The decision to discontinue plans to dam the Mokihinui River for hydro power demonstrates the complete paucity of economic thinking that we are festooned with in this country. Lamentations and wails spring loud from the West Coast where they had expected cheaper power and jobs to be created. When examined more closely what we see is what is really a cargo cult mentality of the quick fix for short term gain, rather than a deeper analysis of what is sustainable and what is possible.
For example the big gripe, “Coasters pay more for power”. If we had not split up the national power generation and created an artificial market that has proven more costly might we not have been better able to provide Coasters with the same price as the rest of the country? Or perhaps, “This has cost us jobs”. How many of the construction workers would necessarily be local, when it was built how many would have stayed? And what cost would have to be sunk into this temporary arrangement.
All I am hearing is a lot of hot air. Not to mention a failure to note that the Stockton scheme is approved and will supply power and work. I think they complain tooo much.
Very much opposed, it is an economic liability on a natural resource that is worth far more. It is an environmental catastrophe and vandalism of the highest order. It is a disaster waiting to happen (there is a major fault line nearby). But most of all it represents bankrupt economic and social thinking, the howls of indignation being the audible demonstration of the symptom.
Your power bill is loaded with compliance costs and 4 layers (generator, transpower, lines company, retailer) of profit taking each with their own agenda.
Planning is done on a piecemeal basis not holistically as each layer protects its own self interests and brownlee made it worse with retailers cutting each others throats and genesis in the mix on South island hydro meridian used to look after.
the regulator is full of bean counters and lawyers with little understanding of the types of hard core engineering issues that need to be faced and dealt with so were in a bit if a pickle on the whole.
If ever an industry screamed out for nationalisation power is it, a failure from both sides of the political spectrum since NZEC days and too vital to be left run its course.
Energy policy will be the worlds key economic issue as the oil gets rare. Consequently for a small polity such as NZ ownership is a key issue: we would be very stupid to export the profit of what should be a strategic advantage. This is the primary reason the assets should not be sold.
As far a Labour goes it is about time they showed some backbone and announced as a primary policy the renationalisation of electricity supply and a total review of generation capacity and supply methodology. The Mokihinui fiasco clearly outlines the failure of the (“created artificial”) market to address the power security and pricing for regions such as the West Coast.
The left leaning parties should be coming to an agreement to nationalise all natural monopolies, i.e, banking (creation and control of the currency, the private sector can keep the speculative side), telecommunications, power, ports, airports etc. A definition spelling out what makes a natural monopoly would be good.
“Govt can spend by keystroke. It has a Treasury & the Reserve Bank as it’s intermediary with private banking…”
“Printing is misleading. Money of account is debt, accounted for using keystrokes that enter numbers into accounts. Govt spends money into existence. Private banks are licensed to lend money into existence. Currency may be printed..”
“NZ Govt doesn’t need really need to issue bonds in order to spend. NZ Govt doesn’t need to borrow money into existence, all that bond issuing is a free lunch for banking.
Not unless we start to properly question neoclassical economics and the right of private banks to lend money into existence.
So without total collapse, probably not.
The current irony of coarse being all this phobia around debt, yet a system that requires endlessly increasing debt to grow, given the last 30 years has been a ponzi scheme.
Renationalise it and get back to planning as a whole system that benefits the country in terms of reliable power where it’s required for rural, industry and residential use.
Removes the profit taking and unecessary emphasis on regulatory compliance shedding billions off the bottom line overall annually.
The model’s a failure it needs to be thrown away and return to what worked. A single SOE….FIFY.
John72’s reply demonstrates lucidly my whole contention: a total lack of imagination. Positive solutions such as you have noted are multitudinous so long as we don’t get hidebound in “conventional wisdom”.
Good example on the West Coast is that there is a plan to increase the Arnold hydro which could help them secure more power locally…it is not economically viable for the current energy “company” (nor would it be for a nationalised entity). It could be mandated as part of a regional supply security issue paid for across all users nationwide however. Lets face it we lose 25% of the power shipped from the Waitaki to Auckland yet we still disperse that cost….the issue is that we need a single large a scale of electricity supply entity in order to achieve this (as opposed to smaller units that have to make shareholders short term interests happen). Its planning as opposed to competition, it worked for most of our history, it can work again.
Another methodology is to enable and allow micro scale generators to feed into the grid, there is plenty of cheaply harnessed water and wind power available with very low environmental impact. The major issue here is that over production is easy, under production a problem (i.e micro producers need to use the grid as a battery when their wind does not blow or their water flow).
Driving down the Buller and the Grey a few years ago I noticed the huge flow of water that was being “wasted”. Has anybody thought about in-stream hydro (its what the first US electricity came from: waterwheels etc)? There are so many options, and we need to do this whilst we have time, before oil makes its exit.
Bored, may I point out that your posts today, (1, 1.1.1, 1.1.2 ) are devoted to criticism. No positive comment is of any value. Your lasr sentence in post “1” applies to you and many others.
Post 1 :- “I think they complain too much.”
Campaigns for a living wage should also be accompanied by campaigns for other related changes. Looking at the case studies with the article below, part of the problem is the cost of housing and rents.
Housing shouldn’t be a speculative market that those at the top use to get rich.
Furthermore, businesses shouldn’t be aiming for exorbitant profits in an economy focused on “growth”. And there should be a focus on supporting businesses that contribute to a steady-state economy, not on ones producing useless status-symbols and too many unnecessary luxuries.
A campaign has been launched for a “living wage” in New Zealand, inspired by policies in United States cities and London.
The Living Wage Aotearoa NZ campaign is drawing support from unions, churches, Pacific, women’s and community groups.
Organiser Annie Newman of the Service and Food Workers Union said it was inspired by “living wage” policies governing council contracts in more than 140 US cities and in London, where the rate of £8.30 ($17.35) an hour is 37 per cent above the £6.08 ($12.71) legal minimum wage.
[…]
A campaign has been launched for a “living wage” in New Zealand, inspired by policies in United States cities and London.
The Living Wage Aotearoa NZ campaign is drawing support from unions, churches, Pacific, women’s and community groups.
Organiser Annie Newman of the Service and Food Workers Union said it was inspired by “living wage” policies governing council contracts in more than 140 US cities and in London, where the rate of £8.30 ($17.35) an hour is 37 per cent above the £6.08 ($12.71) legal minimum wage.
