Lincoln University’s professor of agribusiness Keith Woodford estimates that half of dairy exports have been affected.
Source: RadioNZ
The government says no retaliatory protections are envisioned for NZ industry.
In other news the government of economic traitors favours Chinese train builders over the local rail industry.
So in practice under “Free Trade”, the bigger more powerful country gets all the advantage while the leaders of the small country get to prostrate our workforce and our economy before them.
But hasn’t this always been the way?
Even under the Brits in the 19th century when British imperialism was in it’s ascendency the struggle between the “Free Traders” and those in favour of “Tarriff Reform” was played out. Where the strong country Britain set the terms of trade for their dominions, which were then administered by local saptraps. (Just as in modern New Zealand).
By sucking up to the superpower of the day the local mercantile ruling elite benefit at the expense of the rest of the local population. As a result of this craven foreign trade policy, the local elite, get to lead lives of privilege while the rest of us are turned into unemployed or low paid serfs in our own land and the local Maharajas, (Jonkey and co.), working in with their foreign partners live it up.
So in practice under “Free Trade”, the bigger more powerful country gets all the advantage while the leaders of the small country get to prostrate our workforce and our economy before them.
Yep and that’s why we’re worse off now after three decades of neo-liberal policies. The economists even know that the smaller economy in the relationship will always be worse off.
By sucking up to the superpower of the day the local mercantile ruling elite benefit at the expense of the rest of the local population.
Well, they’re kept in power and are reasonably well rewarded for selling out their country but they don’t do as well as the foreign over-lords.
China is smarter at playing the Free Trade game in their own interests than we are. In fact we are shit at it because we naively believe that there is such a thing as even playing field, everyone gets a fair go “free trade”.
It’s a funny old world when Ken Mair comes across as the voice of reason, but his description of Hone’s meltdown last night is spot on:
‘Mr Mair said the change in line-up wasn’t a “cover-up” and Mr Harawira had gone too far.
“Once again, that’s the style of Hone,” he said. “I was taken back by his rather aggressive style, his swearing. I don’t think it’s appropriate in this type of forum; in particular in front of children and some of our kuia [senior women].”‘
That nicely echoes my comment on the ‘Turia’ post that Hone will lose because of his unparalleled ability to annoy mature voters. The young will support him, but as they’re not on the roll, that’s no help to him now. Maybe, by November, his supporters will get the message and enrol, which could make the vote then closer, but for now, he’s toast.
That bullshitting poacher turned gamekeeper Ken Mair, Vice-President of the Maori Party, needn’t nut off about Hone Harawira using the words “bullshit Maori Party tactics” re Solomon’s failure to turn up at the Tai Tokerau education hui last night.
The very same Ken Mair of Moutoua Gardens fame, the menacing, shrill hacksaw voiced dork who had the gathered at Waitangi a few years ago pissing themselves at his self-centred “freestyle” haka.
The idiot who had violent insurgent written all over him, who didn’t give a stuff how many kuia of whatever stripe, or kids, were present when he got off his chain as it suited him.
Hone says “bullshit” and Mair’s clutching his pearls like some startled Edwardian dowager.
There’s none like the converted……….for rank hypocrisy that is.
Away with you Ken Mair…….you egg. You’re not a fraction of the fulla Hone is !
I met Ken Mair on Pakaitore (Moutoa Gardens) during the last days of the occupation in ’95. Despite the tension, the personal attacks he was under, the pressure from his own supporters, he was very welcoming to me and my whanau and took time out to show us around and explain the dispute from his perspective. He was rational, calm and forgiving of my limited understanding of their ties to the river I grew up next to. He was clearly not at all the person maligned in the media or indeed, by you, North.
But perhaps you know Mair better than me or maybe his comment last night just show how far he has come and how far Hone has to go?
Well right back at ya Voice Of Reason………my personal experience of Hone Harawira tells me, using your own words Voice, that Hone Harawira “…..is clearly not at all the person maligned in the media, or indeed by…….” you Voice or by Ken Mair.
Remains that Mair is hardly one to engage such piety over the word “bullshit”, particularly given that Harawira has never come within cooey of Mair’s excesses.
A double standard is hardly the voice of reason Voice of Reason.
“……Mair’s clutching his pearls like some startled Edwardian dowager” … best visual of the year so far ! Thank you for the laughter in the grey drear of it all !
Hey doofus I am 55 and am the proud father of a 5 week old, just because anyone is over 50 they are not dead. I applaud Tipene for standing up and probably doing something that is probably new to him. And all he gets is ” he’s a silly old man” yada yada yada. Hey Millsy come and say it to my face and I WILL show you where moses bought his beer. fucking tosser.
Well maybe you should be a little more careful in some of the generalisations you are making ie he’s 56, he’s a grandfather And as PP can also attest that acting our age is one of the last things we want to do. So say he’s a racist shit head or a what ever and I will keep quiet call any other politician and depending on who they are and i may respond, and not nastily. What got my goat was the inference that at 56 everyone should sit back, and rock their grand children to sleep and act our age.
BTW how is a 56 year old supposed to act like ? what age should i act? you see the endless possibilities in a debate on that fact alone.
Bloody hell! Im eighty and still chasing my lovely wife ,and sometimes catch her.
However it was Charlie Chaplin who squashed all the old wives tale about us old wrinklies. He was born just around the corner from where I was born so perhaps a bit has brushed off ? hopefully !
pink postman – Ooh this is good stuff. You can rely on The Standard for lively anecdotes and repartee with style (and pearls). But when it comes to DF it’s pearls before swine!
That’s pretty encouraging. The production volumes they outlined, if achieved, will make a big difference to the viability of the industry come oil price shocks.
In the new ecology of political discourse, special-interest contributors of the large sums of money now required for the privilege of addressing voters on a wholesale basis are not squeamish about asking for the quo they expect in return for their quid. Politicians who don’t acquiesce don’t get the money they need to be elected and re-elected. And the impact is doubled when special interests make clear — usually bluntly — that the money they are withholding will go instead to opponents who are more than happy to pledge the desired quo. Politicians have been racing to the bottom for some time, and are presently tunneling to new depths. It is now commonplace for congressmen and senators first elected decades ago — as I was — to comment in private that the whole process has become unbelievably crass, degrading and horribly destructive to the core values of American democracy.
And the US does have rules and regulations that, supposedly, control lobbyists etc. I suppose the question now is, are we going to demand that our politicians put in place even stronger rules on transparency? Can’t really expect so from this government as the last time such transparency and regulation was tried we got a faux Democracy Under Attack meme from them that was supported by the MSM.
Interesting little confrontation on NewstalkZB this morning (23.6.11)
NewstalkZB, Thursday 23 June 2011, 7:40 a.m.
Mike Hosking and Alasdair Thompson vs. Helen Kelly
Catherine Delahunty’s new Equal Pay Bill has drawn the ire of two of the National government’s biggest supporters: the Employers and Manufacturers Association and NewstalkZB. Time to get one of those lefty pinko commies onto the programme and deal to her, tag-team fashion.
Whoops! Not only was it was a bad idea, and (as we shall see) badly executed, it never had a chance. Alasdair Thompson up against Helen Kelly? That’s a mis-match made in Employer Hell…
Helen Kelly begins the discussion by pointing out that the statistics are irrefutable, and show women get lower pay across the board. This prompts Thompson to launch into a windy tirade about the “unreliability of statistics” and the “myth” that women get lower pay. Whenever Kelly tries to talk, he shouts her down, and talks relentlessly. Thompson is aided and abetted in this strategy by Hosking, whose contribution consists of thoughtfully saying “Mmmm, yeah” to show he agrees with everything Thompson says.
But Helen Kelly is not one to be intimidated and shut down by such behaviour. Last year she faced down the bully-boys and girls from Peter Jackson Inc., South Pacific Pictures, Warner Bros. and the National government. So a windy and incoherent haranguing from somebody like Alasdair Thompson was never going to de-rail her. She finally insists on being heard, and makes him stop…
KELLY: You can try to talk over me and stop me from speaking, but you won’t succeed. If women and men are equal as you say, why are aged care workers, who do incredibly difficult and responsible work, paid minimum wage?
THOMPSON: That’s got NOTHING to do with them being women! It’s just an all-woman job, that’s why!
HOSKING: Mmm. yeah. You can’t argue with that!
THOMPSON: Look, you have to realize something. Women are different from men.
HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.
THOMPSON: They get paid less than men do because once a month they, uh, they have, uh, well, they have “sick problems”.
HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.
