Yes about time the opposition warned the buyers as to expectations and buy back at their purchase price, our state housing stock is far too low for a developed nation for this transfer to occur.
The creep of councils flogging public housing is off the radar on this issue.
Labour and every other left party needs to come out and say that they will be rebuilding social housing stock levels. They also need to put in place a law that prevents sales of state assets.
They need to make it clear to the National Party’s owners that Parliament will not be bound by bribes, and that every single time they buy legislation that socialises losses or privatises profits they will lose their shirts.
Assets will be repatriated and there will be no compensation.
There is no alternative.
Then this group report says it takes a pro-market rather than a free-market tack! And refers to the Rachman scandal (1960’s) which will be important to note when thinking about the downward path that the present UNACT NZ government is following. http://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Publication-The-Politics-of-Housing.pdfThe affordability problem dominates England’s housing market: an … total annual completions since the 1970s, and the private sector alone has not built this level …. provided by housing associations which are heavily dependent on benefit ….. exploitation of unscrupulous landlords – epitomised by the Rachman scandal.37.
Very disappointed Phil Twyford as Labours Transport spokesperson was missing in action. You would think Labour (Phil) would back up Peters who is championing this issue, a lost opportunity to get some runs on the board over the importance of stopping further RMA changes by National.
Yes as was wannabe Mayor Phil Goff, however Twyford is transport is he not. The Northland Line and the rail link to Marsden Point is something Labour need to keep the acid right on National, rail does not fit where their roading plans and they are quietly under funding rail to the point where they can close the line.
The other thing is creating a bit of solidarity with NZF/Peters who is doing all the heavry lifting on the issue. Therefore a bit of action from Twyford is not too much
too ask surely.
I think you’re putting the cart before the horse Skinny. It seems to me Sunday’s protest was less about politics and all about a gut reaction from Aucklanders to what they see as a threat to their harbour. For Labour to have rolled out Twyford with a baldfaced political attack on the government and their transport policies would have been a mistake. It’s enough at the moment for Labour to be lining up alongside the views of Aucklanders (National will be trying to do this too of course). The politics can come later.
Aucklanders fighting the council over the loss of their harbour is 100% political. It is a perfect opportunity for Twyford to mention Marsden Point and rail as a solution to the problem. To not do so is dereliction of duty.
Is it churlish to suspect that this harbour protest will get an excellent level of media coverage, on the score that $40,000,000 worth of motor/sail vessels turned out……and yeah, quite alot of people ?
For the avoidance of doubt I am with the people and I thank the vessels.
Mike the Peg, with his extra leg … a Northland children’s delight. I think Osborne is lying anyway. Standing behind NAct ministers doesn’t wear the shoe leather much at all.
The claim from Osborne that he has worn out one and a half pairs of shoes is a preposterous claim.
Those roads of Northland must really be atrocious!
His candidacy was announced on 1st March. So, in about 20 days, he has worn out 1.5 pairs. i.e, 3 shoes! At this unbelievable rate, by election day this coming Saturday, he would have worn out about 2.5 pairs=5 shoes!…in just 30 days! The shoe companies would be thrilled and won’t believe their luck!
But somehow I think Osborne has been a bullshitter about the shoes and quite untrustworthy.
Having a rather weird sense of humour, I have been wondering why he only seems to have two casual shirts – both blue checks although slightly different.
Osborne’s political hero – JOHN KEY ! That’s right……Mr “Anything Is Possible” according to Osborne.
Osborne a sincere, fearless representative of the people of Northland ? Up against the dons Key and Joyce ? No. This is not an “anything”. Can you see Steven Joyce if Osborne wins ? – “Listen boy…….we turned you from Mr Laughing-Stock to Mr Limp-In so get outa my office. And in future……breath through your nose !”
Good God. Northlanders roped into “ShonKey Python’s Flying-Jerk-Us”. Expect a breach of copyright claim additional to Eminem’s.
…and further notes on the tabloid Herald’s bias, the collapse of the government’s social housing policy is (online) listed below articles on Netflix’s charges, McCaw’s girlfriend and a bloke hassling drivers outside a school.
Winston just has to win — apart from obvious reason, but how unbearable will be the increased boasting and OTT arrogance of Key and Joyce in self congratulation … ugh.
The really funny thing to happen would be if Peters were to win the seat in the by-election.
He then resigns his list seat to get another NZF MP into the house.
There is an electoral petition which Winston loses.
He is out of the house until at least 2017.
And no, it wouldn’t help to have another NZF MP being coerced into resigning to open up another vacancy. Winston would not be eligible to take it.
Actually, I think that if Winston was to win in the by-election, and I don’t think it will happen, he won’t resign his list seat. He wouldn’t even consider allowing the above scenario to occur. He doesn’t really give a damn about his party or about Parliament. His sole interest is Winston the 1st.
I think you misunderstand the process.
A recount, if called for, takes place before the final result is declared. This would be the confirmed result. It appears that Winston would have to have resigned his list seat prior to this happening if he was going to be replaced on the list.
An electoral petition is a later thing and normally takes place after the new MP has taken their seat in Parliament. This is what happened when Winston got into Parliament way back in the dark ages. He came out on the right side of an electoral petition against Malcolm Douglas who had won the seat.
So no, although it is not very likely it could happen if Winston hopes to be replaced by another NZF list MP.
Hate to say it, but to a degree Alwyn is possibly correct – but the scenario he paints is highly unlikely but not impossible.
The situation re resignation etc to get in another NZF member is apparently not set in stone in the electoral rules. The Electoral Commission have a view as to what the procedures should be; as do other electoral law experts such as Graeme Edgeler. Don’t have time to find links, but there was considerable Twitter discussion (Edgeler and others) a few weeks ago when Winston Peters first declared he would run in Northland.
National have been pushing the line a win for Winston would benefit Southland with another seat as the next person on the NZF is an Invercargill hairdresser, Ria Bond.
But according to the Herald article by Claire Trevett on Saturday, Ria Bond is no longer living in Invercargill but has bee in Wellington working for NZF since August 2014.
Thank you.
You’ll note that I never said it was likely. I only said it would be funny if it should happen.
I’m sure that Winston would find it equally hilarious.
ScottGN, a little bit further down. quotes an opinion from Pundit about ACT possibly taking up an Electoral Petition on the grounds that Winston winning would disturb the proportionality of the house. Like Pundit, I don’t think he has any grounds at all.
Somebody living in the electorate, or a losing candidate in the by-election could however bring one on the grounds, (and this is hypothetical), that Winston had spent more than he is legally allowed to on his campaign, or something of that ilk.
Hilarious would be if Osborne won and had to resign to deal with the same type of family problems as Sabin. A vote for Winnie is a vote for a guy with no secrets, we know he’ll stay on.
But according to the Herald article by Claire Trevett on Saturday, Ria Bond is no longer living in Invercargill but has bee in Wellington working for NZF since August 2014.
And the National Party would know that very well as their staffers would see Ria frequently…
Exactly! The Parliamentary Precinct is a rather small place in reality, where people working there or visiting frequently (eg government officials) know one another and who they are.
Jon Reeves is the most likely person the come through on the NZF list. Very solid chap promoting public transport, be good to add the term silver/green voter.
Reeves may be a solid chap etc, but he is at No 15 on the NZF list.
Ria Bond is at No12, and even if she decided not to come in as a list MP, there is Mataroa Paroro at No 13 (who seems keen according to the Herald article) and Romuald Rudzki at No 14, before Reeves.
Reeves has been very good with NZF’s transport policy. He may leap frog the others since Peters is advocating a port & rail strategy in Northland. He goes alright with media and public speaking too. I maybe a little bias he is a mate.
The rules relating to the filling of a list MP position do not allow leap-frogging – in principle anyway.
The party concerned does not get to pick and choose who they put in the position. The Electoral Commission goes to each person on that Party’s list as set prior to the last General Election in the sequence set in the list and asks them if they want to take up the vacancy. As I noted, there are three people ahead of Reeves – one of whom has apparently expressed interest according to the Herald article.
I can’t see much boasting in the event National holds on to what was a very safe seat with a narrow win. I imagine they’ll just be relieved to have avoided disaster and will be happy to move forward with their numbers restored in the parliament.
Yeah……I’m taking the precaution of travelling to Auckland Friday afternoon……having early voted for the only man in New Zealand right now who can prick the fetid-air balloon of the supreme heister of this entire nation, bar none. Whatever the outcome I need to be in the company of my closest.
If Peters wins it is decidedly the start of the end of TheGodKey. Even if not…..still it is underway. Increasingly we have an entilted little PonceKey in our faces. It will not go beyond 2017. Indeed my appreciation is that significantly before 2017, seeing the writing on the wall, and rather than take electoral defeat, this gutless, narcissistic one will take his baubles, his honorofic, unblind his trusts, and slide off somewhere else.
Wasn’t there some “New Zealander” of some importance (apparently) meant to be having their name suppression lifted around about now, and aren’t the eyes of speculation glancing in the direction of a certain former……………..
If it is to do with Mike Sabin and it all comes out after the by-election instead of before then it will go down very very badly with the electorate…..
…. simply reinforces the lack of honesty and integrity associated with John Key
BG – I am going to be a pedant and say that :having had a request for name suppression refused” does not seem to be the actual situation from the little we know.
Name suppression appears to have been in place prior to 30 January, when a total suppression order was put on by the judge on all details of the case – including the actual location of the court! Then in mid-February some details of the case were released; and the defendant was given four weeks to appeal a lifting of name suppression on 19 March.
As I understand it, this procedure is not the same legally as having had a request for name suppression refused.
I find it hard to imagine that the thing in question would not have asked for a continuation of suppression in February. If they hadn’t, it would have just lapsed and we would have seen it all over the tv. Hence a request was refused, but time was given to appeal the decision. This time has been abused as badly as the innocent children involved.
I don’t necessarily disagree, MR. But we do not know whether that was the case/ But being a pendant, I could not allow a bald statement that name suppression had been refused to go – when we do not know that that was actually the case.
I actually think that the procedures followed by the judge/court which are apparently in accordance with the law is actually in the best interests of justice in the longer term – by not allowing this to be used as a technicality to close the case down.
The by election is therefore a fraud, details surrounding the reasons why it is being called should be made public. Non disclosure has corrupted democracy, I have no doubts that people who have or are going to vote in the Northland electorate will not have/will vote/d for National.
Not when we are hearing of people already casting a vote for Osbourne and then hearing the reason Sabin resigned and the fact Osbourne was a key member of the National Northland electorate executive team. Tarred by association as they say. I am referring to some elderly church folk. People have the right to know the truth surrounding the murky resignation and cast their vote making an informed decision, especially when the timeline of who knew what is being disputed so widely in the media and so publicly.
Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust. If he came out and admitted he has heard the rumour’s but doesn’t operate on rumours, instead of blatantly saying ” he still doesn’t know anything regarding Sabin’s resignation”.
So this guy professes to have his finger on the pulse of Northland and is totally blind to what is going on right under his nose. Incredibly insulting to the electorate there are no other words for it.
Yeah – Skinny is right, James. And if the Nats don’t win, then Shon Key’s stuff-up in not replacing Sabin with a proper candidate in the 2014 election will be humiliating for them. Maybe a Winston win will be the end of the Key government ? ? ? hopefully ……
There was no court order in place either before the last election, or even maybe the 2011 election, or on the morning when Sabin resigned. Key has had plenty of chances to be honest with us. He has never taken a single one.
“Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust”
Both Key and Osborne have claimed that they knew nothing about Sabin’s stuff at all!
If you believe that, I think there are lots and lots of three way bridges in Northland which this government is happily giving away for voters to take away on Trade-me with absolutely No Reserve!
A couple of weeks ago I linked to a news article which described how the death rate for white women in the USA was exploding because of the use of prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. We are talking around a million excess White female deaths in the last few years and climbing. Such an upward shift in mortality is seen by experts as “historic.”
Now here is research which shows that White lower educated women in the USA are experiencing a massive explosion in out of wedlock births. (While Black university educated womens’ out of wedlock birth figures fall dramatically). In other words, while upper class women enjoy traditional family structures more than ever, lower class women are getting smashed with increased family instability and poorer outcomes.
Among the educated elite the traditional family is thriving: fewer than 10% of births to female college graduates are outside marriage—a figure that is barely higher than it was in 1970…However the non-marital birth proportion among high-school-educated whites has quadrupled, to 50%, and the same figure for college-educated blacks has fallen by a third, to 25%. Thus the class divide is growing even as the racial gap is shrinking.
