s at 50.3% just befor the election, what was the actual result again,
Oh that’s right 47%, please keep dreaming the National governing alone rubbish it will be all the sweeter when National wind up as a very large opposition after the 2014 vote is taken…
So, when is John Key about to blow off that crazy moon landing denier, Colin Craig?
Except of course National still need the Conservatives on the scene.
I think the greens would loose to Labour after Norman being was exposed fawning to Dotcom.
Sponge – You raise an interesting and potentially valid point. Whether it was as the MSM portray it (which I question), that Norman more or less went “begging” to Dotcom to not start his Internet Party, or not, it raised the possibility that he did.
In the public eye, even amongst some otherwise loyal Green voters, this could have led to serious disappointment, as the Greens have previously always tried to maintain an image of honesty, openness, transparency and independence.
The same media reports about Winston Peters having visited Dotcom, allegedly 3 times, then Peters reacting angrily, first denying this, and later claiming that Key may have had the GCSB spy on him, that will likely have disappointed some otherwise rather loyal supporters of NZ First and Winston.
I think that whether justified or not, bot suffered some loss of credibility in the public’s perception, hence the support in this poll went down for both parties, and significantly.
The Green’s solar energy policy release may not have impacted on this poll, but even that release was only moderately well received by the media, as it seems.
The MSM are ridiculed by some here, but sadly, most people out there still use them for most of their “humble” and poor quality information uptake, to base decisions on.
Gawd all the wing nuts are here. Did Cameron send you over?
Abuse aside, do you not admit that the reason for the flow of votes outlined by several of us makes sense?
It is fricking obvious, surely!
You have gained some votes from fruitcakes but lost some of the middle-ground people.
Swings and roundabouts.
I’ll bet you that even Chris Trotter would agree with me.
It may not be “nice” but the truth sometimes hurts….
It’s a nice theory, sewer rat, but it relies on believing that the Greens dropped more than a third of their vote for no clear reason.
Smells like bullshit.
The key for the Left remains turning out the bottom 50% of the population to vote.
That means policies and politicians directly engaging with that part of the electorate, while emphasising to the top 50% of voters that not only is it the right thing to do to leave no one behind, but that it is economically crucial for the long term well being of society.
How’s this for a crazy idea, how about come up with some policies that actually appeal to the majority of voters.
This bribing the bludgers strategy is shit and in all honesty labour, deserves to die because of it.
“How’s this for a crazy idea, how about come up with some policies that actually appeal to the majority of voters.”
That’d be Green policy.
Ok,so what’s going wrong?
Popular policies != 8%
I said popular policies, not popular party or personalities.
http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/
Green policy is nuttier than squirrel shit..
Yet it’s consistently the most popular policy in blind tests.
Yeah BM, it must be damn disheartening for none of them to be offering you a bribe for your vote this time round right…
I don’t need or want to be bribed, especially with my own money.
What’s best for the country is of more importance to me.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Lolz, felix has just given you the only logical answer to your latest comment, i could not have put it more succinctly…
Bullshit.
You only care about the top 5%, you consider the rest of the nation wasters and disposable.
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[lprent: Do you have an Igor to help improve that crazy laugh? Bring it back when it isn’t quite so repetitive. ]
Blame BM, he’s the comedian
Now now, Felix, BM is just a lovely fellow who simply wants the best for NZ, and his comments here are simply honest and intelligent advisories on how we can all bring about the best for NZ.
He’s certainly not a lying prick shilling for a government of thieves and crooks, simply to lower his tax bill by a few percent and callous as to the tragic effect this will have on the lives of others. /sarc
I hope you remember to keep laughing when National win in October and royally fuck you and all your lefie mates in the arse as well sell this country to our bankster mates and Chinese overlords
Dan, you should write the script for Nationals election billboards…
Well Dan I’ve been laughing for the last 5 years as they’ve fucked all the idiots like yourself who voted for them against your own interests.
Correct, and that is IMPORTANT.
But the bottom 50 per cent may be better off with a $ 16 minimum wage, ideally at least a living wage, no GST on essential food and other common use items, perhaps even a universal basic income (also used as a direct tax credit for those that earn above that annual UBI amount), and a more comprehensive housing policy, than something like “Best Start”, which sounds ok, but is just another WFF type benefit, costing much to administer.