THOMPSON: They get pregnant, and have babies. And then they have to stay home and look after sick children.
HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.
THOMPSON: I don’t like to say this, because it looks like I’m a sexist.
KELLY: Of course. I’m glad you said it, Alasdair. I let you go on and on with that one.
Silence. Even the insensitive and brusque Alisdair Thompson realises he has just been horribly and publicly owned.
HOSKING: Alasdair Thompson and Helen Kelly, thank you very much!
——————————————————–
But that’s not the end of it. Although he has been quite incapable of formulating any response to Helen Kelly while she was on air, Hosking has one more way of getting at her—he can read out any number of hateful texts and e-mails, purportedly from listeners…
HOSKING: “It seems like a bill rooted in feminist ideology”, says this text. This one says: “HELEN KELLY, WHAT A MUPPET!” And there are many more like this! It’s ten to eight!
Interesting fact: NewstalkZB’s slogan is “Fair and Balanced”.
I’ve noticed this tactic from Nats used alot by their MPs in media debates – they talk over their opponents, interrupt with any old argument they can throw out – which doesn’t matter to them because they don’t allow time for the opposition to respond to point out their factual errors and/or ideological slant.
Nikki Kaye has used it against Jacinda Ardern in the debates between them on Citizen A – at least, she used it in the first debate, but Jacinda (and Bomber) were wise to it. In the second debate, Jacinda was more proactive about getting her points across, including telling Kaye calmly but assertively not to interrupt when Kaye did so. Kaye looked a little put out and lost when she wasn’t able to bulldoze through with her lines.
Although, this didn’t stop Kaye by claiming, in her final word, that National had a better record and more committment to public transport in Auckland than Labour.
FFS, as a westie, I noticed the improvement under the Labour-led government in rail transport & station upgrades from the western areas into the city. And National is STILL more committed to their RONS than public transport. Nats think they can swear blue is red and no-one will notice if they talk louder & don’t let the opposition get a word in.
And as for Kaye repeatedly claiming that Nats were not ideologically-driven…..???!!
they talk over their opponents, interrupt with any old argument they can throw out – which doesn’t matter to them because they don’t allow time for the opposition to respond to point out their factual errors and/or ideological slant
The problem stems from the incompetence or bias of the host (in this case, Mike Hosking). A decent and impartial host would have kept the conversation on track. Hosking made no attempt at all to be fair or impartial; in fact, he slavishly endorsed everything Thompson said.
Nikki Kaye used it in the first debate, but Jacinda (and Bomber) were wise to it
I’m impressed by Jacinda Ardern. She’s tough, and regularly shows up Simon Bridges as shallow, vague and poorly prepared. On National Radio last year, Bomber politely but persistently challenged some false statements by Murray McCully’s vile ex-squeeze Michele Boag, reducing her to spluttering incoherence. Obviously Boag doesn’t come across many people brave enough to take her on.
What are the grounds for filing a BSA complaint against Mike ‘Mmmm yeah’ Hosking who effectively encouraged the dissemination of such bad view and attitude by failing to poke and probe Thompson ?
You can file any BSA complaint you want, whether there are grounds or not. The BSA then review it and judge it.
I filed one against The Edge for promoting pot at 8:20am when I was driving to work. The authority said it was very close, but on balance they decided to reject the complaint.
I think if I had pointed out that they were exerting significant amounts of peer-pressure on a fellow radio worker to eat a cannabis muffin and that this was a bad example for children, that they probably would have upheld the complaint. Unfortunately I didn’t consider that angle until after I’d sent the form off.
The thing for Thompson to do … the thing for Thompson – who is a man who doesn’t have “sick problems”, doesn’t get pregnant and have babies, doesn’t have to stay at home and look after the sick – is to apologise for the statements he had made and resign.
Has Alasdair got the balls that he finds so superior for having as a man?
This guy Thompson is a typical Right-Wing ignorant loud-mouth.For years now he has been calling for Youth rates , Lowering the mininum wage and attacking unions. Perhaps now is the time for workers to get even. Lets all demand his resignation and bar him from any simular position. Jim N you mention Michelle Boag well there’s the answer put him on a island with her and a diet of viagra . bloody hell just imagine being embraced by her ? Mind you imagine some poor woman being embraced by Thomson.
I loved Thompson at the Labour Conference last year saying that we should follow the example of Ireland and axe our company tax rates because Ireland had done so well from it, if you ignore the last few years.
I would like to ask Thompson what research he has carried out regarding menstruation and productivity?
51 is the average age of menopause. I suppose he has a different comment for women over 50, slow due to declining reflex as a result of the ageing process.
Does anyone know if Thompson smokes, because smokers can be targeted as not being as productive as non smokers? Obese people have been targeted as well.
Thompson is a fucking douchebag who thinks he’s in 1911, not 2011.
The crap coming out of his mouth doesnt suprise me in the slightest. He (as well as his boyfriends Lowe and O’Reilly) think that all workers are somehow expendable, to be thrown away on a whim.
If Helen Kelly was even remotely her father’s daughter, she would have a picket line outside the studio (and his work) lickety split.
Helen Kelly certainly won that round. Women, all around New Zealand in Australia and globally will be sent this piece of information from any number of women who are appalled at the idiots Thompson and Hosking’ behaviour and who will now realise that while they were putting aside the feminist mantra thinking most men actually liked, respected and wanted them to have equal pay/pay equity, they now know that is, was and will always be a lie.
Women, if they don’t want to deserve the unproductive tag that these men have given them, will ensure that they think very carefully come election time knowing now as they do that Thompson and Hosking, not to mention John Campbell and Paul Holmes are on the side of John Key and Steven Joyce the two men of Hollow Men fame and with neo-conservative contacts globally and with their own agenda for taking away the few rights that women own at present, by reducing women’s safety through closing down refuges, reducing their children’s income which is what the benefit is directed at thereby forcing them to stay with violent partners and thereby having no independent voice to state their needs and to demand real equality.
By directly forcing women into unemployment, this government has a cheap, desperate, voiceless workforce at the mercy of conservative cruelties and and cruel treatment at home if they are unfortunate enough to be forced to stay in an unwanted relationship like that.
Once again we have a backlash against women; once again women are called upon to stand up and fight back.
Morrissey – NewstalkZB – fair and balanced? Interviewer has blonde hair and is a plonker who specialises in planking? Were you listening to Mary Wilson interviewing Thompson from the employers group? He is too grand to have his spiel interrupted to actually answer her question. And is affronted when she persists.
He repeated his comments and says he knows from his own, and others experiences, of women who have monthly time off. And of course they have a propensity to have children (my words). Mary wanted to know how many, what percentage, need extra time off monthly. He is a leader in the employers group and he doesn’t bloody well know. He has no personal, particular to NZ, or general statistics. I think such remarks are rich coming from people in good comfortable situations. They don’t want to recognise that having babies is part of life, creates future customers if that’s how they judge everything, and finally that once they, now enjoying the good things in life, were once babies themselves. And then women are generally being paid less than men, which could be argued was reasonable because of extra time off.
It’s still discrimination when you use a person’s abilities to rule them out for getting paid the same for the same freaking work, even more so when there’s a majority of women who don’t have serious period problems. Plus, expecting females to always “take care of the kids” is likewise sexist, as it paints it as being a solely female role, instead of something guys can do just as well (if they actually get over teh stupid man myths and do it that is).
And the money quote:
“I don’t like saying this because it sounds like I’m sexist but…”
Sheesh, just come out and admit it, instead of the usual pathetic “I’m not x, but…” that is used to oft in an attempt to excuses one inability to overcome ones racist/homophobic/sexists/feminazi*/transphopic biases.
But hey, it’s an old white dudely dude who heads up a club of mostly dudes, so how could he possibly be wrong?…
/sigh
________________________________________
*i.e. the feminists who treat trans, gays, bi’s and heterosexuals as crap, often with a side of treating sex workers as human scum. see “womyn born as womyn” for the keystone example along with the backing ideas. Doesn’t refer to the porn wars due to the fact that monolithic descriptions are failtastic due to the myriad real issues involved.
I’ve read that men think about sex every minute or so, and more often than women. I think their pay should be docked because they are just not keeping their minds on the job.
If Alasdair Thompson puts Michelle Boag on an aged care job, on the minimum wage, what are the chances that Boag will have the part of anatomy which Thompson values so much being docked?
The use of the feminazi term in your post confuses issues. Not only is it invoking Godwin’s Law in respect of feminism failures and trans culture, but it’s a term used by the racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobics (that you refer to in the same sentence) as a way of undermining the good stuff that feminism does.