[…]
Low wages for the Kaufisis mean the children don’t go to school when there is no money for lunch.
Leo Kaufisi, of New Lynn, earns $14 an hour as a dispatcher for Pacific Inks in Avondale. His wife Lopaini earns the legal minimum of $13.50 an hour as a cleaner.
Four adults and eight children live in the three-bedroom house which they rent for $350 a week – Mr and Mrs Kaufisi, their six children aged between four and 12 , Mrs Kaufisi’s unemployed mother, her mother’s partner, her 12-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother.
Six children sleep in one cramped bedroom.- The other children sleep with their parents.
It’s good that this campaign is highlighting the struggle to survive by families living on low wages.
I think it’s a problem the overseas campaign focused on council contracts, which are limited by funding from taxes/rates. There should be more focus on private businesses that earn big profits while paying low wages.
There is also an accompanying article which looks at Auckland Council’s plan to reduce the city’s inequalities, and the causes for the growth in the extent of inequalities:
Similar increases in inequality have occurred across many developed countries.
The driving forces have been both technological changes, which have strengthened the power of the skilled at the expense of the unskilled; and policy changes, which have weakened unions, opened markets to free trade, cut taxes on the rich and imposed new taxes on spending that bear most heavily on the poor.
Some good points in there, but some things could be elaborated eg the “free trade” ethos, and the shift of unskilled jobs to low wage countries.
The article resorts to a bit of potted history with a focus on biblical times, in arguing that the tendency for small groups to accumulate wealth has always been countered by morality-based moves to limit such accumulation:
There is an inbuilt tension in any large-scale economic system. Natural variations in human capabilities and ambitions tend to accumulate according to what has been called the “Matthew effect” after the Bible verse: “For the one who has will be given more … But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
But, as the rest of the Bible demonstrates, human societies have also struggled for thousands of years to set limits to accumulation for the kinds of reasons expressed in the draft Auckland Plan, as above.
Morally, we are programmed to care for others in need. And practically, we are stronger as a group if all members of the group contribute to their full potential, rather than being alienated and disaffected.
The article argues that the Auckland plan supports this moral programming by aiming to balance freedom with compassion, through balancing a competitive economy with “caring community”. So it aims to maintain free market capitalism by incorporating elements of a “caring community”. Of course, this falls short of a plan that will fix a broken system. But what would you expect from NZ’s MSM?
The article also correctly argues that the Auckland Council cannot fix the problems of extreme inequality without help from the central government.
Read the critique of this Third Way, or softening of the social impacts of the NeoLib agenda, in Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton. After a post by U-Turn, the second best prose that I have read this month
Agree entirely Carol, been researching that myself lately. I’m not in disagreement with the principle of a living wage but I think wage rises is the wrong way to approach it. You never catch up. The wealthy are getting rich from asset inflation and the ever increasing rents that flow from it. Lifting the lowest wages tends to push asset values up and within a very short time it’s back to the same problem again, if not worse off.
Look at this chart for an example of where IMO the real problem lies;
The value of housing stock in NZ has gone from$236bn in 2001 to $605bn in 2011, that’s an increase of 290% in a decade. Some is due to building new houses but most of the increase is just asset inflation.
Now rents haven’t increased by the same amount as house prices but they will eventually and the poor will keep getting squeezed. It’s a transfer of wealth. Govt spends over $1bn on accommodation supplements already, and it will get worse.
It’s the union’s job to chase better wages & conditions for it’s workers but I really can’t see the living wage concept working without addressing asset inflation and that’s a Govt role.
Govt spends over $1bn on accommodation supplements already, and it will get worse.
And it would be better if the dropped the Accommodation Supplement and spent the $1b/year on building (high rise, high density) houses which could then be rented out for cost of maintenance.
Aye, think what the cash spent on roads could have achieved. Accommodation supplement is only a part of it too. Look at all the welfare the state pays out and there’s probably at least $4-5bn of it going straight into rents. And each year it gets worse as rents keep going up, we get further & further behind. Even our taxes are making the rich richer.
Major problem is that rents and the price of rental housing are currently intertwined with the price of the family home. They need to be separated and that’s not an easy task. Can be done but would take some smart thinking, would never win an election if every home owner thought their house values would fall significantly.
That could work although the freeholders still wouldn’t be happy.
My thinking was along the lines of creating a brand new housing market. Govt owns the land & leases it, people own or rent the house on the land. That would create a separation between freehold and leasehold; distinctly different markets. Would need controls over people simply selling the leases & recreating the same asset inflation but that’s not unachievable.
If Govt just provided the land it would cost the taxpayer a lot less and still enable people to buy their own homes, save money etc. And for renters, well lower rents are just as good as any pay rise, possibly better.
Hi Carol. Did you see the interview last night with John Campbell and John (John?) Ryall of the Service and Food Workers Union? Between them they made a strong case for the living wage campaign, and discussed the benefits an increased wage brings. Cleary obvious stuff but it did counter the argument of the right that increased wages means less job opportunities. There was also an accompanying article about the struggle for a mother on the minimum wage and her 3 children. The eldest had just turned 17 so he was working 25 hours an week also minimum wage to help the household costs, which was compromising his study.
I have to hand it to the Campbell show that they have made an effort this year to highlight social injustice and also to illustrate how individuals and families are living in poverty purely as a result of the recession and govt policy that affects the poor, working poor and middle class the most. It is refreshing that they are talking this and less about the fad diet of the week or neurotic rich parents problems that seem so inconsequential to anyone just trying to scrap enough money together the day before pay day to get a bottle of milk and some more bread (an example taken from my life, today being Wednesday!)
In a State in either the US, or Canada, economists studied the legislated lift of the minimum wage and found, wait….., that more people became employed and the quality and productivity of their work improved. Those, who were threatened by these outcomes severly demonised the research, which was found to be valid.
Indeed Sam. In low wage economies like ours, when the impact of minimum wage vs. living or good wage is studied the results always demonstrate in purely economic terms, putting aside improved health and social outcomes for individuals and communities, that a living/good wage always benefits society as a whole, bringing in more tax and increasing retail spending. Its a pretty flimsy argument the right put up when they claim that higher wages put business at a disadvantage
Yes. i saw CL last night and agree that it did a very good job in highlighting the problem and showing the unfairness. It was heart wrenching to see how hard that family is working just to stay afloat.
