so I was doing a bit of thinking about how the Government could better protect NZ Superannuation from the rising costs without changes to the age of eligibility nor sacrificing universal entitlement.
The Government could bring in a ‘pension levy’ on high-income earners. It could be a marginal rate of 2% on incomes between $75,000 and $150,000 and 4% on incomes above $150,000. This would raise about $650million per year.
That $650m could go directly into the NZ Super (Cullen) fund.
Based on continuing contributions, wage inflation, and the Cullen fund rate of return, by 2030 the Cullen fund would have an extra $30 billion to pay for superannuation, a number that’d continue increasing as the levy continues to be paid. The Government is planning to begin withdrawing from the fund around this time.
This is almost like a reverse-means test: it asks the top 10%, and especially top 1% of income earners to make a special contribution to the cost of NZ super whilst protecting universal entitlement to NZ super at age 65.
This is probably the most progressive way of protecting this entitlement, as 90% of people would see no change in their working-age living standard nor their old-age living standard.
Start hitting owned wealth, corporate super profits and financial capital
Thanks
PS by seriously discussing means testing of Super, the NZ Labour Party has shown that it is not fit for purpose, and that it does not understand “the future of work” in the fucking slightest.
IMO Labour probably lost the 2017 election there and then. One of the reasons why Labour is losing election is because they cannot be trusted on super. Little can back track all he likes, the damage is already done.
This is a Labour Party that we will have to work hard to keep in line.
They knew that raising the Super age was an election loser. Took them two elections to figure that one out. Then they progressed to discussing putting a means test on Super instead? Utterly moronic. At this moment I’m calling advantage NATs to win a fourth term.
A blip? Thats not a blip – it just show that stuff is being made up on the spot, and that he dosnt have either the support for his ideas, or he dosnt know what he was talking about.
CR+100….totally agree …re:.”PS by seriously discussing means testing of Super, the NZ Labour Party has shown that it is not fit for purpose, and that it does not understand “the future of work” in the fucking slightest”
It is almost as if this Labour Party does not want to win an Election!…austerity on its own constituency!
….there are many super age people who still work but earn a pittance…..for the New Zealand Labour Party to deny those still working their super is pitiful!
..it is a PR gift to jonley Nact!…at very least the Labour Party should be matching Nactional on this issue …they just dont learn do they?
….the NZLP shows a lack of understanding of its own constituency …( imo the corporate Labour Party MPs of Labour Party Inc should have their salaries halved for this mistake)
Robinson said “that little was asked a question about fairness around super and little said its because we need to have a conversation about it”
Or words to that effect.
Littles right of course but you mess with peoples money at you’re peril.
I have to disagree. Those of us who pay our taxes (and I have paid mine for many years), have had an understanding with the government, that a portion of the taxes we have paid will fund our pension when that time comes. We have paid our money up front, on the promise of a pension later in life.
I can only speak for myself, but I have paid my dues. I began work as a young teen, still at school, in the mid sixties. I worked right through high school – book shop, paper run, department store. I’ve never been on the dole, on the DPB, on the sickness benefit, never been sick in hospital, never had a student loan, never needed to be subsidized in any way. I’ve been an employee, and an employer, creating jobs for others. I raised my kids to be good, contributing citizens who now pay their taxes. I’ve earned my pension. I’ve kept my part of my bargain with the government and more besides. I expect my government to honour it’s part of the bargain it has with me.
that a portion of the taxes we have paid will fund our pension when that time comes.
There’s never been anything in NZSuper about paying up front. It’s always been paid from current taxes and that makes it the countries money and not yours.
I’ve been an employee, and an employer, creating jobs for others.
You’ve never created a job for others in your life – the community did and you just capitalised on that.
I agree with most of what you say Scotty. I, too, am now on the pension and I’ve earned it – every penny of it. But something that perhaps is not fully understood by Labour is that… while our parents could live comfortably on the pension many people no longer can do so because of exorbitant rates, insurance and power bills – to name just the most obvious. We are forced to supplement our income by taking on part-time work just to be able to make ends meet.
I suspect Andrew Little didn’t have us in mind when he made his comment, but rather those who have been able – or lucky enough – to acquire a fortune over the years and don’t need a pension. If that was the case then he should have been more explicit. I hope he has learned a lesson not to expect the MSM to fairly or accurately report him.
…..didn’t someone just ask him if it was on the agenda, and he tried to remain open and calm, saying it was a good question??? or did I actually miss something important, not just a media stitch up. (Nat plan working well, and Labour go into “eating their young” when under stress mode)
If we don’t have a Labour Party willing to defend the inviolability of key foundations of our democratic social welfare state, then what good are they.
+ zillion. Labour’s big issue is regaining trust, this isn’t the way to do it.
On the other hand, let them settle into being a centrist party (better them than UF or the Peters party), and the Greens will take the left and leave room for a new party to take the radical left. We don’t have time to wait for Labour to sort its shit out.
Labour’s big issue is factions/division, against a National machine as organised as Hitler’s Panza divisions.
It’s all very well telling the leaders what people in Labour want, but if we don’t get into power by finding about what the “vast majority of Nuzilland” want, we will continue to watch National stripping the country of any values, cohesion, connection etc.
I’m a GP voter, the core values have to stand, otherwise it’s just about the power. The idea that getting power is the most important thing is why we no longer have a left at the party political level.
I agree about the factions, and that’s something that’s only going to be solved internally within Labour if enough people want it. Having core values and sticking to them would help.
We don’t need to know what that vast majority want in order foe the left for form govt, we just need 50% of voters. That’s not enough to to run a country though, for that you have to know what you believe in and gain the trust of voters to support you.
It’s all very well telling the leaders what people in Labour want, but if we don’t get into power by finding about what the “vast majority of Nuzilland” want
Labour prides itself on being a “broad church”, inclusive and there for the 99%. How can it be that they don’t understand what NZers in general want?
Unless of course, they are socially, culturally and economically disconnected from the people they say they serve.
“disconnected from the people they say they serve.”
The relationship is not that simple, it goes both ways.
Labour caucus has to organise/galvanise people with less power into a big enough group to gain power over those with financial/economic power.
Not an easy task, and made harder if they are expected to be looking behind them all the time. at the fighting factions.
My personal opinion is that investment income and earned income should be taxed completely equally and that there should be no distinction. So I’d apply the levy to both in my ideal world. So I definitely agree with you there.
I think a levy on high incomes (both earned and unearned) that goes directly into the Super Fund makes sense because it is essentially the rich paying extra for the Super that they’ll be claiming as part of the universal entitlement to Super at 65.
Universal entitlements are powerful expression of socialist thought. What are you going to do next? Put a surcharge on rich people who go to GPs and use A&E?
Shall we start asset testing the dole and the DPB?
You may be able to get Sole Parent Support if you’re a single parent or caregiver with one or more dependent children aged under 14 years.