And you’re ignoring the major problems within feminism that lead me to re-appropriating that term for a slightly better use, then there’s the white, non-disabled, cis face of some of the more mainstream fractions of feminism, not that they’re as problematic as the feminazis, more varying shades of frustration. And while teh term is loaded, I’d rather re-purpose it to a much better end than let the anti-feminist fucktards lord over it
Mind you, I do have troll blood coursing through my veins, so yeah.
I’m not ignoring those problems (I think they need to be critiqued and sorted, although my strategies would be boldly different than yours), I just think appropriating the term in the way that you do creates confusion not clarity.
The campaign was launched by LIANZA — the New Zealand libraries’ national association — last month. It aims to raise the profile of the issue in the General Election campaign this year.
I definitely support this, especially because:
“Charges would be a personal barrier for many and would restrict libraries supporting all members of the public to be well informed.
“A well-informed, educated population brings economic benefits to the whole country, so it’s regressive to restrict libraries’ ability to support such a positive social outcome.
Yep. Same sort of thing happens most Wed. mornings with Steven Joyce and Annette King. King rarely gets a chance to finish what she’s saying before Joyce shouts over the top of her. More often than not she’s replying to a direct question from Hosking but does he intervene and shut Joyce up? No – hardly ever anyway. Just lets him get away with it.
It’s bully boy tactics and I believe part of the reason these Ministers (and their mates) get away with it is because todays crop of media types are scared of them… scared if they stray too far out of line they will lose their positions and prospects. I’m starting to pick up some real parallels with the Muldoon regime when journalists and reporters were overtly terrified of him. This time around though it’s not just one person, but a collective group of them.
Joyce is a very smooth and competent operator, and King handles herself well in those exchanges, I think. But Hosking really is a disgrace; he makes no attempt to be even-handed or even to ask probing questions.
The worst bullying, though, happens on Drivetime with Larry Williams. Compared to Williams, Hosking is indeed “fair and balanced”.
No, not really! Hosking’s terrible. There are some intelligent and hard-working presenters on NewstalkZB, but they are few and far between, and they do not have the prime spots. That’s no accident, it’s company policy. Former CEO Bill Francis said that he preferred extreme right wing hosts like Leighton Smith and Paul Holmes because they were “more entertaining” and “easier to understand”. Naturally, he gave no evidence to back up these statements.
The only way the RWNJs can win the debate is to try and drown out everybody else. If they left it to actual debate on merits and facts they know they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on as nothing they say is related to truth.
So the Speaker has just ruled that Joyce is justified in using the term xenophobic in response to Labour’s questions about the rail engineers, asset sales, and not supporting Kiwi workers and businesses over foreign ones because, according to labour, foreign interests will shift profits overseas. The justification given by the speaker was that Labour used an equally emotive term in the question…. the term being privatisation.
To my fellow lefties out there I need a bit of infrormation regarding some statistics .What was the unemployment figures under the last labour government as against the Nats. Plus what was the sickness benifit figures.
Statistics NZ table builder Annual Household income from 1998 (select “govt transfers”)
Ministry of Social Development benefit stats page (the current one is only from 2000, but the sickness benefit sheet on the 2004 page has 10 year trends going to 1994.).
You might also want to match unemployment rate or benefit levels with quarterly gdp – it’s always looked like an interesting project to me, but I haven’t had the time. Doesn’t quite intersect with my current field 🙂
Steven Joyce was asked some hard questions today by Labour Minister of Communications and Information Technology David Cunliffe concerning Nationals Privatisation plans for New Zealand’s SOEs. Once again the speaker of the house Lockwood Smith came to National’s rescue. Lockwood argued that Joyce didn’t have to answer a question because the Minister disagreed with the word “Privatisation.” What utter Bullshit!
Lockwood equated privatisation with Joyce’s use of xenophobia, and said they were both emotive terms. But Joyce’s claim that opposing asset sales on sovereignty issues is xenophobic doesn’t wash… nevertheless, it’s the line NAct is peddling.
Bullshit right wing constraining of the English language.
The heart of the Left is in emotive rallying cries, and it makes sense that National would want the language of cold hard rational but false neoliberalism to rule instead.
Since when is the word Privatisation out of bounds… because National says so? Calling somebody xenophobic is entirely different, and Anette King rightly stood up for herself. If the Government can’t even get these simple facts right, it’s no wonder New Zealand is in such a mess.
Carol – Perhaps Lockwood should provide a list of words inappropriate because they have emotional contexts.
I can think of Beemer, babies, going forward, at the end of the day, sheepskin, exchange rate, oh lots just off the top of my head. I think there are 72,000 head words or such in my dictionary. Perhaps he should work through it alphabetically and produce a banned list of yucky words.
Two news items, one from Commerce Commission and one showing the real owner’s details. Looks suspiciously like a sale to a foreign company of New Zealand assets owned by the people of Selwyn District and Christchurch City, 100% being sold off to an American company.
The Commerce Commission press release doesn’t mention it is a foreign company, knowing that Matariki sounds like a New Zealand business enterprise and doesn’t acknowledge that probably the Overseas Investment watchdog should be looking into it, unless the Commerce Commission can keep it quiet. Let’s not keep it quiet. Is this the work of CERA, selling off assets already, assets which could provide productive work for generations of Kiwis AND the dividends. Go figure.
‘Scoop >> Business Thursday, 23 June 2011, 9:48 am
1 – Press Release: Commerce Commission
Matariki Forests applies for clearance to acquire the Selwyn Plantation Board’s forestry assets
The Commerce Commission has received an application from Matariki Forests seeking clearance to acquire the forestry assets of the Selwyn Plantation Board.
Matariki Forests is New Zealand’s third largest forestry company and owns exotic forests throughout New Zealand. It is the largest forest owner in Canterbury.
The Selwyn Plantation Board owns exotic forests in Canterbury. It is owned by the Selwyn District Council (60 per cent) and Christchurch City Council (40 per cent).
The clearance application relates to both parties’ involvement in the supply of saw and pulp logs in the Canterbury region. In considering the application, the Commission’s role is to determine whether the acquisition has the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.
A public version of the application will be available shortly on the Commission’s website:
2 – Matariki Forests, global forester Rayonier’s New Zealand arm, is seeking Commerce Commission permission to buy a swathe of Canterbury forest and farmland owned by the Christchurch City and Selwyn District councils.
Matariki, the country’s third-largest forest owner, lodged the application to buy the assets of the Selwyn Plantation Board, a council-controlled organisation, owned 61 per cent by Selwyn Investment Holdings and 39.3 per cent by Christchurch City Holdings.
Matariki is the New Zealand arm of Rayonier, a global forester based in Florida.
It is unclear whether Overseas Investment Office permission will be required, assuming the Commerce Commission rules the acquisition is not anti-competitive.
• Rayonier seeks clearance to buy Canterbury forests’
Mmm. I hope lots of people are remembering the fact that Anderton was streets ahead of Parker before the first earthquake; now they know that Parker and his followers are simply following NAct’s instructions, just as they will with Auckland’s freed up asset portfolio in 2012 if they get back in.
Labour needs to return these assets back to a 75% required citizen agreement before selling.
I see that Papandreou has succeeded in pushing austerity measures through the greek parliament. This looks bad for the greeks, though I’m not really qualified to judge whether default would have been worse. Bryan Gould seems think it would have been preferable.
“If I have to choose between the posturing of politicians and the greed of bankers on the one hand, and the decent lives of ordinary people on the other, there is no choice. The Greeks must default, abandon the euro and make a fresh start.”
Papandreaou is the inside man for the bankster occupiers of Greece.
I’m glad Gould has come to this conclusion. Greece is being asked to sell off all its real hard assets for pennies on the pound to gain less than 6 months worth of additional debt to pay its current debt.
The financial terrorists are in a race to see who can pick up the most valuable Greek assets at the cheapest price now, because a Greek default is virtually unavoidable.
…though I’m not really qualified to judge whether default would have been worse.
Would be bad for the EU and the Euro(€) (both would probably collapse (Actually, this reminds me of what happened to the Gold Standard in the late 19th century)) but good for the Greeks. Guess why it’s being rammed down the Greeks throat.
When taking issue with Mr Thompson, employer spokesperson, why didn’t Hekia Parata, Minister of Women’s Affairs, put forward the stats that her department should have had to hand if she had bothered to ask them and do her job advocating and advancing women’s lives.