Such a Living Wage would ideally need to be defined as weekly income rather than an hourly wage. You’d then have it so that each hour worked increased the income. We could call it Universal Income.
Campaigns for a living wage should also be accompanied by campaigns for other related changes. Looking at the case studies with the article below, part of the problem is the cost of housing and rents.
Good to see Andrew Little and Trevor Mallard standing up to Crusher Collins. She’s just bluffing and it won’t get to court. Especially if she can’t get the papers served on them.
Her server will probably catch Mallard while on the toilet, a handy place of vulnerability – there doesn’t seem to be any protocol of respect for the private life of her detractors being shown in her approach.
Probably – but it still makes no sense to me why even bother hiding and trying to dodge getting the papers served it doesn’t achieve anything if the claims are as without merit as they claim.
In fact the only thing it does achieve is make it seem they are worried about the case.
But that’s my point I think by choosing to go this way it stops being so much about her and rather more about Little and Mallard and the fact they have a court case (easiest way to describe it rather than a case that will go to court for) they are trying to not get served for.
Is that really where they want the spotlight? Is there really any other way they thought it would go?
Yes I agree completely it is the end game that will be remembered that’s why I don’t understand this at all. Every story up till now has been them laughing at her and her saying nothing.
Now because of the way it is being played just the simple act of her serving papers is being seen as some kind of victory and puts the joke on them. Yesterday’s headline on stuff was an example ‘Andrew Little told: You’re served, no fries’ That really got her?
I know and I agree. I think Collins has been ridiculous, but that is part of the problem, because of the way Little and Mallard have acted it has taken the spotlight from that.
Was terrible work and a huge missed opportunity from them.
I visited your recommended site, ianmac. A great mind in the comments section complained that NZ education was in a crisis because half of the children’s marks fell below the median!
I think Bennett nails it well there, although I’m not so sure that the teacher everyone likes is necessarily the ‘best’ teacher. I got bored easy at school & it was the hard bastards who got the best results out of me. As he says, different teachers suit different people. I reckon any school could improve outputs quite a lot if the principal & deputies had better people management skills – matched students with the right teachers.
I don’t think there are many ‘bad’ teachers, don’t recall having had any myself.
I don’t think there are many ‘bad’ teachers, don’t recall having had any myself.
Me neither! And as with you, the ones I remember were the hard ones, such as our very scary 5th form maths teacher – a German woman who saw right through my terminological inexactitudes (her phrase! 🙂 )
But all my teachers were awesome, including the Intermediate one who saved my brother’s life when he was a baby (rugby tackled him in the supermarket because he was about to drink a bottle of bleach he’d found when he wandered away from my Mum…)
This morning Radionz interesting speaker.
10-11am: Urban agriculture advocate Michael Ableman
Canadian talking about initiatives they have done in food production. Touched on how they coped as the only farm left after subdvision for prissy townies. A common problem for all farmers.
He thought population growth had to be tackled, feels that the earth’s resources will not be able to feed the burgeoning numbers. Thinks that farmers may have to concentrate on protein provision particularly while soft perishable items be grown at home. Lots of points to think about.
I thought too that Canada could be a place to aspire to move to if there were jobs. They have been going through a right wing phase too I think but they are not stuck down here with a one idea government next to Australia with the same and far away from the rest of the world. On the other hand much of Canada is mighty cold and there is an energy shortage looming. Where to go??
Stay here and fight Prism! We have an awesome country beneath our feet. We are just blocked by idiots from being all that we can be. It would just take intelligent governance with a long term vision and an educated voter base to make this happen. Thats all! Too much to ask?
Just been kept up, on and off, all night but noisy cars, full beam car lights, and other reckless abandon of a few.
Tired, returning to the drink, I awoke to the Elliot guilty verdit. And could not help making the connection…
Do you ever get the feeling your living in a street of Elliots (Turners)? Invincible noisy cars driven by young (mostly) men who don’t, haven’t, can’t recognize where the self-training is taking them?
Emily-ruined-my-life-mum!Lacking all remorse@# Dehumanizing others. Disrespectful. Obsessive.
NZ needs to have more role models that show why destructive behavior harms growth, society and individuals who believe in themselves (and supported in their over inflated egos by family and friends).
Unfortunately we’ve chosen as role model people like John Key whose actions have always harmed society but he’s rich and well off. It’s not just a change of role models but a change of values that changes how we measure success.
After the Douglas years it was inevitable that the generation raised under those values would elect the likes of Key. He is their zeit geist in person, their alchemist who made a fortune trading digital nothings, making everything for himself and nothing for anybody else. A trader of ascribed values which cannot be made solid. A representative of a vapid generation who believe the nonsense that something can come from nothing, that they really can become wealthy without someone else becoming less so. A purveyor of lies representing a generation of greedy liars that would sell their own children’s future down the river if it meant they could buy another bigger SUV today. Rogers man, Rogers legacy.
The bard might have been thinking of the likes of Key..a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Narcism. Narcism is an attribute that is no longer discouraged and is increasingly visible in political leadership as in the JK example above but also within society. Elliot Turner has many markers of narcistic personality disorder and to a degree this was indulged by his parents. However the young ‘car enthusiast’s’ aerobubble refers to probably are not actively looking to JK as their role model, their awareness of them I should imagine may be fairly dim. Their behaviour is legitimised by a society whose boundaries around acceptable behaviour are becoming more blurred and where the good of the whole, the collective, in this a case a neighbourhood is no longer important.
..the good of the whole, the collective,… is no longer important. Exactly. JK does not have any inclination to be a role model either, he is too wrapped in his own narcissism to be anything other than egocentric. Interestingly I think the user pays principle is one of the drivers of this: where we used to pay collectively the expectation was that you were part of the collective. User pays makes you a stand alone “individual”, and you dont want to pay for anyone else, or be part of the herd. You become the island that nobody really can be.
aerobubble i used to think that self esteem would lead to more mature personalities but apparently you just get self centred smart alecs and alices. it seems that knowing where to stop is something to be learned just doesnt come with growing up. stat 80 per cent of crime is connected with intake of alcohol or drugs. controlling that would take us a good way forward to a happer society
i think in part its due to young men and women in work who can’t afford to buy a home, so they spend it on drilling holes in their exhaust, which the Police stop them because of the obvious noise, and they have to pay a very smart exhaust engineer (smart not for his skill as a car repairer) to fix the car again, and again.
