Radio NZ reporting that Sky City told the government 14 months ago it could not afford to build convention centre as promised.
Will the media hold them to account?
Makes skycity appear clean as, top corporate citizen and all that and the MSM puppets will be looking elsewhere and hand wringing over Sabin or excusing them for the lui donation etc.
Skycity and NACT colluded from day 1 over this deal and it’s just been a case of how them and their MSM acolytes feed the sheeple given the election had to be negotiated.
Joyce was just on Radio NZ and I have never heard him sound sicker. He took umbrage at the suggestion that he had deliberately lied to the public and disputed that he had the necessary intent. Good way to confirm that he may have inadvertently lied …
The New Zealand Herald does not regard the fact the government is considering sending our troops to Iraq today as important enough news to make any of its top 10 stories online.
Apparently our taxi fare gap is more important.
National run a non democratic process by choosing not to put it to the whole of the House, instead they have chosen the Banana Republic route of letting cabinet choose. Both the Tory-Maori party and United Future are not in favour of the role our troops are too play.
What a disgraceful breech of democracy by Key and his cronies. These 100 troops would be better employed combating an invasion on our own shores, the Queensland fruit fly.
They were talking about this on Morning Report this morning. Under Labour, apparently the only time a decision like this was put to the house was in late 2003 when they were voting whether to send the SAS back to Afghanistan or not. The other decisions were all made by the Labour cabinet.
That doesn’t make it right – particularly for those of us that don’t support Labour so the “but they did it too” argument doesn’t really sit too well.
I’d dearly love to see a clean up of parliamentary process. Its pretense of “democracy” is losing it’s veneer on a daily basis – irrespective of who is pulling the levers of control.
John Stevens giving a very good interview on 1 news this morning.
Stopped short of calling Key a liar about the SAS going to Afghanistan in 2009 . pointed out the the Iraq war was built on lies and finished with saying reporters weren’t asking the right questions about our going to fight Isis.
No sorry it will be on delay at about 7-50 . The liar in chief was just on at 7-15 answered most questions buy talking about what Clarke did and confirmed that there will be no vote on going to Iraq I wish she had of asked him if it was because he would lose.
Oxymoron Key says “he is confident if put to a vote the other party’s would support sending non combat troop to the Middle East.” Really so don’t bother giving a democratic vote?
And the reason Key won’t put sending troops to Iraq to the vote, is because he would be out voted.
Parties AGAINST NZ military involvement, training role possibly leading to combat –
Labour
Greens
NZ First
United Future
Maori Party
Parties FOR NZ military involvement regardless of role –
National minus one MP (Sabin)
ACT
To lose would be a slap in the face for Key and National. So to keep onside with his US buddies, he goes for over riding the democratic process of a Parliamentary vote! Isn’t this what dictators do?
When Espiner listed the parties in the Parliament who would vote against deployment in their interview Key mumbled on for a bit and then when pressed petulantly said they could always wait until after the Northland byelection.
“The invasion of Iraq in 2003 I think was not just a mistake, but perhaps a biggest mistake the U.S. has ever made in foreign policy. It’s a four trillion dollar mistake, it caused enormous damage in the region, to the people of Iraq and certainly to my army and very-very many of my friends. So, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a disaster, a fiasco, unnecessary and poorly conducted. We played the endgame very-very badly and that failure of American foreign policy in 2011 necessitates today America returning to Iraq in force.”
If there is an active war zone around with some of our normal allies special forces in action, you can generally assume that there will be a NZSAS contingent around as well. It doesn’t mean that they are deployed there. It just means that they are off doing a training (often as a kind of sabbatical) with other forces. It is part of their job.
The words “squad deployment” were used. I know they often work with other countries’ special forces, and love telling stories about how bad the Americans are. They are always at other people’s wars, while I believe the regular forces only started doing that via disobeying orders from the Clark government.
@ b waghorn
John Stevens is a musician I think. The person you are referring to from TV1 News is
Jon Stephenson, and that is a name and spelling to remember. A NZ person of worth
who deserves to be identified correctly.
Thinking back to last years election, no wonder Key looked tired and weary.knowing about Liu, Sky City fiasco and Sabin whilst telling us all that National were steering us in such a straight line, well, what can we say?
And this is a nice piece – which basically sums up my take on elections – add the appearance of the last two elections being dirty tricked by national – I think you should take some time to read.
Of course we are not in a debate! You haven’t made any statements, just petulant vague gibberish.
How about expanding on your original mind fart…”“..the appearance of the last two elections being dirty tricked by national…”?
Congratulations exStatic, you have delivered a new benchmark in nonsensical gibberish. I am sure we all look forward to the ever generous delight of your considerably reasoned contributions.
;“We’ve had four finds in our traps over three years. In the previous 14 years when we had the 100 percent screening in place, we didn’t find any.”
“Sure that’s going to cost some money, but we also have to look at every time we’re responding here is between $1 million to $1.5 million for the response that we’re putting in place.”
So how much has been saved by not screening 100%
Note no flys for 14 years with 100% screening
Now 4 infestations since reduced screening 3 years ago TO SAVE MONEY!!!!!
>>Mr Guy also denied that reinstating mandatory x-ray screening of luggage from all passengers coming off international flights would prevent the fruit fly from entering the country, saying it was “too difficult to confirm” how the pest arrived in Grey Lynn.
So how come Mr Guy there was no invasion for th 14 years there was mandatory screening.
Well, it’s now 0.0% so it can hardly plunge any lower. Does that mean they’re going to hail their current leader as a success because he stopped them falling any further? I wouldn’t put it past them.
I like the un-named woman saying something like “I think having a young one as a leader is quite good, because the young ones do like someone about their own age”.
Love her weird phrasing of “young ones”. Sorry Ms Unnamed Woman, but this “young one” actually wants sound and sane policy, not some young toff that’s been elevated beyond his depth and talent.
Is it just the money being spent? But surely they are there for a reason – creating international economic opportunities? I understand that the london posting has a few other issues but if the posting was made first then I also see no problems. Also isn’t this all ATEED which whilst owned by the council isn’t controlled by the council (thanks Rodney!)
Is it just me or is the Herald stirring up an issue that isn’t there at all and is failing to ask the right questions or state the facts in a non-biased way?
In google there is mention of NZ Australia NATO and the west but I have done a search of the article thinking it referred to Iraq and matters relating but can’t find a mention. So where that term was lifted from I do not know.
Still, Nassem Taleb says that “modern medicine” killed more people than it saved until probably the 1930s and that risk/benefit phenomena is still not well understood in a healthcare context, leading to bad (and sometimes tragic) decisions by both patients and practitioners.
..and you appear to be an unrepentant denier of the proven benefits of modern medicine.
You continuing sniping at immunisation and other medical interventions and your assertions that the health profession are dupes of the pharmaceutical industry whilst basing your arguments on your own rather flimsy knowledge base is perverse and brings your own profession into disrepute.
Disclosure – I do recommend patients to osteopaths and acupuncturists for musculoskeletal and other ailments and have a great deal of respect for their abilities in their areas of expertise.
..and you appear to be an unrepentant denier of the proven benefits of modern medicine.
Not at all. But I am an advocate of making sure patients can exercise informed consent before any treatment is provided. There are a very wide variety of situations for which modern western medical care is unparalleled and very necessary. Suggesting that there are other situations where its risks, benefits and unknowns are less clear cut or positive might be considered distateful, however.
and your assertions that the health profession are dupes of the pharmaceutical industry
Those are your words, not mine. And when you get entire classes of medical students boycotting medical school professors whom they feel have too close links with big pharma, or medical researchers themselves admitting that big pharma drug trials with positive results are more likely to be published in peer reviewed journals than ones which show the drugs in a bad light, I think that there are valid concerns to be considered.
They boycott professors who teach evolution too. In fact that seems to be the main reason. I suppose I missed all the classes in all the schools and all the professors you’re referring to.