Apparently there was such a thing as the “First Seige” of Sevastapol and over a 120,000 Russians died there defending Crimea from the West and Turkey. I’d only known about the “Second Siege” where the defenders of Sevastapol were eventually ground into dust by the Wehrmacht.
There was a whole war going on at the time. If you’ve ever heard references to Florence Nightingale, or the Charge of the Light Brigade – “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred” – they’re references to that war.
There have probably been more than two over the years, but the other famous one was of course during the Crimean War, which gave us poetry about senseless death, a lady with a lamp, cardigans, and maybe even sandwiches. The senseless death of British cavalrymen was blamed on inferior Turkish infantry rather than English upper class imbecility and the Victoria Cross came into being for excessive zeal in the killing of wogs. Willie Apiata got one for the same thing not long ago and the English lies about Turkish infantry saw our young men die stupidly on the cliffs of Gallipoli. Key will be going this year to show he has guts. It was not gutlessness that made him keep Sabin on, not at all.
Yemen falls into sectarian chaos as yet another US project loses the plot in the ME
The Americans have been conducting regular drone strilkes in Yemen since 2002 in support of the US friendly government there.
Since the fall of that government, hundreds of millions of dollars of modern American made military equipment has now gone to new unapproved owners. ISIS and Al Qaeda recruitment is surging.
US diplomats and US troops have abandoned Yemen as the security situation has gone down the toilet over the last couple of years.
Another great Middle East project “Made in the USA.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171978
Beverley Forrester – Vocal champion of Wool ( 30′ 41″ )
10:06 Beverley Forrester is a farmer, sheep breeder, fashion designer, yarn manufacturer, tourism operator and a vocal champion of wool. She says a generation of consumers have been bombarded with cheap, mass produced, synthetic alternatives, but she believes there’s a resurgence in demand for the living fibre, and for knitting, which she describes as “the new yoga”. After the sudden death of her farmer husband Jim Forrester just before his 54th birthday, Beverley found herself running their Hurunui farm and sheep stud. She’s developed a successful brand of natural coloured, undyed yarns, which are now sold internationally, as well as her own fashion label. Beverley Forrester talks with Kathryn Ryan about her love of what she believes is New Zealand’s best primary product.
Wools one of the best products in the world: renewable , fire proof , biodegadible any self respecting greeny wouldn’t be caught dead in poly prop clothing or on a synthetic carpet.!!
hi b waghorn, i couldnt agree more, i have been a vocal enthusiast (?) for wool for many a year.
go to the local saleyards in feilding and you would be lucky to get 10% of sheep farmers wearing their own product. most of them are wandering round in recycled milk bottles.
makes me blood boil.
I have noticed that plenty myself. I think the problems is lack of r’n d around making wool products that can compete with plastic clothes . but our government s aren’t big on backing there own.
mmm.. yes, and primary producers not putting their money where their mouth is.
i read on stephanies blog (boots theory) about the rich man who bought expensive shoes while the poorer man bought cheap shoes.
in the lifetime of the better quality footwear the poor man had spent twice as much on his shoes.
while r n d is part of it, the whole economy around wool is screwed up. when it costs the farmer more to remove the wool from the sheep than what the wool is worth, something is rotten.
i was talking to a farmer who says back in the ’50s he was getting a pound for a pound of wool.
The Korean war caused the great wool boom in 1950-51.
And most farmers will tell you there’s no money in wool but the wool clip on the property I work on pays our fertilizer bill which is in the 150k range.
to me wool is a panacea for our times, it grows on less than ideal land, labour intensive to harvest and process (jobs), and as you have mentioned earlier, heaps of uses, clothing, insulation, mulch/fertilizer…
the foxton feltex factory is closed. with a simple stroke of a legislators pen, making wool carpets mandatory in state housing and government offices, it can be reopend and we reinvest in a kiwi town and kiwi resources, win win.
A majority of Auckland councillors are now opposed or want a rethink on port expansion.
The majority was achieved this afternoon when councillor Denise Krum joined councillors Cameron Brewer and Sharon Stewart in calling for the issue to be re-examined.
Auckland’s mayor, Len Brown, who does not want to stop Ports of Auckland plans to build two massive wharf extensions next month, is now in the minority.
………………………………..
A core of eight councillors – Chris Darby, Cathy Casey, Ross Clow, Chris Fletcher, Mike Lee, Wayne Walker, John Walker and George Wood – directly oppose the port expansion into the Waitemata Harbour.
Mr Brown has ignored the message from yesterday’s protest of about 2000 people and 300 boats in the city who want an immediate stop to the extensions to Bledisloe Wharf.
However, he said today he would set up a study of the economic, social and environmental impact of the port on wider Auckland, which he promised in August 2013.
Ms Krum said she was unclear about the council’s position on the wharf extensions and whether legally the council can get back into the trenches on planning provisions for the port precinct in the Unitary Plan.
She said things had changed over the past three weeks and the council would be negligent to bury its head in the sand.
“We need some leadership with this issue. There is no singular leadership driven, ‘let’s take councillors on a journey here’. Let’s have all the information,” she said.
“I’m also really quite miffed. I have heard nothing from the ports themselves. As someone who wants to back their business because I see the contribution they need to make to Auckland. As a shareholder, where are they in this foray?”
The Ports of Auckland board is meeting today but it is unclear if the the board, chaired by Graeme Hawkins, will make a public statement in response to the public outcry over the plans.
Mr Brewer has today written to Mr Brown asking him to convene a meeting of the governing body to reconsider the council’s position on reclamation rules in the Unitary Plan for mediation.
In August 2013, the council voted for tough “non-complying” rules for reclamation in the Unitary Plan, but twice in the past five weeks it has voted to ease these rules to “discretionary” status requiring public notification.
The council has argued it has not voted for more lenient rules on reclamation, saying the new “discretionary” status and other regulations are tougher than the current rules in the regional coastal plan.
“I have yet to change my vote,” Mr Brewer says in the letter. “But like others, I am calling for these matters to be formally revisited by the governing body in a calm and collected way with all the information new and old presented without fear of favour.
“Given the significant level of public interest, we at least owe that to Aucklanders.”
Earlier today, Mr Brewer reversed his support for the expansion, saying he now wanted a rethink on the issue.
“I invite the mayor to bring this back to the council table and give this another go,” he told the Herald.
The Orakei councillor took part in a secret vote last month on the side of Mr Brown and his deputy Penny Hulse to ease the August 2013 rules for port expansion.
“I thought I was doing the right thing by supporting tightening the old reclamation rules that were in existence from 1987 to 2013, but it’s clear that’s still not going far enough to appease the Auckland community.
“If Aucklanders want no reclamation whatsoever, then lets at least have the debate again with the public sentiment now clearly known.
“It is massive public sentiment. Len Brown needs to look it again,” Mr Brewer said.
______________________________________________________________________________________
The actual article in the Herald had an invite to email them your views on the subject. I sent the following :-
I am totally opposed to any extensions until a full and independent assessment is completed with full and open discussion.
The arrogant attitude by those involved directly in the Ports of Auckland has happened because of the way the governance of this vital infrastructure was set up by the Key Government through their delegated front man , Rodney Hide, who threw out a carefully considered scheme for Auckland City prepared over several years by three knowledgable and experienced Commissioners and replaced it with his hastily prepared alternative devised in about 6 months.
Largely ignored by the citizens of Auckland was the dispute between Ports Of Auckland (POA) and the Maritime Union which has recently been settled after several years of negotiation. The Mayor & the Council that is the elected Councillors refused to get involved in that problem because they were effectively 3 times removed from the POA because of the way that the lines of authority had been set up when the Auckland City plan was devised..
The Mayor of Auckland and the Auckland City Councillors were Democratically elected by the citizens of Auckland to manage the affairs of the City, all the other people in the chains of command of POA including the CEO of POA ( and there are quite a few) are appointed, not elected.
The elected representatives of the citizens of Auckland need to manage this matter effectively NOW or resign and let us elect some new faces who are prepared to sort out this problem.
In the meantime there needs to be an embargo on any expansion whatsoever in my opinion
Well said, John Shears. Hope it gets read, and considered.
And the really stupid part about all of this is that Whangarei – Marsden Point – has the best deep water harbour in NZ, is little used, because both Auckland and Tauranga Ports have not only competing interests in Marsden Port, but their own interests which keeps their ports operating and Marsden lingering at the edges …….. Auckland Port needs to revise their thinking, and make use of Marsden for the bigger vessels coming – instead of trying to squeeze them into what has become a relatively narrow Waitemata harbour and Hauraki Gulf.
Press Release Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“Stop the privatisation of State Housing!”
“The wheels are finally falling off the Government’s scheme to use charity and Iwi groups as a trojan horse to privatise the $18 billion worth of State Housing assets,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“If it was ‘untenable’ for the Salvation Army to use existing State Housing stock for the failed ‘social housing’ experiment, other NGOs and consortiums will never have the capacity as providers, unless they are bankrolled by foreign property development companies, for speculative gain, which still equates to privatisation.”
“The public were told prior to the 2014 election there would be no further asset sales.”
“There is no electoral mandate for the privatisation of State Housing.”
“The Housing Lobby are calling on the Government to scrap the charity housing model and repeal the 2013 Social Housing, Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Act.”
“Housing New Zealand must be reinstated as the ‘one stop shop’ State Housing provider, under the ‘public service’ model,” Sue Henry concluded.
The war on workers continues – an Aussie compnay in auckland wants to remove tea breaks from an industrial site. This is why we need tea breaks abd corporate homicide charges. Forklifts and fatigue don’t mix in a happy way.
“The Prime Minister reassured New Zealanders that ‘post the passing of this law, will you all of a sudden find thousands of workers who are denied having a tea break? The answer is absolutely not’. We now know the Prime Minister’s assurance was misleading,” Mr Reid said today.
Of course, Key and National knew that this would happen. It’s why they changed the law.
hi draco, hate to do this but i have to point out our dear leader was right.
the laws was passed (like a bowel motion) in october, its now march, so that is not sudden.
also this effects dozens not thousands of workers.
all good on planet key. carry on.
Legal action “not taken lightly” indeed ! Well no, but of course the daddies had the 8-10 grand it would have cost. The considerations were constitutional and justice based were they ? Nothing to do with their wedged-up daddies’ determination to pass on down to their offspring the privilege they themselves enjoy. Nah, course not !
If they were a couple of little Maori boys in Kaikohe, one’d be appearing in the Youth Court, one’d be in the District Court……and the 17 year old particularly would be on bail terms so oppressive that he’d be bound to breach……and then who knows ? Night in the cells in Whangarei before he’s ‘let off’ with a formally recorded bail warning ? Another meaningless breach. Oh God, not custody……then on down to UK investor owned/profiting, Serco/Mt Eden/”The Jungle”.
In our justice system you’re sweet if you’re white with a wedged up daddy. I know that to be a freakish and disgusting truth. During 40 years with the opportunity to observe it I’ve seen it countless times. It’s this; the actors in the justice system ‘sign-up’, not consciously or wittingly, but it’s ‘sign-up’ nevertheless.
Just when you think New Zealand has a monopoly on greedy/ignorant/criminally insane politicians, get a load of Mike Baird…
It starts off rather light-hearted, but gets grimmer and grimmer as it goes along. Anyone who cares at all about the environment will be vomiting blood by the end.
Of course this was always going to happen. Greed, like rust, never sleeps. The wicked thing is that its promoters don’t even see it is as greed, it is no-brainer rationality. Of course one will operate one’s undertaking to the outer edge of what is lawful. Why would one not ? And under ThePonceKey greed is increasingly encouraged never to sleep. Apologies for any mixed metaphors there. Like ThePonceKey ‘m not verrr lit-rit, ecksshilly !
It looks as though we are getting closer and closer to a situation where the victims must take a serious stand. Strikes, pickets, appealing to the souls of would-be-scabs, defiance of legal process proscribing the standing up for essential rights……a network of moral and financial support for those on PlanetPonceKey with the ‘temerity’ to say “No – Enough !” Hit them in the very place from which prances forth the lusty greed…….the pocket. Hopefully that will have them (an unintended consequence of course) the financial pariahs they are in moral terms.
The more the people do nothing the harder they’ll go. There are no moral questions come into play with these people. Greed (sorry, ‘maximisation of profit”) just never sleeps !