Its an easy life urging kids to be reckless and taking their money for unnecessary work.
Just watched David Shearer in the House in full flow ridiculing the Budget predictions from previous National budgets and that of tomorrows. Pretty good delivery. Reassuring.
Howev “er…..If you are researching values to continue coveting the commons a little bit longer,heres 3 you could do a lot worse than
Compassion Moderation and Humility.
EVERYBODY KNOWS in this modern age that game theorists have run computer simulations of adaptive evolutionary cultural strategies that “cheating/aggression” survives over “co-operating” in the short-term before the majority of the poulation perish and the remaining “co-operaters are left to rebuild.
Taxpayers paid for Prime Minister John Key to go to Australia to see the Warriors thrashed in last year’s NRL final.
While Mr Key’s overseas travel costs are understandably larger than most MPs, the NRL trip is the only one of Mr Key’s which was not an “official visit”.
But the really worrying thing is this bit:-
Free Rugby World Cup tickets – at prices beyond the reach of many Kiwi families – were dished out to 50 MPs by a range of generous corporate hosts including Sky City, Fonterra and a bunch of banks.
What, exactly, are the corporations hoping to buy with such largess?
Oh I’ve heard it all! TV3 reporters swanning around London, running after Elliott Turner’s parents, yelling questions and self-righteous abuse…
Correct me if I am wrong, but there’s some doubt as to whether she even was murdered, right? The coverage here has been very one-sided, and from what I have seen and heard on the BBC, it’s not the huge deal in the UK that TV3 girl just claimed…in fact I’ve not heard a word about it on the World Service.
Now, 3 News strikes again, with Shonkey enjoying screaming about Labour MPs getting rugby tickets from SKY TV… John Key grinning ear to ear about it, even though twice as many National MPs took tickets.
It is big news – it was front page yesterday. (Today it’s another young girl murdered by her parents on the front page). There doesn’t appear to be any doubt that Emily Longley was murdered by her classically narcissist boyfriend and the parents helped cover for him. Of course the coverage is OTT and sensationalist but girls need to know about men like this.
Oh, I didn’t know that (I rely on the World Service). I have just been put off by the TV coverage here – so one-eyed that it made me sceptical. I had also heard that there was some doubt that she had been murdered, that she might have died of natural causes as was originally thought…
It’s rather like the coverage of Wacko Jacko’s trial years ago – the media insisted poor wee Michael Jackson was just a poor misunderstood gay boy who never hurt anyone – when we all know (I hope) that he was guilty… biased coverage always makes me sceptical.
To be honest, New Zealand girl from comfortable background, English boy, how else would the NZ media play it?
He is a rich wealthy boy, with a nasty attitude, who has thought his wealth would mean his life wouldn’t take much of a knock if he was found guilty of murder. He’s stated, before and after the killing, that when he got out of jail he’d be rich and could have his pick of women…. along with the booze, posh cars etc. I have no sympathy for the likes of him, whatever their nationality.
A judge told a young man who strangled his aspiring model
girlfriend in a jealous rage to put away thoughts of “champagne,
Bentleys and girls” as she sentenced him to at least 16 years in jail.
I don’t have any particular sympathy for him (though I do for his parents, very much!) but the more I heard about her, the less I liked her. I have known girls like her – selfish, in love with their own beauty, driving boys to distraction playing one off against another, and another…
This shows it wasn’t all that clear cut! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10802879
Meanwhile, I am fed up with 3 News, gloating testerically about 16 Labour MPs getting rugby tickets (even though 28 National MPs did too).
I don’t see anything in that article that suggests she’s that sort of selfish girl. Turner’s jealously seems to have largely been unfounded – she was at home studying when he thought she was off flirting with other guys.
Turner also has a history of stalking earlier girlfriends. I’ve seen more measured descriptions of the evidence for this than the article linked below, but the evidence was cited in court.
The 20-year-old cocaine addict believed he would be cleared and released from jail to carry on treating women as sex objects who he would then subject to campaigns of terror when they dumped him.
[…]
And it was revealed that it is not the first time Turner has shown a violent attitude to women.
He stalked two former girlfriends after they dumped him, threatening to kill one of them.
He would also offer girls free coke in exchange for sex.
[…]
Liam told how obsessive and possessive Turner vowed to suffocate ex Laura Niven, 21, if he saw her again after she broke off their four-month relationship in 2009.
He added: “He didn’t take it at all well when they split up. One night he said that he was going to get her back into bed and stick a pillow over her face while they were having sex.
I have no sympathy for any MPs that take such corporate gifts. It’s a practice that should end.
I have probably missed it on here and other places and it has probably been said before…
The mantra of the Prime Minister and his henchmen, to the point of nausea.
It was predicated on one factor though. That the GST take would increase accordingly. However, while the top earners have creamed it, the economy has contracted and therefore the GST take has reduced. Therefore, no longer fiscally neutral.
Now as English said in the house today, the public purse is not bottomless and the public service has got to get used to retrenchment. Perhaps we might start with our elected members taking some major cuts (even redundancies) and stop their rorts on living allowances etc…
I just got a call from a friend who had left some comments on the NZ Tourist Safety facebook page created by the family of Bradley Coker. The aim of the page is to put international pressure on NZ regarding the safety in NZ tourism.
He said that when the site was first mentioned in our news and Mr Coker was on ITV breakfast telling people not to send there loved ones to NZ, he went to the site where the banner proclaims that (I think he said) around 2000 tourism had died in NZ in the (I think he said) 10 years. Of course, he refuted that as being ridiculous. His comment has been removed.
He goes back today and see that that statistic has been removed. He then made comments that they are in fact anti-NZ because they post links to articles that put NZ in an bad light but have nothing to do with tourism or aviation.
E.g. a link to this article on NZ’s high rate of teen suicide – apparently our teen suicide rate is linked to aviation safety regulations.
Well, he went back tonight and all his comments have been deleted.