One of you has made repeated assertions on this very blog concerning medical professionals being dupes and in the pockets of pharmaceutical companies and that prescribing in NZ was not evidence based, clearly such an accusation is hyperbolic cant.
I must admit to being a bit mystified as to what point you are trying to make, that mistakes are made by medical professionals and that the population have adverse reactions at times to medicines…. that is undeniable.
The report you link to however is very flawed.
just as initial example in relation to ADRs a critique was made of the published paper that the report relied upon.
‘”…Simple pooling of fatal event frequencies from only those studies specifically reporting the number of fatal ADRs, as was done in the meta-analysis of Lazarou and colleagues, is likely to dramatically overestimate the death rate.
CONCLUSION:
Meta-analysis was invalid because of heterogeneity of the studies. Most of these studies did not report the data needed for incidence calculations. The methodology used was seriously flawed, and no conclusions regarding ADR incidence rates in the hospitalized population in the United States should be made on the basis of the original meta-analysis. “
I must admit to being a bit mystified as to what point you are trying to make, that mistakes are made by medical professionals and that the population have adverse reactions at times to medicines…. that is undeniable.
It’s probably the scale of the issues which would be surprising to every day people. Yes, I agree with you that every study (including meta-analyses) has limitations and those limitations mean that you can’t make sweeping or blanket conclusions.
However most in the medical profession would not find it in the least surprising, for example, that a patient had died in hospital while receiving a cytotoxic cocktail for their cancer and that their death would be listed as drug related.
15 year old UK girls outsmart British intelligence, quit school and head to Syria to join ISIS
Oh dear. I’m sure the intelligence services will be asking for more powers, new legislation and additional millions in money to prevent future occurrences.
This could end up like the varroa mite where it was put in the too hard basket eventually by the government. Anyone who watches Boarder Security knows that many people do not declare and destroy the food they bring in. In fact many of them try to hide the stuff. Letting people from Oz go through without searching is so dumb it beggars belief that the government would risk millions of dollars in exports in order to avoid an almost negligible inconvenience to passengers. Like the other policies of the national government that allows drilling of oil in the area of the highly endangered Maui dolphin. To many of the rest of us this is just a no brainer to protect NZ export interests, tourism and our environment and quality of life for both people and our forma and flora. Who pays when things go wrong. The tax payer. Like we did when the lack of regulation meant the tax payer spent millions on the Rena cleanup and it’s still not fixed properly.
Andrew Little please scream from the rooftops about what stupidity this is. Motivate NZers to fight back against these dumb policies. We want a government that cares about our country which it is clear this government does not. We need a great leader and clearly John Key may have charm but not the ethics to look after NZ, it’s people and it’s environment for future generations.
Facts About Fruit Flies
– Mother fruit flies lay about 200-300 eggs at a time
– The most likely place for a mother fruit fly to lay her eggs is in a piece of rotting fruit
– As soon as the babies hatch, they start reproducing about 24 hours later
– From the time the mother fruit fly lays her eggs until you see the fruit flies buzzing around is about 7-13 days.
They apparently have about 7,500 traps in Auckland checking for these blighters and it sounds a lot – did I hear right? HortNZ CE Peter Silcock said that the action taken on commercial consignments of fruit in Oz and the border controls here are probably sufficient to mean good coverage. It is more likely that they come in travellers bags and they would like 100% screening. PRIM (Primary Industries Ministry) have increased surveillance – for fruit flies – but not to the extent which is needed. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/266475/fruit-fly-crackdown-continues
Something that I notice is that yachties are never mentioned – there seems quite a floating population swanning around these days. They should be equally targeted for compliance with regs.
This is yet another example of the dangers of Investor-State Dispute Settlement Systems (ISDS) and another reason for rejecting the TPPA. This illustrates the lengths that these multicorporations will go to in order to evade their responsibilities and the moral and ethical vacuum in which they operate.
Imagine a similar scenario in NZ with respect to deep sea drilling!
It is better to read the whole article dated Feb 16, 2015 but here is an excerpt from the Chevron v Ecuador case.
“Unfortunately for Chevron, its expensive retaliation strategy against Mr. DeLeon and others has failed to end the litigation, has only increased the resolve of the affected villagers, and has not diminished the company’s risk from collection actions targeting its assets to ensure compliance with the judgment,” it added.
After an eight-year trial, an Ecuador court in 2011 found Chevron liable for deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest, decimating indigenous groups and causing an outbreak of cancer and other diseases. The case – litigated in Ecuador at Chevron’s request — was funded in large part by Mr. DeLeon, a successful businessman in the internet gaming space and a law school classmate of Donziger’s.
Two layers of courts in Ecuador unanimously affirmed the trial court judgment, including the country’s Supreme Court in a 5-0 ruling. Chevron still refused to pay the judgment and retaliated by suing numerous supporters of the villagers, including Mr. DeLeon but also lawyers, environmental groups, bloggers, and scientific consultants.
Just another short excerpt:
“Chevron also continues to face the likelihood of a devastating setback in the appeal of its controversial racketeering judgment in New York, now scheduled to be heard the week of March 30. The facts in that case prove the company corrupted its star witness with more than $2 million in payments to testify falsely in the trial, according to multiple reports.”
Still looking out for the right wing scum on this latest Liu moment. Where are these scum ? But for the fact it’d take 11 years to arrive I’d send them a letter of invitation to contribute……..
I am curious to know if this issue has been exposed on the TV1 and TV3 news at 6? I don’t think so, but I did not watch the news in full over the weekend. Those who did watch could you please let us know. TIA.
Yeah ACT are fronting with Robin Grieve, a particularly nasty character who attended an election forum as a candidate and bemoaned ‘it was a lefty love feast.’ He got booed on stage and off, very entertaining value 🙂
NATIONAL’S CALLOUS AND CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE OF NATION’S BIO- SECURITY!
You won’t believe this!
The fruit fly outbreak is a damning indictment on the Government’s systematic destruction of border security with the inefficient and money pinching Minister in charge, Nathan Guy.
Now the $6 billion fruit and vegetable industry is at risk and the Government is squarely to blame.
This is very serious. Guy should be a goner for this.
When I returned from a visit to Japan in 1998 I was pulled up at Customs because the Xray of my bag had shown a round object. I was happy to unpack it and show the round wooden doll I had been given in Tokyo, and Customs was happy that it was not an apple or an orange. I was happy that they had screened my bag along with every other bag on the flight. They have stopped doing that and only Xray “at risk” individuals. It is cheaper – they say. Tell that to the fruit and vege shops in Grey Lynn today and who knows to whom tomorrow?
Another impact of reckless tax cuts in 09, they went through penny pinching across the board to eek every potential ‘saving’ in an effort to smudge the wealth transfer.
Border security in an agricultural economy isn’t a luxury to be tweaked it’s a necessity that needs bolstering and vigilance.
“If U.S. land were divided like U.S. wealth…” a graphic divvied up by 1%, 9%, and the remaining 90%. Would love to see a NZ one (including foreign ownership, renter/owner, and unoccupied households).
Chinese are flocking to holiday in Japan to get away from their horrible air pollution, where you not only can see the air you breathe, you can cut it with a knife and fork, or in their case hold it between their chopsticks. But the Japanese are quietly saying, because they need the Chinese money after many years of recession, that the Japanese are lacking cultural sensitivity. They are too loud, and if there is anything free they take it in sackfuls, their children stand on seats in their shoes, and they eat their own food in cafes. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinese-tourists-flock-to-japan-for-the-sushi-the-shopping-and-the-fresh-airdespite-tensions-10061720.html
Queenstown is stuffed to the gills with tourists. Perhaps they are Chinese tourists. If they don’t watch out down there they will spoil the attraction of their Queenstown attractions. Probably they will go mad and treat it like a gold bull to be milked. When you’ve got dosh you can make everything happen to suit yourself.
Oh dear me. What a bad case of cultural myopia. I meant to say that the Japanese were saying quietly that the Chinese were a bit louder than they are used to, but my fingers went and put Japanese not Chinese, which doesn’t make sense when it is read. I don’t know what happened there.