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Last month I noted that the public policy debate was all about how we deal with covid-19. That’s changing now, and will change more over the next couple of months as the buffering impact of the wage subsidy disappears and we see starkly the economic hole out of which we ...
The mission of the New Zealand Police is to make this country the safest nation in the world. To achieve that aim, there is one important step the police need to take at the end of this month. When the evaluation of the Armed Response Teams’ trial is completed, the ...
The right of employees to strike is an internationally recognised employment right that has been a feature of New Zealand’s industrial relations system for over a century, albeit with different constraints and limitations at different times. Although more restricted, this right even continued under the anti-union Employment Contracts Act (1993-2000). ...
Bernard Hickey is one of New Zealand’s leading financial journalists. His latest article, published by Newsroom, lays bare the cruel treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers stranded since the lockdown. Our Prime Minister is lauded overseas for her compassion, but her Cabinet is refusing to properly support tens of ...
For a good part of my adult life I have studied civil-military relations. I have studied authoritarian and democratic variants, and I have studied them across countries and regions. I have also worked in and with several US security agencies and have lectured on the theme at a number of ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf we stopped oil, gas and coal extraction immediately – ...
by The Spark “The system is broken”—the words of a young black man in Minneapolis watching flames destroy a police precinct demonstrators had torched. Broken? Yes, it is! What else could you say about a system whose police for nine minutes casually knelt on a black man’s neck, watching until ...
The latest opinion poll is out, and it’s more bad news for the National Party, with Roy Morgan putting them on only 26.5% support, against Labour’s 56.5%. You can see the details here: Roy Morgan May opinion poll. Roy Morgan is regarded as less accurate than other polling companies, and the ...
When miners pillage conservation land, they are typically required to "rehabilitate" it afterwards. Its not much compared to the damage they do, but its something. But apparently even that is now too much to expect. NZG Limited, a company owned by Oravida directors James Blackwell, Julia Jiyan Xu, Stone Shi, ...
Like everyone else, I've spent too much of the weekend watching the protests in America, and the increasingly brutal response to them. The overwhelming impression is of a nationwide police riot, as people speaking out against a murder and demanding change are beaten, gassed and shot by racist, militarised thugs ...
In mid-April, as New Zealand entered its fourth week of alert level 4, the Prime Minister warned us not to make comparisons with other countries over our Covid-19 pandemic response. This extraordinary advice came after Simon Bridges had urged the government to adopt a less-stringent lockdown similar to those in ...
Wales has lowered the voting age to 16: 16 and 17 year olds can now officially vote in Wales for Senedd elections. Votes at 16 & 17 come into force on Monday, as part of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020. Next year’s Senedd elections will ...
The government announced more changes to the ETS today, including to the emissions budget for 2021 - 2025. The overall budget for that period will stay at 354 million tons of CO2-equivalent. But the ETS component of that - stockpile reduction, free allocation, and credits to be auctioned - budget ...
The new National Party leader, Todd Muller, had been at pains to portray himself as a solid, serious, safe pair of hands, in contrast to the increasingly Trumpian leanings of Simon Bridges, who Muller deposed in a leadership coup last Friday. But after an uneventful, if uninspiring, first press conference, ...
Minneapolis Police StationIf you’ve been keeping an eye on recent events in the United States, you’ll likely understand why there’s so much anger on the streets at the moment. Not only did police officers murder another black man; it is patently obvious that authorities initially attempted to cover up George ...
Becoming the leader of a political party is a bit like having a baby. Not so much the screaming and sleepless nights, as the fact that you’ve waited and hope and planned for something and it’s finally here. And when that wonderful gift finally arrives, you want to be ready, ...
The US appears to be headed towards what Antonio Gramsci and other Italian political theorists call an “organic crisis of the State.” It involves the simultaneous and compounded fractures of economy, society and politics, which together constitute a tipping point in a nation’s history. Social contradictions are exacerbated, class and ...
Like the rest of the world, I have been aghast at what I have seen of, and read and heard about, what is happening currently in the United States. It seems incredible that a once great country should be suffering the worst effects and the highest number of deaths worldwide ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week...
Climate concerns as Siberia experiences record-breaking heatHeat wave sparks concerns about devastating wildfire season and melting permafrost.Satellite ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 24 through Sat, May 30, 2020Editor's ChoiceAntarctic Ocean Reveals New Signs of Rapid Melt of Ancient Ice, Clues About Future Sea Level RiseA study of seafloor ripples ...
It’s almost painful to watch. Let’s be honest, maybe a pleasure too, in some quarters, but painful nonetheless. Because the fact is, for a democracy to function properly, any sitting Government does need honest and proper Opposition so that it doesn’t get ahead of itself. That’s what we should ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk A banner on the International Energy Agency website spells it out in bold font: “The global oil industry is experiencing a shock like no other in its history.” As the response to the coronavirus pandemic upends the lives of billions of ...
The ownership of newspapers and televison channels is in turmoil, and they want to redisorganise public broadcasting. *Three years ago, I expressed concern in a column about the future of the (traditional) media. Nothing has happened since to reduce the concern. It was based on an earlier column which ...
Australia's High Court has ruled that the "palace letters" between the queen and then-Governor-General John Kerr are public records rather than private papers: Historian Jenny Hocking has won her High Court bid to access the letters exchanged between then governor-general Sir John Kerr and the Queen around the time of ...
SATURDAY MAY 30Six60: Live at Western Springs 2020 (TVNZ 1, 8.45pm). Remember live concerts? The day will come again, friends, when we will be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in an uncomfortable sweaty venue with people we don’t know. It will happen. Sometimes the sound of concerts drifts over to the ...
New Zealand and its prime minister Jacinda Ardern have received international attention and praise, rightly so, for decisive leadership, clear communication and scientific management of the coronavirus pandemic. Observers point out that the nation has been through multiple crises under Ardern’s leadership – such as the Christchurch terrorist attack and ...
…a lot of things unrelated to the pandemic were happening. Relatively little attention was given to some major events on the global stage, so I thought I would do a quick recap of some of the high (or low) -lights, starting with something familiar. The common theme throughout is human ...
Labour's talk of gutting the RMA to push through "shovel ready" projects to boost employment after the pandemic predictably has every half-arsed pipe-dream crawling out of the woodwork demanding special treatment. Today, it's the West Coast inbreds, who are demanding a host of laws be rescinded so they can dig ...
"I can't breathe, Mama. I'm dying." - Last words of George Floyd.LOOK HARD at this image. Think about what it depicts. Ask yourself how one human-being could behave so brutally when so many eye-witnesses – and very soon millions of people online around the world – were there to watch ...
Since the government announced its pandemic wage subsidy, there have been regular stories about companies taking it and then sacking or refusing to pay their workers - essentially committing fraud. But how often does this happen? The Minister just doesn't want to know: Government ministers are not receiving up to ...
"You call that a conservative?Nah, this is a conservative!" New Zealanders are in the market for a quiet and reassuring small-c conservative political centrist. The critical question, however, is which politician is currently playing that role? Who has mastered the art of relaxed, informal and intimate political communication? Who ...
I’VE OFTEN WONDERED if South African immigrants passing through towns like Kerikeri and Kaikohe ever wonder how we do it. In their homeland, through the bitter years of Apartheid, keeping the races segregated required pass laws, Alsatian dogs, tear gas, rubber bullets and, all-too-often, live rounds. Not here. Not in ...
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from July 31, 2019 to September 30, 2019. Sports categories must be by sex, not gender identity Queer theory glossary Woke misogyny and homophobia: a gay critique of trans ideology Another unfortunate experiment? New Zealand’s transgender health policy and ...
Smart Energy Europe: A Plan to provide 100% of ALL ENERGY using Renewable Energy to EuropeIntroductionAll Energy renewable energy systems are often commented on here at Skeptical Science. Many comments suggest that it will be difficult, expensive or impossible to use renewable energy to power the world. To ...
The government released its Action for Healthy Waterways package today, ostensibly with the goal of cleaning up our rivers and making them swimmable within a generation. Doing that, of course, requires confronting the cow in the room: the dairy industry which causes most of the pollution. But while they've imposed ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzI would like to know if New Zealand’s carbon emissions ...
Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Timothy Stern, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonBack in the 1970s, scientists came up with a revolutionary idea about how Earth’s deep interior works. They proposed it is slowly churning like a lava lamp, with buoyant ...
Remember KiwiBuild? Previously the government's flagship policy, it was supposed to build thousands of new homes every year for kiwi families. But instead of flooding the market, we've got a pathetic dribble: The Government's former flagship housing policy is so far behind schedule it will take more than 400 years ...
Don Franks Now Covid-19 restrictions allow gatherings of a hundred, an urgent hui needs calling. A special conference of the Council of Trade Unions. Today, workers face the greatest attack on employment, pay and conditions since the depression, we need a strong united union voice. As it stands now, organised ...
George Henderson New Zealand schools have introduced a climate change resource that suggests children “eat less meat and dairy”, even though teachers will not know how much meat or dairy any child in their care has eaten. Opinion pieces in the papers have called for the reduction of meat and ...
Questioning the number of district health boards in New Zealand has got to the extent that “too many DHBs” has become a perceived truth requiring no further elaboration. It is rarely challenged by policy advisers, academics, and journalists. But when one drills down further it becomes clear that the number ...
The emergence of a new National party leader, seemingly out of nowhere, has – not surprisingly – raised a number of questions as to who Todd Mulller actually is and what makes him tick. He has been an MP for some time but seems to have hidden his light under ...
Costa Rica has become the first country in Central America to recognise same-sex marriage: The first same-sex weddings have taken place in Costa Rica, the first Central American country to equalise its marriage legislation. A lesbian couple became the first to tie the knot in a ceremony that took ...
There's a new twist in the Winston Peters secret donation story. It appears that a significant chunk of NZ First's secret laundered donations goes straight into the pockets of the people administering the scheme: Tens of thousands in donor's funds given to the New Zealand First Foundation were spent paying ...
Is Todd Muller the Ned Flanders of the National Party? This is how he’s been characterised by political commentator Gordon Campbell, who suggests the change in leadership is, in Simpsons terms, akin to swapping the scary and cruel Monty Burns for Homer Simpson’s compassionate but conservative neighbour. There’s almost a ...
We all know that many so-called journalists and political commentators in New Zealand work directly or indirectly for political parties or for certain political factions. This was obviously the case when pundit for hire Matthew Hooton launched a campaign against then National Party leader, Simon Bridges, over their numerous polling ...
Let's Roll! The easy victory over a Bridges-led National Party which the Left had every cause to anticipate just a few days ago is no longer in the offing. Our enemy’s position has changed. His numbers are swelling. A rapid thrust to the left, followed by an audacious outflanking manoeuvre ...
New National Party leader Todd Muller has been interviewed about his policies, and has promised to restart offshore fossil fuel exploration if elected: The Bay of Plenty MP rolled former leader Simon Bridges last week, but says the party has not changed its stance on previous promises. "That is ...
Anyone who keeps an eye on evidence around cannabis and public health will be familiar with the Christchurch Health and Development Study. It's one of two local longitudinal studies frequently cited with respect to cannabis and youth development. But in a new article in the New Zealand Medical Journal, it is ...
In the age of covid we are Jacinda’s team of five million, except for some. There has rarely been a more blatant case of discrimination against beneficiaries than Grant Robertson’s announcement yesterday that people who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus will receive weekly payments of $490 per week for 12 weeks and $250 per week for part time ...
It was 75 years ago this month that Germany surrendered and the Allies celebrated VE (Victory in Europe) Day. Millions of people around the world had been killed and many more injured or captured. It was an end to war not just for Europeans, but their allies too, in countries across Africa. But its impact is ...
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...
Hon Shane Jones, NZ First List MP based in Northland New Zealand First MP Hon Shane Jones has today announced his candidacy for the electorate of Northland. Speaking at a New Zealand First meeting in Kerikeri, Northland, Mr Jones said it was a privilege to be selected by the Party ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced two diplomatic appointments: New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India and Consul-General to Hong Kong. “As New Zealand recovers from COVID-19, our diplomatic and trade networks are more important than ever. That is ...
We started the week by announcing free apprenticeships to support Kiwis into work and to help get New Zealand moving again - and we ended the week by extending the wage subsidy to 40,000 more businesses, helping to protect businesses and workers alike. ...