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Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
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The decision to discontinue plans to dam the Mokihinui River for hydro power demonstrates the complete paucity of economic thinking that we are festooned with in this country. Lamentations and wails spring loud from the West Coast where they had expected cheaper power and jobs to be created. When examined more closely what we see is what is really a cargo cult mentality of the quick fix for short term gain, rather than a deeper analysis of what is sustainable and what is possible.
For example the big gripe, “Coasters pay more for power”. If we had not split up the national power generation and created an artificial market that has proven more costly might we not have been better able to provide Coasters with the same price as the rest of the country? Or perhaps, “This has cost us jobs”. How many of the construction workers would necessarily be local, when it was built how many would have stayed? And what cost would have to be sunk into this temporary arrangement.
All I am hearing is a lot of hot air. Not to mention a failure to note that the Stockton scheme is approved and will supply power and work. I think they complain tooo much.
Bored, I’m not clear whether you approve of axing of the dam plan or not. Is the Stockton scheme the same as the Mokihinui River hydro power scheme?
Very much opposed, it is an economic liability on a natural resource that is worth far more. It is an environmental catastrophe and vandalism of the highest order. It is a disaster waiting to happen (there is a major fault line nearby). But most of all it represents bankrupt economic and social thinking, the howls of indignation being the audible demonstration of the symptom.
OK. Thanks, Bored.
Your power bill is loaded with compliance costs and 4 layers (generator, transpower, lines company, retailer) of profit taking each with their own agenda.
Planning is done on a piecemeal basis not holistically as each layer protects its own self interests and brownlee made it worse with retailers cutting each others throats and genesis in the mix on South island hydro meridian used to look after.
the regulator is full of bean counters and lawyers with little understanding of the types of hard core engineering issues that need to be faced and dealt with so were in a bit if a pickle on the whole.
If ever an industry screamed out for nationalisation power is it, a failure from both sides of the political spectrum since NZEC days and too vital to be left run its course.
Energy policy will be the worlds key economic issue as the oil gets rare. Consequently for a small polity such as NZ ownership is a key issue: we would be very stupid to export the profit of what should be a strategic advantage. This is the primary reason the assets should not be sold.
As far a Labour goes it is about time they showed some backbone and announced as a primary policy the renationalisation of electricity supply and a total review of generation capacity and supply methodology. The Mokihinui fiasco clearly outlines the failure of the (“created artificial”) market to address the power security and pricing for regions such as the West Coast.
The left leaning parties should be coming to an agreement to nationalise all natural monopolies, i.e, banking (creation and control of the currency, the private sector can keep the speculative side), telecommunications, power, ports, airports etc. A definition spelling out what makes a natural monopoly would be good.
We can easily print money (or take that power away from the bankers).
“Govt can spend by keystroke. It has a Treasury & the Reserve Bank as it’s intermediary with private banking…”
“Printing is misleading. Money of account is debt, accounted for using keystrokes that enter numbers into accounts. Govt spends money into existence. Private banks are licensed to lend money into existence. Currency may be printed..”
“NZ Govt doesn’t need really need to issue bonds in order to spend. NZ Govt doesn’t need to borrow money into existence, all that bond issuing is a free lunch for banking.
MMT via @economicsNZ on twitter..
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/p/modern-monetary-theory-primer.html
In theory, yes we can but are any of the parties going to?
Not unless we start to properly question neoclassical economics and the right of private banks to lend money into existence.
So without total collapse, probably not.
The current irony of coarse being all this phobia around debt, yet a system that requires endlessly increasing debt to grow, given the last 30 years has been a ponzi scheme.
Do you have a positive solution to the power supply problems?
It is so easy to critisize.
Renationalise it and get back to planning as a whole system that benefits the country in terms of reliable power where it’s required for rural, industry and residential use.
Removes the profit taking and unecessary emphasis on regulatory compliance shedding billions off the bottom line overall annually.
The model’s a failure it needs to be thrown away and return to what worked. A single SOE….FIFY.
John72’s reply demonstrates lucidly my whole contention: a total lack of imagination. Positive solutions such as you have noted are multitudinous so long as we don’t get hidebound in “conventional wisdom”.
Good example on the West Coast is that there is a plan to increase the Arnold hydro which could help them secure more power locally…it is not economically viable for the current energy “company” (nor would it be for a nationalised entity). It could be mandated as part of a regional supply security issue paid for across all users nationwide however. Lets face it we lose 25% of the power shipped from the Waitaki to Auckland yet we still disperse that cost….the issue is that we need a single large a scale of electricity supply entity in order to achieve this (as opposed to smaller units that have to make shareholders short term interests happen). Its planning as opposed to competition, it worked for most of our history, it can work again.
Another methodology is to enable and allow micro scale generators to feed into the grid, there is plenty of cheaply harnessed water and wind power available with very low environmental impact. The major issue here is that over production is easy, under production a problem (i.e micro producers need to use the grid as a battery when their wind does not blow or their water flow).
Driving down the Buller and the Grey a few years ago I noticed the huge flow of water that was being “wasted”. Has anybody thought about in-stream hydro (its what the first US electricity came from: waterwheels etc)? There are so many options, and we need to do this whilst we have time, before oil makes its exit.
Bored, may I point out that your posts today, (1, 1.1.1, 1.1.2 ) are devoted to criticism. No positive comment is of any value. Your lasr sentence in post “1” applies to you and many others.
Post 1 :- “I think they complain too much.”
No problem, we can just run Huntly harder. It has higher marginal costs so that will push the power prices up. Excellent.
Campaigns for a living wage should also be accompanied by campaigns for other related changes. Looking at the case studies with the article below, part of the problem is the cost of housing and rents.
Housing shouldn’t be a speculative market that those at the top use to get rich.
Furthermore, businesses shouldn’t be aiming for exorbitant profits in an economy focused on “growth”. And there should be a focus on supporting businesses that contribute to a steady-state economy, not on ones producing useless status-symbols and too many unnecessary luxuries.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10807741
It’s good that this campaign is highlighting the struggle to survive by families living on low wages.
I think it’s a problem the overseas campaign focused on council contracts, which are limited by funding from taxes/rates. There should be more focus on private businesses that earn big profits while paying low wages.