Alasdair Thompson is clearly a fully fledged asshole! He typifies the chauvinistic old man, which is unfortunately a prevalent disease in this country. It’s mainly caught by older males who believe they’re somehow superior to woman, who they believe need to be subservient to the status quo.
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Despite Christopher Luxon’s assurances to the contrary, there is no such thing as “settled law” in New Zealand. Apart from the six provisions that are constitutionally entrenched, legislation can always be amended or overturned by a simple majority vote within our single chamber of Parliament. Luxon’s repeated use of the ...
This is a re-post from the Thinking is Power website maintained by Melanie Trecek-King where she regularly writes about many aspects of critical thinking in an effort to provide accessible and engaging critical thinking information to the general public. Please see this overview to find links to other reposts from Thinking is Power. ...
What a week, month even of deplorable headlines and hysterics we’ve had as a country – and given 2023 is closing in on us (a mere 6 months until Parties shift some gears into election mode really, not that some of them haven’t started already of course), we need ...
Over the weekend, the US Supreme Court followed through on its threat, and overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively outlawing abortion in much of the United States. People were outraged, in America and around the world. And in Aotearoa, this meant a lot of sudden questions for the National Party, which ...
Nothing is evil in the beginning… #TheRingsOfPowerpic.twitter.com/XffZtqp8Yw— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) June 27, 2022 We have ourselves a new breadcrumb (not a leak!) out of The Rings of Power. It is a fifteen second collection of clips from the original teaser-trailer, together ...
The repeal of Roe vs Wade by the US Supreme Court is part of a broader “New Conservative” agenda financed by reactionary billionaires like Peter Thiel, Elon Mush, the Kochs and Murdochs (and others), organised by agitators like Steve Bannon and Rodger Stone and legally weaponised by Conservative (often Catholic) ...
A Dangerous Leap Backwards: A United States forced to live by the beliefs and values of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries cannot hope to go on leading the “Free World”, or compete economically with nations focused fearlessly on the future. The revocation of Roe v. Wade represents the American republic’s most ...
Now that the right of US women to abortion (formerly protected by Roe vWade) has been abolished, the important role of medication-induced abortion will come even more to the fore. Already, research by the Guttmacher Institute reproductive rights centre shows that over half of US abortions are obtained ...
The government is finally moving to improve transparency over party finances, lowering the donation disclosure threshold to $5,000. This is a good move, though it doesn't go as far as it should. And of course, there's a nasty twist: The rules for larger donations are also changing. Presently parties ...
A rare exposure in Western media of the fact that many residents of the Donbass prefer Russian rule to Ukrainian ultranationalist rule. I don’t know why anyone would take advice from UK’s lame duck Prime Minister and well-known buffoon Boris Johnson seriously, but he ...
Jacinda Ardern will need to deploy every aspect of her starpower if she is to have any hope of rescuing New Zealand’s faltering free trade negotiations with the European Union (EU). The Prime Minister has branded each of her four foreign trips so far this year as ‘trade missions’ – ...
It was sometime in the late 1990s that I first interviewed Alan Webster about New Zealand’s part in a global Values Study. It’s a fascinating snapshot of values in countries all over the world and I still remember seeing America grouped with many developing countries on a spectrum that had ...
Today marks Matariki, the first “new” New Zealand public holiday since Waitangi Day was added in 1974. Officially the start of the Maori New Year, this is one of those moveable beasties – much like Easter, the dates will vary from year to year, anywhere from mid-June to ...
The takeaways from the just released data are:1. Any estimate of GDP is subject to error.2. The 0.2 percent decrease in the March 2022 quarter is not precise and will be revised, with the mild likelihood that it will eventually be higher.3. New Zealand has no ‘official' definition of a ...
Guided By The Stars? This gift of Matariki, then, what will be made of it? Can a people spiritually unconnected to anything other than their digital devices truly appreciate the relentless progress of gods and heroes across the heavens? The elders of Maoridom must wonder. Can Te Ao Māori be ...
The internet is a wonderful thing sometimes. Yesterday, I ran across an AI program that generates images via prompt: https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini So I have been doing the logical thing with it. Getting it to generate Silmarillion characters in bizarre situations. Morgoth playing golf, and so forth. But one thing I ...
Stashing renewable energy Do a little internet sleuthing on renewable energy via your favorite search engine and you'll find some honest critique and much more dishonest misinformation (aka disinformation) to the effect that photovoltaic and wind generation are fickle energy supplies, over-abundant in some periods and absent in others. There's ...
The current New Zealand First Foundation trial in the High Court continues to show why reform is required when it comes to money in politics. The juicy details coming out each day show private wealth being funnelled into some peculiar schemes in an attempt to circumvent the Electoral Act. Yet ...
As in so many other areas of public policy, attitudes towards overseas investment in New Zealand – and anywhere, for that matter – boil down in the end to ideology. For proponents of the “free market”, there is really no issue. The market, in their view, must never be second-guessed; ...
Selwyn Manning and I discussed the upcoming NATO Leader’s summit (to which NZ Prime Minister Ardern is invited), the rival BRICS Leader’s summit and what they could mean for the Ruso-Ukrainian Wa and beyond. ...
New Zealand’s Most Profitable“Friend” Dangerous “Threat”: This country’s “Five Eyes” partners, heedless of the economic consequences for New Zealand, have cajoled and bullied its political class into becoming Sinophobes. They simply do not care that close to 40 percent of this country’s trade is with China. As far as Washington, London, ...
I have seen some natter around about how The Rings of Power represents the undue and unholy corporatisation of J.R.R. Tolkien. I won’t point out examples, but anyone who has seen YouTube commentary has a pretty good grasp of what I am talking about – the sentiment that ...
2017’s Queenmaker: Five years ago, Winston Peters’ choice ran counter to New Zealand’s informal, No. 8 wire, post-MMP constitution, which, up until 2017, had decreed that the party with the most votes got to supply the next prime minister. Had National not been in power for the previous 9 years, it ...
I've read some bad stuff about long covid recently, and Marc Daalder's recent Newsroom piece about what endemic covid means for Aotearoa got me wondering about whether the government was thinking about it. Mass-disability due to long covid has obvious implications for health and welfare spending, as well as for ...
Last year, a stranded kiwi criticised the MIQ system. Covid Minister Chris Hipkins responded by doxxing and defaming her. Now, he's been forced to apologise for that: Minister Chris Hipkins has admitted he released incorrect and personal information about journalist Charlotte Bellis, after she criticised the managed isolation system. ...
Gil-galad is an Elven Chad Gil-galad is an Elven Chad But Celebrimbor makes them mad Digesting leaks from Amazon Of Isildur and Pharazôn. The hair is short? The knives are keen. The beardless face of Dwarven Queen? With meteor and man-not-named The fandom temper is inflamed. Of Annatar ...
From the desk of Keir "Patriotic Duty" Starmer:“We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes to go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government have failed to engage in any negotiations.“However, we also must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded ...
Has swapping Scott Morrison for Anthony Albanese made any discernible difference to Australia’s relations with the US, China, the Pacific and New Zealand ? Not so far. For example: Albanese has asked for more time to “consider” his response to New Zealand’s long running complaints about the so called “501” ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The Biden administration in April 2021 dramatically ratcheted up the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledge under the Paris target, also known as its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The Obama administration in 2014 had announced a commitment to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels ...
Something I missed: the Central African Republic has abolished the death penalty: The National Assembly of the Central African Republic (CAR) passed a law abolishing the death penalty in the CAR on May 27, 2022. Once CAR President Touadéra promulgates the bill, the CAR will become the 24th abolitionist ...
Walking On Sunshine: National’s Sam Uffindell cantered home in the Tauranga By-Election, but the Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Sue Grey attracted an ominous level of support.THE RIGHT’S gadfly commentator, Matthew Hooton, summed up the Tauranga by-election in his usual pithy fashion. “Tonight’s result is poor for the National Party, catastrophic for ...
Te reo Māori is Dr. Anaha Hiini’s life purpose. Raised by his grandparents, Kepa and Maata Hiini, Anaha of Ngāti Tarāwhai, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue descent made a promise at the age of six to his late grandmother, Maata Hiini. “I’ve always had a passion for Māori culture. My first inspiration ...
Dr Carwyn Jones’ vision is to see Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the law given equal mana. Carwyn who holds a PhD in law and society and currently teaches Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa after 15 years at Victoria University of Wellington has devoted ...
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to attend the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Spain – but to skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda – symbolises the changes she is making to New Zealand foreign policy. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) starts today in ...