We’re confident in the ability of Kiwi businesses to succeed in the face of COVID-19, and our Government is committed to doing our bit to enable that success. Kiwi businesses have always been innovative and resilient, and the COVID-19 pandemic has proven this yet again. Many businesses are finding new, creative ...
New Zealand First is pleased to release the names of its first tranche of candidates for the 2020 election. The includes all sitting New Zealand First Members of Parliament except Clayton Mitchell MP who earlier today announced he will not be seeking re-election. In alphabetical order they are: MP ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Tauranga New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell has decided not to seek re-election in this year’s General Election. “After serious consideration and discussion with my family, I have decided to pursue other passions in my life and spend a lot ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced that new Lockheed Martin Super Hercules aircraft would replace the outdated and costly 1960s Hercules fleet. The $1.521b project will include a flight simulator for staff training and other supporting infrastructure. "This fleet will ensure the Defence Force can continue to support New Zealand's ...
The Green Party is urging the New Zealand Police to rule out the use of Armed Response Teams, following their recent trial in communities around Aotearoa. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has described Labour's original COVID-19 commercial rent dispute proposal as "poorly targeted". Justice Minister Andrew Little hasannounced a temporary law changeto force commercial landlords and renters to consider COVID-19 in disputes over rent issues, almost two months after the Government first floated the idea. But ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First acknowledges that some small businesses have been struggling to meet fixed costs due to the loss of revenue by COVID-19. We also know some businesses are at greater risk of insolvency when they cannot come to a reasonable ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First is disappointed that the removal of the spousal deductions has had to be delayed by the Ministry fo Social Development, due to COVID19 workload pressures. “New Zealand First has always stood for fairness when it comes to superannuation ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First On the steps of Parliament today the Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters received a petition from registered nurse Anna Maria Coervers, requesting an amendment to the Protection for First Responders Bill which will ensure the legislation also include registered ...
It's been a busy seven days as we start to rebuild New Zealand together. From delivering extra support for small businesses, to investing in our artists and arts organisations, to cutting red tape on home DIY projects, we're rolling out our plan to get the economy and New Zealand moving ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says alert level 2 restrictions have to be discussed during today's Cabinet meeting. Thousands gathered across the country, including at Parliament, yesterday forBlack Lives Matter marcheswhere social distancing and mass gathering rules were flouted. Mr Peters said the breaching of Alert Level 2 rules at ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State Owned Enterprises KiwiRail’s Northland rail upgrade steps up another gear today and will help Northland recover from the impacts of COVID-19, State Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters says. The Government is investing $204.5 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to ...
“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson. ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Green Party is pleased to reveal its candidate list for the upcoming election. With a mix of familiar faces and fresh new talent, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to lead the Greens back into Government. ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
This summer presents a great opportunity for New Zealanders to get out into nature with bookings on Great Walks for 2020/21 set to open next week, says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Bookings for the Great Walks will open between 9 and 11 June, excluding Milford and Routeburn tracks which ...
Extra 40,000 businesses to be eligible for wage subsidy extension Small business cashflow support application period extended The Government is today announcing further support for businesses that continue to be affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, as the broader economy becomes one of the most open in the world following ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed five Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules transport aircraft will be purchased to replace the existing fleet, Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “Last year, Cabinet selected these aircraft as the preferred option to replace the current Hercules fleet. Procurement of the Super Hercules has been ...
The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage is celebrating World Environment Day with an announcement of a major step towards Wairarapa Moana being recognised as an internationally significant wetland. “Wairarapa Moana is an ecosystem of 10,000 hectares of wetland and open water that provides a home for indigenous fish, birds and ...
New public housing that will save tenants money in energy bills, and provide warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, is setting the standard for the Government’s future public housing programme, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. Dr Woods opened the new Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities complex, which has a ...
A new-look Police graduation ceremony to take account of COVID19 health rules has marked the completion of training for 57 new constables. Police Minister Stuart Nash attended this afternoon's ceremony, where officers of Recruit Wing 337 were formally sworn in at the Royal New Zealand Police College without the normal support of ...
Mobile traders and truck shops must adhere to responsible lending requirements Interest rate cap on high-cost loans Lenders prohibited from offering further credit to an applicant who has taken two high-cost loans in the past 90 days The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, has signalled an end ...
94% of firms say wage subsidy had positive impact on cashflow 62% of firms say support helped to manage non-wage costs like rent A survey of business that have received the Government’s wage subsidy show it has played a significant role in saving jobs, and freed up cash flow to ...
New legislation introduced to Parliament today will support growth and assist businesses on the road to economic recovery, said Revenue Minister Stuart Nash. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020-21, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Bill proposes that businesses can get tax deductions for ‘feasibility expenditure’ on new investments,” said Mr ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson has welcomed the first release of funds from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced as part of Budget 2020. Sport NZ has announced that $4.6 million in funding will go to the Wellington Phoenix, NZ Warriors, Super Rugby teams and the ANZ Premiership ...
An iconic New Zealand tourism attraction and the country’s 31 Regional Tourism Organisations are the first recipients of support from the $400 million Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, to help position the sector for recovery from COVID-19, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The plan includes a Strategic Tourism Assets Protection ...
The Government will legislate to ensure businesses that suffered as a result of the COVID-19 response will get help to resolve disputes over commercial rent issues, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. A temporary amendment to the Property Law Act will insert a clause in commercial leases requiring a fair ...
The Minister for Small Business says new data from Xero highlights the urgency of prompt payment practices to small and medium enterprises as we move into economic recovery. Last month Government ministers wrote to significant private enterprises and the banking industry to request they join efforts by government agencies to ...
Young people in Waikato will be the first to have free access to period products in schools in another step to support children and young people in poverty,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. During term 3, the Ministry of Education will begin providing free period products to schools following the ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash has issued the following statement in response to charges filed against three Police officers this morning in the New Plymouth District Court. “Any incident involving a loss of life in Police custody is taken very seriously. The charges today reflect the gravity of the ...
$196 million for Crown Research Institutes $150 million for R&D loan scheme $33 million for Māori research and development opportunities $12 million for the Nationally Significant Collections and Databases $10 million to help maintain in-house capability at Callaghan Innovation New Zealand’s entrepreneurs, innovators and crown researchers will benefit from a ...
Further temporary changes to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) will support senior secondary school students whose teaching and learning have been disrupted by COVID-19. “The wellbeing of students and teachers is a priority. As we are all aware, COVID-19 has created massive disruption to the school system, and the Government ...
Minister for Racing Winston Peters today announced that the terms for the directors of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) have been extended to 30 June 2021. Due to the COVID-19 crisis the transition period has been extended to ensure that the Racing Industry Bill can complete its progress through ...
The deadline for landlords to include detailed information in their tenancy agreements about how their property meets the Healthy Homes Standards, so tenants can see the home they are renting is compliant, has been extended from 1 July 2020 to 1 December 2020. The Healthy Homes Standards became law on 1 July 2019. The Standards are ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little today announced details of further appointments to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. “I am pleased to announce Paula Rose QSO OStJ as Deputy Chief Commissioner for a term of five years commencing on 15 June 2020,” said Andrew Little. “I am also pleased to announce the ...
The Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) will pay costs of learners of all ages to undertake vocational education and training The fund will target support for areas of study and training that will give learners better employment prospects as New Zealand recovers from COVID-19 Apprentices working in all industries ...
The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will finally start to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution as it was originally intended to, because of changes announced today by the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw. The changes include a limit on the total emissions allowed within the ETS, rules to ensure ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List provides an abundance of examples that Pacific people’s leadership capability is unquestionable in Aotearoa. “The work and the individuals we acknowledge this year highlights the kind of visionary examples and dedicated community leadership that we need ...
The Government is backing a new $27 million project aimed at boosting sustainable horticulture production and New Zealand’s COVID-19 recovery efforts, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Our horticulture sector has long been one of New Zealand’s export star performers, contributing around $6 billion a year to our economy. During and ...
Applications have opened for 2021 Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships, which will support more Māori and women to pursue careers in forestry science, says Forestry Minister Shane Jones. “I’m delighted Te Uru Rākau is offering Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships for the third year running. These ...
The Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List once again highlights the dedication by many to looking after our native plants and wildlife, including incredible work to restore the populations of critically endangered birds says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Anne Richardson of Hororata has been made an Officer of the New ...
The Government will invest $10 million from the One Billion Trees Fund for large-scale planting to provide jobs in communities and improve the environment, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Forestry Minister Shane Jones have announced. New, more flexible funding criteria for applications will help up to 10 catchment groups plant ...
Organisations that support women are invited to apply to a new $1,000,000 fund as part of the Government’s COVID-19 response. “We know women, and organisations that support women, have been affected by COVID-19. This new money will ensure funding for groups that support women and women’s rights,” said Minister for ...
Healthier waterways are front and centre in a new project involving more than 300 King Country sheep, beef and dairy farmers. The Government is investing $844,000 in King Country River Care, a group that helps farmers to lift freshwater quality and farming practice, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Yesterday ...
A major funding package for libraries will allow them to play a far greater role in supporting their communities and people seeking jobs as part of the economic recovery from COVID-19. “Budget 2020 contains over $60 million of funding to protect library services and to protect jobs,” says Internal Affairs ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
Does a move to Covid-19 Level 1, that Cabinet is considering tomorrow (Monday, June 8), mean back-to-normal for 290,000 rental property owners and managers, Tenancies War spokesman Mike Butler said today. The Covid-19 Response (Urgent Management) Act, ...
ANALYSIS:By Denis Muller of theUniversity of Melbourne When a newspaper with the authority of The New York Times chooses to publish a party-political essay calculated to further inflame the violence wracking cities across America, serious questions arise. On June 3 the Times published in its opinion section an ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Noble, Education Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Three quarters of a million Australian children are likely to be experiencing employment stress in the family as a result of COVID-19. This is on top of around 615,000 children whose families were ...
Spice up the classic banana muffin with a subtle touch of star anise.These muffins came about one rainy Saturday when the cupboards were bare and there was nothing much left in the fruit bowl aside from some very sad-looking bananas. Fortunately we know sad bananas result in the best kind ...
For years, Work and Income has been telling New Zealanders they couldn’t get the benefit until their redundancy payments ran out. Turns out, it was wrong.What’s all this then?Work and Income has long told New Zealanders receiving redundancy payments that they weren’t eligible for the benefit until their redundancy money ...
New Zealand writer Anna Rankin reports from Los Angeles. Last Friday afternoon, I went downtown to a protest outside the enormous Los Angeles Police Department headquarters on 1st Street. The LAPD had set up cordons, placing orange cones across streets to block traffic. Arms crossed, they stood with a wide ...
Until the sudden closure of Bauer Media in April, Simon Farrell-Green was the editor of HOME, New Zealand’s oldest architecture magazine. Here he explains what comes next.Being the editor of a major architecture magazine was the best job I ever had. I got it in 2016, after a career spent ...
A global success story or an overly generous, unsustainable scheme that is doing lasting damage to our fish stocks? Ethan Neville looks at the ongoing debate over New Zealand’s fishing quota management system. The management of our fisheries is a touchy topic – and why wouldn’t it be? New Zealanders ...
By RNZ News Thousands of people were protesting across Australia today to oppose the deaths of Indigenous people in police custody. It comes as Black Lives Matter protests are held around the world after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in the US ...
Wrapping everyone in a blanket of love, whakapapa and mauri for Matariki is the brave, exuberant and generous fabric art of Maungarongo Te Kawa, writes Amanda Thompson.E te AtuaNau enei rau harakeke he taongaTukuna ki a matouKia tika o matou mahiKo Papatuanuku e takoto neiTuturu WhakamauaKia tina, tinaHui eTaiki e.‘Karakia ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
One press statement from the Beehive yesterday sounded more like advertising – or a barker’s pitch – than a Government announcement. Another advised of two diplomatic appointment, one of them – has the woman who landed the post done something wrong? – to protest-troubled and politically volatile Hong Kong. And ...
It’s not often that someone graduates from university one year and becomes a senior economist commentating on national media the next. George Driver investigates the meteoric rise of the high-flying Brad Olsen.Google “senior economist Brad Olsen” and you’ll find him quoted in no fewer than 167 articles in the past ...
As public sentiment turned against Uber Eats, a new local operation emerged promising a more ethical alternative to help New Zealand’s struggling hospitality industry. But now Eat Local NZ has suspended trading after falling out with its Australian partner Mr Yum. So what happened?A dispute between local hospitality platform Eat ...