There is also an accompanying article which looks at Auckland Council’s plan to reduce the city’s inequalities, and the causes for the growth in the extent of inequalities:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784783
The causes are explained thusly:
Some good points in there, but some things could be elaborated eg the “free trade” ethos, and the shift of unskilled jobs to low wage countries.
The article resorts to a bit of potted history with a focus on biblical times, in arguing that the tendency for small groups to accumulate wealth has always been countered by morality-based moves to limit such accumulation:
The article argues that the Auckland plan supports this moral programming by aiming to balance freedom with compassion, through balancing a competitive economy with “caring community”. So it aims to maintain free market capitalism by incorporating elements of a “caring community”. Of course, this falls short of a plan that will fix a broken system. But what would you expect from NZ’s MSM?
The article also correctly argues that the Auckland Council cannot fix the problems of extreme inequality without help from the central government.
Read the critique of this Third Way, or softening of the social impacts of the NeoLib agenda, in Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton. After a post by U-Turn, the second best prose that I have read this month
Agree entirely Carol, been researching that myself lately. I’m not in disagreement with the principle of a living wage but I think wage rises is the wrong way to approach it. You never catch up. The wealthy are getting rich from asset inflation and the ever increasing rents that flow from it. Lifting the lowest wages tends to push asset values up and within a very short time it’s back to the same problem again, if not worse off.
Look at this chart for an example of where IMO the real problem lies;
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/keygraphs/Fig4.html
The value of housing stock in NZ has gone from$236bn in 2001 to $605bn in 2011, that’s an increase of 290% in a decade. Some is due to building new houses but most of the increase is just asset inflation.
Now rents haven’t increased by the same amount as house prices but they will eventually and the poor will keep getting squeezed. It’s a transfer of wealth. Govt spends over $1bn on accommodation supplements already, and it will get worse.
It’s the union’s job to chase better wages & conditions for it’s workers but I really can’t see the living wage concept working without addressing asset inflation and that’s a Govt role.
And it would be better if the dropped the Accommodation Supplement and spent the $1b/year on building (high rise, high density) houses which could then be rented out for cost of maintenance.
Aye, think what the cash spent on roads could have achieved. Accommodation supplement is only a part of it too. Look at all the welfare the state pays out and there’s probably at least $4-5bn of it going straight into rents. And each year it gets worse as rents keep going up, we get further & further behind. Even our taxes are making the rich richer.
Major problem is that rents and the price of rental housing are currently intertwined with the price of the family home. They need to be separated and that’s not an easy task. Can be done but would take some smart thinking, would never win an election if every home owner thought their house values would fall significantly.
What if their mortgage fell at the same time?
That could work although the freeholders still wouldn’t be happy.
My thinking was along the lines of creating a brand new housing market. Govt owns the land & leases it, people own or rent the house on the land. That would create a separation between freehold and leasehold; distinctly different markets. Would need controls over people simply selling the leases & recreating the same asset inflation but that’s not unachievable.
If Govt just provided the land it would cost the taxpayer a lot less and still enable people to buy their own homes, save money etc. And for renters, well lower rents are just as good as any pay rise, possibly better.
Hi Carol. Did you see the interview last night with John Campbell and John (John?) Ryall of the Service and Food Workers Union? Between them they made a strong case for the living wage campaign, and discussed the benefits an increased wage brings. Cleary obvious stuff but it did counter the argument of the right that increased wages means less job opportunities. There was also an accompanying article about the struggle for a mother on the minimum wage and her 3 children. The eldest had just turned 17 so he was working 25 hours an week also minimum wage to help the household costs, which was compromising his study.
I have to hand it to the Campbell show that they have made an effort this year to highlight social injustice and also to illustrate how individuals and families are living in poverty purely as a result of the recession and govt policy that affects the poor, working poor and middle class the most. It is refreshing that they are talking this and less about the fad diet of the week or neurotic rich parents problems that seem so inconsequential to anyone just trying to scrap enough money together the day before pay day to get a bottle of milk and some more bread (an example taken from my life, today being Wednesday!)
In a State in either the US, or Canada, economists studied the legislated lift of the minimum wage and found, wait….., that more people became employed and the quality and productivity of their work improved. Those, who were threatened by these outcomes severly demonised the research, which was found to be valid.
Indeed Sam. In low wage economies like ours, when the impact of minimum wage vs. living or good wage is studied the results always demonstrate in purely economic terms, putting aside improved health and social outcomes for individuals and communities, that a living/good wage always benefits society as a whole, bringing in more tax and increasing retail spending. Its a pretty flimsy argument the right put up when they claim that higher wages put business at a disadvantage
Yes. i saw CL last night and agree that it did a very good job in highlighting the problem and showing the unfairness. It was heart wrenching to see how hard that family is working just to stay afloat.
Such a Living Wage would ideally need to be defined as weekly income rather than an hourly wage. You’d then have it so that each hour worked increased the income. We could call it Universal Income.
Seconded, Carol!
Good to see Andrew Little and Trevor Mallard standing up to Crusher Collins. She’s just bluffing and it won’t get to court. Especially if she can’t get the papers served on them.
Papers have already been served on Little – Will not take that long to get to Mallard I assume, Mallard himself has said it wouldn’t be that hard.
Her server will probably catch Mallard while on the toilet, a handy place of vulnerability – there doesn’t seem to be any protocol of respect for the private life of her detractors being shown in her approach.
Probably – but it still makes no sense to me why even bother hiding and trying to dodge getting the papers served it doesn’t achieve anything if the claims are as without merit as they claim.
In fact the only thing it does achieve is make it seem they are worried about the case.
Actually, it also achieves keeping it in the spotlight and getting everybody to have a laugh at Crushers expense.
But that’s my point I think by choosing to go this way it stops being so much about her and rather more about Little and Mallard and the fact they have a court case (easiest way to describe it rather than a case that will go to court for) they are trying to not get served for.
Is that really where they want the spotlight? Is there really any other way they thought it would go?
Another way see it is that they are trying to not let her off the hook. Making the story as big as poss, means the end game is as big as poss.
It’s the end game that will be remembered. Every story so far has been them laughing at her, and her not saying anything.
Odd too, that she filed in Auckland where the waiting list is longest, rather than in Wellington where the comments were made.