With a UBI and radical tax reform, and reducing WINZ to focus only on topping up those that have extra needs due to disability, illness, parenting, accommodation, huge amounts could be saved on bureaucracy.
They may also be better off with some comprehensive state investments (SOEs) in infrastructure projects to build better public transport, value adding production plants for agricultural products, more wind-farms, solar thermal energy generation plants, geothermal projects, with a clear strategy for boosting local manufacturing (tax holidays or reductions as incentives for businesses to set up manufacturing here), with having more comprehensive training and more accessible education, combined with high-calibre research projects to develop niche foodstuffs, to research particular areas in health and environmental areas, and so forth.
People would see this agenda as revolutionary and a game changer, targeted at the long term future of the country, rather than what Labour has presented so far, which is a patchwork of bits here and there, but not changing the system as it is.
The top 50 % (certainly top 25 to 30 %) need to be held to account and do their share to build for the future, and not get away with just planning for secure personal nest-eggs and personal savings plans, while forgetting the country.
A clear difference in policy direction to National and ACT is overdue, all else is just not going to “thrill” people that much now.
Or those surveyed are making a concerted effort to lie, just to upset the pollsters. It would be tempting if one was a green
Micky, surely your are joking?
The last FOUR polls in recent weeks have ALL showed national gaining and labour/greens declining with National being able to (or almost able to) govern alone.
According to many commenters on this site, the last 6 Years polls are rogue. Surely you aren’t going to fall into this rhetoric as well?
Denial won’t change things.
Bob you will have more credibility if you post to the right comment.
What do you mean denial, Da Nial is a river in Egypt, and yes polling for Labour is looking sharp!
Just to give the Bob above a fair go (I am guessing your lack of patience with him is due to our differring views in the past), it wasn’t me making that comment (although I completely agree with everything the other Bob has stated).
Also, national hasn’t gained the greens vote. The likely case is national have picked up labour vote and in turn labour has picked up greens vote.
Yep ….. correct!
Yawn, check the polls prior to the 2011 vote, all of them with the ‘National governing alone lies’, all wrong,
No Maori Party as the lapdog this time round children, looks a bit like the prize for the biggest opposition party under MMP is coming your way…
this, and here they are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_New_Zealand_general_election,_2011
The prize being a long Hawaiian holiday …
Lots of people think that 51% is the high point of National polling. I suspect not. The margin of error suggests that it could be currently sitting at 54.1%. That figure still seems surprisingly low. The total ineptitude of the Greens and Labour suggest that many of their supporters will not be bothered voting. As the good news keeps coming in week after week we could well be seeing a historic landslide.
Gawd, what fictional drivel you come up with fisiani.
Having said that, Labour needs to start firing up in top gear, time is a-wasting.
A new poll is out, with not very good news for the Green Party.
http://curiablog.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/one-news-colmar-brunton-poll-february-2014/
So what are the trends saying?
The trends Brett Dale are saying that colmar/national have just released another piece of propaganda which has got all the wing-nuts going from simply being heavy breathing porn watchers to being true believers that displays of public masterbation will enable national to govern alone after the vote in 2014…
bad12
I think it has the greens too low, they should be at 10%
Although I think it shows that a certain fat german has hurt the left.
“I think it has the greens too low, they should be at 10%”
Yay, the poll of Brett’s Mind is out.
Readers should be aware that Brett’s Mind has had the Greens at roughly half of their actual result for the last two elections.
felix:
The greens got 20% last election? of the party vote?
This election the greens will get 10%, they wont be as low as 8%.
And again, dotcom is hurting you guys.
Last election you said the polls were wrong about the Greens. You said they would be lucky to get 7%.
I think this poll is probably slightly high for national but not by much so National can still govern alone. If NZ first gets in then Labour is quite far from being in government.
Labour needs to adjust their strategy…
Please,please, stop with the funnies will you, my gut has just started processing dinner and the laughter is a definite interference in that process,
National heading for the prize of being the largest opposition since the beginning of MMP, even Slippery the PM couldn’t raise a smile when commenting on the latest piece of propaganda, although it was gut busting to see the PM depicted in a mural as a semi-part of a donkeys arse…
Labour needs to adjust their strategy…
Labour needs to have a strategy.