The outlook does not look that promising. Forecasting an economy is a mug’s game. The database on which the forecasts are founded is incomplete, out-of-date, and subject to errors, some of which will be revised after the forecasts are published. (No wonder weather-forecasting is easier.) One often has to adopt ...
by Don Franks It seems that almost each day now another ram raid shatters someone’s shop front and loots the premises. Prestigious Queen street is not immune, while attacks on small dairies have long stopped being headline news. Those of us not directly affected are becoming numbed to this form ...
It’s hard to believe that when we created Sciblogs in 2009, the iPhone was only two years old, being a ‘Youtuber’ wasn’t really a thing and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok didn’t exist. But Science blogging was a big thing, particularly in the United States, where a number of scientists had ...
For 13 years, Sciblogs has been a staple in New Zealand’s science-writing landscape. Our bloggers have written about a vast variety of topics from climate change to covid, and from nanotechnology to household gadgets.But sadly, it’s time to close shop. Sciblogs will be shutting down on 30 June.When ...
Radical Options: By allocating the Broadcasting portfolio to the irrepressible, occasionally truculent, leader of Labour’s Māori caucus, Willie Jackson, the Prime Minister has, at the very least, confirmed that her appointment of Kiri Allan was no one-off. There are many words that could be used to describe Ardern’s placement of ...
A Delicate Juggler? The new Chief Censor, Ms Caroline Flora, owes New Zealand a comprehensive explanation of how she sees, and how she proposes to carry out, her role. Where, for example, is her duty to respect and protect the citizen’s right to freedom of expression positioned in relation to ...
Good grief. Has foreign policy commentary really devolved to the point where our diplomatic effort is being measured by how many overseas trips have been taken by our Foreign Minister? Weird, but apparently so. All this week, a series of media policy wonks have been invidiously comparing how many trips ...
Where we've been Time flies. This coming summer will mark 15 years of Skeptical Science focusing its effort on "traditional" climate science denial. Leaving aside frivolities, we've devoted most of our effort to combatting "serious" denial falling into a handful of broad categories of fairly crisp misconceptions: "radiative physics is wrong,""geophysics is ...
Mercenary army of bogus skeptics on parade Because they're both squarely centered in the Skeptical Science wheelhouse, this week we're highlighting two articles from our government and NGO section, where we collect high-quality articles not originating in academic research but featuring many of the important attributes of journal publications. Our mission ...
In the latest episode of AVFA Selwyn Manning and I discuss the evolution of Latin American politics and macroeconomic policy since the 1970s as well as US-Latin American relations during that time period. We use recent elections and the 2022 Summit of the Americas as anchor points. ...
The Scottish government has announced plans for another independence referendum: Nicola Sturgeon plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence in October next year if her government secures the legal approval to stage it. Angus Robertson, the Scottish government’s constitution secretary, said that provided ample time to pass ...
So far, the closer military relationship envisaged by Jacinda Ardern and Joseph Biden at their recent White House meeting has been analysed mainly in terms of what this means for our supposedly “independent” foreign policy. Not much attention has been paid to what having more interoperable defence forces might mean ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters For those puzzling over the various hurricane computer forecast models to figure out which one to believe, the best answer is: Don’t believe any of them. Put your trust in the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, forecast. Although an individual ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Scott Denning The excellent Julia Steinberger essay posted at this site in May provides a disturbing window into the psychology of teaching climate change to young people. It’s critically important to talk with youth about hard topics: love and sex, deadly contagion, school shootings, vicious ...
By Imogen Foote (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) A lack of consensus among international conservation regimes regarding albatross taxonomy makes management of these ocean roaming birds tricky. My PhD research aims to generate whole genome data for some of our most threatened albatrosses in a first attempt ...
Well, if that’s “minor” I’d be interested to see what a major reshuffle looks like.Jacinda Ardern has reminded New Zealand of the steel behind the spin in her cabinet refresh announced today. While the Prime Minister stressed that the changes were “triggered” by Kris Faafoi and Trevor Mallard and their ...
A company gives a large amount of money to a political party because they are concerned about law changes which might affect their business model. And lo and behold, the changes are dumped, and a special exemption written into the law to protect them. Its the sort of thing we ...
Active Shooters: With more than two dozen gang-related drive-by shootings dominating (entirely justifiably) the headlines of the past few weeks, there would be something amiss with our democracy if at least one major political party did not raise the issues of law and order in the most aggressive fashion. (Photo ...
Going Down? Governments also suffer in recessions and depressions – just like their citizens. Slowing economic activity means fewer companies making profits, fewer people in paid employment, fewer dollars being spent, and much less revenue being collected. With its own “income” shrinking, the instinct of most government’s is to sharply ...
In the 50 years since Norm Kirk first promised to take the bikes off the bikies, our politicians have tried again and again to win votes by promising to crack down on gangs. Canterbury University academic Jarrod Gilbert (an expert on New Zealand’s gang culture) recently gave chapter and verse ...
Misdirection: New Zealanders see burly gang members, decked out in their patches, sitting astride their deafening motorcycles, cruising six abreast down the motorway as frightened civilians scramble to get out of their way, and they think these guys are the problem. Fact is, these guys represent little more than the misdirection ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to announce its support urgently for a moratorium on deep sea mining under the high seas, after Pacific nations joined forces this week to demand change. ...
We’re committed to ensuring that there is every opportunity for women and girls to succeed in Aotearoa New Zealand, with fewer barriers. Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to support women and girls, by improving services like healthcare and tackling issues like the gender pay gap. Here are just ...
Political pressure from the Green Party has pushed the Government to supply free masks to kids and teachers in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the European Greens have published a joint statement calling for the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement to support climate action, phase out fossil fuel subsidies, cut agriculture emissions, protect human rights, and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to guarantee that it will complete light rail and improve walking, cycling, and bus journeys across Wellington before digging new high-carbon tunnels. ...
The Green Party is urging Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker to commit to stronger ocean protection around Aotearoa and on the high seas while at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Portugal this week. ...
A strong Green voice in Parliament has helped reduce the influence large secret money will have in future elections and finally ensured overseas New Zealanders will retain the right to vote even while stranded by the Pandemic. But, the Government needs to go further to ensure our democracy works for ...
A new poll shows that the majority of people back the Greens’ call on the Government to overhaul the country’s criminally punitive, anti-evidence drug law. ...
The US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion is a reminder that we must take nothing for granted in Aotearoa, the Green Party says. “Aotearoa should be a place where everyone, no matter where they are from, or who they love, can choose what is right for their body and their ...
We’re proud to have delivered on our election commitment to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki. For the first time this year, New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own. ...
Proposed new legislation to reduce the risk that timber imported into Aotearoa New Zealand is sourced from illegal logging is a positive first step but it should go further, the Green Party says. ...
On World Refugee Day, the Green Party is calling on the new Minister for Immigration, Michael Wood to make up for the support that was not provided to people forced to leave their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This week, we’ve marked a major milestone in our school upgrade programme. We've supported 4,500 projects across the country for schools to upgrade classrooms, sports facilities, playgrounds and more, so Kiwi kids have the best possible environments to learn in. ...
We’ve delivered on our election commitment to make Matariki a public holiday. For the first time this year, all New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own with family and friends. Try our quiz below, then challenge your whānau! To celebrate, we’ve ...
The Green Party says the removal of pre-departure testing for arrivals into New Zealand means the Government must step up domestic measures to protect communities most at risk. ...
The long overdue resumption of the Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota must be followed by an overhaul of the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme, says the Green Party. ...
Lessons must be learned from the Government's response to the Delta outbreak, which the Ministry of Health confirmed today left Māori, Pacific, and disabled communities at greater risk. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to withdraw the proposed Oranga Tamariki oversight legislation which strips away independence and fails to put children at the heart. ...
European Commission President von der Leyen and Prime Minister of New Zealand Ardern met in Brussels on 30 June 2022. The encounter provided an opportunity to reaffirm that the European Union and Aotearoa New Zealand are longstanding partners with shared democratic values and interests, aligned positions on key international and ...
Export revenue to the EU to grow by up to $1.8 billion annually on full implementation. Duty-free access on 97% of New Zealand’s current exports to the EU; with over 91% being removed the day the FTA comes into force. NZ exporters set to save approx. $110 million per annum ...
57,000 EVs and Hybrid registered in first year of clean car scheme, 56% increase on previous year EVs and Non Plug-in Hybrids made up 20% of new passenger car sales in March/April 2022 The Government’s Clean Car Discount Scheme has been a success, with more than 57,000 light-electric and ...