Dunedin’s city hospital is suffering badly. Bad leaks had to be patched and still there is more to be done. The College of Intensive Medicine of Australia and New Zealand has withdrawn the hospital’s intensive care unit’s training accreditation, with the main issue being the state of the unit. A $2 million refurbishment, which could well be the barest minimum, is planned but has not begun yet.
Now, comes a report from Beca consultancy group that up to
$50 million will be needed to keep the clinical services building at Dunedin Hospital going for another 10 years.
In addition, nearly $75 million will have to be spent on the ward block over the next 10 years. http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/331153/dunedin-hospitals-catch-22
I diagnose a serious and debilitating affliction ‘political invisibility syndrome’. Those regional patients with this indisposition looking unhealthy may be subjected to triage.
If their condition is exacerbated by a raging state of ‘regional-extensioning-flew’ the prognosis is not good. This is a sad case where the patient glides further and further away from the source of its nourishment, and will stretch till its supply-lines are woefully thin and then inevitably breaks down.
Maybe we can get SkyCity to set up pokie machines at the hospital, and get them to pay for a new ward or two in the process. You know, because this country can’t fund anything decent any more without kowtowing to the corporates.
Vigorous seas are reducing the chance of tar balls washing ashore after a split pipe at an offshore platform caused 250 litres of oil to spill into the sea.
The slick has spread 10km from the Raroa platform site off the Taranaki coast since Friday.
The spill happened when oil company OMV was transferring oil from Raroa to the oil tanker Nectar.
Okay could have been a lot worse – get ready for more of these spills if the gnats have their dirty exploitation way. I agree with Jean quoted below
Jean Kahui of Frack Free Kapiti said her organisation was concerned about the “disgusting” spill and said it raised wider concerns about offshore oil operations.
“We can feel extremely lucky that this was a small spill. Imagine if it was a larger spill. Our coast [would] be devastated for generations,” she said.
I hope this can be used to test our systems of readiness for the inevitable disaster just around the corner.
Did someone discuss the women on Radionz talking about how everything she has trained for soon has no jobs for her? She has had to look for months to find anything else. This was around the Precarieat discusion with Prof Standing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20168197
10:06 Rhonda Samoa – The Precariousness of Work
Rhonda Samoa is a truck driver, a graduate of the New Zealand Film School, and the sister of Mark Samoa who was killed in a work accident on the Wellington waterfront in 2013. Rhonda knows a thing or two about the precariousness of work in the 21st Century, having been made redundant twice in the last six years, but she remains optimistic about the ability of workers to negotiate safe and fair work conditions as long as they stick together.
Be afraid New Zealand, be afraid.
The Herald attempts to whip NZ into the necessary frame of mind to accept war in Iraq.
This make it more than a rag.
It’s a danegerous rag.
For Messrs Murphy and Roughan at the Herlad and the others mmebers of the complicit media.
Read the last verse in particular of Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
One Mews just interviewed a NZ commentator on the Iraq Civil War deployment and how we have boxed ourselves in over there, with the caption “Person’s Name.”
Garner on radio live today: (a few hours ago so I’ll have to Morrissey it)
“Gee I dunno, I just can’t get that excited about this whole fruitfly thing, ya know? I mean it’s not like a TSUNAMI or an EARTHQUAKE, ha know? I mean I DRIVE HOME through the affected area and I’m like NOT SCARED AT ALL. Like, it’s just a FLY, ya know? Anyway there’s important news I have to tell you about. I went for a ride on a waterslide yesterday and guess what? It was SHIT!”
He then spends the next hour talking about how shit the waterslide was.
They’re not from here. They breed like flies. They have no respect for our culture. They have no humanity. They are a major threat to NZ’s wealth and wellbeing. Everything they touch becomes a writhing, maggoty mass of corruption.
Fruit flies must be exterminated – Death to the gnats!
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The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case ...
The government today announced a major support package aimed at reducing homelessness. A thousand new transitional housing places, more support for people to find homes (or not lose them in the first place), all good stuff. The one problem with it is that they're going to start charging people in ...
Courtroom Drama: There is no off-switch in a courtroom. Neither is it possible to turn the page in disgust. Ill-formed and ill-defended opinions will be exposed ruthlessly and unapologetically. As Shakespeare put it: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” Sometimes the ...
As of today, the novel coronavirus spreading in China is called COVID-19. Why does it matter? Around the office, we’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about how 2019-nCoV needed its own name. First, it was getting annoying calling it by the above designation, and ‘novel coronavirus’ doesn’t ...
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Brett Hudson)Its basicly more "tough on crime" nonsense (its already illegal for unlicensed people to own guns) designed to wedge NZ First against its arsehole base. ...
In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until ...
In theory, the emissions trading scheme should reduce emissions. Making polluters pay for permits to pollute lets them save money by reducing pollution, giving them a financial incentive to do the right thing. But right from the start the ETS was broken with a system of free allocation, so polluters ...
Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is delivering on its commitment to unlock the potential of Māori-owned land with investments up and down the country making a genuine difference to communities, Regional Economic Development Shane Jones says.At Waitangi last year, the Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister The Government is placing temporary entry restrictions into New Zealand on all foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through mainland China to assist with the containment of the novel coronavirus and to protect New Zealand and the Pacific Islands from the disease. This ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ngā ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
The Labour Party says it has received money from two of the people facing charges in relation to National Party donations but says they were above board. ...
New Zealand First’s action to halt the introduction of a ‘feebate’ scheme designed to support the nation’s transition to low-emission vehicles is a leap back into the industrial age, says Drive Electric Chairman Mark Gilbert. “While ...
Staff expenses at the Reserve Bank – which have increased by an average 4.4% a year since 2009/11 – surged by 14.8% in the 12 months to 2018/19. Total staff numbers increased by an average 3.4 a year during those nine years but shot up by 19 in 2018/19 from ...
The Socialist Equality Group is holding a protest rally on Sunday February 23 in Wellington to demand freedom for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Sunday 23 February, 3:00pm Cuba Street (Left Bank intersection) ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Lopez Katigbak has broken his silence amid the controversy over renewal of the Philippine TV giant’s broadcast franchise, which expires in one month. Katigbak, in a video posted on the ABS-CBN News site and aired over flagship ...
RNZ management wants to grow a youth audience without having to build a costly new platform. Anna Dean offers a bunch – none of which involves scrapping RNZ Concert.Over the next few weeks RNZ National Concert staff are set to take part in strategy workshops focused on “growth in audience reach, ...
Today LockerRoom brings you the first episode of Pure As, a mini documentary series on the Silver Ferns' personal journeys to World Cup glory. So much of the magic and composure Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio brings to the netball court today was learned from years of sitting on the ...
"He was an energy vacuum, a shit magnet, a waste of skin": a black comedy by Nelson writer Grant Smithies. The stars he saw were blue, green, golden. Little lights swam around slowly, then went out one by one. His face felt hot. His left eye wasn’t working. And ...
Yes, it’s still summer and, en route to that final festival or beach bolt-hole, the season of the road trip. Here Spinoff Art co-editor Mark Amery runs down some of the best North Island contemporary art stopovers, and the mavericks behind them. We cross the Cook Strait next year, promise.Back ...
The Star Wars prequels are universally regarded as the nadir of the franchise, but at least they gave us spinoff series The Clone Wars, writes Sam BrooksNobody likes the Star Wars prequels. Though that statement is slightly hyperbolic, it’s not far from the truth. Even if you can make a ...
Jai Breitnauer on what happens when male role models start disappearing from a child’s life.Recently, we saw a ghost from the past. Once a regular visitor to our home, there just after the birth of our first child and a constant presence for more than a decade, this individual disappeared ...
Dragon Quest: Your Story feels like an hour-and-a-half-long highlight reel of an adventure spanning dozens of hours, but it’s damn fun, writes Felix Walton.One of Netflix’s current hustles seems to be grabbing movies with little to no hope of a wide release and publishing them as “Netflix Originals.” The latest ...