This is the problem for Labour and Greens
New Immigrants who are eligible to vote.
When new immigrants are sucked into believing that “…the Conservative Party is good for Christians, Green Party good for environment, Labour Party good for the poor and National Party good for business” then it’s obviously time for Labour to get off it’s lazy entitled ass, and start shifting that perception through clever social media advertising.
It’s the only way to shift that bitch!
National is only good for BIG business, but sucks for our entrepreneurs. Labour is the party for the workers, and wants to ensure that all workers benefit from any economic upside – National only wants the CEOs to benefit and the people that do the hard work, our everyday workers, to not receive any benefit but to be happy with the crumbs from the table.
The message should be that Labour is not ashamed to say it stands for ensuring that every person who wants to work, can, BUT should be entitled to receive a fair days wage for a fair days pay. Labour needs to be UPFRONT and thunder that it is WRONG and UNCONSCIONABLE for overseas corporations to treat New Zealand workers like COTTON PICKERS!
It’s emotive language for sure, but emotions win elections. Labour and the Greens won’t get anywhere being namby pamby and focusing on Key. KEY is the WRONG area to target. National policies needs to be ignored and Labour needs to start highlighting NOW! Stop banging on about what National has done or not, start banging on NOW!
NOW: Your wages haven’t moved in 5 years, yet the cost of living has gone up. Labour wants to ensure that you can afford to live and have enough to save for the things you want.
NOW: Your power prices are amongst the highest in the OECD. Labour wants you to stop paying so much for power, and have money for the things that matter.
NOW: New Zealand has lost too many workers in the forestry sector thanks to unregulated activities causing death. Labour wants every worker to be safe at work, and not be at risk of dying for the corporate.
NOW: There aren’t enough jobs for everyone who wants one. Labour wants people to have every opportunity to find a job, and if they can’t, help people while they look for work.
NOW: Education has become too expensive for many people. Labour believes in free education for everyone under 18 and will work to restore the right to free education.
NOW: People aren’t being fairly remunerated for a 40 hour week. Labour believes the corporates have more than enough ability to adequately compensate their employees with a fair wage.
NOW: Labour believes that New Zealanders are being targeted by overseas corporates with no regard for the true cost of living in New Zealand. Labour will work to ensure that New Zealanders are treated on a level playing field with the cost of goods and services.
It is so simple and easy to do. The soundbites are easy, and National have done fine on a “less said the better” policy when it comes to people talking about what they perceive National to be doing.
The left get sucked into believing that they need to counter the lack of concrete substance by National with a marshmallow puffed policy which is WRONG. Labours issue when they release policy is that they release far too much of it, giving their opponents grist for the mill.
Compare and CONTRAST:
National: – New policy. High performing teachers will be paid more and we’ll have special principals overlooking a number of different schools. Yada yada yada, more money but education good! Yay!
Nil critical aspect, nil detail, and just a vague outline of what they propose.
Labour: First time babies, $60 per week, except and unless, first year, second year, third year, $150,000, or not. Parental leave! Look! Details! More more details! Part time income! Working for Families! Entitlement! Everyone! Universal! Oh, no, wrong. Stop talking! Shoosh. Shucks, we flubbed it.
Too much information, too much room for interpretation.
Far better would have been: New policy: First start. All parents with babies will receive assistance and support. Further details released closer to election.
Easy! Simple! Even Paddy Gower wouldn’t have been able to fuck that up.
There are over 4 million reasons wrong with this country, where the CEO of a parasitic organisation can earn nearly 100 times more than the people that do the daily grind in the teller role, and are arguably more valuable to ANZ than the high falutin’ CEO. The tellers are the ones that keep the customers happy at the end of the day.
Labour lose the plot when it comes to articulating their vision for a better New Zealand. It’s almost like they don’t understand the KISS principle. If they did, they might be better off.
Labour needs to articulate the fact that they are the government for the PEOPLE. National are the government for OVERSEAS interests.
Sing it loud, sing it proud. No need to proffer proof. Just keep tying OVERSEAS INTERESTS back to WARNER BROTHERS – RIO TINTO – BANK OF NEW YORK (and it’s 8 million shares in our former SOE)
OVERSEAS INTERESTS = NATIONAL
NEW ZEALANDERS = LABOUR
So what do you want Kiwis? A government for New Zealand, or a Government for Overseas Interests?