You must also be:
aged 19 or older
not in a relationship without adequate financial support
a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident who has been here for at least two years at any one time since becoming a citizen or permanent resident, and who normally lives here.
Weka, I can assure you on every single application and review form for every type of benefit and supplement they ask about your cash and non-cash assets. There’s a limit to how much you can have before they won’t let you have certain benefits/grants. Can’t remember what it is now because I’ve never had anywhere near the amount so moot point.
Yep, and earlier I was taking means test to mean asset test only when I think Little was talking about income testing (as in means test = income and/or assets).
The ‘dole’ and Sole Parent Benefit are already examined for assets that may provide cash eg caravans, boats, bonus bonds. Housing isn’t counted unless you have more than one. You also have to declare investments and cash in the bank.
Assets affect Accommodation Supplement and TAS, afaik they don’t affect the base benefits. Investments are assets, but interest from investments is counted as income.
At least that’s what it’s been historically. Are you saying that pressure is being put in beneficiaries to sell assets? That would normally only happen if they were after one of the supplementary allowances, which let’s face it, is most beneficiaries (although I think Disability Allowance is exempt).
I am not sure about ‘pressure’ as such, mostly because I have never had anything that qualified, lol, but I know that you get the message in subtle and not so subtle ways, that realisable assets such as bonus bonds, caravans, boats etc should be the first call rather than the resources of the state.
The problem with those ideas are that they rely upon the system remaining the same and it’s actually the system that’s the problem. What we need to do is:
1. The government become the sole creator and source of NZ$
2. Full UBI
3. Comprehensive capital taxes. That means taxes on property, on capital gains and financial transaction
This will create a situation where we don’t need different rules for retired people compared to working people – everyone will get the UBI and all income and wealth will be taxed. But the most important aspect is that it will put the government in the position where it doesn’t need an income or borrowings to pay for anything thus it will always be able to afford everything.
The tax system could then be redesigned upon a more feasible understanding of the flow of money. Specifically, that money always comes from the government and that taxes destroy that money.
I do see chosen roles for private sector credit creation however.
I don’t as it always results in runaway money creation. That’s why such private money creation was made illegal 300 years ago and why crypto-currencies are also a failed system.
There was a comprehensive presentation on the UBI at the Region 4 conference earlier this month, but no remit was put forward. How do we expect the party to adopt a policy without using the democratic processes to push for one?
That’s how all those terrible progressive “identity” issues you hate so much get through, after all.
Max Rashbrooke here references some of the work Perce Harpham has done on the UBI. Perce, one of NZs first and most successful tech entrepreneurs, has done a massive amount of work on the UBI.
In regards to a ubi I just did a quick search and I came up with a total benefit spend including super and WFF of 30 billion(please correct me if my figure s are out.)
Covered by 4 million people it was about 7 thousand each so there would have to be a lot more money found to support those that can’t top this up themselves .
Do a search on the standard for UBI. There have been some good posts and lots of discussion, including what level it could be set at and how that would be paid for (there are various ideas and proposals on that).
You don’t have to “find more money” the money is already there in the current income of the people of the nation, and of the nation itself, it is simply redistributed. And if required, a small amount of additional liquidity no more than 1% of GDP can be introduced by the Reserve Bank to the government’s accounts.
Covered by 4 million people it was about 7 thousand each so there would have to be a lot more money found to support those that can’t top this up themselves .
This is actually incorrect but it’s the fear that everyone focuses upon because everyone looks at government needing an income first which it doesn’t. The government must become the sole creator and source of NZ$ in the economy. The UBI then becomes the primary funding of the economy and taxes become the drain that prevents excessive money buildup. Essentially, inflation would be controlled by taxes rather than the OCR (which doesn’t work anyway and, in fact, causes other problems).
No, in all the countries which are part of the agreed central banking system, the commercial and investment banks have a lot of power to create money/bank credit (they are not quite the same thing, but are often treated as such).
BTW countries which do not belong to this international central banking system tend to end up militarily destroyed.
A system of law can be anything from a concerted effort to establish justice in our human world, to a system of robbery and murder (Nazi law is an extreme example). When a banking lawyer described modern banking as ‘the greatest system of kleptocracy foisted upon the human race’ he was agreeing with many previous eminent and knowledgeable commentators. The American Founding Fathers were particularly vocal on the subject: banking is the enrichment of ‘swindlers at the expense of the honest and industrious part of the nation’ (Thomas Jefferson, 1813). ‘Every dollar of a bank bill that is issued beyond the quantity of gold and silver in the vaults represents nothing, and is therefore a cheat upon somebody’ (John Adams, 1809). Even more bluntly, the banking system supports a ‘tyranny of fraud’ (John Taylor, 1814).
Maintaining a ‘tyranny of fraud’ isn’t the way to maintain a prosperous economy.
This sounds like a complete overhaul of our financial system. Is there an explanation for financial dummies (like me) on how this would work on the net?
Why announce something, then turn around and denounce it on the same day? Was this ‘policy on the fly’ or actually discussed with his colleagues? I just don’t get the strategy here. Groundhog day in the Labour camp, and easily pulled to pieces by Peters and Key.
The number of older people as percentage of the population is rising.
Old people are more likely to vote and younger people are rapidly giving up doing so.
This makes the older vote important now and very likely more so in the future.
By the time they are in their middle 50s most people are starting to think about retirement and how they will cope financially in their old age.
Andrew Little”s musings on the pension are a recurring theme among Labour politicians, and despite what activists may say, are an indication of the warped ideas on fairness held by many of the technocrats who control Labour.
No older person in their right mind would trust Labour unless they were already very financially secure.
Good luck with ever winning an election in this situation – no matter how bad the opposition is.
Heaven help us if any topic raised for musing or discussion is rubbished as toxic. Surely in a democratic society, the issues such as aging population and Super must be discussed.
It is a Right wing tactic to seize on any comment from an opposition member and twist it and malign the speaker. Dirty Tricks I say. But for Lefties to put the boot in makes it worse.
i am just stating the obvious…to everyone outside the Labour Party that is…i do not believe in blind allegiance or loyalty
…Andrew Little was incompetent in what he said…dont care if you spin it as “musing” or “discussion” …it makes me wonder how well he understands Labour’s grassroots constituency
( and I was once an active member for the Labour Party…and my Mother a branch chairperson….in fact my whole family have voted Labour for generations…with emphasis on “have”)
Any party which considers taking away basic state support and services for the people must be rubbished.
Further – does the Labour Party not understand that NZ Super is paid out in NZ dollars? And that the NZ Government is the sole legal issuer of NZ dollars in the world? And that the NZ Government can therefore choose to never run out of funds for necessary and important activities?