By Budi Sutrisno in Jakarta As the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while being arrested in the United States, sparks a global outcry, Indonesian rights advocates and young people have stepped forward to remind fellow citizens that racism has long been an issue at home as ...
Edward Cullen became a vampire to survive the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Now a new Twilight novel looms and Laura Surynt, a New Zealander living in the UK, wants to live forever too. As I lay in bed this morning watching Instagram stories, Tayi Tibble told my reluctant little Capricorn ...
Over the lockdown period, thousands of people joined a Facebook group dedicated to remembering the nightlife of inner-city Auckland. Its creator Simon Grigg explains why it touched a chord in lockdown.Within a few days of The Lost Nightlife of Inner-city Auckland Facebook page accidentally going live on May 12, we ...
Throughout Anglo colonial states there is a constant habit of defining people who aren’t white as a problem, writes Aaron Smale in this personal essay. It was a balmy summer evening in the capital and cops were standing over a young brown man. I was walking down Courtenay Place on ...
"The countdown clock ticks 2, then 1, then the prime minister raises her drink": dystopia, by Ōtautahi writer Laura Borrowdale. You stand in the centre of the room, and around you, the guests seem to swirl and blend into one. There’s a mouth, gaping and red, filled with laughter. A ...
Martin Luther King Jr said in 1963: “America has given the Black people a bad cheque, a cheque which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’." Six generations of egregious police violence later, the sentiment out of which those bad cheques were born could be shifting. In the wake of egregious police violence, ...
WATCH: In a candid interview on Sky Sport, Dame Susan Devoy talks on her concern for rising sports stars, the state of NZ squash, and the spectre of racism. Dame Susan Devoy is proudly still “a little terrier who fights for the underdog”. “I have been doing it all my life and ...
Of the huge funding boost coming for early childhood education, Playcentre has been left with just the crumbs, writes Kate Barber. Amidst all the celebration of the $430m funding boost for early childhood education (ECE) announced in this year’s budget, little attention was paid to the plight of Playcentre. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vikrant Minhas, PhD candidate, University of Adelaide Although bacteria are single-celled and microscopically small, they still need energy to survive, just like us. One of the most efficient ways of acquiring energy for bacteria is through sweet, soluble carbohydrates: sugars. In fact, ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie Three cartoonists had especially poignant takes on the tragic and toxic political aftermath of martyr George Floyd’s brutal killing under the knee of a white American policeman in Minneapolis last week. The Boston Globe’s Christopher Weyant featured a split frame contrasting a red-capped “Make ...
Are central bankers jealous that epidemiologists are the rock stars of the current crisis?There is talk that both the British and New Zealand central banks might institute negative interest rates as part of the policy response to the Covid shock. While Sweden’s central bank ended its five year experiment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Monika Sarder, Senior Strategic Analyst, Monash University Algorithmic decision-making has enormous potential to do good. From identifying priority areas for first response after an earthquake hits, to identifying those at risk of COVID-19 within minutes, their application has proven hugely beneficial. But ...
LISTEN: This week's Extra Time podcast discusses racism in sport and the role of athletes and organisations in making a stand for good. Former Silver Fern and Black Fern Louisa Wall believes today's sports stars must have a social conscience and stand up against discrimination and divisiveness. Sport and politics, once ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Thomas, Associate professor, Flinders University We have seen ten days of protests in the United States over the death of George Floyd. While thousands of people have gathered to express their outrage peacefully, some demonstrations have been marred by vandalism and ...
40 percent of millennials have one, and an increasing number of GenXers and Baby Boomers do too. Two Cents' Worth delves into the world of side hustles. ...
Auckland writer Caroline Barron has a terrific book out today called Ripiro Beach: A Memoir of Life After Near Death. Here, she writes about the memoirs that have been a balm, a lesson, or both. Throughout my life, I’ve sought solace between the covers of books, particularly memoirs. There, I’ve learnt ...
An exclusive interview with Steve McSteverson about his traumatic and tragic ordeal this week.Many New Zealanders are struggling with the news that a children’s book not commissioned or authorised by Jacinda Ardern was advertised in a newsletter for children’s books. This horrific attack on New Zealanders whose ears are permanently ...
Air New Zealand staff are dismayed and angered at the company’s announcement to cut a further $150 million from their wage bill. On Friday, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Greg Foran, made the announcement to employees, who are still ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr. Bodean Hedwards, Lecturer, Monash University This week the leaders of India and Australia reaffirmed their mutual interest in closer diplomatic and economic ties. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during their long-delayed Thursday “virtual summit”: ...
The Herald reported this morning that MediaWorks was on the verge of selling its TV assets to US TV giant Discovery – but an internal email and senior source suggest the story may have been premature.A senior MediaWorks source has emphatically denied a report in the NZ Herald that a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gery Karantzas, Associate professor in Social Psychology / Relationship Science, Deakin University Life in lockdown has been tough on many relationships. But negotiating the transition back to “normal” as restrictions continue to lift could also be a challenge for couples. So what ...
A slight bounce in the economy is brightening the outlook as the country heads into the winter months, Radio NZ reports. Retail spending is up and NZ shares rose on Thursday for a third day running. Key indicators have led some economists to point to a faster recovery than expected. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide HomeBuilder is a good idea gone bad. It is possibly the most complex and least equitable program the government could have devised to deliver construction jobs. It gives $25,000 to people who already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Keller, Professor of Cognitive Science, Western Sydney University The coronavirus pandemic has silenced the world’s concert halls and opera theatres. Organisations specialising in live performance face an existential crisis under current restrictions on social gatherings, with up to 75% of people ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson, wearing his Sport and Recreation ministerial hat, can show he can be a big spender and draw voters’ attention to his largess each time he dispenses money from the funds under his control – or the control of an agency within his ministerial bailiwick. Yesterday he ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University Scott Morrison wants to overhaul the skills workforce to ensure a better post-COVID-19 recovery. But there may not be enough people with the necessary skills to do so. And travel restrictions, which ...
As we transition out of a Covid-focused world and prepare for what comes next, New Zealand’s ICT industry is gearing towards growth.From app development helping track the Covid-19 virus to website engineering keeping businesses in touch and online, ICT knowledge has been crucial to keeping New Zealand working over the ...
Analysis: As New Zealand eases restrictions, it no longer has international precedent to look towards and must decide on its own how to reopen the economy while reducing the risk of a second wave of infections, Marc Daalder reports While most of the country eagerly awaits a likely move to ...
Ten days is too long. That from insurance claimant advocate, Ali Jones. EQC has today made contact with homeowners via email after accidentally releasing confidential details of 8000 insurance claims on May 26. Jones says although she has not received ...
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 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Penguin Classics, $24)Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. The other day, ...
Simon Day discovers how the voluntary carbon market allows both individuals and companies to offset their emissions at the same time as investing in native forest regeneration.When Celia Wade-Brown sold her first batch of carbon credits earned from the native forest on her Wairarapa farm, she had two customers: Z ...
Simon Day discovers how the voluntary carbon market allows both individuals and companies to offset their emissions at the same time as investing in native forest regeneration.When Celia Wade-Brown sold her first batch of carbon credits earned from the native forest on her Wairarapa farm, she had two customers: Z ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin. The conversation around the 2020 covid19 pandemic has been widely framed as ‘health versus the economy’. It has been quite political, with people leaning to the left emphasising ‘health’, and people leaning to the right emphasising ‘the economy’. A couple of weeks ago ...
Sam Brooks pays tribute to Alex Rider, and the new TV series that (finally) captures the spirit of the books.“What if James Bond was a teenager?”The concept for Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series is so simple but so brilliant. There’s a reason why the franchise has managed to sustain 12 ...
Analysis - The PM resists pressure to move immediately to level 1, Winston Peters' tactics play into the hands of the Opposition and the government at last works out a commercial rent solution, writes Peter Wilson. ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By COHAFrom Washington DC Federal charges against the four protectors of the Venezuelan Embassy, who defended the building in Washington DC against violent opposition crowds for several weeks between April 10 and May 16 of 2019, were completely dropped in a case that ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By COHA Editorial TeamFrom Washington DC The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) joins the Black Alliance for Peace[1] and other pro-democracy organizations throughout the world in calling for the United Nations to address the systemic violations of human rights by the police and ...
Being shot by police had a profound, transformational effect on Rob Mokaraka’s life in more ways than you’d expect. A new documentary, airing on Māori TV at 7.30pm on Sunday, explores the work he’s done to heal his own mind and to ensure nobody has to go through the same ...
Human rights watchdog TAPOL has condemned the demand by Indonesian prosecutors seeking 17 and five years imprisonment for West Papuan activists Buchtar Tabuni and Irwanus Uropmabin. On June 2, the Jayapura District Prosecutor’s Office issued 33 pages containing charges against the defendant Irwanus Uropmabin. In the document, the Public Prosecutor ...
The arrival of Dan Carter is far from the first time the ever-struggling Auckland team has hoped to turn around its fortunes with a star signing, writes Jamie Wall.New Zealand rugby Twitter is a generally desolate place, especially lately given that there’s been nothing to talk about ever since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Senior Lecturer in New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity US President Donald Trump delivered an address this week in which he threatened military action on the nation. Then he walked to the nearby St John’s Episcopal Church ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University Why do we burp? We sometimes also burp before meals, why does this happen? — Ahaana, age 7 That is a really interesting question, Ahaana! There ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Associate Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland After years of litigation, Australia’s highest court will today make a major decision on the fate of the controversial proposed expansion to the New Acland Coal mine in Queensland. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Williams, Associate Professor in Urban Ecology and Urban Horticulture, University of Melbourne Tomorrow is the first World Green Roof Day. Cities around the world will celebrate the well-documented environmental, economic and social benefits of green roofs. New ground-level green spaces are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Senior Lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Robodebt isn’t the only measure the government should consider withdrawing. Late last Friday, after a long press conference from the prime minister which avoided any mention of the topic, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Harvard University’s Alberto Alesina died suddenly of a heart attack on May 23. He was 63. His long-time colleague and friend Larry Summers wrote that before him, “there was no academic field of political economy. Today, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University What keeps democracies together? As America burns, Brazilians die and Europe braces for another wave of the coronavirus, the question assumes an alarming immediacy. If the answer is complicated in one way, it is ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Millions of dollars divvied up by Sport NZ, MSD’s problem with wrongly denied payments grows, and internal coalition battles emerge in time for election.It’s Friday, and there hasn’t been a lot of it recently, so we’re going to start with ...
The Government picks Waitomo caves as 'strategic tourism asset' and grants $4m to Tourism Holdings, boosting shares another 7.8 percent. Facebook staff and alumni revolt over Zuckerberg's inaction on Trump ...
Open mike 23/03/2015 
Open mike is your post.