The Ministry of Education is proposing a number of changes to NCEA Level One, including the merging of several subjects to be phased in over the next five years. Felix Walton looks into how, and why, these changes are happening.Why are they changing things now?They aren’t changing things now, per ...
Pacific Media Centre Chinese authorities are systematically harassing Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups even after they have left the country, according to new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International. Uyghur New Zealanders were among those interviewed, despite the threat of further intimidation. The case studies, published online today, reveal ...
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...
The New Zealand Bar Association has urged Parliament to balance carefully the need to reform legislation in respect of sexual violence with the need to ensure that only the guilty are convicted. The Association told the Justice Select Committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the extension of the coronavirus travel ban, the royal commission into the bushfires, and labor’s stance on a compulsory superannuation guarantee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Steen, Professor of Midwifery, University of South Australia In a new parenting podcast, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, said she used hypnobirthing techniques to help her get through severe morning sickness – a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. She also used the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne This article is the first in a three-part series on radical ideas to solve the environmental crisis. As the Productivity Commission confirmed this week, Australia’s economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for ...
The Nats are accusing Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor of being slow to act on a tuberculosis outbreak in Hawke’s Bay. Is it a fair cop? OSPRI confirmed an outbreak in Hawke’s Bay in April last year, but a disease management response wasn’t put in place until October, National agriculture spokesman ...
Porirua City Council is scratching its head on how it's going to meet the costs of a $2 billion bill to bring its water network up to scratch over the next two to three decades. ...
The sentencing of Grace Millane’s killer to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years marks the end of a judicial process that can only have been extremely harrowing for her family. They had already experienced the loss of their daughter, ...
Twenty years ago, Auckland’s streets were ruled by diesel-hating narcs. Josie Adams looks back at the short-lived 0800 SMOKEY campaign.For five chaotic weeks in 2000, the Auckland Regional Council experimented with extreme, multi-level peer pressure. The goal: to get cleaner-burning fuel into Auckland cars. The method: turning citizens against each ...
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...
He thought he’d moved on, but the news the Holden brand was being killed off hit Trevor McKewen harder than he expected. Here he reminisces about a youthful infatuation that never quite burned out.A part of me died this week and I didn’t see it coming.Holden has shut up shop ...
Today the unnamed man found guilty of murdering Grace Millane was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 17. “One person has been locked away but are New Zealand women any safer?” asks White Ribbon Manager Rob McCann. “We certainly ...
Pacific Media Watch An Australian federal court decision upholding the legality of the police raid on the Sydney headquarters of the national public broadcaster ABC last June has dealt a major blow to the protection of journalists’ sources and poses a grave danger for the future of public interest ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What is going on, Auckland? Is it just ...
A poem by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.The FightThe rising sun paints the feet of night-crawling enemies. And they scatter into the burning hills. I have fought each of them. I know them by name. From before I could speak. I’ve used every weapon. To make them retreat. Yet they ...
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...
The Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee, Gareth Hughes, is calling for public submissions on the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which was referred to the committee on 20 February 2020. The Residential Tenancies Act ...
ANALYSIS:By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It is the first visit to New Zealand by a sitting PNG prime minister since Marape’s predecessor Peter O’Neill’s trip in 2013. Marape, who rolled O’Neill ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentDonations scandals Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Who are the people at the centre of the SFO political donation row? Collette ...
Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide When booking a luxury cruise, you generally expect relaxation and enjoyment, not forced quarantine and distress. Unfortunately, for the thousands of vacationers trapped on cruise ships in Asia the past month, what started as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Courtney Hempton, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board has this week published a report detailing the first six months of the legislation in action in Victoria. The report reveals 52 people legally ended their lives from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blanca del Rosal Rabes, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology Brain temperature is implicated in many common conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and headaches. Changes in brain temperature can indicate there is a disease developing, but researchers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese will commit a Labor government to adopting a target of zero net emissions by 2050, in a speech titled “Leadership in a New Climate” to be delivered on Friday. The opposition leader’s embrace ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy N. W. Jackson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.auWho would ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamen Franklen Gussen, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology In 1971, a Time magazine article, titled “Should New York City Be the 51st State?”, observed: States have not only short-changed and hamstrung their cities but are themselves the least creative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ida Kubiszewski, Associate professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Labor’s treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, wants to follow New Zealand’s example and introduce a “wellbeing budget” alongside the traditional budget that stresses economic growth, when Labor is next in office. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Andreallo, Honorary research fellow, University of Sydney A sea of oversized hair bows bobs through primary school gates each morning. It might be dismissed as a harmless children’s fad but big bows are back, driven by current fashions, tween influencers and ...
The Government of New Zealand has recognized that the country is facing a housing crisis, said Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, at the end of her visit to the country . “While the Government has taken important steps ...
Survey results released today by the Helen Clark Foundation and the New Zealand Drug Foundation show that support for cannabis legalisation grows when people know more about the proposed legislation. When respondents were asked how they would vote ...
In today’s edition: Views on cannabis legalisation could hardly be tighter, the Papua New Guinea PM arrives in NZ, and bad light threatens cricket on the radio.A new poll published this morning finds that 46% of those surveyed would vote yes, and 44% no, with 10% undecided. That’s a markedly different ...
Actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand Te Atamira, a long-time champion of the arts, and te reo Māoriis the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year for 2020. Mark Jennings reports on the night that honours the best of us. What does it mean to be a New Zealander? The question was posed by ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.FICTION 1 In the Clearing by JP Pomare (Hachette, $34.99) All next week at ReadingRoom is devoted to this brilliant thriller inspired by Australian cult The Family, led by ...
‘A life-changing experience’, ‘The greatest of the great! It must be experienced!’, ‘That show with the dancing lady on the billboard.’ Shen Yun ads are impossible to avoid, but what on earth is it?So what is Shen Yun?According to the Shen Yun website: “It is a brilliant artistic revival ...
"To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up. We need to hear your voices." These are the words of Hildur Guðnadóttir, who recently accepted the Oscar for best original score for the film Joker at the 92nd ...
Dr Amanda Landers discusses the stigma associated with palliative care and why the field deserves recognition Scalpels are a powerful tool in medicine, but words can be just as mighty. Some medical specialties are easy to comprehend - they cut, stitch, unblock, restart or fix. Others are just too hard ...
A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to the attention of authorities, the poorly stored solvents remain a fire and environmental risk. While Government agencies struggled to get a polluter to clean up his mess, up to one million ...
Georgia Hale's tireless and compassionate work, using her sport of rugby league to create opportunities for many different communities, has earned her the title of Young New Zealander of the Year. As soon as she left high school, Georgia Hale began working with children with intellectual disabilities. It changed her ...
A new, "true green" party hoping to break into Parliament at this year's election has been hit by resignations and allegations of questionable conduct, Newsroom's political editor Sam Sachdeva reports Fledgling political party Sustainable New Zealand has been rocked by a flurry of resignations and allegations of questionable behaviour by its ...
A rare visit by a prime minister of Papua New Guinea to New Zealand highlights a strong friendship, but one which could be closer, writes Johnny Blades for RNZ.Papua New Guinea’s James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It’s the first visit to New Zealand by ...
Plant-based food producers ‘stigmatise and demonise’ traditional agriculture, according to Jones, but those working in the new industry say it should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat. NZ First minister Shane Jones’ suggestion that plant-based food must be “stopped in its tracks” has been labelled concerning, negligent and anti-competitive ...
The prospect of going to the Red Planet is possibly a step closer with the US President's State of the Nation speech, in which he promises we will land there. The chances of anything coming from Mars - according to the 1978 Jeff Wayne musical War of the Worlds - are ...