It’s utterly idiotic to promote austerity measures because you think you are about to run out of electronic numbers in computerised account scorecards.
well I would if I could ….(cos unfortunately i have jumped ship)
…good luck with turning the tanker Labour around before it hits the rocks and beaches…with people with the smarts like you steering Labour, it could form a very viable coalition with the Greens and NZF and Mana/Int and defeat jonkey Nactional
Labour needs some think tanks pre-plotting the coordinates and steering policy so the captain doesnt run amok..imo
Further – does the Labour Party not understand that NZ Super is paid out in NZ dollars? And that the NZ Government is the sole legal issuer of NZ dollars in the world? And that the NZ Government can therefore choose to never run out of funds for necessary and important activities?
It’s not just the Labour party who gets that wrong – it’s everybody and we get it wrong because we’ve been taught over the generations, but especially over the last 40 years, that wealth comes from rich people rather than the community.
Universal entitlement is a pretty core left wing value. It’s not so much a topic being slammed as Labour yet again proposing centrist values instead of left wing ones. If Labour were discussing lots of policy that made left wing people feel better about the party they might get away with discussing superannuation means testing, but in the very large void that has been left on the left, it’s just going to turn people away to do it now.
The utmost priority for Labour should be regaining trust and remedying the damage done by Labour’s betrayal in the 80s. That stuff’s not going to go away.
It’s not so much a topic being slammed as Labour yet again proposing centrist values instead of left wing ones.
?
Centrist values? You are being very generous. You want to show me a group of centre voters, or even a mid-right voters, anywhere in NZ who would support means testing on NZ Super?
neocentrist/kind austerity ones then. It’s Labour saying, we only have so much money, we want to create a fair society and that means not paying out the limited pie to people who don’t need it. That’s fair right? etc. I don’t agree with that, but I can see that they could pitch it to ‘middle nz’ so long as the means test was high not middle. I think they’re wrong, but it is part of that whole lets be left and centrist at the same time thing.
btw, base benefits aren’t means tested, but Accommodation Supplement and the hardship grant are. That was true under Labour as well.
I think Labour are pitching to a centrist voting constituency that they don’t understand in the slightest. No one in the centre of NZ politics wants to see Super turned into just another means tested asset tested benefit.
Phew, someone else saying it, I responded above but wrong place..
“…..didn’t someone just ask him if it was on the agenda, and he tried to remain open and calm, saying it was a good question??? or did I actually miss something important, not just a media stitch up. (Nat plan working well, and Labour go into “eating their young” when under stress mode)
Don’t fall for it guys!!!!!
whateva next
You are correct. It is a media stitchup just like wotsisname (The reporter who looks like Alfred E Neumann) trying to engineer answers so he can create his own news. I heard the interview and what is reported is nothing like what was said.
Little agreed that the issue had to be confronted. I would have told the reporter to F**k off and stop trying to make news where none existed…or maybe just told him to cut the crap.
yep, the same with MSM (National) picking up on ONE of the issues Young Labour raised, “gender reassignment ops being provided free”
Same trap (abyss) Cunliffe fell into, defending yourself against rabid hounds of the press, backed against a wall with nowhere to go.
ianmac – I agree it is disheartening and demoralising when the left starts attacking itself – particularly in this period when there is so little traction being made in focussing on the right – but Little made it a whole lot worse yesterday.
You are right to raise the point that a healthy democracy should be encouraging debate.
A healthy democracy is not one where a political philosophy can be foisted on a nation just as a result of a ballot box every three years. A healthy democracy is one where nearly 100 percent of eligible voters cast their votes and at least 51 percent (a clear majority) give a mandate to a party to govern. (not cobbled together coalitions).
Of course there is a huge discussion to be had around that.
Our problems in New Zealand and for most democracies is the power of the Multinationals and the growing lack of sovereignty (if we ever had it completely).
You will remember the period of Thatcher (and followed here by Douglas a few years later) – their biggest anti-left action was to remove exchange controls. With a stroke of the pen, the multinationals and big business could shift their monies at will and with that potential radical left-wing policies could never be included in manifestos.
You will also remember Thatcher say to the great unwashed – do not worry about the short term affects of our decisions – there will be a trickle down affect. And you will enjoy the opportunities that the service industries will offer.
She also promised that the new technologies would provide us all with greater leisure time. The new technologies have certainly created a huge pool of unemployed who have subsequently be labelled as lazy by the right. And, of course, who controls the new technologies that are creating the massive pool of “unwashed” – yep and creaming off the profits. The multinationals – e.g. the banks for starters.
A healthy democracy is one where nearly 100 percent of eligible voters cast their votes and at least 51 percent (a clear majority) give a mandate to a party to govern. (not cobbled together coalitions).
If you want a healthy democracy, then party based politics is probably not the way to go. If it has to be party based politics, then coalitions of parties are more likely to reflect the will of the people rather than single party rule by decree terms.
Logie97 – “I agree it is disheartening and demoralising when the left starts attacking itself ”
Really I thought it was our greatest strength – robust debate and thrashing out of ideas. Not some stalinist wet dream of following the party line. The overbearing weight of the old left was what crushed the left in the west – the blind obedience and dogmatism – were a heavy blow for aspirations and new thinking. Indeed freedom and fraternity were crushed under strict adherence to one set of ideas. Did you miss 1968 and the questions raised?
Liberalism as the dominant economic idea is back in force and is very destructive. Both locally and globally. Everyone here gets that basic premises – well maybe not the usual suspects of liberals like Gossy and Hotts .
There is no magical left solution to the damage, and destruction wrought by liberal economics. There are some very good ideas on how to deal with a world postliberalism – and we need to trash those out.
GP Super policy, in case anyone is looking for someone else to vote for (or another party to join)
4. Supporting Older People
The Green Party will:
Maintain universal New Zealand Superannuation for all New Zealanders 65 years and older, adjusted annually in accordance with movement in the Consumer Price Index, and within the constraints that:
The rate for a couple cannot fall below 65% of the average ordinary time weekly earnings (after the deduction of standard tax and the earner premium payable on those earnings) as determined by the Department of Statistics.
The rate for a couple cannot exceed 72.5 % of the average ordinary time weekly earnings (after the deduction of standard tax and the earner premium payable on those earnings) as determined by the Department of Statistics.
The rate for a single person living alone is 65% of the rate for a couple.
The rate for a single person not living alone is 60% of that for a couple.
Identify ways to allow flexibility in the age a person may receive New Zealand Superannuation.
There is no looming funding disaster FFS. the NZ government can simply choose not to run out of the electronic one’s and zero’s that it uses to pay superannuitants with.
This “looming crisis” is a fucking neoliberal/orthodox monetary fiction.
Exactly like Labour/National in the past declaring that ACC is severely underfunded just because they put their own stupid discretionary requirements on ACC, and they trying to use that as justification to fuck with ACC.
Their general economic policy is based on changing how we measure and create wealth, and changing the tax system to take the burden off individuals (esp those who earn less), make all income taxable, and put the onus on polluters and waste creators via ecological taxes (which makes sense in the transition to a post-carbon world).