Make it the boogy man. Overseas Interests are the new “Reds under the Bed”
Go forth, prosper.
+1000…. James Thrace
Gawdammit James Thrace, that was good stuff.
Thanks Tat.
I just get so frustrated and annoyed at what should be relatively simple politics and keep watching Labour stumble every time headlong into the catchers mitt that has been placed there so artfully by the likes of Gower et al.
If only Labours media managers would stop insisting on having so much policy released upfront, and stop muzzling Cunliffe or whoever from being so restrained, Labour might actually have a chance to win.
As I outlined above, the framing is right there, it’s NOW.
As we’ve seen in the last two weeks with Progressive Enterprises, the mood is right to capture New Zealanders thinking about OVERSEAS INTERESTS and definitely put the framing square onto LABOUR for NEW ZEALAND and National for OVERSEAS INTERESTS!
Easy framing, right timing.
In politics, Timing is Everything.
The Timing is Now, the framing is ready to roll.
But who the heck is going to listen? I’m just another Labour party member that has no links to the hallowed halls of hell, nor do I have any inclination to get involved with the pit of self absorption that is the local LEC.
You think Parliamentary staff get to decide which policies get released and how much and in what form? You’ve clearly never been near Parliament.
Well as I see it that’s exactly what theyre doing. Chinless wonder says what ever he wants and the only policy Labour has is regurgitated Greens policy or 1950s socialist propaganda.
Well said
Nailed it James.
simple effective slogans, used by all, ad nauseum, chimpboy, gooner and co cant twist it and the likes of mallard and goff cant grandstand with it.
I hope some deadwood gets cleared out also but thats unlikely.
Nats got in on a smile and wave with one liners , labour should do similar, the missing voters cant cope with unecessary detail, a change is what they will vote for.
That’s bloody good James.
You raise valid points there, and believe in passion being part of politics, and it surely does and must be getting its fair share.
The problem you will have with that approach is, that the MSM (mainstream media) will of course see this, and jump at it straight away, and than claim, it is just about “whipping up emotions”, but without any evidence to prove the arguments. They will take that approach to pieces, and then Labour and Greens will have to come and try and prove their arguments, and we are back to nitty gritty back and fro arguments about details, and hollowing out of what the message is meant to say.
What we have here is a repeat of the last election campaigns, where the MSM are already largely feeding the public with the usual BIASED commentary and information (no background info, no analysis, treating Key and Nats with the soft brush, and Labour and Greens with a knife and hammer), all coming from the supposedly “independent” reporters and “media personalities” (having their personal “views”), and the public hear and read little else.
The public then think, that is how it is, and hence they poll as they do, which reinforces again the conviction of the MSM that they are right with their (idiotic or manipulative) assessments. So you end up in a catch 22 situation, where polls feed and shape perception, and that again shapes commentary and views coming from the MSM, which again brings about the polls like a self fulfilling prophecy.
The challenge is to go beyond the MSM, to go and hold public meetings, run public events and campaigns, aggressively and widely use social media, and to network and meet people face to face. There is no alternative to such damned hard work, and the first thing the Labour MPs in caucus can do, is start on Monday, doing exactly that.
Visit work places, factories, council staff, drain layers, road workers, hospital nurses and doctors, people rebuilding in Christchurch, talk with the exploited foreign workers here, expose this, talk with the taxi drivers working 12 hour days for less than minimum pay per hour, talk with social workers, drug and alcohol counsellors, with stressed out teachers, with ECE workers, with beneficiaries struggling, and so forth it must go!
Clusterfuck Cunliffe is Nationals greatest asset, the only thing saving him is Norman collapsing greens support by sucking up to the fat German fraudster.
I don’t think you’re a ‘naki man at all. I bet you went to Auckland Grammar.
You could be onto something there felix, looks more like a Nakahi Man to me…
If he’s a ‘Naki’ man, then he’s only a thirty-something jerk, probably from Taranaki but not yet a man. It’s talk from the same generation as the ‘hard-core’ bullshit used to sell tee-shirts.
Deconstructing his moniker is a tediously embarrassing business for anybody who’s actually lived an adult-hood in the place.