You’ve got to wonder why the New Zealand Police undertook an armed response teams (ARTs) trial in the first place? Of course there was the Christchurch mosque terrorism attack, but that was an isolated incident and therefore cannot be used as an excuse to arm Police. What this trial does ...6 hours ago
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 31 through Sat, June 6, 2020 Editor's Choice The world must seize this opportunity to meet the climate challenge As current and former central bankers, we believe the pandemic offers ...12 hours ago
The 60 Years of New Zealand Television celebrations, such as they were, seemed to rely heavily on the classics: here we go again with Lynn of Tawa, A Week of It and the Country Calendar spoofs. Wonderful highlights of our televisual past, to be sure, but after hearing Paul Holmes’ ...1 day ago
The Two Americas Collide: You gotta love the Americans marching for George Floyd and the fragile promises of the US Constitution. But, you also gotta keep your eye on the pale rider in the White House, and understand that behind him Hell follows.THE FRAGILITY of democracy’s promise is becoming clearer ...1 day ago
Oliver Twist, famously asked for ‘more’. He did not challenge the system of workhouses – Dickens did – nor the authority of Beadle Bumble. He was only nine. I am often struck how critics of the current income maintenance system are like Oliver Twist. They ask for more, but they ...2 days ago
New Zealand’s history as a sheep-farming nation means the command “Get in behind!” has long had a particular resonance — but not usually for journalists. However, in late March, as panic over the coronavirus pandemic surged around the world, Dr Gavin Ellis — former editor-in-chief of the NZ Herald — ...2 days ago
When the New Zealand Police started using Armed Response Teams - gangs of heavily-armed police cruising Māori-Pacifica neighbourhoods in juiced-up gun-trucks - they told us it was a "trial". But it turns out that those armed police - who were mainly doing traffic stops and bail checks, rather than the ...2 days ago
Another study comparing effect in children from nonendemic areas (Dagang) and endemic fluorosis area (Jinghai) about 80km apart in the Tianjin area of China. Hardly sampling the same population. Anti-fluoride campaigners still use studies from ... 3 days ago
George Thomson, Nick Wilson, Richard Edwards This blog discusses the passing of the Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Act last week. We briefly review some lessons from this legislation’s long journey and explore future smokefree possibilities in Aotearoa / New Zealand. A law ...3 days ago
Bernard Hickey is one of New Zealand’s leading financial journalists. His latest article, published by Newsroom, lays bare the cruel treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers stranded since the lockdown. Our Prime Minister is lauded overseas for her compassion, but her Cabinet is refusing to properly support tens of ...4 days ago
For a good part of my adult life I have studied civil-military relations. I have studied authoritarian and democratic variants, and I have studied them across countries and regions. I have also worked in and with several US security agencies and have lectured on the theme at a number of ...4 days ago
by The Spark “The system is broken”—the words of a young black man in Minneapolis watching flames destroy a police precinct demonstrators had torched. Broken? Yes, it is! What else could you say about a system whose police for nine minutes casually knelt on a black man’s neck, watching until ...5 days ago
Like the rest of the world, I have been aghast at what I have seen of, and read and heard about, what is happening currently in the United States. It seems incredible that a once great country should be suffering the worst effects and the highest number of deaths worldwide ...6 days ago
Image credit: Writing an Article vs. Writing a Blog Post: What’s the Difference? I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is ... 6 days ago
It’s almost painful to watch. Let’s be honest, maybe a pleasure too, in some quarters, but painful nonetheless. Because the fact is, for a democracy to function properly, any sitting Government does need honest and proper Opposition so that it doesn’t get ahead of itself. That’s what we should ...1 week ago
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...2 weeks ago
Hon Shane Jones, NZ First List MP based in Northland New Zealand First MP Hon Shane Jones has today announced his candidacy for the electorate of Northland. Speaking at a New Zealand First meeting in Kerikeri, Northland, Mr Jones said it was a privilege to be selected by the Party ...3 hours ago
We started the week by announcing free apprenticeships to support Kiwis into work and to help get New Zealand moving again - and we ended the week by extending the wage subsidy to 40,000 more businesses, helping to protect businesses and workers alike. ...2 days ago
The Green Party is urging the New Zealand Police to rule out the use of Armed Response Teams, following their recent trial in communities around Aotearoa. ...2 days ago
This summer presents a great opportunity for New Zealanders to get out into nature with bookings on Great Walks for 2020/21 set to open next week, says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Bookings for the Great Walks will open between 9 and 11 June, excluding Milford and Routeburn tracks which ...2 days ago
The Spanish-owned contractor behind the stalled Transmission Gully Public Private Partnership is accused of abandoning projects in Australia. ...14 mins ago
Does a move to Covid-19 Level 1, that Cabinet is considering tomorrow (Monday, June 8), mean back-to-normal for 290,000 rental property owners and managers, Tenancies War spokesman Mike Butler said today. The Covid-19 Response (Urgent Management) Act, ...1 hour ago
ANALYSIS: By Denis Muller of the University of Melbourne When a newspaper with the authority of The New York Times chooses to publish a party-political essay calculated to further inflame the violence wracking cities across America, serious questions arise. On June 3 the Times published in its opinion section an ...5 hours ago
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...6 hours ago
New Zealand writer Anna Rankin reports from Los Angeles. Last Friday afternoon, I went downtown to a protest outside the enormous Los Angeles Police Department headquarters on 1st Street. The LAPD had set up cordons, placing orange cones across streets to block traffic. Arms crossed, they stood with a wide ...13 hours ago
Tania Tapsell is replacing MP Anne Tolley as National's candidate for the East Coast. ...21 hours ago
One press statement from the Beehive yesterday sounded more like advertising – or a barker’s pitch – than a Government announcement. Another advised of two diplomatic appointment, one of them – has the woman who landed the post done something wrong? – to protest-troubled and politically volatile Hong Kong. And ...1 day ago
Throughout Anglo colonial states there is a constant habit of defining people who aren’t white as a problem, writes Aaron Smale in this personal essay. It was a balmy summer evening in the capital and cops were standing over a young brown man. I was walking down Courtenay Place on ...2 days ago
"The countdown clock ticks 2, then 1, then the prime minister raises her drink": dystopia, by Ōtautahi writer Laura Borrowdale. You stand in the centre of the room, and around you, the guests seem to swirl and blend into one. There’s a mouth, gaping and red, filled with laughter. A ...2 days ago
Martin Luther King Jr said in 1963: “America has given the Black people a bad cheque, a cheque which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’." Six generations of egregious police violence later, the sentiment out of which those bad cheques were born could be shifting. In the wake of egregious police violence, ...2 days ago
WATCH: In a candid interview on Sky Sport, Dame Susan Devoy talks on her concern for rising sports stars, the state of NZ squash, and the spectre of racism. Dame Susan Devoy is proudly still “a little terrier who fights for the underdog”. “I have been doing it all my life and ...2 days ago
Are central bankers jealous that epidemiologists are the rock stars of the current crisis? There is talk that both the British and New Zealand central banks might institute negative interest rates as part of the policy response to the Covid shock. While Sweden’s central bank ended its five year experiment ...2 days ago
LISTEN: This week's Extra Time podcast discusses racism in sport and the role of athletes and organisations in making a stand for good. Former Silver Fern and Black Fern Louisa Wall believes today's sports stars must have a social conscience and stand up against discrimination and divisiveness. Sport and politics, once ...2 days ago
40 percent of millennials have one, and an increasing number of GenXers and Baby Boomers do too. Two Cents' Worth delves into the world of side hustles. ...2 days ago
A slight bounce in the economy is brightening the outlook as the country heads into the winter months, Radio NZ reports. Retail spending is up and NZ shares rose on Thursday for a third day running. Key indicators have led some economists to point to a faster recovery than expected. ...2 days ago
Analysis: As New Zealand eases restrictions, it no longer has international precedent to look towards and must decide on its own how to reopen the economy while reducing the risk of a second wave of infections, Marc Daalder reports While most of the country eagerly awaits a likely move to ...2 days ago
The Government picks Waitomo caves as 'strategic tourism asset' and grants $4m to Tourism Holdings, boosting shares another 7.8 percent. Facebook staff and alumni revolt over Zuckerberg's inaction on Trump ...3 days ago
Snowden files: GCSB spies monitored diplomats in line for World Trade Organisation job http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421371
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421371
This is outrageous!
Yep post coming up.
On a side note-
Noticed the NZH managed to supply a link to the document, a link they failed to offer re the RoastBusters’ report last week 🙁
Salvation Army derail Key’s plan to sell off state houses.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421462
They’ll be flogged off to his developer mates..
Was always the plan
Yes about time the opposition warned the buyers as to expectations and buy back at their purchase price, our state housing stock is far too low for a developed nation for this transfer to occur.
The creep of councils flogging public housing is off the radar on this issue.
+1
Labour and every other left party needs to come out and say that they will be rebuilding social housing stock levels. They also need to put in place a law that prevents sales of state assets.
Not exactly.
They need to make it clear to the National Party’s owners that Parliament will not be bound by bribes, and that every single time they buy legislation that socialises losses or privatises profits they will lose their shirts.
Assets will be repatriated and there will be no compensation.
There is no alternative.
Good idea but just as with the Genesis and MRP sell off, Labour is never going to alienate its upper middle class supporters in that way.
They get to look “reasonable” by suggesting a compromise then: no jailtime for anyone found to have a conflict of interest.
Umm no Paul, salvos do as expected allowing key to flog them to financiers and developers as was always the intention.
Here are keywords which will bring up a number of headings on google which look as if they would give worthwhile background to the social housing subject.
Here is a link to a study on what the Dutch did which is different to the Britisgh course of public housing which declined from the 1970’s largely because of their right-to-buy policy.
Why Dutch social housing did not follow the British path … dropped off from the 1970s onwards, whereas Dutch construction levels during the 1980s …. controlled by private non-profit housing associations rather than public organisations, and (2) ….. his predecessor succumbed to the massive financial scandal, and social …
Then this group report says it takes a pro-market rather than a free-market tack! And refers to the Rachman scandal (1960’s) which will be important to note when thinking about the downward path that the present UNACT NZ government is following.
http://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Publication-The-Politics-of-Housing.pdfThe affordability problem dominates England’s housing market: an … total annual completions since the 1970s, and the private sector alone has not built this level …. provided by housing associations which are heavily dependent on benefit ….. exploitation of unscrupulous landlords – epitomised by the Rachman scandal.37.
And this discusses the private landlord in Britain and gives part of a document on the time from post WW2 till now.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444329414.fmatter/pdf
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Rachman
Politicians from all spectrum attend protest against environmental vandalism, arrogance and greed of the Ports of Auckland.
We need our RMA.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11421470
Very disappointed Phil Twyford as Labours Transport spokesperson was missing in action. You would think Labour (Phil) would back up Peters who is championing this issue, a lost opportunity to get some runs on the board over the importance of stopping further RMA changes by National.
Labour was represented pretty well by the local List MP for Auckland Central Jacinda Adern.
Yes as was wannabe Mayor Phil Goff, however Twyford is transport is he not. The Northland Line and the rail link to Marsden Point is something Labour need to keep the acid right on National, rail does not fit where their roading plans and they are quietly under funding rail to the point where they can close the line.
The other thing is creating a bit of solidarity with NZF/Peters who is doing all the heavry lifting on the issue. Therefore a bit of action from Twyford is not too much
too ask surely.
I think you’re putting the cart before the horse Skinny. It seems to me Sunday’s protest was less about politics and all about a gut reaction from Aucklanders to what they see as a threat to their harbour. For Labour to have rolled out Twyford with a baldfaced political attack on the government and their transport policies would have been a mistake. It’s enough at the moment for Labour to be lining up alongside the views of Aucklanders (National will be trying to do this too of course). The politics can come later.
Aucklanders fighting the council over the loss of their harbour is 100% political. It is a perfect opportunity for Twyford to mention Marsden Point and rail as a solution to the problem. To not do so is dereliction of duty.
Is it churlish to suspect that this harbour protest will get an excellent level of media coverage, on the score that $40,000,000 worth of motor/sail vessels turned out……and yeah, quite alot of people ?
For the avoidance of doubt I am with the people and I thank the vessels.
If that was well represented, I’d hate to see what a poor job was.
Osborne from Northland said that he has worn out one and a half pairs of shoes. Is that three shoes?
Does that mean he’s “Jake the Peg”?
Mike the Peg, with his extra leg … a Northland children’s delight. I think Osborne is lying anyway. Standing behind NAct ministers doesn’t wear the shoe leather much at all.
As ever Jane Bowron is quite funny on this
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/67473983/Sideways-glances-from-an-off-course-Osborne
@Scott
Interesting that Focus NZ (1,700 votes at the Gen Election) have been advised to vote for Peters. That could swing it.
The claim from Osborne that he has worn out one and a half pairs of shoes is a preposterous claim.
Those roads of Northland must really be atrocious!
His candidacy was announced on 1st March. So, in about 20 days, he has worn out 1.5 pairs. i.e, 3 shoes! At this unbelievable rate, by election day this coming Saturday, he would have worn out about 2.5 pairs=5 shoes!…in just 30 days! The shoe companies would be thrilled and won’t believe their luck!
But somehow I think Osborne has been a bullshitter about the shoes and quite untrustworthy.
Having a rather weird sense of humour, I have been wondering why he only seems to have two casual shirts – both blue checks although slightly different.
And would Osborne walk as much as he is driven by Joyce?
And it was no surprise to see Claire Trevett doing her bit for Osborne’s campaign in this morning’s Herald.
This article in the Herald precedes Trev’s pumping up of Osborne this morning. It’s bloody hilarious but very, very sadly, true.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421110
Peters’ political hero – Churchill
Prime’s political hero – Michael Joseph Savage
Osborne’s political hero – JOHN KEY ! That’s right……Mr “Anything Is Possible” according to Osborne.