But what CV said. I don’t believe there is a crisis in the way conventionally presented. The real crisis is going to be around physical resources, not unlimited ones like ones and zeros.
as Weka intimates, real resources: energy, materials, the quality of our people and our infrastructure, thats the stuff which really matters. Not electronic ones and zeroes manufactured by keyboard strokes. All our politicians have been entranced by the BS that it is electronic spreadsheet bookkeeping entries which constrain it all.
“A replacement show, with two yet-to-be-cast co-hosts, is understood to be shaped by these criticisms and will have more of an ENTERTAINMENT focus and more OVERSIGHT by MediaWorks executives.”
Currently at the Region 5 Labour Party conference. The basic message is very good so far – party vote is critical, the party needs to modernise, and be unified, disciplined and, most importantly, win.
This is just the usual motherhood and apple pie “our values are Labour values” rhetoric. Labour have very little room to move or modernise at the moment because of the short 3 year electoral cycle and resulting concerns that any real upheaval will negatively effect the chances of being elected in 2017. Don’t expect any dead wood MPs to go.
…and working on it with the Greens and NZF and Mana/Int
( who loudly opposed sending NZ troops there in the first place!)…our NZ troops lives should not be put on the line or wasted for this mess…they are too valuable!
Chicken hawks like TRP within the establishment Left and Right are responsible for supporting our troops off into an Iraqi civil war which the US has stoked for years and years.
Andy Burnham being touted as the ‘Left’/Union candidate in UK Labour’s leadership contest, with Liz Kendall the most conspicuously Blairite (after her fellow carrier of the ‘moderniser’ torch, Chuka Umunna, suddenly pulled out) .
Despite a general assumption that the Blairites will retake control of the Party, indications are they’re well and truly on the back foot. Polls suggest Burnham leads amongst both Labour voters and the British public in general, albeit with a relatively high Don’t Know factor. Yvette Cooper second, with Kendall well behind (admittedly, some early polls also recorded considerable support for Umunna and David Milliband before they ruled themselves out). Burnham and Cooper also have the lion’s share of nominations from decided Labour MPs, in the process upsetting a number of leading Blairites who can see power slipping away.
With an up-coming contest to replace Labour’s leader in Scotland and the race for the Party’s London Mayoral candidate, UK Labour faces three simultaneous power struggles.
More proof that the market system just doesn’t work:
French supermarkets will be banned from throwing away or destroying unsold food and must instead donate it to charities or for animal feed, under a law set to crack down on food waste.
The French national assembly voted unanimously to pass the legislation as France battles an epidemic of wasted food that has highlighted the divide between giant food firms and people who are struggling to eat.
One of the ideas of the market system is that it always clears the produce from the shelves and yet it creates this waste where huge amounts of edible food is thrown away amongst hunger and starvation.
There was a recent news item (TV3 I think) on Ron Mark using the F word in Parliament. The translator for the deaf in the background did a remarkable translation. Any chance someone could upload the small section for wider enjoyment. It is classic.
But imagine the fury which would be visited on an Opposition Party in NZ if they had the courage to suggest UBI for consideration. The spite and ridicule would spew out at any such spokesman.
“Meanwhile, Labour’s Grant Robertson denied party leader Andrew Little wants to means test superannuation, saying Mr Little was only answering a question about fairness in the system.”
So the outrage pointed at Andrew for the “reported” comments was not quite fair. Funny that.
Means testing superannuation is not Labour Party policy and, although Andrew Little should have been a bit more careful in how he responded to questioning, he at no time said he wanted it to become Labour Party policy.
Tried to click an interesting article titled, “Why current affairs matter”: Without good journalism, Aotearoa will never become the nation it has the potential to be.
When I clicked the link it asks for your login details just to read the thing, i.e., Stuff want to know who is reading it, or they’ve been told they must…
Ironic much?
Anyone else been asked for authorisation to read a Stuff article before?
3 Associate college degrees -Awesome feeling- completed my first few baby steps to my BIG goal- @NobelPrize med doctor/researcher & @POTUS— Tanishq Abraham (@iScienceLuvr) May 21, 2015
That was my first fleeting thought too. However, he has brilliant, highly educated parents who seem to be comfortable about their son. Besides, I think the boy himself is smart enough to figure all that for himself and knows what is important for him. Also, he seems to have a bevy of friends and admirers from all walks of life.
Yeah, people should get ahead the old fashioned way.
//
LEWIS: Tell us a little bit about you and your business experience and how you got here.
RAESE: I made my money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. I think that’s a great thing to do. I hope more people in this country have that opportunity as soon as we abolish inheritance tax in this country, which is a key part of my program.
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Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
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 ...
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 ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
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so I was doing a bit of thinking about how the Government could better protect NZ Superannuation from the rising costs without changes to the age of eligibility nor sacrificing universal entitlement.
The Government could bring in a ‘pension levy’ on high-income earners. It could be a marginal rate of 2% on incomes between $75,000 and $150,000 and 4% on incomes above $150,000. This would raise about $650million per year.
That $650m could go directly into the NZ Super (Cullen) fund.
Based on continuing contributions, wage inflation, and the Cullen fund rate of return, by 2030 the Cullen fund would have an extra $30 billion to pay for superannuation, a number that’d continue increasing as the levy continues to be paid. The Government is planning to begin withdrawing from the fund around this time.
This is almost like a reverse-means test: it asks the top 10%, and especially top 1% of income earners to make a special contribution to the cost of NZ super whilst protecting universal entitlement to NZ super at age 65.
This is probably the most progressive way of protecting this entitlement, as 90% of people would see no change in their working-age living standard nor their old-age living standard.
Great ideas
But stop hitting wage and salary earners
Start hitting owned wealth, corporate super profits and financial capital
Thanks
PS by seriously discussing means testing of Super, the NZ Labour Party has shown that it is not fit for purpose, and that it does not understand “the future of work” in the fucking slightest.
Don’t worry it was just an annoying blip by Andrew. It’s now off the agenda
Amazing what a little public backlash will do
…well if the idiots have changed their minds it is too late ….it has already been broadcast widely…damage done ….and they look incompetent and flakey
IMO Labour probably lost the 2017 election there and then. One of the reasons why Labour is losing election is because they cannot be trusted on super. Little can back track all he likes, the damage is already done.
This is a Labour Party that we will have to work hard to keep in line.
They knew that raising the Super age was an election loser. Took them two elections to figure that one out. Then they progressed to discussing putting a means test on Super instead? Utterly moronic. At this moment I’m calling advantage NATs to win a fourth term.
you write like you aren’t part of labour
A blip? Thats not a blip – it just show that stuff is being made up on the spot, and that he dosnt have either the support for his ideas, or he dosnt know what he was talking about.
CR+100….totally agree …re:.”PS by seriously discussing means testing of Super, the NZ Labour Party has shown that it is not fit for purpose, and that it does not understand “the future of work” in the fucking slightest”
It is almost as if this Labour Party does not want to win an Election!…austerity on its own constituency!