Jennifer Ward-Lealand’s dedication to acting, directing and te ao Māori saw her named the 2020 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year at a special dinner in Auckland last night. Alice Webb-Liddall speaks to her about how she hopes to nurture the future of the craft that has given her so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Seen as a political narrative, the Morrison government’s handling of the coronavirus (COVID-19) fits the patterns of its approaches on border security and anti-terrorism. Stressing the central imperative is to “keep Australians safe”, it has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The coronavirus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The corona virus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phillip Honeywood, CEO of the International Education ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stacey L Rowe, PhD candidate, Monash University Today’s evacuation of about 180 passengers from the cruise ship Diamond Princess to serve another period of quarantine back in Australia has raised questions about the best way to control spread of the coronavirus. The ...
Open mike 23/02/2015 
Open mike is your post.
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Radio NZ reporting that Sky City told the government 14 months ago it could not afford to build convention centre as promised.
Will the media hold them to account?
Makes skycity appear clean as, top corporate citizen and all that and the MSM puppets will be looking elsewhere and hand wringing over Sabin or excusing them for the lui donation etc.
Skycity and NACT colluded from day 1 over this deal and it’s just been a case of how them and their MSM acolytes feed the sheeple given the election had to be negotiated.
Joyce was just on Radio NZ and I have never heard him sound sicker. He took umbrage at the suggestion that he had deliberately lied to the public and disputed that he had the necessary intent. Good way to confirm that he may have inadvertently lied …
“Oh no Suzie! Saying that I mislead the Public is a big over-reaction.” Now sulk Joyce.
The New Zealand Herald does not regard the fact the government is considering sending our troops to Iraq today as important enough news to make any of its top 10 stories online.
Apparently our taxi fare gap is more important.
National run a non democratic process by choosing not to put it to the whole of the House, instead they have chosen the Banana Republic route of letting cabinet choose. Both the Tory-Maori party and United Future are not in favour of the role our troops are too play.
What a disgraceful breech of democracy by Key and his cronies. These 100 troops would be better employed combating an invasion on our own shores, the Queensland fruit fly.
They were talking about this on Morning Report this morning. Under Labour, apparently the only time a decision like this was put to the house was in late 2003 when they were voting whether to send the SAS back to Afghanistan or not. The other decisions were all made by the Labour cabinet.
That doesn’t make it right – particularly for those of us that don’t support Labour so the “but they did it too” argument doesn’t really sit too well.
I’d dearly love to see a clean up of parliamentary process. Its pretense of “democracy” is losing it’s veneer on a daily basis – irrespective of who is pulling the levers of control.
The best way to stop NZ participating in wars is to discourage all youth from joining the armed forces in the first place.
John Stevens giving a very good interview on 1 news this morning.
Stopped short of calling Key a liar about the SAS going to Afghanistan in 2009 . pointed out the the Iraq war was built on lies and finished with saying reporters weren’t asking the right questions about our going to fight Isis.
Could you provide a link?
No sorry it will be on delay at about 7-50 . The liar in chief was just on at 7-15 answered most questions buy talking about what Clarke did and confirmed that there will be no vote on going to Iraq I wish she had of asked him if it was because he would lose.
Guyon raised that point about the vote on RNZ
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20168253
The interview does not exactly scream ‘our PM is a man with a plan”
the only ‘plan’ he has..
..is to be a spear-carrier/mercenary for the americans..
..it’s all quite simple really..
..as we again go to war/kill..
..for reasons craven and base..
Oxymoron Key says “he is confident if put to a vote the other party’s would support sending non combat troop to the Middle East.” Really so don’t bother giving a democratic vote?
Meanwhile more fruit flies get discovered.
@ b waghorn –
And the reason Key won’t put sending troops to Iraq to the vote, is because he would be out voted.
Parties AGAINST NZ military involvement, training role possibly leading to combat –
Labour
Greens
NZ First
United Future
Maori Party
Parties FOR NZ military involvement regardless of role –
National minus one MP (Sabin)
ACT
To lose would be a slap in the face for Key and National. So to keep onside with his US buddies, he goes for over riding the democratic process of a Parliamentary vote! Isn’t this what dictators do?
When Espiner listed the parties in the Parliament who would vote against deployment in their interview Key mumbled on for a bit and then when pressed petulantly said they could always wait until after the Northland byelection.
@ Mary
Yes that is what dictators do.
Also they rig elections by stitching up their rivals with false allegations.
@ saveNZ – you got it in one there.
National have always been a party of dictators. We’ve seen this time and time again over the years.
key said that ‘combat troops will not be going to iraq’..
..but hasn’t he also said that the s.a.s.will be going..to guard the trainers..?
..and aren’t the s.a.s…’combat troops’..
..which is true..?
..and yes..these are the same lies clark/goff/key told us about our ‘non-combatant’ role in afghanistan..
..and we all know what a pile of steaming-lies that was..
..as is this..
and does ‘training’ work..?..has it ever worked..?..answer:..no..
“..In the past 50 years –
– has there been any case of the U.S. successfully training local troops –
– to prosecute a war against insurgents?..”
(cont..)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41042.htm
Americans are desperate for support on the ground in Iraq against ISIS
…New Zealand soldiers will be pawns in a war which is NOT New Zealanders’ ( Helen Clark kept us from the illegitimate invasion of Iraq) .
The Iraq war debacle was initiated by United States and Israel….they should be the ones cleaning up their own mess on the ground against ISIS.
John Key will be responsible for repercussions on New Zealand and New Zealanders .
Americans now admit their invasion of Iraq was an absolute disaster
‘Americans have to die on battlefield to destroy ISIS – US military strategist’
http://rt.com/shows/sophieco/232635-us-isis-middle-east/
John Nagl , Counterinsurgency Expert:
“The invasion of Iraq in 2003 I think was not just a mistake, but perhaps a biggest mistake the U.S. has ever made in foreign policy. It’s a four trillion dollar mistake, it caused enormous damage in the region, to the people of Iraq and certainly to my army and very-very many of my friends. So, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a disaster, a fiasco, unnecessary and poorly conducted. We played the endgame very-very badly and that failure of American foreign policy in 2011 necessitates today America returning to Iraq in force.”
New Zealand should only go into Iraq as part of a UN force…not support for US and Israel agenda in the Middle East.
Good comment from Gordon Campbell over at Scoop :
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2015/02/23/gordon-campbell-on-todays-announcement-on-iraq/
SAS are already in Iraq. The Army person who told me thought it was public knowledge.
If there is an active war zone around with some of our normal allies special forces in action, you can generally assume that there will be a NZSAS contingent around as well. It doesn’t mean that they are deployed there. It just means that they are off doing a training (often as a kind of sabbatical) with other forces. It is part of their job.
The words “squad deployment” were used. I know they often work with other countries’ special forces, and love telling stories about how bad the Americans are. They are always at other people’s wars, while I believe the regular forces only started doing that via disobeying orders from the Clark government.
@ b waghorn
John Stevens is a musician I think. The person you are referring to from TV1 News is
Jon Stephenson, and that is a name and spelling to remember. A NZ person of worth
who deserves to be identified correctly.
Doh cheers yes I’ve seen him many times I bet there s not many politicians that send him a Xmas card.
Thinking back to last years election, no wonder Key looked tired and weary.knowing about Liu, Sky City fiasco and Sabin whilst telling us all that National were steering us in such a straight line, well, what can we say?
Proves he can get a job after he is booted /resigns from office, as a Juggling Clown!
“..Bill Maher Calls For Marijuana Legalization..
(ed:..and he makes a very strong case..
..and not just for legalisation of pot..
..but also for the freeing/pardoning of all non-violent drug-prisoners..)
(cont..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/21/bill-maher-weed-legalization_n_6726842.html
Boring
u clearly need some good pot in yr life..there..bored git…
..i quite liked how maher said the last time he smoked pot..
..was ‘just before the show’..
..it’s also quite boring how bored-git doesn’t define just what aspect of the clip he found ‘boring’..
..the content..?..the execution..?
..or is he just verbalising a deep/irrational hatred of the ‘umble ‘erb’..?