Police Minister Chris Hipkins congratulates the newest Police wing – wing 355 – which graduated today in Porirua. “These 70 new constables heading for the frontline bring the total number of new officers since Labour took office to 3,303 and is the latest mark of our commitment to the Police ...
Members with a range of governance, financial and technical skills have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Board as part of the shift to strengthen the Bank’s decision-making and accountability arrangements. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 comes into force on 1 July 2022, with the establishment of ...
New Zealand to remain at Orange as case numbers start to creep up 50 child-size masks made available to every year 4-7 student in New Zealand 20,000-30,000 masks provided a week to all other students and school staff Extra funding to schools and early childhood services to supports better ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will join Ukraine’s case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which challenges Russia’s spurious attempt to justify its invasion under international law. Ukraine filed a case at the ICJ in February arguing Russia has falsely claimed genocide had occurred in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as ...
The Government has taken another step forward in its work to eliminate family violence and sexual violence with the announcement today of a new Tangata Whenua Ministerial Advisory Group. A team of 11 experts in whānau Māori wellbeing will provide the Government independent advice on shaping family violence and sexual ...
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women’s Employment Action Plan was launched today by Minister for Women Jan Tinetti – with the goal of ensuring New Zealand is a great place for women to work. “This Government is committed to improving women’s working lives. The current reality is that women have ...
The food and fibre sector acknowledged its people and leadership at last night’s 2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards, a time to celebrate their passion towards supporting employees by putting their health, welfare and wellbeing first,” Acting Minister of Agriculture Meka Whairiti said. “Award winners were selected from an extraordinary ...
Kia ora koutou katoa. It is a rare thing to have New Zealand represented at a NATO Summit. While we have worked together in theatres such as Afghanistan, and have been partners for just on a decade, today represents an important moment for our Pacific nation. New Zealand is ...
Te Arataki mō te Hauora Ngākau mō ngā Mōrehu a Tū me ō rātou Whānau, The Veteran, Family and Whānau Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy Framework “We ask a lot of those who serve in the military – and we ask a lot of the families and whānau who support ...
Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio has been appointed by the United Nations and Commonwealth as Aotearoa New Zealand’s advocacy champion for Small Island States. “Aotearoa New Zealand as a Pacific country is particularly focused on the interests of Pacific Small Island Developing States in our region. “This is a ...
An estimated 100,000 low income households will be eligible for increased support to pay their council rates, with changes to the rates rebate scheme taking effect from 1 July. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced increases to both the maximum value of the rates rebate, and the income threshold ...
A long-standing physical activity programme that focuses on outcomes for Maori has been expanded to four new regions with Government investment almost doubled to increase its reach. He Oranga Poutama is managed by a combination of hapū, iwi, hauora and regional providers. An increase in funding from $1.8 million ...
The Government is progressing a preferred option for LGWM which will see Wellington’s transport links strengthened with light rail from Wellington Station to Island Bay, a new tunnel through Mt Victoria for public transport, and walking and cycling, and upgrades to improve traffic flow at the Basin Reserve. “Where previous ...
To Provost Muniz, to the Organisers at the Instituto de Empresa buenas tardes and as we would say in New Zealand, kia ora kotou katoa. To colleagues from the State Department, from Academia, and Civil Society Groups, to all our distinguished guests - kia ora tatou katoa. It’s a pleasure ...
On June 28, 2022, a meeting took place in Madrid between the President of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting Spain to participate in the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as one ...
A six-fold increase in the Aotearoa New Zealand-Spain working holiday scheme gives a huge boost to the number of young people who can live and work in each other’s countries, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. Jacinda Ardern and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón made the Working Holiday/Youth Mobility Scheme announcement ...
A significant barrier has been removed for people who want to stand in local government elections, with a change to the requirement to publish personal details in election advertising. The Associate Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has taken the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Bill through its final stages in Parliament ...
New financial conduct scheme will ensure customers are treated fairly Banks, insurers and non-bank deposit takers to be licensed by the FMA in relation to their general conduct Sales incentives based on volume or value targets like bonuses for selling a certain number of financial products banned The Government ...
Legislation that bans major supermarkets from blocking their competitors’ access to land to set up new stores paves the way for greater competition in the sector, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The new law is the first in a suite of measures the Government is ...
The Government has announced an end to the requirement for border workers and corrections staff to be fully vaccinated. This will come into place from 2 July 2022. 100 per cent of corrections staff in prisons, and as of 23 June 2022 97 per cent of active border workers were ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has concluded a visit to Rwanda reaffirming Aotearoa New Zealand’s engagement in the Commonwealth and meeting with key counterparts. “I would like to thank President Kagame and the people of Rwanda for their manaakitanga and expert hosting of this important meeting,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “CHOGM ...
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty officially launched the new Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting (MAR) Centre at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) today. The Government has stood up the centre in response to recommendations from the 2018 Ministerial Review following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and 2017 Port Hills fire, ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has welcomed the announcement that a 110km/hr speed limit has been set for the SH1 Waikato Expressway, between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. “The Waikato Expressway is a key transport route for the Waikato region, connecting Auckland to the agricultural and business centres of the central North ...
Following feedback from the sector, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti, today confirmed that new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me te pāngarau standards will be aligned with wider NCEA changes. “The education sector has asked for more time to put the literacy and numeracy | te reo ...
$4.5 million to provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal equipment and supplies such as medical kit for the Ukrainian Army Deployments extended for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) intelligence, logistics and liaison officers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium Secondment of a senior New Zealand military officer to support International ...
Changes to electoral law announced by Justice Minister Kiri Allan today aim to support participation in parliamentary elections, and improve public trust and confidence in New Zealand’s electoral system. The changes are targeted at increasing transparency around political donations and loans and include requiring the disclosure of: donor identities for ...
The Labour government has announced a significant investment to prevent and minimise harm caused by gambling. “Gambling harm is a serious public health issue and can have a devastating effect on the wellbeing of individuals, whānau and communities. One in five New Zealanders will experience gambling harm in their lives, ...
The Government has widened access to free flu vaccines with an extra 800,000 New Zealanders eligible from this Friday, July 1 Children aged 3-12 years and people with serious mental health or addiction needs now eligible for free flu dose. From tomorrow (Tuesday), second COVID-19 booster available six months ...
The Government is investing to create new product categories and new international markets for our strong wool and is calling on Kiwi businesses and consumers to get behind the environmentally friendly fibre, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said today. Wool Impact is a collaboration between the Government and sheep sector partners ...
At today’s commemoration of the start of the Korean War, Veterans Minister Meka Whaitiri has paid tribute to the service and sacrifice of our New Zealand veterans, their families and both nations. “It’s an honour to be with our Korean War veterans at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park to commemorate ...
Minister of Tourism Stuart Nash and Associate Minister of Tourism Peeni Henare announced the sixth round of recipients of the Government’s Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF), which supports local government to address tourism infrastructure needs. This TIF round will invest $15 million into projects around the country. For the first time, ...
Matariki tohu mate, rātou ki a rātou Matariki tohu ora, tātou ki a tātou Tīhei Matariki Matariki – remembering those who have passed Matariki – celebrating the present and future Salutations to Matariki I want to begin by thanking everyone who is here today, and in particular the Matariki ...
Oho mai ana te motu i te rangi nei ki te hararei tūmatanui motuhake tuatahi o Aotearoa, Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki, me te hono atu a te Pirīmia a Jacinda Ardern ki ngā mahi whakanui a te motu i tētahi huihuinga mō te Hautapu i te ata nei. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker will represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the second United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, which runs from 27 June to 1 July. The Conference will take stock of progress and aims to galvanise further action towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, to "conserve and sustainably use ...
The Government is boosting its partnership with New Zealand’s dairy sheep sector to help it lift its value and volume, and become an established primary industry, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “Globally, the premium alternative dairy category is growing by about 20 percent a year. With New Zealand food ...
The Government is continuing to support the Buller district to recover from severe flooding over the past year, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today during a visit with the local leadership. An extra $10 million has been announced to fund an infrastructure recovery programme, bringing the total ...