Yes I agree completely it is the end game that will be remembered that’s why I don’t understand this at all. Every story up till now has been them laughing at her and her saying nothing.
Now because of the way it is being played just the simple act of her serving papers is being seen as some kind of victory and puts the joke on them. Yesterday’s headline on stuff was an example ‘Andrew Little told: You’re served, no fries’ That really got her?
Chris, it doesn’t matter what she does or says anymore.
She’s a Minister of The Crown spending all of her time (as far as the public knows) chasing a personal vendetta.
Out of her depth, out of control, and out of her office.
I know and I agree. I think Collins has been ridiculous, but that is part of the problem, because of the way Little and Mallard have acted it has taken the spotlight from that.
Was terrible work and a huge missed opportunity from them.
Joe Bennet’s column nails the Teacher Performance Pay issue. The first half is anecdotal but he highlights the impossibility that Parata has embarked upon.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/joe-bennett/6968947/Good-teaching-easy-to-recognise-hard-to-measure?comment_msg=posted#post_comment
I visited your recommended site, ianmac. A great mind in the comments section complained that NZ education was in a crisis because half of the children’s marks fell below the median!
I think Bennett nails it well there, although I’m not so sure that the teacher everyone likes is necessarily the ‘best’ teacher. I got bored easy at school & it was the hard bastards who got the best results out of me. As he says, different teachers suit different people. I reckon any school could improve outputs quite a lot if the principal & deputies had better people management skills – matched students with the right teachers.
I don’t think there are many ‘bad’ teachers, don’t recall having had any myself.
Me neither! And as with you, the ones I remember were the hard ones, such as our very scary 5th form maths teacher – a German woman who saw right through my terminological inexactitudes (her phrase! 🙂 )
But all my teachers were awesome, including the Intermediate one who saved my brother’s life when he was a baby (rugby tackled him in the supermarket because he was about to drink a bottle of bleach he’d found when he wandered away from my Mum…)
This morning Radionz interesting speaker.
10-11am: Urban agriculture advocate Michael Ableman
Canadian talking about initiatives they have done in food production. Touched on how they coped as the only farm left after subdvision for prissy townies. A common problem for all farmers.
He thought population growth had to be tackled, feels that the earth’s resources will not be able to feed the burgeoning numbers. Thinks that farmers may have to concentrate on protein provision particularly while soft perishable items be grown at home. Lots of points to think about.
I thought too that Canada could be a place to aspire to move to if there were jobs. They have been going through a right wing phase too I think but they are not stuck down here with a one idea government next to Australia with the same and far away from the rest of the world. On the other hand much of Canada is mighty cold and there is an energy shortage looming. Where to go??
Stay here and fight Prism! We have an awesome country beneath our feet. We are just blocked by idiots from being all that we can be. It would just take intelligent governance with a long term vision and an educated voter base to make this happen. Thats all! Too much to ask?
oh rosie – i hope it’s not too much to ask but i’m beginning to despair
Just been kept up, on and off, all night but noisy cars, full beam car lights, and other reckless abandon of a few.
Tired, returning to the drink, I awoke to the Elliot guilty verdit. And could not help making the connection…
Do you ever get the feeling your living in a street of Elliots (Turners)? Invincible noisy cars driven by young (mostly) men who don’t, haven’t, can’t recognize where the self-training is taking them?
Emily-ruined-my-life-mum!Lacking all remorse@# Dehumanizing others. Disrespectful. Obsessive.
NZ needs to have more role models that show why destructive behavior harms growth, society and individuals who believe in themselves (and supported in their over inflated egos by family and friends).
Unfortunately we’ve chosen as role model people like John Key whose actions have always harmed society but he’s rich and well off. It’s not just a change of role models but a change of values that changes how we measure success.
After the Douglas years it was inevitable that the generation raised under those values would elect the likes of Key. He is their zeit geist in person, their alchemist who made a fortune trading digital nothings, making everything for himself and nothing for anybody else. A trader of ascribed values which cannot be made solid. A representative of a vapid generation who believe the nonsense that something can come from nothing, that they really can become wealthy without someone else becoming less so. A purveyor of lies representing a generation of greedy liars that would sell their own children’s future down the river if it meant they could buy another bigger SUV today. Rogers man, Rogers legacy.
The bard might have been thinking of the likes of Key..a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Narcism. Narcism is an attribute that is no longer discouraged and is increasingly visible in political leadership as in the JK example above but also within society. Elliot Turner has many markers of narcistic personality disorder and to a degree this was indulged by his parents. However the young ‘car enthusiast’s’ aerobubble refers to probably are not actively looking to JK as their role model, their awareness of them I should imagine may be fairly dim. Their behaviour is legitimised by a society whose boundaries around acceptable behaviour are becoming more blurred and where the good of the whole, the collective, in this a case a neighbourhood is no longer important.
..the good of the whole, the collective,… is no longer important. Exactly. JK does not have any inclination to be a role model either, he is too wrapped in his own narcissism to be anything other than egocentric. Interestingly I think the user pays principle is one of the drivers of this: where we used to pay collectively the expectation was that you were part of the collective. User pays makes you a stand alone “individual”, and you dont want to pay for anyone else, or be part of the herd. You become the island that nobody really can be.
aerobubble i used to think that self esteem would lead to more mature personalities but apparently you just get self centred smart alecs and alices. it seems that knowing where to stop is something to be learned just doesnt come with growing up. stat 80 per cent of crime is connected with intake of alcohol or drugs. controlling that would take us a good way forward to a happer society
i think in part its due to young men and women in work who can’t afford to buy a home, so they spend it on drilling holes in their exhaust, which the Police stop them because of the obvious noise, and they have to pay a very smart exhaust engineer (smart not for his skill as a car repairer) to fix the car again, and again.
Its an easy life urging kids to be reckless and taking their money for unnecessary work.
Just hearing from a friend in the area of Italy struck by the quake this week, that oil companies have been fracking in the area.
Just watched David Shearer in the House in full flow ridiculing the Budget predictions from previous National budgets and that of tomorrows. Pretty good delivery. Reassuring.
Oh dear, really? That’s horrific… I have two friends in the area, both of whom were truly freaked out.
Do you fancy seeing The Spirit Level turned into a film?