….there are many super age people who still work but earn a pittance…..for the New Zealand Labour Party to deny those still working their super is pitiful!
..it is a PR gift to jonley Nact!…at very least the Labour Party should be matching Nactional on this issue …they just dont learn do they?
….the NZLP shows a lack of understanding of its own constituency …( imo the corporate Labour Party MPs of Labour Party Inc should have their salaries halved for this mistake)
Robinson has just said that means testing super is not part of there policy revue. On the Nation
So where did Little get the idea from?
Robinson said “that little was asked a question about fairness around super and little said its because we need to have a conversation about it”
Or words to that effect.
Littles right of course but you mess with peoples money at you’re peril.
It’s not their money but that of the country.
I did think that after I put that up that I should of said ‘what they believe is there money”
I have to disagree. Those of us who pay our taxes (and I have paid mine for many years), have had an understanding with the government, that a portion of the taxes we have paid will fund our pension when that time comes. We have paid our money up front, on the promise of a pension later in life.
I can only speak for myself, but I have paid my dues. I began work as a young teen, still at school, in the mid sixties. I worked right through high school – book shop, paper run, department store. I’ve never been on the dole, on the DPB, on the sickness benefit, never been sick in hospital, never had a student loan, never needed to be subsidized in any way. I’ve been an employee, and an employer, creating jobs for others. I raised my kids to be good, contributing citizens who now pay their taxes. I’ve earned my pension. I’ve kept my part of my bargain with the government and more besides. I expect my government to honour it’s part of the bargain it has with me.
There’s never been anything in NZSuper about paying up front. It’s always been paid from current taxes and that makes it the countries money and not yours.
You’ve never created a job for others in your life – the community did and you just capitalised on that.
Nick Hanauer “Rich people don’t create jobs”
I agree with most of what you say Scotty. I, too, am now on the pension and I’ve earned it – every penny of it. But something that perhaps is not fully understood by Labour is that… while our parents could live comfortably on the pension many people no longer can do so because of exorbitant rates, insurance and power bills – to name just the most obvious. We are forced to supplement our income by taking on part-time work just to be able to make ends meet.
I suspect Andrew Little didn’t have us in mind when he made his comment, but rather those who have been able – or lucky enough – to acquire a fortune over the years and don’t need a pension. If that was the case then he should have been more explicit. I hope he has learned a lesson not to expect the MSM to fairly or accurately report him.
Little is NOT right at all.
Labour is gutless going after individual Kiwis instead of the foreign corporations who take $10B or more per year out of NZ.
…..didn’t someone just ask him if it was on the agenda, and he tried to remain open and calm, saying it was a good question??? or did I actually miss something important, not just a media stitch up. (Nat plan working well, and Labour go into “eating their young” when under stress mode)
If we don’t have a Labour Party willing to defend the inviolability of key foundations of our democratic social welfare state, then what good are they.
+ zillion. Labour’s big issue is regaining trust, this isn’t the way to do it.
On the other hand, let them settle into being a centrist party (better them than UF or the Peters party), and the Greens will take the left and leave room for a new party to take the radical left. We don’t have time to wait for Labour to sort its shit out.
Labour’s big issue is factions/division, against a National machine as organised as Hitler’s Panza divisions.
It’s all very well telling the leaders what people in Labour want, but if we don’t get into power by finding about what the “vast majority of Nuzilland” want, we will continue to watch National stripping the country of any values, cohesion, connection etc.
I’m a GP voter, the core values have to stand, otherwise it’s just about the power. The idea that getting power is the most important thing is why we no longer have a left at the party political level.
I agree about the factions, and that’s something that’s only going to be solved internally within Labour if enough people want it. Having core values and sticking to them would help.
We don’t need to know what that vast majority want in order foe the left for form govt, we just need 50% of voters. That’s not enough to to run a country though, for that you have to know what you believe in and gain the trust of voters to support you.
Labour prides itself on being a “broad church”, inclusive and there for the 99%. How can it be that they don’t understand what NZers in general want?
Unless of course, they are socially, culturally and economically disconnected from the people they say they serve.
but not a federation of separatist interest groups?
“disconnected from the people they say they serve.”
The relationship is not that simple, it goes both ways.
Labour caucus has to organise/galvanise people with less power into a big enough group to gain power over those with financial/economic power.
Not an easy task, and made harder if they are expected to be looking behind them all the time. at the fighting factions.
My personal opinion is that investment income and earned income should be taxed completely equally and that there should be no distinction. So I’d apply the levy to both in my ideal world. So I definitely agree with you there.
I think a levy on high incomes (both earned and unearned) that goes directly into the Super Fund makes sense because it is essentially the rich paying extra for the Super that they’ll be claiming as part of the universal entitlement to Super at 65.
They already do a great job by adding halides to the water supply.
You know it’s a plan right?
What is the argument by rich pensioners that they should receive full taxpayer funded super?
That they paid their taxes?
That they built the country?
That they just, um, want it?
That they deserve it?
It all just seems incredibly hypocritical and greedy. Always has.
Universal entitlements are powerful expression of socialist thought. What are you going to do next? Put a surcharge on rich people who go to GPs and use A&E?
Shall we start asset testing the dole and the DPB?
CR +100 …that should bring Labour down to under 20% of the Electorate vote i would think
The NZ Labour Party should engage a few consultants and advisors from Scottish Labour, I’m thinking
Um … we *do* asset-test the DPB (or as it is now called, Sole Parent Support):
http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/individuals/a-z-benefits/sole-parent-support.html
You may be able to get Sole Parent Support if you’re a single parent or caregiver with one or more dependent children aged under 14 years.
You must also be:
aged 19 or older
not in a relationship
without adequate financial support
a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident who has been here for at least two years at any one time since becoming a citizen or permanent resident, and who normally lives here.
Pretty sure that’s an income test not an asset test.
Weka, I can assure you on every single application and review form for every type of benefit and supplement they ask about your cash and non-cash assets. There’s a limit to how much you can have before they won’t let you have certain benefits/grants. Can’t remember what it is now because I’ve never had anywhere near the amount so moot point.
Weka is correct. Its an income test. The asset test is for any extra things like accommodation supplement etc.
I responded here Kay,
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23052015/#comment-1019263
Good point, I was reading asset-test in the wider sense of means-test.
ETA: The wider point being that the DPB is not a universal payment to parents the way superannuation is a universal payment to over-65s.
Yep, and earlier I was taking means test to mean asset test only when I think Little was talking about income testing (as in means test = income and/or assets).
The ‘dole’ and Sole Parent Benefit are already examined for assets that may provide cash eg caravans, boats, bonus bonds. Housing isn’t counted unless you have more than one. You also have to declare investments and cash in the bank.
Assets affect Accommodation Supplement and TAS, afaik they don’t affect the base benefits. Investments are assets, but interest from investments is counted as income.