Of course if Naki man was actually Taranaki man with the emphasis on the Tara from the more oblique usage of that particular word in some tribal dialects i could well believe Him to be that…
This denial is hilarious.
the johnkey donkey mural was funnier. i’m trying to get a good screen capture so share the laughs. & the look on keys face when he had to sign its arse, hilarious!
Lolz there are some extremely clever kids in Slippery’s electorate, the mouthful of tea ended up expelled all over the place when i got a look at that…
SSLands, what the hell are you on about now, have not i told you on numerous occassions to stay off the internet when you have been on the bottle all day,
Commenting when your pissed just makes you come across as more ludicrous than normal, i know that for you is probably a badge of honor as you seem incapable of anything but the ludicrous but you should have a small modicum of shame even in your drunken state,
My advice of course is in your best interests as you should cease to turn up for your employment as a minor bean counting serf in your lonely little bean counters cubicle with a raging and patently obvious whisky hangover as despite your thinking otherwise your employment is far from assured into the future with your boss looking to increase profits by cutting out the under-performers,
Is there any truth to the rumor that you consider your employment status to be safe during the upcoming restructuring of the company you are a serf for because as far as the boss is concerned you out of all the slaves gives the best blow-jobs…
I was looking forward to the Roy Morgan poll (a poll that the folks here seem to place a lot of faith in) showing Labour clawing back some ground, but unfortunately it showed gains to the Nats. The lack of discussion on this borad re the RM poll said it all. This latest poll reinforces National’s position, albeit with a different Left distribution. No matter how you slice & dice it, the CB poll is not good news for the Left, and Cunliffe slipping in the preferred PM stakes is a concern also (I can’t recall what Shearer was polling when he was rolled).
IMO Labour are spending too much time attacking the Nats, and not enough time & energy promoting their own policy. Also, with the exception of recent performances from Jones, Labour don’t seem to have any depth to their team. What happened to the energy that Robertson exhibited during the leadership contest? If Cunliffe is struggling in the popularity stakes, his team need to step up, take some of the heat and show some passion, engage in intelligent & positive dialogue with the MSM, and act like a team that is capable of leading NZ.
Ben Hur, faith in the Roy Morgan, you have that slightly wrong, the Roy Morgan is of much more interest to us political junkies as it is produced on a far greater number of occasions than the other media polls and thus makes an interesting watch for ‘the trend’,
Faith though is a measurement of respect in what is clearly a neutral polling organization and i for one have seen none of them recently which includes the Morgan poll in the none of them,
Gary Morgan, son of Roy, and the current named proprietor of the Roy Morgan polling organization is heavily invested in Australian mining interests and if you think that such interests can fit in with a polling company being unbiased i fear for your sanity…
WRONG. The Nats and their acolytes are doing the attacking. And what’s more the claims are bogus lies and the MSM know it. Still, they let them get away with it. Labour and the Greens are the parties releasing damm good policies. By and large, the MSM are ignoring them – mind bogglingly concentrating on petty issues instead.
The Nats have got their policy out there and understood, so arguably have the time to attack the Left. It will be interesting to see if there is any fallout with Bradbury stating that he talks with Cunliffe, and the fact (and therefore linkage) that Bradbury was in the pay of Dot Com.
National’s policy is a simple one: “let us keep what we’re doing, you can see it’s working”.
Labour hasn’t yet come up with a single thing to counter it.
Labour policies like turning people on $149k into beneficiaries and Greens policy like subsidised
PV panels that are not cost effective, there is no need to tell lies these clowns are shooting themselves in the foot.
“turning people on $149k into beneficiaries “
That’s what you said about Working for Families. Don’t see National getting rid of it though.
ps people on 149k are already beneficiaries.
Yep, Anne, you got it!
The MSM is corporate dominated, the top media bosses, the editors, the “media personalities”, they are clearly in their vast majority having a personal bias towards maintaining the status quo! And now APN have even bought the majority or total share holding of what was the Radio Network (1ZB and so forth).