“The Government has undertaken preparatory work to combat new and more dangerous variants of COVID-19,” COVID-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall set out today. “This is about being ready to adapt our response, especially knowing that new variants will likely continue to appear. “We have undertaken a piece of work ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh White, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Testing Washington: Chinese President Xi Jinping. Li Gang/Xinhua via AP How can Australia navigate the tough and dangerous strategic environment in Asia today with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kaufman, Research Fellow, Vaccine Uptake Group, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Engin Akyurt/Unsplash The federal government has released a new A$11 million ad campaign urging Australians to “take on winter” by getting COVID boosters and influenza vaccines, as well as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Macintosh, Professor and Director of Research, ANU Law School, Australian National University Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen is today expected to announce a much anticipated review of Australia’s carbon credit scheme, known as the Emissions Reduction Fund. In March, we exposed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Esmé Louise James, Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Melbourne Netflix After a month of waiting, the season finale of Stranger Things season 4 has almost arrived on Netflix. This season, along with the nightmarish arch-villain Vecna, we have been ...
More than 91 percent of tariffs will be removed the day the deal comes into effect, while the value of NZ exports to the EU are estimated to increase by $1.8b a year by 2035. ...
RNZ News New Zealand has designated US groups the Proud Boys and The Base as terrorist entities. Set down in the government’s official journal of record — the Gazette — last Monday, 20 June, it was published publicly a week later but with no wider dissemination. The move — authorised ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra David Pocock, the progressive independent who broke the Liberals’ stranglehold on one of the two ACT Senate seats, wouldn’t have expected to find himself allied with Pauline Hanson before even being sworn in. But, ...
Tabloid Jubi The Civil Organisations Solidarity for Papua Land has condemned Indonesia’s Papua expansion plan of forming three new provinces risks causing new social conflicts. And the group has urged President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to cancel the plan, according to a statement reports Jubi. The group — comprising the Papua ...
RNZ Pacific Palau, Fiji, and Samoa have announced their opposition to deep-sea mining, calling for a moratorium on the emerging industry amid growing fears it will destroy the seafloor and damage biodiversity. The alliance was announced just as a United Nations Oceans Conference began in Portugal this week. The moratorium ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has just spoken to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone, expressing solidarity and support for his country. ...
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In an under reported story of how our leaders are cravenly selling us out;
Free trade it seems, only works one way.
China puts tariff on NZ dairying despite free trade pact.
The government says no retaliatory protections are envisioned for NZ industry.
In other news the government of economic traitors favours Chinese train builders over the local rail industry.
So in practice under “Free Trade”, the bigger more powerful country gets all the advantage while the leaders of the small country get to prostrate our workforce and our economy before them.
But hasn’t this always been the way?
Even under the Brits in the 19th century when British imperialism was in it’s ascendency the struggle between the “Free Traders” and those in favour of “Tarriff Reform” was played out. Where the strong country Britain set the terms of trade for their dominions, which were then administered by local saptraps. (Just as in modern New Zealand).
By sucking up to the superpower of the day the local mercantile ruling elite benefit at the expense of the rest of the local population. As a result of this craven foreign trade policy, the local elite, get to lead lives of privilege while the rest of us are turned into unemployed or low paid serfs in our own land and the local Maharajas, (Jonkey and co.), working in with their foreign partners live it up.
Yep and that’s why we’re worse off now after three decades of neo-liberal policies. The economists even know that the smaller economy in the relationship will always be worse off.
Well, they’re kept in power and are reasonably well rewarded for selling out their country but they don’t do as well as the foreign over-lords.
China is smarter at playing the Free Trade game in their own interests than we are. In fact we are shit at it because we naively believe that there is such a thing as even playing field, everyone gets a fair go “free trade”.
Please wakeup and grow up NZ.
If you mean that they’re playing at free trade without actually allowing it you’d be right.
I always thought when Helen Clark was extolling the virtues of the free trade agreement that the Chinese would shit on us somewhere down the line.
Hone attempts to persuade Maori Party supporters to vote for Kelvin Davis.
It’s a funny old world when Ken Mair comes across as the voice of reason, but his description of Hone’s meltdown last night is spot on:
‘Mr Mair said the change in line-up wasn’t a “cover-up” and Mr Harawira had gone too far.
“Once again, that’s the style of Hone,” he said. “I was taken back by his rather aggressive style, his swearing. I don’t think it’s appropriate in this type of forum; in particular in front of children and some of our kuia [senior women].”‘
That nicely echoes my comment on the ‘Turia’ post that Hone will lose because of his unparalleled ability to annoy mature voters. The young will support him, but as they’re not on the roll, that’s no help to him now. Maybe, by November, his supporters will get the message and enrol, which could make the vote then closer, but for now, he’s toast.
That bullshitting poacher turned gamekeeper Ken Mair, Vice-President of the Maori Party, needn’t nut off about Hone Harawira using the words “bullshit Maori Party tactics” re Solomon’s failure to turn up at the Tai Tokerau education hui last night.
The very same Ken Mair of Moutoua Gardens fame, the menacing, shrill hacksaw voiced dork who had the gathered at Waitangi a few years ago pissing themselves at his self-centred “freestyle” haka.
The idiot who had violent insurgent written all over him, who didn’t give a stuff how many kuia of whatever stripe, or kids, were present when he got off his chain as it suited him.
Hone says “bullshit” and Mair’s clutching his pearls like some startled Edwardian dowager.
There’s none like the converted……….for rank hypocrisy that is.
Away with you Ken Mair…….you egg. You’re not a fraction of the fulla Hone is !
I met Ken Mair on Pakaitore (Moutoa Gardens) during the last days of the occupation in ’95. Despite the tension, the personal attacks he was under, the pressure from his own supporters, he was very welcoming to me and my whanau and took time out to show us around and explain the dispute from his perspective. He was rational, calm and forgiving of my limited understanding of their ties to the river I grew up next to. He was clearly not at all the person maligned in the media or indeed, by you, North.
But perhaps you know Mair better than me or maybe his comment last night just show how far he has come and how far Hone has to go?
Well right back at ya Voice Of Reason………my personal experience of Hone Harawira tells me, using your own words Voice, that Hone Harawira “…..is clearly not at all the person maligned in the media, or indeed by…….” you Voice or by Ken Mair.
Remains that Mair is hardly one to engage such piety over the word “bullshit”, particularly given that Harawira has never come within cooey of Mair’s excesses.
A double standard is hardly the voice of reason Voice of Reason.
“……Mair’s clutching his pearls like some startled Edwardian dowager” … best visual of the year so far ! Thank you for the laughter in the grey drear of it all !
Ah, yeah……..”Mr Out-West Machine Politician Aching To Be An MP” Greg……..
Well North don’t you agree it is not the best of looks for Hone?
I hope Solomon is okay – he deserves praise and he is a good man IMO. The voters will vote as they want to vote and that’s the way it should be.
I back Hone 110% as noted here http://thestandard.org.nz/turia-on-te-tai-tokerau/#comments
The guy’s 56 years old, and a grandfather FFS.
He really needs to grow up and act his age.
I really hope he loses this weekend.
Hey doofus I am 55 and am the proud father of a 5 week old, just because anyone is over 50 they are not dead. I applaud Tipene for standing up and probably doing something that is probably new to him. And all he gets is ” he’s a silly old man” yada yada yada. Hey Millsy come and say it to my face and I WILL show you where moses bought his beer. fucking tosser.
Jesus fucking christ Deadly, I was talking about Hone Hawawira, not Mr Tipene (who IMO come across as far more dignified than Mr Hawawira).
This is not the first time you have the wrong end of the stick.
It seems we are crossing swords more often than not on this blog.
Well maybe you should be a little more careful in some of the generalisations you are making ie he’s 56, he’s a grandfather And as PP can also attest that acting our age is one of the last things we want to do. So say he’s a racist shit head or a what ever and I will keep quiet call any other politician and depending on who they are and i may respond, and not nastily. What got my goat was the inference that at 56 everyone should sit back, and rock their grand children to sleep and act our age.
BTW how is a 56 year old supposed to act like ? what age should i act? you see the endless possibilities in a debate on that fact alone.
If I hurt your feelings I am sorry.
Feelings not hurt – I have had worse over the past 11 years of being online.
Point taken.
Still think Hone’s an idiot though.
56 year olds (or 16 year olds for that matter) should not go into a meeting mouthing off for a start. Anything else, I’m not really bothered.
Yes he is and getting more idiotic by the day.
Bloody hell! Im eighty and still chasing my lovely wife ,and sometimes catch her.
However it was Charlie Chaplin who squashed all the old wives tale about us old wrinklies. He was born just around the corner from where I was born so perhaps a bit has brushed off ? hopefully !
Good to see an old timer such as yourself getting to use the internet/world wide web.
Bet you never thought you would be using technology such as this when you were younger…
pink postman – Ooh this is good stuff. You can rely on The Standard for lively anecdotes and repartee with style (and pearls). But when it comes to DF it’s pearls before swine!