At least that’s what it’s been historically. Are you saying that pressure is being put in beneficiaries to sell assets? That would normally only happen if they were after one of the supplementary allowances, which let’s face it, is most beneficiaries (although I think Disability Allowance is exempt).
I am not sure about ‘pressure’ as such, mostly because I have never had anything that qualified, lol, but I know that you get the message in subtle and not so subtle ways, that realisable assets such as bonus bonds, caravans, boats etc should be the first call rather than the resources of the state.
The problem with those ideas are that they rely upon the system remaining the same and it’s actually the system that’s the problem. What we need to do is:
1. The government become the sole creator and source of NZ$
2. Full UBI
3. Comprehensive capital taxes. That means taxes on property, on capital gains and financial transaction
This will create a situation where we don’t need different rules for retired people compared to working people – everyone will get the UBI and all income and wealth will be taxed. But the most important aspect is that it will put the government in the position where it doesn’t need an income or borrowings to pay for anything thus it will always be able to afford everything.
The tax system could then be redesigned upon a more feasible understanding of the flow of money. Specifically, that money always comes from the government and that taxes destroy that money.
Largely agree. I do see chosen roles for private sector credit creation however.
But we see where Labour’s head is at. They won’t agree to a UBI because there are “fairness” issues with rich Kiwis getting it along with poor ones.
The whole concept of an “unconditional” or “universal” benefit seems to be beyond Labour’s comprehension.
That would certainly solve quite a few problems in NZ 😈
hmm, weird, that’s supposed to be a reply to,
“The NZ Labour Party should engage a few consultants and advisors from Scottish Labour, I’m thinking”
Well, you’re right, that would solve a few roadblocks for the Left heh
I don’t as it always results in runaway money creation. That’s why such private money creation was made illegal 300 years ago and why crypto-currencies are also a failed system.
There was a comprehensive presentation on the UBI at the Region 4 conference earlier this month, but no remit was put forward. How do we expect the party to adopt a policy without using the democratic processes to push for one?
That’s how all those terrible progressive “identity” issues you hate so much get through, after all.
Is there any way of accessing that presentation?
Max Rashbrooke here references some of the work Perce Harpham has done on the UBI. Perce, one of NZs first and most successful tech entrepreneurs, has done a massive amount of work on the UBI.
http://www.inequality.org.nz/universal-basic-income-how-it-could-work-in-nz/
In regards to a ubi I just did a quick search and I came up with a total benefit spend including super and WFF of 30 billion(please correct me if my figure s are out.)
Covered by 4 million people it was about 7 thousand each so there would have to be a lot more money found to support those that can’t top this up themselves .
Do a search on the standard for UBI. There have been some good posts and lots of discussion, including what level it could be set at and how that would be paid for (there are various ideas and proposals on that).
You don’t have to “find more money” the money is already there in the current income of the people of the nation, and of the nation itself, it is simply redistributed. And if required, a small amount of additional liquidity no more than 1% of GDP can be introduced by the Reserve Bank to the government’s accounts.
This is actually incorrect but it’s the fear that everyone focuses upon because everyone looks at government needing an income first which it doesn’t. The government must become the sole creator and source of NZ$ in the economy. The UBI then becomes the primary funding of the economy and taxes become the drain that prevents excessive money buildup. Essentially, inflation would be controlled by taxes rather than the OCR (which doesn’t work anyway and, in fact, causes other problems).
“””The government must become the sole creator and source of NZ$ in the economy.””
Is there any country doing this and does it work?
No, in all the countries which are part of the agreed central banking system, the commercial and investment banks have a lot of power to create money/bank credit (they are not quite the same thing, but are often treated as such).
BTW countries which do not belong to this international central banking system tend to end up militarily destroyed.
”BTW countries which do not belong to this international central banking system tend to end up militarily destroyed”
Is that what Giddarfi was up to.
No there isn’t and yes it does.
EDIT: You should probably also read this:
Maintaining a ‘tyranny of fraud’ isn’t the way to maintain a prosperous economy.
This sounds like a complete overhaul of our financial system. Is there an explanation for financial dummies (like me) on how this would work on the net?
Modern Monetary Theory.
Stephanie Kelton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbM3crOcmR0
Also Randall Wray:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=949JLYr2L90
Warren Mosler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68vVlN3D80Q
Cheers, got a bit of watching to do now :).
There’s a number of systems proposed. The most well known would probably be the Chicago Plan and Positive Money.
“But we see where Labour’s head is at. They won’t agree to a UBI because there are “fairness” issues with rich Kiwis getting it along with poor ones.”
Where did you get that from specifically?
“The whole concept of an “unconditional” or “universal” benefit seems to be beyond Labour’s comprehension.”
Little seems to be in favour.
Yeah except the closest thing we have to a UBI now – NZ super – he reckons we should consider questions of means testing
That tells me that he doesn’t understand the concept of the universality of benefits.
DTB….sounds good…definitely on capital gains and financial transaction tax…and full UBI
Just some screendumps of the daily dose of war propaganda from the Daily Mail site.
Bugger, Screendumps here
Andrew Little is attacked by Grey Power because of his super slip-up
https://nz.news.yahoo.com/top-stories/a/28199670/pension-comments-not-so-super-grey-power/
Three hit and run comments this morning, facetious.
I really admire people who write on behalf of the powerful….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/budget-2015/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503822&objectid=11452961
Why announce something, then turn around and denounce it on the same day? Was this ‘policy on the fly’ or actually discussed with his colleagues? I just don’t get the strategy here. Groundhog day in the Labour camp, and easily pulled to pieces by Peters and Key.
An utter fucking mess
Just a point.
Super is taxable, so there is some claw back (means testing)
Lab introduced a surcharge back in the late 80s. That did NOT go well.
Labour is attracted to austerity; National keeps spending on the poor and disadvantaged even in the face of government deficits.
The number of older people as percentage of the population is rising.
Old people are more likely to vote and younger people are rapidly giving up doing so.
This makes the older vote important now and very likely more so in the future.
By the time they are in their middle 50s most people are starting to think about retirement and how they will cope financially in their old age.
Andrew Little”s musings on the pension are a recurring theme among Labour politicians, and despite what activists may say, are an indication of the warped ideas on fairness held by many of the technocrats who control Labour.
No older person in their right mind would trust Labour unless they were already very financially secure.
Good luck with ever winning an election in this situation – no matter how bad the opposition is.
+100 lefty…the NZLP Inc is gobsmackingly inept
Heaven help us if any topic raised for musing or discussion is rubbished as toxic. Surely in a democratic society, the issues such as aging population and Super must be discussed.