Just having listened to the conversations about the Shane Taurima incident or “scandal” at TVNZ, and how that was commented on by many, that sent shivers down my spine. The majority of the private media journalists and moderators try to portray themselves as “independent” and TVNZ and Radio NZ as “left leaning”. And they get away with it. Even Radio NZ disappointed me a bit with their last summary of this on Media Watch:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2586711/mediawatch-for-23-february-2014
A shocker to me was the last Focus on Politics program last Friday, and how that started, almost showing National in the best of light to fight poverty and social problems!? Hear it here, if you did not:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2586637/poverty-and-inequality-looming-as-big-debate-of-election-year
I did not hear the whole of Insight this morning, but I think it also tried to be overly “balanced” (careful to not upset the government) to report on how the public service have been treated under this government, and that is on Radio NZ National:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2586566/insight-for-23-february-2014-public-service-survival
Forget TVNZ, they are now so scared to say or present anything that may just slightly show Labour or Greens in a positive light, being “scared” by the reports of mostly private media persons, that they are “left leaning” and prone to bias. So the MSM is anything but helpful, it will NOT be useful to communicate to the public what matters, they are not going to do their job!
But despite of this, I am still flabber-ghasted why Labour and Greens do not hammer Bennett on welfare issues, of which there are a many, and I know that others (besides myself) have sent some of the MPs a fair bit of very revealing, useful information, which is probably sitting and gathering dust, or has been deleted as too complex email communication.
What they do wrong is going on about the same again and again and again, slogan like, but not expand the line of attack, and not fire with studied information, questions and arguments. Some of them are in my view not capable of doing their jobs, simple fact.
Jones is the stand out performer. The rest of the talentless bunch just have their nose in the trough.
The elephant in the room: why hasn’t David Cunliffe (and Labour) purged the likes of Phil Goff, Annette King and the treacherous Trevor Mallard? Why do these old-timers continue warming the benches and doing nothing sweet fuck all?
Why do these old-timers continue warming the benches and doing nothing sweet fuck all?
I’m guessing its the pay, privileges and perks…doesn’t matter what side of the house you’re on
keep stirring, your reputation might be overwhelmed by somenone’s confirmation bias and they’ll care about what YOU say regarding the labour caucus.
Unless a miracle happens New Zealand is looking to another three years of a National-Act government. There is time for a change, but it is running out quickly.
Note the 11% undecided. Seems a lot?
About three times the usual
Good point,a lot depends on how the pollsters frame the questions to those prepared to respond, of course if you were planning on having a fiddle with the outcome after the poll had been taken the ‘undecided’ column would be a good place to start…
It is alot, what that means is of the 11% there are plenty of voters not happy with National and are holding out to see what policies come out from Labour. You can count on NZF voters not wanting a National deal done.
The Greens are losing cred by both the Dotcom support and Norman has soiled his previous good work by engaging in a silly tussle with God Botherer Collin Craig. The Greens are better off keeping their head down and remaining silent, coming out when they have sensible things to say. People voted NZF last election because Peters is a one man wrecking ball. Look for Winston to come out boxing and trim National back in popularity. A scandal exposing Key, further slamming the assets sale with the GE sale and the aftermath with price hikes, and the total costs of the ticket clippers from across the ditch.
Once the interest rates start to climb and China clips Nationals wings with a strategic drop in bidding for our milk powder causing the price to slump. China will not be happy with Key and his sucking up to Uncle Sam. The TPPA is heavy weighted in the Yanks favour and we are in China’s part of the globe, we are going to get a sharp reminder of this very soon.
James,
I don’t think anti foreign companies is quite the right way to approach that for a major party. It works better in the hands of Winston and he will just out xenophobe you.
I think instead you can just focus on Big corporations, in particular dodgy advertising but also other practices.
The pitch can be a much stronger and much more aggressive commerce commission. Find some illegal stuff then say you need broarder laws to catch the similar but marginally legal activities.
In the same theme one could go after tax loopholes etc. Maybe use closing them as revenue source in a way that will catch the public’s attention.
In terms of all the normal policies – the 2 key things for labour to win is
1) for it to sell itself as being responsible party of government – So it needs to look fiscally responsible to the public – more so as often as possible than national. (eg push the super issue as a cost).
2) It also needs to distance itself from the Greens and sell the idea that it can control the greens. Because the swing voters fear greens.
Hmm .. am not sure what Labour will really stand for and what next will happen with maintaining the entitlement age for super, given that the new ACT leader is now pushing for the increase.
John Key and National’s dirty work already being done by ACT … and David Parker?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1402/S00327/australia-faces-reality-while-new-zealand-ignores-it.htm