That is such a funny and insightful video! He is so clever! Enjoyed it.
I don’t indulge myself, but I do support decriminalisation of marijuana and medical marijuana.
Yeah Bill Maher, he’s worth listening to. And this interview was a bit of an eye opener.
It’s an hour long.
It’s official: Fracking causes quakes. Check out the graph – really….graphic.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-21/usgs-confirms-oklahoma-quakes-are-due-fracking
Interesting stuff from Ireland – and the on going simmering revolt.
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27889
And this is a nice piece – which basically sums up my take on elections – add the appearance of the last two elections being dirty tricked by national – I think you should take some time to read.
http://libcom.org/blog/alternative-voting-systems-are-no-alternative-21022015
On the above link there is three more in the series, which are well worth reading.
Unfortunately the government of Ireland backed Germany against Greece in last weeks debt negotiations.
The Irish population didn’t. It’s puppet government did! Big difference!
Agree – the people and the government are two different things. This is becoming the norm all over the globe.
Where the idea the government of the people, for the people – is dead.
“..the appearance of the last two elections being dirty tricked by national…”
You think National was Rawshark?
Put down the crack pipe and walk away exStatic.
Seriously, you what? I have to have a rational discussion with that comment? GFY.
I take it “GFY” means “Good For You”?
If you are going to make stupid statements, don’t expect everyone to take you seriously.
Nope – God’s Foolish Yapper.
And were not in a debate – I’m not sure you know how to.
Of course we are not in a debate! You haven’t made any statements, just petulant vague gibberish.
How about expanding on your original mind fart…”“..the appearance of the last two elections being dirty tricked by national…”?
My goodness exStatic, having a bad day are we?
You obviously didn’t read the link – It shows
I’ll repeat my belief – you are not able to have a discussion.
Is it because you happen to be a – die in the wool ideologue – or is it that, your commented to having to be right?
No Donghua Liu timeline to see here, no sirree. Look, a cycleway!
How did Dong Hua Liu crop up here? Is he related to Eleanor Catton?
Lateral thinking seems to be lost on exStatic….
OAB knows what I am on about……you need to get out more.
You seem to think that “lateral thinking” is reading a book in bed.
ExStatic: OAB sure knows what I’m on about.
Sure do: you’re an asshole.
🙄
Oh look, yet another right wing gobshite arguing in bad faith. Beyond tiresome.
Congratulations exStatic, you have delivered a new benchmark in nonsensical gibberish. I am sure we all look forward to the ever generous delight of your considerably reasoned contributions.
Sorry if I was too obscure, or in adam’s case “lateral”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/65493542/radio-host-sean-plunket-stands-by-calling-eleanor-catton-a-hua
I will put myself in moderation with this comment – but what the hell.
exStatic – you are doing some bad trolling today – it is of the Gosman type – but done poorly.
You just seem to be obtuse to the point of idiocy.
Yes, thanks for that but I am aware of who Eleanor Catton is.
Please enlighten us – how do questionable political party donations relate in any way to Eleanor Catton?
http://caa.org.nz/general-news/come-cycling-around-waterview-tomorrow-tuesday-20th/
“God’s Foolish Yapper”…love it!.
Of more relevance to NZ is that Luigi Wewege (Dirty Politics, Ch 10) is suing an Irish publicly funded investigative journalist – Conor Ryan – and the broadcasters themselves, RTE.
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/colourful-past-of-vivier-financier-wewege-1.2109965
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11406245
Fourth fruit fly found in Grey Lynn, Minister confirms
This from yesterday deserves a repeat.
So how much has been saved by not screening 100%
Note no flys for 14 years with 100% screening
Now 4 infestations since reduced screening 3 years ago TO SAVE MONEY!!!!!
And how much is it going to cost to (If they can) eradicate this pest that should have NEVER had the opportunity to invade our country.
Sorta reminds me of this. From the Bundy’s and me to our TricKey PM.
>>Mr Guy also denied that reinstating mandatory x-ray screening of luggage from all passengers coming off international flights would prevent the fruit fly from entering the country, saying it was “too difficult to confirm” how the pest arrived in Grey Lynn.
So how come Mr Guy there was no invasion for th 14 years there was mandatory screening.
Just to confirm. The X-rays kill/neutralise any pests in the bag right? Not to detect but to destroy, right?
Interesting point,
I always assumed detection, but killing better if true.
Anyone else know?
i am sure it is just detection..
..a death-ray wd have/mean all sorts of complications/side-issues..
http://www.3news.co.nz/opinion/brook-sabin/opinion-national-to-blame-for-fruit-fly-outbreak-2015022311
Found this on face book Brook Sabin giving to national a bit.
A perfect example of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/266763/act-hopes-to-halt-plunge-in-support
Well, it’s now 0.0% so it can hardly plunge any lower. Does that mean they’re going to hail their current leader as a success because he stopped them falling any further? I wouldn’t put it past them.
I like the un-named woman saying something like “I think having a young one as a leader is quite good, because the young ones do like someone about their own age”.
Love her weird phrasing of “young ones”. Sorry Ms Unnamed Woman, but this “young one” actually wants sound and sane policy, not some young toff that’s been elevated beyond his depth and talent.
there was a puff-piece in the herald on wk/nd..
..asking ‘what do act want?’..
..my immediate reaction was:..who the fuck knows/cares! – they are on 0%’..
The obvious answer to ‘what do act want?’.. Is what ever key and his mates tell them they want.
I may have missed this, but why is Granny Herald up in arms about ATEED postings overseas?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11406141
Is it just the money being spent? But surely they are there for a reason – creating international economic opportunities? I understand that the london posting has a few other issues but if the posting was made first then I also see no problems. Also isn’t this all ATEED which whilst owned by the council isn’t controlled by the council (thanks Rodney!)
Is it just me or is the Herald stirring up an issue that isn’t there at all and is failing to ask the right questions or state the facts in a non-biased way?
…is the Herald stirring up an issue that isn’t there at all and is failing to ask the right questions or state the facts in a non-biased way?
Imo, yes. Just like they did over the now discredited Liu/ non – donations to Labour scandal last year.
“..why is Granny Herald up in arms about ATEED postings overseas?..”
while those postings do seem suss/a scam..
..their outrage is extremely selective..
…and their rightwing anti-brown/labour agenda drives this hissy-fit..
..they/the owners want a rightwing mayor in auckland….
The Spectator putting Putin in the role of Dragon-in-Chief in Europe, and the strains on the EU.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9447782/how-vladimir-putin-is-waging-war-on-the-west-and-winning/
In google there is mention of NZ Australia NATO and the west but I have done a search of the article thinking it referred to Iraq and matters relating but can’t find a mention. So where that term was lifted from I do not know.
Death By Medicine
You really are a stirrer.
Still, Nassem Taleb says that “modern medicine” killed more people than it saved until probably the 1930s and that risk/benefit phenomena is still not well understood in a healthcare context, leading to bad (and sometimes tragic) decisions by both patients and practitioners.
..and you appear to be an unrepentant denier of the proven benefits of modern medicine.
You continuing sniping at immunisation and other medical interventions and your assertions that the health profession are dupes of the pharmaceutical industry whilst basing your arguments on your own rather flimsy knowledge base is perverse and brings your own profession into disrepute.
Disclosure – I do recommend patients to osteopaths and acupuncturists for musculoskeletal and other ailments and have a great deal of respect for their abilities in their areas of expertise.
Not at all. But I am an advocate of making sure patients can exercise informed consent before any treatment is provided. There are a very wide variety of situations for which modern western medical care is unparalleled and very necessary. Suggesting that there are other situations where its risks, benefits and unknowns are less clear cut or positive might be considered distateful, however.
Those are your words, not mine. And when you get entire classes of medical students boycotting medical school professors whom they feel have too close links with big pharma, or medical researchers themselves admitting that big pharma drug trials with positive results are more likely to be published in peer reviewed journals than ones which show the drugs in a bad light, I think that there are valid concerns to be considered.