It is a Right wing tactic to seize on any comment from an opposition member and twist it and malign the speaker. Dirty Tricks I say. But for Lefties to put the boot in makes it worse.
i am just stating the obvious…to everyone outside the Labour Party that is…i do not believe in blind allegiance or loyalty
…Andrew Little was incompetent in what he said…dont care if you spin it as “musing” or “discussion” …it makes me wonder how well he understands Labour’s grassroots constituency
( and I was once an active member for the Labour Party…and my Mother a branch chairperson….in fact my whole family have voted Labour for generations…with emphasis on “have”)
Any party which considers taking away basic state support and services for the people must be rubbished.
Further – does the Labour Party not understand that NZ Super is paid out in NZ dollars? And that the NZ Government is the sole legal issuer of NZ dollars in the world? And that the NZ Government can therefore choose to never run out of funds for necessary and important activities?
It’s utterly idiotic to promote austerity measures because you think you are about to run out of electronic numbers in computerised account scorecards.
+100 CR…I would vote for you!
😀 yours is the vote I need!!!
well I would if I could ….(cos unfortunately i have jumped ship)
…good luck with turning the tanker Labour around before it hits the rocks and beaches…with people with the smarts like you steering Labour, it could form a very viable coalition with the Greens and NZF and Mana/Int and defeat jonkey Nactional
Labour needs some think tanks pre-plotting the coordinates and steering policy so the captain doesnt run amok..imo
It’s not just the Labour party who gets that wrong – it’s everybody and we get it wrong because we’ve been taught over the generations, but especially over the last 40 years, that wealth comes from rich people rather than the community.
yep, the BS “wealth creators” meme. Labour in NZ refers to them as wealth generators.
Universal entitlement is a pretty core left wing value. It’s not so much a topic being slammed as Labour yet again proposing centrist values instead of left wing ones. If Labour were discussing lots of policy that made left wing people feel better about the party they might get away with discussing superannuation means testing, but in the very large void that has been left on the left, it’s just going to turn people away to do it now.
The utmost priority for Labour should be regaining trust and remedying the damage done by Labour’s betrayal in the 80s. That stuff’s not going to go away.
?
Centrist values? You are being very generous. You want to show me a group of centre voters, or even a mid-right voters, anywhere in NZ who would support means testing on NZ Super?
neocentrist/kind austerity ones then. It’s Labour saying, we only have so much money, we want to create a fair society and that means not paying out the limited pie to people who don’t need it. That’s fair right? etc. I don’t agree with that, but I can see that they could pitch it to ‘middle nz’ so long as the means test was high not middle. I think they’re wrong, but it is part of that whole lets be left and centrist at the same time thing.
btw, base benefits aren’t means tested, but Accommodation Supplement and the hardship grant are. That was true under Labour as well.
I think Labour are pitching to a centrist voting constituency that they don’t understand in the slightest. No one in the centre of NZ politics wants to see Super turned into just another means tested asset tested benefit.
That’s probably true and true.
Phew, someone else saying it, I responded above but wrong place..
“…..didn’t someone just ask him if it was on the agenda, and he tried to remain open and calm, saying it was a good question??? or did I actually miss something important, not just a media stitch up. (Nat plan working well, and Labour go into “eating their young” when under stress mode)
Don’t fall for it guys!!!!!
whateva next
You are correct. It is a media stitchup just like wotsisname (The reporter who looks like Alfred E Neumann) trying to engineer answers so he can create his own news. I heard the interview and what is reported is nothing like what was said.
Little agreed that the issue had to be confronted. I would have told the reporter to F**k off and stop trying to make news where none existed…or maybe just told him to cut the crap.
yep, the same with MSM (National) picking up on ONE of the issues Young Labour raised, “gender reassignment ops being provided free”
Same trap (abyss) Cunliffe fell into, defending yourself against rabid hounds of the press, backed against a wall with nowhere to go.
ianmac – I agree it is disheartening and demoralising when the left starts attacking itself – particularly in this period when there is so little traction being made in focussing on the right – but Little made it a whole lot worse yesterday.
You are right to raise the point that a healthy democracy should be encouraging debate.
A healthy democracy is not one where a political philosophy can be foisted on a nation just as a result of a ballot box every three years. A healthy democracy is one where nearly 100 percent of eligible voters cast their votes and at least 51 percent (a clear majority) give a mandate to a party to govern. (not cobbled together coalitions).
Of course there is a huge discussion to be had around that.
Our problems in New Zealand and for most democracies is the power of the Multinationals and the growing lack of sovereignty (if we ever had it completely).
You will remember the period of Thatcher (and followed here by Douglas a few years later) – their biggest anti-left action was to remove exchange controls. With a stroke of the pen, the multinationals and big business could shift their monies at will and with that potential radical left-wing policies could never be included in manifestos.
You will also remember Thatcher say to the great unwashed – do not worry about the short term affects of our decisions – there will be a trickle down affect. And you will enjoy the opportunities that the service industries will offer.
She also promised that the new technologies would provide us all with greater leisure time. The new technologies have certainly created a huge pool of unemployed who have subsequently be labelled as lazy by the right. And, of course, who controls the new technologies that are creating the massive pool of “unwashed” – yep and creaming off the profits. The multinationals – e.g. the banks for starters.
If you want a healthy democracy, then party based politics is probably not the way to go. If it has to be party based politics, then coalitions of parties are more likely to reflect the will of the people rather than single party rule by decree terms.
+1
Logie97 – “I agree it is disheartening and demoralising when the left starts attacking itself ”
Really I thought it was our greatest strength – robust debate and thrashing out of ideas. Not some stalinist wet dream of following the party line. The overbearing weight of the old left was what crushed the left in the west – the blind obedience and dogmatism – were a heavy blow for aspirations and new thinking. Indeed freedom and fraternity were crushed under strict adherence to one set of ideas. Did you miss 1968 and the questions raised?
Liberalism as the dominant economic idea is back in force and is very destructive. Both locally and globally. Everyone here gets that basic premises – well maybe not the usual suspects of liberals like Gossy and Hotts .
There is no magical left solution to the damage, and destruction wrought by liberal economics. There are some very good ideas on how to deal with a world postliberalism – and we need to trash those out.
yep
the Labour MPs with their property portfolios, generous parliamentary Kiwi Saver schemes and top 2% income musing on ways to cut back NZ Super.
Disgusting.
+100
GP Super policy, in case anyone is looking for someone else to vote for (or another party to join)
https://home.greens.org.nz/policy/income-support-policy
thanx…seems like a good policy….generally the Greens are more intelligent than Labour ( smirk)
No surprise so many Labour supporters and activists have switched Green over the last decade.
What’s the greens plans on how to fund what’s said to be the looming disaster wlth funding super?
There is no looming funding disaster FFS. the NZ government can simply choose not to run out of the electronic one’s and zero’s that it uses to pay superannuitants with.
This “looming crisis” is a fucking neoliberal/orthodox monetary fiction.