Osborne a sincere, fearless representative of the people of Northland ? Up against the dons Key and Joyce ? No. This is not an “anything”. Can you see Steven Joyce if Osborne wins ? – “Listen boy…….we turned you from Mr Laughing-Stock to Mr Limp-In so get outa my office. And in future……breath through your nose !”
Good God. Northlanders roped into “ShonKey Python’s Flying-Jerk-Us”. Expect a breach of copyright claim additional to Eminem’s.
@North
This article is a attempt by the Herald to promote the race as a 3-way affair and so split the anti-National vote.
A vote for Prime is a wasted vote.
…and further notes on the tabloid Herald’s bias, the collapse of the government’s social housing policy is (online) listed below articles on Netflix’s charges, McCaw’s girlfriend and a bloke hassling drivers outside a school.
Winston just has to win — apart from obvious reason, but how unbearable will be the increased boasting and OTT arrogance of Key and Joyce in self congratulation … ugh.
What da ya rekon
Peters will repeat history, and win on a judicial recount.
The really funny thing to happen would be if Peters were to win the seat in the by-election.
He then resigns his list seat to get another NZF MP into the house.
There is an electoral petition which Winston loses.
He is out of the house until at least 2017.
And no, it wouldn’t help to have another NZF MP being coerced into resigning to open up another vacancy. Winston would not be eligible to take it.
Actually, I think that if Winston was to win in the by-election, and I don’t think it will happen, he won’t resign his list seat. He wouldn’t even consider allowing the above scenario to occur. He doesn’t really give a damn about his party or about Parliament. His sole interest is Winston the 1st.
You sad hopeful scenario will not happen because the result has to be confirmed before anyone changes seat.
I think you misunderstand the process.
A recount, if called for, takes place before the final result is declared. This would be the confirmed result. It appears that Winston would have to have resigned his list seat prior to this happening if he was going to be replaced on the list.
An electoral petition is a later thing and normally takes place after the new MP has taken their seat in Parliament. This is what happened when Winston got into Parliament way back in the dark ages. He came out on the right side of an electoral petition against Malcolm Douglas who had won the seat.
So no, although it is not very likely it could happen if Winston hopes to be replaced by another NZF list MP.
Hate to say it, but to a degree Alwyn is possibly correct – but the scenario he paints is highly unlikely but not impossible.
The situation re resignation etc to get in another NZF member is apparently not set in stone in the electoral rules. The Electoral Commission have a view as to what the procedures should be; as do other electoral law experts such as Graeme Edgeler. Don’t have time to find links, but there was considerable Twitter discussion (Edgeler and others) a few weeks ago when Winston Peters first declared he would run in Northland.
National have been pushing the line a win for Winston would benefit Southland with another seat as the next person on the NZF is an Invercargill hairdresser, Ria Bond.
But according to the Herald article by Claire Trevett on Saturday, Ria Bond is no longer living in Invercargill but has bee in Wellington working for NZF since August 2014.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11420760
Thank you.
You’ll note that I never said it was likely. I only said it would be funny if it should happen.
I’m sure that Winston would find it equally hilarious.
ScottGN, a little bit further down. quotes an opinion from Pundit about ACT possibly taking up an Electoral Petition on the grounds that Winston winning would disturb the proportionality of the house. Like Pundit, I don’t think he has any grounds at all.
Somebody living in the electorate, or a losing candidate in the by-election could however bring one on the grounds, (and this is hypothetical), that Winston had spent more than he is legally allowed to on his campaign, or something of that ilk.
Hilarious would be if Osborne won and had to resign to deal with the same type of family problems as Sabin. A vote for Winnie is a vote for a guy with no secrets, we know he’ll stay on.
And the National Party would know that very well as their staffers would see Ria frequently…
Exactly! The Parliamentary Precinct is a rather small place in reality, where people working there or visiting frequently (eg government officials) know one another and who they are.
Jon Reeves is the most likely person the come through on the NZF list. Very solid chap promoting public transport, be good to add the term silver/green voter.
Reeves may be a solid chap etc, but he is at No 15 on the NZF list.
Ria Bond is at No12, and even if she decided not to come in as a list MP, there is Mataroa Paroro at No 13 (who seems keen according to the Herald article) and Romuald Rudzki at No 14, before Reeves.
Reeves has been very good with NZF’s transport policy. He may leap frog the others since Peters is advocating a port & rail strategy in Northland. He goes alright with media and public speaking too. I maybe a little bias he is a mate.
The rules relating to the filling of a list MP position do not allow leap-frogging – in principle anyway.
The party concerned does not get to pick and choose who they put in the position. The Electoral Commission goes to each person on that Party’s list as set prior to the last General Election in the sequence set in the list and asks them if they want to take up the vacancy. As I noted, there are three people ahead of Reeves – one of whom has apparently expressed interest according to the Herald article.
http://www.elections.org.nz/voting-system/mmp-voting-system/filling-vacancy-list-seat
Agree that Reeves sounds as though he would make a good choice, but it would take the three ahead to all decide not to take the position.
With ‘ I do things my way Peters’ it easy seeing a game of leap frog developing. Winston First does ring true from time to time.
Alwynger
Stop crying in your beersies
You couldn’t be grosser
Spying and lying PorKeys a poser
Winnie will win
And all the S..in will be exposed.
I think I’ll stick with Messrs Edgeler and Geddis on this actually:
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/the-northland-by-election-or-the-so-called/
http://pundit.co.nz/content/if-were-gonna-go-that-way-youre-gonna-need-a-bigger-knife
I can’t see much boasting in the event National holds on to what was a very safe seat with a narrow win. I imagine they’ll just be relieved to have avoided disaster and will be happy to move forward with their numbers restored in the parliament.
Yeah……I’m taking the precaution of travelling to Auckland Friday afternoon……having early voted for the only man in New Zealand right now who can prick the fetid-air balloon of the supreme heister of this entire nation, bar none. Whatever the outcome I need to be in the company of my closest.
If Peters wins it is decidedly the start of the end of TheGodKey. Even if not…..still it is underway. Increasingly we have an entilted little PonceKey in our faces. It will not go beyond 2017. Indeed my appreciation is that significantly before 2017, seeing the writing on the wall, and rather than take electoral defeat, this gutless, narcissistic one will take his baubles, his honorofic, unblind his trusts, and slide off somewhere else.
Ka Ki Te !
Wasn’t there some “New Zealander” of some importance (apparently) meant to be having their name suppression lifted around about now, and aren’t the eyes of speculation glancing in the direction of a certain former……………..
yeah, what’s going on?
Usual authoritarian dirty tricks.
If it is to do with Mike Sabin and it all comes out after the by-election instead of before then it will go down very very badly with the electorate…..
…. simply reinforces the lack of honesty and integrity associated with John Key
Anything to do with palms being greased and astonishing powers of persuasion coming into effect among the elites and certain professions?
It feels we’re so corrupt now nothing would be beyond belief.
Dirt and slime is the New Black.
Eleventh hour filing of an appeal against the lifting of name suppression filed on Thursday afternoon before 5pm deadline.
A number of media have filed for an urgent hearing of the appeal – otherwise it is unlikely to be heard for at least 3 – 4 weeks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11419961
Thank you VV……………
There really is some heavy duty identity protection going on there. It has the whiff of desperation around it.
@Rosie But surely the “whiff” is drifting over the Northland electorate?
And having had a request for name supression refused what possible new grounds could there be?
BG – I am going to be a pedant and say that :having had a request for name suppression refused” does not seem to be the actual situation from the little we know.
Name suppression appears to have been in place prior to 30 January, when a total suppression order was put on by the judge on all details of the case – including the actual location of the court! Then in mid-February some details of the case were released; and the defendant was given four weeks to appeal a lifting of name suppression on 19 March.
As I understand it, this procedure is not the same legally as having had a request for name suppression refused.
@veuto Thanks for that, nicely clarified
I find it hard to imagine that the thing in question would not have asked for a continuation of suppression in February. If they hadn’t, it would have just lapsed and we would have seen it all over the tv. Hence a request was refused, but time was given to appeal the decision. This time has been abused as badly as the innocent children involved.
I don’t necessarily disagree, MR. But we do not know whether that was the case/ But being a pendant, I could not allow a bald statement that name suppression had been refused to go – when we do not know that that was actually the case.
I actually think that the procedures followed by the judge/court which are apparently in accordance with the law is actually in the best interests of justice in the longer term – by not allowing this to be used as a technicality to close the case down.
You pendants are all the same…
LOL! Some of us just cannot help ourselves!
The by election is therefore a fraud, details surrounding the reasons why it is being called should be made public. Non disclosure has corrupted democracy, I have no doubts that people who have or are going to vote in the Northland electorate will not have/will vote/d for National.
How can it be fraud?
He resigned – and now there is a by election.
Its pretty simple.
Not when we are hearing of people already casting a vote for Osbourne and then hearing the reason Sabin resigned and the fact Osbourne was a key member of the National Northland electorate executive team. Tarred by association as they say. I am referring to some elderly church folk. People have the right to know the truth surrounding the murky resignation and cast their vote making an informed decision, especially when the timeline of who knew what is being disputed so widely in the media and so publicly.
Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust. If he came out and admitted he has heard the rumour’s but doesn’t operate on rumours, instead of blatantly saying ” he still doesn’t know anything regarding Sabin’s resignation”.
So this guy professes to have his finger on the pulse of Northland and is totally blind to what is going on right under his nose. Incredibly insulting to the electorate there are no other words for it.
Yeah – Skinny is right, James. And if the Nats don’t win, then Shon Key’s stuff-up in not replacing Sabin with a proper candidate in the 2014 election will be humiliating for them. Maybe a Winston win will be the end of the Key government ? ? ? hopefully ……
how can it be fraud when the information was subject to a court order????
aresholes
deceivers
manipulators
but not illegal to not tell folks when it is in a suppression order, surely.
There was no court order in place either before the last election, or even maybe the 2011 election, or on the morning when Sabin resigned. Key has had plenty of chances to be honest with us. He has never taken a single one.
well said, murray, thank you …
“Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust”
Both Key and Osborne have claimed that they knew nothing about Sabin’s stuff at all!
If you believe that, I think there are lots and lots of three way bridges in Northland which this government is happily giving away for voters to take away on Trade-me with absolutely No Reserve!
Cool bananas!
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=browse&cat=740
Good article on beer from Dom Post here by Dave Armstrong. Particularly like the last paragraph.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/67473832/Dave-Armstron-Craft-beers-doing-very-nicely
A couple of weeks ago I linked to a news article which described how the death rate for white women in the USA was exploding because of the use of prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. We are talking around a million excess White female deaths in the last few years and climbing. Such an upward shift in mortality is seen by experts as “historic.”
Now here is research which shows that White lower educated women in the USA are experiencing a massive explosion in out of wedlock births. (While Black university educated womens’ out of wedlock birth figures fall dramatically). In other words, while upper class women enjoy traditional family structures more than ever, lower class women are getting smashed with increased family instability and poorer outcomes.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-22/after-fed-crushed-middle-class-it-targeting-american-family
The Economist has a stark conclusion:
National Party Northland candidate plonker.
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/northland-debate-mark-vs-winston-part-1-video-6260167
Russian propaganda doco on the history of Crimea
Apparently there was such a thing as the “First Seige” of Sevastapol and over a 120,000 Russians died there defending Crimea from the West and Turkey. I’d only known about the “Second Siege” where the defenders of Sevastapol were eventually ground into dust by the Wehrmacht.
There was a whole war going on at the time. If you’ve ever heard references to Florence Nightingale, or the Charge of the Light Brigade – “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred” – they’re references to that war.
There have probably been more than two over the years, but the other famous one was of course during the Crimean War, which gave us poetry about senseless death, a lady with a lamp, cardigans, and maybe even sandwiches. The senseless death of British cavalrymen was blamed on inferior Turkish infantry rather than English upper class imbecility and the Victoria Cross came into being for excessive zeal in the killing of wogs. Willie Apiata got one for the same thing not long ago and the English lies about Turkish infantry saw our young men die stupidly on the cliffs of Gallipoli. Key will be going this year to show he has guts. It was not gutlessness that made him keep Sabin on, not at all.
Yemen falls into sectarian chaos as yet another US project loses the plot in the ME
The Americans have been conducting regular drone strilkes in Yemen since 2002 in support of the US friendly government there.
Since the fall of that government, hundreds of millions of dollars of modern American made military equipment has now gone to new unapproved owners. ISIS and Al Qaeda recruitment is surging.