They boycott professors who teach evolution too. In fact that seems to be the main reason. I suppose I missed all the classes in all the schools and all the professors you’re referring to.
Perhaps i have mixed you up with @chooky,
One of you has made repeated assertions on this very blog concerning medical professionals being dupes and in the pockets of pharmaceutical companies and that prescribing in NZ was not evidence based, clearly such an accusation is hyperbolic cant.
I must admit to being a bit mystified as to what point you are trying to make, that mistakes are made by medical professionals and that the population have adverse reactions at times to medicines…. that is undeniable.
The report you link to however is very flawed.
just as initial example in relation to ADRs a critique was made of the published paper that the report relied upon.
‘”…Simple pooling of fatal event frequencies from only those studies specifically reporting the number of fatal ADRs, as was done in the meta-analysis of Lazarou and colleagues, is likely to dramatically overestimate the death rate.
CONCLUSION:
Meta-analysis was invalid because of heterogeneity of the studies. Most of these studies did not report the data needed for incidence calculations. The methodology used was seriously flawed, and no conclusions regarding ADR incidence rates in the hospitalized population in the United States should be made on the basis of the original meta-analysis. “
It’s probably the scale of the issues which would be surprising to every day people. Yes, I agree with you that every study (including meta-analyses) has limitations and those limitations mean that you can’t make sweeping or blanket conclusions.
Well possibly everyday people would be surprised.
However most in the medical profession would not find it in the least surprising, for example, that a patient had died in hospital while receiving a cytotoxic cocktail for their cancer and that their death would be listed as drug related.
15 year old UK girls outsmart British intelligence, quit school and head to Syria to join ISIS
Oh dear. I’m sure the intelligence services will be asking for more powers, new legislation and additional millions in money to prevent future occurrences.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/22/uk-counter-terror-officials-criticised-syria-bound-london-schoolgirls
They always said “British Intelligence is an oxymoron”
On Goldman Sachs, Pension Funds And Why John “I’m A Dolphin” Key Calling Russell Norman A Muppet Is Important
Old news I know.
But always a good idea to be reminded of the room needed to be given by car drivers.
http://cca-actions.org/actions/wood-makes-people-big-cars
and a action as well – seems we need this in all our major cities
http://www.designboom.com/design/latvia-cyclists-car-skeletons-vehicle-size-10-10-2014/
This could end up like the varroa mite where it was put in the too hard basket eventually by the government. Anyone who watches Boarder Security knows that many people do not declare and destroy the food they bring in. In fact many of them try to hide the stuff. Letting people from Oz go through without searching is so dumb it beggars belief that the government would risk millions of dollars in exports in order to avoid an almost negligible inconvenience to passengers. Like the other policies of the national government that allows drilling of oil in the area of the highly endangered Maui dolphin. To many of the rest of us this is just a no brainer to protect NZ export interests, tourism and our environment and quality of life for both people and our forma and flora. Who pays when things go wrong. The tax payer. Like we did when the lack of regulation meant the tax payer spent millions on the Rena cleanup and it’s still not fixed properly.
Andrew Little please scream from the rooftops about what stupidity this is. Motivate NZers to fight back against these dumb policies. We want a government that cares about our country which it is clear this government does not. We need a great leader and clearly John Key may have charm but not the ethics to look after NZ, it’s people and it’s environment for future generations.
@ Lorraine
+1
Facts About Fruit Flies
– Mother fruit flies lay about 200-300 eggs at a time
– The most likely place for a mother fruit fly to lay her eggs is in a piece of rotting fruit
– As soon as the babies hatch, they start reproducing about 24 hours later
– From the time the mother fruit fly lays her eggs until you see the fruit flies buzzing around is about 7-13 days.
the expert on RNZ today said they only laid “about twelve eggs” – which seemed a ridicuously small number for a fly
relevant bit 1:08
They apparently have about 7,500 traps in Auckland checking for these blighters and it sounds a lot – did I hear right? HortNZ CE Peter Silcock said that the action taken on commercial consignments of fruit in Oz and the border controls here are probably sufficient to mean good coverage. It is more likely that they come in travellers bags and they would like 100% screening. PRIM (Primary Industries Ministry) have increased surveillance – for fruit flies – but not to the extent which is needed.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/266475/fruit-fly-crackdown-continues
Something that I notice is that yachties are never mentioned – there seems quite a floating population swanning around these days. They should be equally targeted for compliance with regs.
This is yet another example of the dangers of Investor-State Dispute Settlement Systems (ISDS) and another reason for rejecting the TPPA. This illustrates the lengths that these multicorporations will go to in order to evade their responsibilities and the moral and ethical vacuum in which they operate.
Imagine a similar scenario in NZ with respect to deep sea drilling!
It is better to read the whole article dated Feb 16, 2015 but here is an excerpt from the Chevron v Ecuador case.
“Unfortunately for Chevron, its expensive retaliation strategy against Mr. DeLeon and others has failed to end the litigation, has only increased the resolve of the affected villagers, and has not diminished the company’s risk from collection actions targeting its assets to ensure compliance with the judgment,” it added.
After an eight-year trial, an Ecuador court in 2011 found Chevron liable for deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest, decimating indigenous groups and causing an outbreak of cancer and other diseases. The case – litigated in Ecuador at Chevron’s request — was funded in large part by Mr. DeLeon, a successful businessman in the internet gaming space and a law school classmate of Donziger’s.
Two layers of courts in Ecuador unanimously affirmed the trial court judgment, including the country’s Supreme Court in a 5-0 ruling. Chevron still refused to pay the judgment and retaliated by suing numerous supporters of the villagers, including Mr. DeLeon but also lawyers, environmental groups, bloggers, and scientific consultants.
Mr. DeLeon fought Chevron’s pressure campaign for years, but finally threw in the towel this week after it became clear he would face years of additional expensive litigation in Gibraltar’s courts. Gibraltar is the headquarters of many of his various businesses.”
http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/37689-Chevron-DeLeon-Settlement-In-Ecuador-Case-Will-Lead-to-More-Funds-for-Environmental-Clean-up-Villagers-Say
Just another short excerpt:
“Chevron also continues to face the likelihood of a devastating setback in the appeal of its controversial racketeering judgment in New York, now scheduled to be heard the week of March 30. The facts in that case prove the company corrupted its star witness with more than $2 million in payments to testify falsely in the trial, according to multiple reports.”
Despicable!!!!
Still looking out for the right wing scum on this latest Liu moment. Where are these scum ? But for the fact it’d take 11 years to arrive I’d send them a letter of invitation to contribute……..
I am curious to know if this issue has been exposed on the TV1 and TV3 news at 6? I don’t think so, but I did not watch the news in full over the weekend. Those who did watch could you please let us know. TIA.
Three did a story on it to night made key look like a liar not that it matters honesty is not important to right wing voters.
Harsh…but fair.
Always preferred the term “Tory scum”, myself.
Glad to hear that Green party is not contesting the by-election.
Dunno about NZ first. I hope not. ACT please contest.
The Australian experience gives a glimmer, just a glimmer of hope that the Key govt could be toppled.
Yeah ACT are fronting with Robin Grieve, a particularly nasty character who attended an election forum as a candidate and bemoaned ‘it was a lefty love feast.’ He got booed on stage and off, very entertaining value 🙂
Good on ACT to be fronting with Robin Grieve. I hope someone prominent from the Conservatives will stand also. May be Colin Craig himself?
Yep, from a Left point of view, it’s far more important that the Conservatives stand a candidate in Northland to split the Tory vote as much as poss.
ACT’s support is just a tiny drop in the ocean – It’ll make little if any diff. As inconsequential as the day is long.
Oh dear! You gave the game away!