They’re crowdsourcing funds here. You could even get your names in the credits… (or just buy your download of the film in advance)
Interesting – seems National isn’t the only one enjoying a friendship with Sky City:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6972710/Big-business-hosted-politicians-at-World-Cup
Just shows how there’s too much of this kind of lobbying of politicians by big business.
And too much of politicians listening to big business rather than the people resulting in policy that is good for big business but not for NZ.
excusee moi. Are you researching values to support the present distribution of commons? Do the “Aggressors” have a few more hands to play?
“When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.”
Jones has been stood down by Shearer, great timing in budget week. Another head desk moment from Labour….
Howev “er…..If you are researching values to continue coveting the commons a little bit longer,heres 3 you could do a lot worse than
Compassion Moderation and Humility.
EVERYBODY KNOWS in this modern age that game theorists have run computer simulations of adaptive evolutionary cultural strategies that “cheating/aggression” survives over “co-operating” in the short-term before the majority of the poulation perish and the remaining “co-operaters are left to rebuild.
EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT in the 21st century.
Any particular link your thinking of or just any of these?
So, Key goes on a personal junket to Australia on our money:-
But the really worrying thing is this bit:-
What, exactly, are the corporations hoping to buy with such largess?
You think they’re only hoping to buy? I’d say they’re pretty sure of a return.
Oh I’ve heard it all! TV3 reporters swanning around London, running after Elliott Turner’s parents, yelling questions and self-righteous abuse…
Correct me if I am wrong, but there’s some doubt as to whether she even was murdered, right? The coverage here has been very one-sided, and from what I have seen and heard on the BBC, it’s not the huge deal in the UK that TV3 girl just claimed…in fact I’ve not heard a word about it on the World Service.
Now, 3 News strikes again, with Shonkey enjoying screaming about Labour MPs getting rugby tickets from SKY TV… John Key grinning ear to ear about it, even though twice as many National MPs took tickets.
It is big news – it was front page yesterday. (Today it’s another young girl murdered by her parents on the front page). There doesn’t appear to be any doubt that Emily Longley was murdered by her classically narcissist boyfriend and the parents helped cover for him. Of course the coverage is OTT and sensationalist but girls need to know about men like this.
Oh, I didn’t know that (I rely on the World Service). I have just been put off by the TV coverage here – so one-eyed that it made me sceptical. I had also heard that there was some doubt that she had been murdered, that she might have died of natural causes as was originally thought…
It’s rather like the coverage of Wacko Jacko’s trial years ago – the media insisted poor wee Michael Jackson was just a poor misunderstood gay boy who never hurt anyone – when we all know (I hope) that he was guilty… biased coverage always makes me sceptical.
To be honest, New Zealand girl from comfortable background, English boy, how else would the NZ media play it?
He is a rich wealthy boy, with a nasty attitude, who has thought his wealth would mean his life wouldn’t take much of a knock if he was found guilty of murder. He’s stated, before and after the killing, that when he got out of jail he’d be rich and could have his pick of women…. along with the booze, posh cars etc. I have no sympathy for the likes of him, whatever their nationality.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/elliot-turner-jailed-for-16-years-for-strangling-girlfriend-emily-longley-7778331.html?origin=internalSearch
I don’t have any particular sympathy for him (though I do for his parents, very much!) but the more I heard about her, the less I liked her. I have known girls like her – selfish, in love with their own beauty, driving boys to distraction playing one off against another, and another…
This shows it wasn’t all that clear cut!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10802879
Meanwhile, I am fed up with 3 News, gloating testerically about 16 Labour MPs getting rugby tickets (even though 28 National MPs did too).
I don’t see anything in that article that suggests she’s that sort of selfish girl. Turner’s jealously seems to have largely been unfounded – she was at home studying when he thought she was off flirting with other guys.
Turner also has a history of stalking earlier girlfriends. I’ve seen more measured descriptions of the evidence for this than the article linked below, but the evidence was cited in court.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/elliot-turner-guilty–spoilt-843276
I have no sympathy for any MPs that take such corporate gifts. It’s a practice that should end.
A social networking tool that will change the world.
Our world in two.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/05/food_and_nutrition_crisis_in_s.html
http://cryptome.org/2012-info/drone-photos/drone-photos.htm
Confirmed.
http://freakoutnation.com/2012/05/22/study-fox-viewers-far-less-knowledgable-than-daily-show-viewers-or-even-those-who-watch-no-news-at-all/
Fiscally neutral tax changes.
I have probably missed it on here and other places and it has probably been said before…
The mantra of the Prime Minister and his henchmen, to the point of nausea.
It was predicated on one factor though. That the GST take would increase accordingly. However, while the top earners have creamed it, the economy has contracted and therefore the GST take has reduced. Therefore, no longer fiscally neutral.
Now as English said in the house today, the public purse is not bottomless and the public service has got to get used to retrenchment. Perhaps we might start with our elected members taking some major cuts (even redundancies) and stop their rorts on living allowances etc…
Fear grows out of the things we think; it lives in our minds.
Compassion grows out of the things that we are, and lives in our hearts.
I just got a call from a friend who had left some comments on the NZ Tourist Safety facebook page created by the family of Bradley Coker. The aim of the page is to put international pressure on NZ regarding the safety in NZ tourism.
He said that when the site was first mentioned in our news and Mr Coker was on ITV breakfast telling people not to send there loved ones to NZ, he went to the site where the banner proclaims that (I think he said) around 2000 tourism had died in NZ in the (I think he said) 10 years. Of course, he refuted that as being ridiculous. His comment has been removed.
He goes back today and see that that statistic has been removed. He then made comments that they are in fact anti-NZ because they post links to articles that put NZ in an bad light but have nothing to do with tourism or aviation.
E.g. a link to this article on NZ’s high rate of teen suicide – apparently our teen suicide rate is linked to aviation safety regulations.
Well, he went back tonight and all his comments have been deleted.
Peters on propaganda
After all why spoil a good story with the facts?
Tories so par for the course I suppose.
http://www.canada.com/life/Federal+cuts+called+disaster+Canadian+science/6614309/story.html
Anyone know what’s going on with Cam Slater (aka WhaleOil) and Debbie Brown?
That best portion of a good man’s life.
His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
( q. Wordsworth.)