US diplomats and US troops have abandoned Yemen as the security situation has gone down the toilet over the last couple of years.
Another great Middle East project “Made in the USA.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/22/yemen-sunnis-al-qaida-isis-islamic-state-shia-houthis-sanaa
NZs of current Note:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171978
Beverley Forrester – Vocal champion of Wool ( 30′ 41″ )
10:06 Beverley Forrester is a farmer, sheep breeder, fashion designer, yarn manufacturer, tourism operator and a vocal champion of wool. She says a generation of consumers have been bombarded with cheap, mass produced, synthetic alternatives, but she believes there’s a resurgence in demand for the living fibre, and for knitting, which she describes as “the new yoga”. After the sudden death of her farmer husband Jim Forrester just before his 54th birthday, Beverley found herself running their Hurunui farm and sheep stud. She’s developed a successful brand of natural coloured, undyed yarns, which are now sold internationally, as well as her own fashion label. Beverley Forrester talks with Kathryn Ryan about her love of what she believes is New Zealand’s best primary product.
Wools one of the best products in the world: renewable , fire proof , biodegadible any self respecting greeny wouldn’t be caught dead in poly prop clothing or on a synthetic carpet.!!
hi b waghorn, i couldnt agree more, i have been a vocal enthusiast (?) for wool for many a year.
go to the local saleyards in feilding and you would be lucky to get 10% of sheep farmers wearing their own product. most of them are wandering round in recycled milk bottles.
makes me blood boil.
I have noticed that plenty myself. I think the problems is lack of r’n d around making wool products that can compete with plastic clothes . but our government s aren’t big on backing there own.
mmm.. yes, and primary producers not putting their money where their mouth is.
i read on stephanies blog (boots theory) about the rich man who bought expensive shoes while the poorer man bought cheap shoes.
in the lifetime of the better quality footwear the poor man had spent twice as much on his shoes.
while r n d is part of it, the whole economy around wool is screwed up. when it costs the farmer more to remove the wool from the sheep than what the wool is worth, something is rotten.
i was talking to a farmer who says back in the ’50s he was getting a pound for a pound of wool.
The Korean war caused the great wool boom in 1950-51.
And most farmers will tell you there’s no money in wool but the wool clip on the property I work on pays our fertilizer bill which is in the 150k range.
ahh! thats right, wool for uniforms.
to me wool is a panacea for our times, it grows on less than ideal land, labour intensive to harvest and process (jobs), and as you have mentioned earlier, heaps of uses, clothing, insulation, mulch/fertilizer…
the foxton feltex factory is closed. with a simple stroke of a legislators pen, making wool carpets mandatory in state housing and government offices, it can be reopend and we reinvest in a kiwi town and kiwi resources, win win.
What a government legislate for the good of small town NZ wash you’re mouth out 🙂
Knitting – also known as “Scottish Valium”. Relaxing and cheap.
‘Where the people lead – the politicians will follow’?
“Earlier today, Mr Brewer reversed his support for the expansion, saying he now wanted a rethink on the issue.”
Bernard Orsman Bernard Orsman is Super City reporter for the NZ Herald.
Len Brown loses support on Auckland port expansion
2:38 PM Monday Mar 23, 2015
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11421603
A majority of Auckland councillors are now opposed or want a rethink on port expansion.
The majority was achieved this afternoon when councillor Denise Krum joined councillors Cameron Brewer and Sharon Stewart in calling for the issue to be re-examined.
Auckland’s mayor, Len Brown, who does not want to stop Ports of Auckland plans to build two massive wharf extensions next month, is now in the minority.
………………………………..
A core of eight councillors – Chris Darby, Cathy Casey, Ross Clow, Chris Fletcher, Mike Lee, Wayne Walker, John Walker and George Wood – directly oppose the port expansion into the Waitemata Harbour.
Mr Brown has ignored the message from yesterday’s protest of about 2000 people and 300 boats in the city who want an immediate stop to the extensions to Bledisloe Wharf.
However, he said today he would set up a study of the economic, social and environmental impact of the port on wider Auckland, which he promised in August 2013.
Ms Krum said she was unclear about the council’s position on the wharf extensions and whether legally the council can get back into the trenches on planning provisions for the port precinct in the Unitary Plan.
She said things had changed over the past three weeks and the council would be negligent to bury its head in the sand.
“We need some leadership with this issue. There is no singular leadership driven, ‘let’s take councillors on a journey here’. Let’s have all the information,” she said.
“I’m also really quite miffed. I have heard nothing from the ports themselves. As someone who wants to back their business because I see the contribution they need to make to Auckland. As a shareholder, where are they in this foray?”
The Ports of Auckland board is meeting today but it is unclear if the the board, chaired by Graeme Hawkins, will make a public statement in response to the public outcry over the plans.
Mr Brewer has today written to Mr Brown asking him to convene a meeting of the governing body to reconsider the council’s position on reclamation rules in the Unitary Plan for mediation.
In August 2013, the council voted for tough “non-complying” rules for reclamation in the Unitary Plan, but twice in the past five weeks it has voted to ease these rules to “discretionary” status requiring public notification.
The council has argued it has not voted for more lenient rules on reclamation, saying the new “discretionary” status and other regulations are tougher than the current rules in the regional coastal plan.
“I have yet to change my vote,” Mr Brewer says in the letter. “But like others, I am calling for these matters to be formally revisited by the governing body in a calm and collected way with all the information new and old presented without fear of favour.
“Given the significant level of public interest, we at least owe that to Aucklanders.”
Earlier today, Mr Brewer reversed his support for the expansion, saying he now wanted a rethink on the issue.
“I invite the mayor to bring this back to the council table and give this another go,” he told the Herald.
The Orakei councillor took part in a secret vote last month on the side of Mr Brown and his deputy Penny Hulse to ease the August 2013 rules for port expansion.
“I thought I was doing the right thing by supporting tightening the old reclamation rules that were in existence from 1987 to 2013, but it’s clear that’s still not going far enough to appease the Auckland community.
“If Aucklanders want no reclamation whatsoever, then lets at least have the debate again with the public sentiment now clearly known.
“It is massive public sentiment. Len Brown needs to look it again,” Mr Brewer said.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Gosh!
That didn’t take long!
Excellent! 🙂
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
The actual article in the Herald had an invite to email them your views on the subject. I sent the following :-
I am totally opposed to any extensions until a full and independent assessment is completed with full and open discussion.
The arrogant attitude by those involved directly in the Ports of Auckland has happened because of the way the governance of this vital infrastructure was set up by the Key Government through their delegated front man , Rodney Hide, who threw out a carefully considered scheme for Auckland City prepared over several years by three knowledgable and experienced Commissioners and replaced it with his hastily prepared alternative devised in about 6 months.
Largely ignored by the citizens of Auckland was the dispute between Ports Of Auckland (POA) and the Maritime Union which has recently been settled after several years of negotiation. The Mayor & the Council that is the elected Councillors refused to get involved in that problem because they were effectively 3 times removed from the POA because of the way that the lines of authority had been set up when the Auckland City plan was devised..
The Mayor of Auckland and the Auckland City Councillors were Democratically elected by the citizens of Auckland to manage the affairs of the City, all the other people in the chains of command of POA including the CEO of POA ( and there are quite a few) are appointed, not elected.
The elected representatives of the citizens of Auckland need to manage this matter effectively NOW or resign and let us elect some new faces who are prepared to sort out this problem.
In the meantime there needs to be an embargo on any expansion whatsoever in my opinion
Well said, John Shears. Hope it gets read, and considered.
And the really stupid part about all of this is that Whangarei – Marsden Point – has the best deep water harbour in NZ, is little used, because both Auckland and Tauranga Ports have not only competing interests in Marsden Port, but their own interests which keeps their ports operating and Marsden lingering at the edges …….. Auckland Port needs to revise their thinking, and make use of Marsden for the bigger vessels coming – instead of trying to squeeze them into what has become a relatively narrow Waitemata harbour and Hauraki Gulf.
ps John S – I’ve lost your email address ? ??
shears82@gmail.com
FYI folks!
______________________________________________________________________________________
23 March 2015
Press Release Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“Stop the privatisation of State Housing!”
“The wheels are finally falling off the Government’s scheme to use charity and Iwi groups as a trojan horse to privatise the $18 billion worth of State Housing assets,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“If it was ‘untenable’ for the Salvation Army to use existing State Housing stock for the failed ‘social housing’ experiment, other NGOs and consortiums will never have the capacity as providers, unless they are bankrolled by foreign property development companies, for speculative gain, which still equates to privatisation.”
“The public were told prior to the 2014 election there would be no further asset sales.”
“There is no electoral mandate for the privatisation of State Housing.”
“The Housing Lobby are calling on the Government to scrap the charity housing model and repeal the 2013 Social Housing, Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Act.”
“Housing New Zealand must be reinstated as the ‘one stop shop’ State Housing provider, under the ‘public service’ model,” Sue Henry concluded.
Sue Henry
Spokesperson,
Housing Lobby
…………………….
______________________________________________________________________________________
Kind regards
Penny Bright
The war on workers continues – an Aussie compnay in auckland wants to remove tea breaks from an industrial site. This is why we need tea breaks abd corporate homicide charges. Forklifts and fatigue don’t mix in a happy way.
That can’t be right.
John Key and every other right winger said no employer would ever want to take away smokos even if they could.
Must be a misprint. I’ll expect a retraction with the hour.
Yep, exactly as anticipated by the Left and denied by the RWNJs:
Of course, Key and National knew that this would happen. It’s why they changed the law.
hi draco, hate to do this but i have to point out our dear leader was right.
the laws was passed (like a bowel motion) in october, its now march, so that is not sudden.
also this effects dozens not thousands of workers.
all good on planet key. carry on.
Syriza, Podemos….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/23/spanish-anti-austerity-party-podemos-wins-15-seats-andalusia
This would would explain the reluctance to do anything at all.
http://www.realclimate.org/images/climatesensitivity.001.jpg
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2015/03/climate-sensitivity-week/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421666
Legal action “not taken lightly” indeed ! Well no, but of course the daddies had the 8-10 grand it would have cost. The considerations were constitutional and justice based were they ? Nothing to do with their wedged-up daddies’ determination to pass on down to their offspring the privilege they themselves enjoy. Nah, course not !
If they were a couple of little Maori boys in Kaikohe, one’d be appearing in the Youth Court, one’d be in the District Court……and the 17 year old particularly would be on bail terms so oppressive that he’d be bound to breach……and then who knows ? Night in the cells in Whangarei before he’s ‘let off’ with a formally recorded bail warning ? Another meaningless breach. Oh God, not custody……then on down to UK investor owned/profiting, Serco/Mt Eden/”The Jungle”.
In our justice system you’re sweet if you’re white with a wedged up daddy. I know that to be a freakish and disgusting truth. During 40 years with the opportunity to observe it I’ve seen it countless times. It’s this; the actors in the justice system ‘sign-up’, not consciously or wittingly, but it’s ‘sign-up’ nevertheless.
Just when you think New Zealand has a monopoly on greedy/ignorant/criminally insane politicians, get a load of Mike Baird…
It starts off rather light-hearted, but gets grimmer and grimmer as it goes along. Anyone who cares at all about the environment will be vomiting blood by the end.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11421805
Of course this was always going to happen. Greed, like rust, never sleeps. The wicked thing is that its promoters don’t even see it is as greed, it is no-brainer rationality. Of course one will operate one’s undertaking to the outer edge of what is lawful. Why would one not ? And under ThePonceKey greed is increasingly encouraged never to sleep. Apologies for any mixed metaphors there. Like ThePonceKey ‘m not verrr lit-rit, ecksshilly !
It looks as though we are getting closer and closer to a situation where the victims must take a serious stand. Strikes, pickets, appealing to the souls of would-be-scabs, defiance of legal process proscribing the standing up for essential rights……a network of moral and financial support for those on PlanetPonceKey with the ‘temerity’ to say “No – Enough !” Hit them in the very place from which prances forth the lusty greed…….the pocket. Hopefully that will have them (an unintended consequence of course) the financial pariahs they are in moral terms.
The more the people do nothing the harder they’ll go. There are no moral questions come into play with these people. Greed (sorry, ‘maximisation of profit”) just never sleeps !
Woohoo. I’ve just heard Andrew Little on Morning Report about Northland. He did well, referring to the polls and being realistic.