2014 General election results – electorate candidate votes
Candidate Valid Votes Share (%)
SABIN, Mike (NAT) 18,269 52.74
PRIME, Willow-Jean (LAB) 8,969 25.89
CLENDON, David (GP) 3,639 10.51
RINTOUL, Ken (FNZ) 1,661 4.8
TAYLOR, Mel (CNSP) 1,555 4.49
NELSON, Craig (ACT) 200 0.58
WILSON, David Angus (NZDSC) 173 0.5
ROBERTSON, Murray (IND) 96 0.28
TIMMS, Glen (MFP) 75 0.22
Total Valid Votes 34,637 100
Total Votes Cast 36,112 104.26
Winning Candidate: SABIN, Mike – margin 9300
NATIONAL’S CALLOUS AND CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE OF NATION’S BIO- SECURITY!
You won’t believe this!
The fruit fly outbreak is a damning indictment on the Government’s systematic destruction of border security with the inefficient and money pinching Minister in charge, Nathan Guy.
Now the $6 billion fruit and vegetable industry is at risk and the Government is squarely to blame.
This is very serious. Guy should be a goner for this.
See why:
http://www.3news.co.nz/opinion/brook-sabin/opinion-national-to-blame-for-fruit-fly-outbreak-2015022311#ixzz3SWHxCjnB
When I returned from a visit to Japan in 1998 I was pulled up at Customs because the Xray of my bag had shown a round object. I was happy to unpack it and show the round wooden doll I had been given in Tokyo, and Customs was happy that it was not an apple or an orange. I was happy that they had screened my bag along with every other bag on the flight. They have stopped doing that and only Xray “at risk” individuals. It is cheaper – they say. Tell that to the fruit and vege shops in Grey Lynn today and who knows to whom tomorrow?
Another impact of reckless tax cuts in 09, they went through penny pinching across the board to eek every potential ‘saving’ in an effort to smudge the wealth transfer.
Border security in an agricultural economy isn’t a luxury to be tweaked it’s a necessity that needs bolstering and vigilance.
Haters and wreckers.
“If U.S. land were divided like U.S. wealth…” a graphic divvied up by 1%, 9%, and the remaining 90%. Would love to see a NZ one (including foreign ownership, renter/owner, and unoccupied households).
Nice discussion to go with that as well Weka. Thanks for the link.
A government that can’t even take on the fruit fly has no business going after Daesh.
Sweet anti-neolliberal slam from Tourettes at Splore (h/t Russell Brown)
“he tells me there is a part time job waiting for everyone at the milk powder factory”
“he tells me global warming’s not so bad, we might never have Australia’s economy but we got bush fires now”
“and the media stands impotent, seagulls parroting his nonsense, and the headlines read, John Key’s Son’s a DJ”
Brilliant.
Chinese are flocking to holiday in Japan to get away from their horrible air pollution, where you not only can see the air you breathe, you can cut it with a knife and fork, or in their case hold it between their chopsticks. But the Japanese are quietly saying, because they need the Chinese money after many years of recession, that the Japanese are lacking cultural sensitivity. They are too loud, and if there is anything free they take it in sackfuls, their children stand on seats in their shoes, and they eat their own food in cafes.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinese-tourists-flock-to-japan-for-the-sushi-the-shopping-and-the-fresh-airdespite-tensions-10061720.html
Queenstown is stuffed to the gills with tourists. Perhaps they are Chinese tourists. If they don’t watch out down there they will spoil the attraction of their Queenstown attractions. Probably they will go mad and treat it like a gold bull to be milked. When you’ve got dosh you can make everything happen to suit yourself.
Richard Attenborough has a question for China about their lack of restraint – on using illegal ivory and threatening the world’s elephants. Perhaps they can collect their own teeth and use them as delicate features in art forms.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/david-attenborough-calls-on-chinese-president-to-end-ivory-trade-and-halt-extinction-of-the-african-elephant-10062229.html?icn=puff-7
Oh dear me. What a bad case of cultural myopia. I meant to say that the Japanese were saying quietly that the Chinese were a bit louder than they are used to, but my fingers went and put Japanese not Chinese, which doesn’t make sense when it is read. I don’t know what happened there.
Dunedin’s city hospital is suffering badly. Bad leaks had to be patched and still there is more to be done.
The College of Intensive Medicine of Australia and New Zealand has withdrawn the hospital’s intensive care unit’s training accreditation, with the main issue being the state of the unit. A $2 million refurbishment, which could well be the barest minimum, is planned but has not begun yet.
Now, comes a report from Beca consultancy group that up to
$50 million will be needed to keep the clinical services building at Dunedin Hospital going for another 10 years.
In addition, nearly $75 million will have to be spent on the ward block over the next 10 years.
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/331153/dunedin-hospitals-catch-22
I diagnose a serious and debilitating affliction ‘political invisibility syndrome’. Those regional patients with this indisposition looking unhealthy may be subjected to triage.
If their condition is exacerbated by a raging state of ‘regional-extensioning-flew’ the prognosis is not good. This is a sad case where the patient glides further and further away from the source of its nourishment, and will stretch till its supply-lines are woefully thin and then inevitably breaks down.
Maybe we can get SkyCity to set up pokie machines at the hospital, and get them to pay for a new ward or two in the process. You know, because this country can’t fund anything decent any more without kowtowing to the corporates.
Oil spill
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11406521
Okay could have been a lot worse – get ready for more of these spills if the gnats have their dirty exploitation way. I agree with Jean quoted below
I hope this can be used to test our systems of readiness for the inevitable disaster just around the corner.
Did someone discuss the women on Radionz talking about how everything she has trained for soon has no jobs for her? She has had to look for months to find anything else. This was around the Precarieat discusion with Prof Standing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20168197
10:06 Rhonda Samoa – The Precariousness of Work
Rhonda Samoa is a truck driver, a graduate of the New Zealand Film School, and the sister of Mark Samoa who was killed in a work accident on the Wellington waterfront in 2013. Rhonda knows a thing or two about the precariousness of work in the 21st Century, having been made redundant twice in the last six years, but she remains optimistic about the ability of workers to negotiate safe and fair work conditions as long as they stick together.
There were a few stories on Sunday around wage workers.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
lPrent:
small tech issue that’s been popping up the last few days
The edit function is denying permission to edit at around 4 mins remaining.
test edit 3/3 (seems intermittent whatever it is ) 😮
Then they came for the Australians with dual citizenship…
Be afraid New Zealand, be afraid.
The Herald attempts to whip NZ into the necessary frame of mind to accept war in Iraq.
This make it more than a rag.
It’s a danegerous rag.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11406528
the thought that immediately sprung to mind was that demolishing all shopping malls would be a serious blow for civilization.
It’s amazing which stories Fearfax Media regard as more important than the fact the government is deciding today whether to go to war in Iraq.
These were some of the stories the editor of Stuff thought more important!
Boys stomach pumped
Tourist ignored police lights
It’s a rainy Monday
Students trapped in overloaded lift
Our MSM will be complicit in many deaths.
For Messrs Murphy and Roughan at the Herlad and the others mmebers of the complicit media.
Read the last verse in particular of Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
One Mews just interviewed a NZ commentator on the Iraq Civil War deployment and how we have boxed ourselves in over there, with the caption “Person’s Name.”
Seems like our MSM are really on top of things.
Reminds me of an old not the 9 o’clock news sketch…and now the news brought to you by the conservative party.
Garner on radio live today: (a few hours ago so I’ll have to Morrissey it)
“Gee I dunno, I just can’t get that excited about this whole fruitfly thing, ya know? I mean it’s not like a TSUNAMI or an EARTHQUAKE, ha know? I mean I DRIVE HOME through the affected area and I’m like NOT SCARED AT ALL. Like, it’s just a FLY, ya know? Anyway there’s important news I have to tell you about. I went for a ride on a waterslide yesterday and guess what? It was SHIT!”
He then spends the next hour talking about how shit the waterslide was.
Sometimes war is justified.
They’re not from here. They breed like flies. They have no respect for our culture. They have no humanity. They are a major threat to NZ’s wealth and wellbeing. Everything they touch becomes a writhing, maggoty mass of corruption.
Fruit flies must be exterminated – Death to the gnats!