Exactly like Labour/National in the past declaring that ACC is severely underfunded just because they put their own stupid discretionary requirements on ACC, and they trying to use that as justification to fuck with ACC.
b waghorn, one thing they want is to put Super investments into ethical and safe investments.
https://home.greens.org.nz/press-releases/super-fund-should-divest-140-million-high-risk-coal
Their general economic policy is based on changing how we measure and create wealth, and changing the tax system to take the burden off individuals (esp those who earn less), make all income taxable, and put the onus on polluters and waste creators via ecological taxes (which makes sense in the transition to a post-carbon world).
https://home.greens.org.nz/policysummary/economic-policy-summary
https://home.greens.org.nz/policy/economic
But what CV said. I don’t believe there is a crisis in the way conventionally presented. The real crisis is going to be around physical resources, not unlimited ones like ones and zeros.
Cheers yes government should be leading the charge on environmental issues coal is so 1800s
as Weka intimates, real resources: energy, materials, the quality of our people and our infrastructure, thats the stuff which really matters. Not electronic ones and zeroes manufactured by keyboard strokes. All our politicians have been entranced by the BS that it is electronic spreadsheet bookkeeping entries which constrain it all.
Its a kind of collective delusion.
+ 1
You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth.
It appears the right can’t
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11453375
You want the truth?, but you can’t handle the truth.
It appears the right can’t
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11453375
Well, who would of guessed..
“A replacement show, with two yet-to-be-cast co-hosts, is understood to be shaped by these criticisms and will have more of an ENTERTAINMENT focus and more OVERSIGHT by MediaWorks executives.”
Currently at the Region 5 Labour Party conference. The basic message is very good so far – party vote is critical, the party needs to modernise, and be unified, disciplined and, most importantly, win.
How would they do those things?
This is just the usual motherhood and apple pie “our values are Labour values” rhetoric. Labour have very little room to move or modernise at the moment because of the short 3 year electoral cycle and resulting concerns that any real upheaval will negatively effect the chances of being elected in 2017. Don’t expect any dead wood MPs to go.
Maybe, but it would be good to hear from someone who was actually there.
Smarter volunteer management
Better packaging of policy
Fewer headline policies
Better candidate selection
Better use of existing resources
Policy is tomorrow.
Don’t have a very good feeling about this, we’ve sent our troops into a quagmire. Looks like they’ll immediately be on the front line.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/68761120/kiwi-troops-deployed-to-iraq-face-any-number-of-threats–david-shearer
Anyone know of any movement/protest to try and bring our troops back earlier?
Labour Party should be demanding this!
…and working on it with the Greens and NZF and Mana/Int
( who loudly opposed sending NZ troops there in the first place!)…our NZ troops lives should not be put on the line or wasted for this mess…they are too valuable!
Chicken hawks like TRP within the establishment Left and Right are responsible for supporting our troops off into an Iraqi civil war which the US has stoked for years and years.
Andy Burnham being touted as the ‘Left’/Union candidate in UK Labour’s leadership contest, with Liz Kendall the most conspicuously Blairite (after her fellow carrier of the ‘moderniser’ torch, Chuka Umunna, suddenly pulled out) .
Despite a general assumption that the Blairites will retake control of the Party, indications are they’re well and truly on the back foot. Polls suggest Burnham leads amongst both Labour voters and the British public in general, albeit with a relatively high Don’t Know factor. Yvette Cooper second, with Kendall well behind (admittedly, some early polls also recorded considerable support for Umunna and David Milliband before they ruled themselves out). Burnham and Cooper also have the lion’s share of nominations from decided Labour MPs, in the process upsetting a number of leading Blairites who can see power slipping away.
With an up-coming contest to replace Labour’s leader in Scotland and the race for the Party’s London Mayoral candidate, UK Labour faces three simultaneous power struggles.
Canon Media awards serving as a balance against the NZ Radio awards?
More proof that the market system just doesn’t work:
One of the ideas of the market system is that it always clears the produce from the shelves and yet it creates this waste where huge amounts of edible food is thrown away amongst hunger and starvation.
There was a recent news item (TV3 I think) on Ron Mark using the F word in Parliament. The translator for the deaf in the background did a remarkable translation. Any chance someone could upload the small section for wider enjoyment. It is classic.
For your pleasure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38fBxDV9zTM
Brilliant! Many thanks.
The Swiss have a referendum on UBI due next year 2016. The Swiss Government oppose UBI but referendum will still go ahead. Many people believe that it would work.
http://www.basicincome.org/news/2014/08/switerland-government-reacts-negatively-to-ubi-proposal/
But imagine the fury which would be visited on an Opposition Party in NZ if they had the courage to suggest UBI for consideration. The spite and ridicule would spew out at any such spokesman.
“Meanwhile, Labour’s Grant Robertson denied party leader Andrew Little wants to means test superannuation, saying Mr Little was only answering a question about fairness in the system.”
So the outrage pointed at Andrew for the “reported” comments was not quite fair. Funny that.
Yep, this is another media beat up.
Means testing superannuation is not Labour Party policy and, although Andrew Little should have been a bit more careful in how he responded to questioning, he at no time said he wanted it to become Labour Party policy.
Tried to click an interesting article titled, “Why current affairs matter”: Without good journalism, Aotearoa will never become the nation it has the potential to be.
http://www.preview.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/11826323/Opinion-Budget-Live-National-hit-two-birds-with-one-stone
When I clicked the link it asks for your login details just to read the thing, i.e., Stuff want to know who is reading it, or they’ve been told they must…
Ironic much?
Anyone else been asked for authorisation to read a Stuff article before?
Tanishq Mathew Abraham
An astonishing 11 (or 12?) year old prodigy!
Read all about this fascinating child below!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanishq_Abraham
Brilliant kids. But what about their socialisation? It is pretty hard for a kid to be different.
And probably more so if that difference isn’t recognised.
That was my first fleeting thought too. However, he has brilliant, highly educated parents who seem to be comfortable about their son. Besides, I think the boy himself is smart enough to figure all that for himself and knows what is important for him. Also, he seems to have a bevy of friends and admirers from all walks of life.
A simple illustrated story about how the wealthy get to stay rich while the poor get poorer no matter how hard they work.
http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate
It’s very good, getting attention on social media, maybe it could go up as a post on ts?
http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/toxic_lobby_edc.pdf
How the chemical lobby blocked action on hormone disrupting chemicals
Apply to [name the industry]
Karen your link is simply a cartoonist with a political bent, doesn’t make it true unless stereotype is the test for truth
It is true. There’s been a number of studies that prove it to be true. Piketty is probably the most detailed such study but there are others as well.
Capitalism doesn’t work the way you believe. It’s essentially feudalism.
Yeah, people should get ahead the old fashioned way.
//
LEWIS: Tell us a little bit about you and your business experience and how you got here.
RAESE: I made my money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. I think that’s a great thing to do. I hope more people in this country have that opportunity as soon as we abolish inheritance tax in this country, which is a key part of my program.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/09/24/120661/raese-money-inheritanc/