Reading that article and the party positions…what’s been happening with kohanga reo?
Bio fuels about to take off in the avaition industry..
That’s pretty encouraging. The production volumes they outlined, if achieved, will make a big difference to the viability of the industry come oil price shocks.
Climate of Denial
And the US does have rules and regulations that, supposedly, control lobbyists etc. I suppose the question now is, are we going to demand that our politicians put in place even stronger rules on transparency? Can’t really expect so from this government as the last time such transparency and regulation was tried we got a faux Democracy Under Attack meme from them that was supported by the MSM.
Goldman Sachs buys into MediaWorks
Yeah. You read that right. National and Goldman Sachs are just now completing their plans to steal the November New Zealand election.
I wonder who the lead IB in the sale of our state assets are going to be.
http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=goldman-takes-13-mediaworks-stake&ScoopSrc=scoopit_latest
That $43.3 million ‘loan’ to bail out MediaWorks seems to have made it a great buy
My giddy aunt….
Interesting little confrontation on NewstalkZB this morning (23.6.11)
NewstalkZB, Thursday 23 June 2011, 7:40 a.m.
Mike Hosking and Alasdair Thompson vs. Helen Kelly
Catherine Delahunty’s new Equal Pay Bill has drawn the ire of two of the National government’s biggest supporters: the Employers and Manufacturers Association and NewstalkZB. Time to get one of those lefty pinko commies onto the programme and deal to her, tag-team fashion.
Whoops! Not only was it was a bad idea, and (as we shall see) badly executed, it never had a chance. Alasdair Thompson up against Helen Kelly? That’s a mis-match made in Employer Hell…
Helen Kelly begins the discussion by pointing out that the statistics are irrefutable, and show women get lower pay across the board. This prompts Thompson to launch into a windy tirade about the “unreliability of statistics” and the “myth” that women get lower pay. Whenever Kelly tries to talk, he shouts her down, and talks relentlessly. Thompson is aided and abetted in this strategy by Hosking, whose contribution consists of thoughtfully saying “Mmmm, yeah” to show he agrees with everything Thompson says.
But Helen Kelly is not one to be intimidated and shut down by such behaviour. Last year she faced down the bully-boys and girls from Peter Jackson Inc., South Pacific Pictures, Warner Bros. and the National government. So a windy and incoherent haranguing from somebody like Alasdair Thompson was never going to de-rail her. She finally insists on being heard, and makes him stop…
KELLY: You can try to talk over me and stop me from speaking, but you won’t succeed. If women and men are equal as you say, why are aged care workers, who do incredibly difficult and responsible work, paid minimum wage?
THOMPSON: That’s got NOTHING to do with them being women! It’s just an all-woman job, that’s why!
HOSKING: Mmm. yeah. You can’t argue with that!
THOMPSON: Look, you have to realize something. Women are different from men.
HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.
THOMPSON: They get paid less than men do because once a month they, uh, they have, uh, well, they have “sick problems”.
HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.
THOMPSON: They get pregnant, and have babies. And then they have to stay home and look after sick children.
HOSKING: Mmmm, yeah.
THOMPSON: I don’t like to say this, because it looks like I’m a sexist.
KELLY: Of course. I’m glad you said it, Alasdair. I let you go on and on with that one.
Silence. Even the insensitive and brusque Alisdair Thompson realises he has just been horribly and publicly owned.
HOSKING: Alasdair Thompson and Helen Kelly, thank you very much!
——————————————————–
But that’s not the end of it. Although he has been quite incapable of formulating any response to Helen Kelly while she was on air, Hosking has one more way of getting at her—he can read out any number of hateful texts and e-mails, purportedly from listeners…
HOSKING: “It seems like a bill rooted in feminist ideology”, says this text. This one says: “HELEN KELLY, WHAT A MUPPET!” And there are many more like this! It’s ten to eight!
Interesting fact: NewstalkZB’s slogan is “Fair and Balanced”.
Plus @ Anne 11.34am below:
I’ve noticed this tactic from Nats used alot by their MPs in media debates – they talk over their opponents, interrupt with any old argument they can throw out – which doesn’t matter to them because they don’t allow time for the opposition to respond to point out their factual errors and/or ideological slant.
Nikki Kaye has used it against Jacinda Ardern in the debates between them on Citizen A – at least, she used it in the first debate, but Jacinda (and Bomber) were wise to it. In the second debate, Jacinda was more proactive about getting her points across, including telling Kaye calmly but assertively not to interrupt when Kaye did so. Kaye looked a little put out and lost when she wasn’t able to bulldoze through with her lines.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1106/S00046/citizen-a-nikki-kaye-jacinda-ardern-debate-2.htm
Although, this didn’t stop Kaye by claiming, in her final word, that National had a better record and more committment to public transport in Auckland than Labour.
FFS, as a westie, I noticed the improvement under the Labour-led government in rail transport & station upgrades from the western areas into the city. And National is STILL more committed to their RONS than public transport. Nats think they can swear blue is red and no-one will notice if they talk louder & don’t let the opposition get a word in.
And as for Kaye repeatedly claiming that Nats were not ideologically-driven…..???!!
they talk over their opponents, interrupt with any old argument they can throw out – which doesn’t matter to them because they don’t allow time for the opposition to respond to point out their factual errors and/or ideological slant
The problem stems from the incompetence or bias of the host (in this case, Mike Hosking). A decent and impartial host would have kept the conversation on track. Hosking made no attempt at all to be fair or impartial; in fact, he slavishly endorsed everything Thompson said.
Nikki Kaye used it in the first debate, but Jacinda (and Bomber) were wise to it
I’m impressed by Jacinda Ardern. She’s tough, and regularly shows up Simon Bridges as shallow, vague and poorly prepared. On National Radio last year, Bomber politely but persistently challenged some false statements by Murray McCully’s vile ex-squeeze Michele Boag, reducing her to spluttering incoherence. Obviously Boag doesn’t come across many people brave enough to take her on.
This is blatant chauvinism and prejudice openly showing their real faces.
Can someone castrate this Thompson guy please ?
“Women earn less due to periods – EMA boss”
http://www.3news.co.nz/Women-earn-less-due-to-periods—EMA-boss/tabid/423/articleID/216183/Default.aspx
What are the grounds for filing a BSA complaint against Mike ‘Mmmm yeah’ Hosking who effectively encouraged the dissemination of such bad view and attitude by failing to poke and probe Thompson ?
You can file any BSA complaint you want, whether there are grounds or not. The BSA then review it and judge it.
I filed one against The Edge for promoting pot at 8:20am when I was driving to work. The authority said it was very close, but on balance they decided to reject the complaint.
I think if I had pointed out that they were exerting significant amounts of peer-pressure on a fellow radio worker to eat a cannabis muffin and that this was a bad example for children, that they probably would have upheld the complaint. Unfortunately I didn’t consider that angle until after I’d sent the form off.
Well, I’ve been wondering if I have to pray in the right words to the BSA.
http://www.bsa.govt.nz/general-complaint/
Complaint form
Cheers. I’m thinking that I would be better off posting my used tampon to Thompson, if only I were a menstruating woman.
Wow! And Thompson is now saying that
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5182270/Womens-sick-day-comments-outrage
Wow! So Thompson doesn’t support a youth wage then?
The thing for Thompson to do … the thing for Thompson – who is a man who doesn’t have “sick problems”, doesn’t get pregnant and have babies, doesn’t have to stay at home and look after the sick – is to apologise for the statements he had made and resign.
Has Alasdair got the balls that he finds so superior for having as a man?
And now Alasdair Thompson provides an excellent demonstration in how not to really apologise:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5182270/Womens-sick-day-comments-outrage
I didn’t breed and am well menopausal. Where is my pay rise then Mr Thompson??
This guy Thompson is a typical Right-Wing ignorant loud-mouth.For years now he has been calling for Youth rates , Lowering the mininum wage and attacking unions. Perhaps now is the time for workers to get even. Lets all demand his resignation and bar him from any simular position. Jim N you mention Michelle Boag well there’s the answer put him on a island with her and a diet of viagra . bloody hell just imagine being embraced by her ? Mind you imagine some poor woman being embraced by Thomson.
I loved Thompson at the Labour Conference last year saying that we should follow the example of Ireland and axe our company tax rates because Ireland had done so well from it, if you ignore the last few years.
He actually said that shit the dumb bastard.
In that scenario and if Boag is well over the reproductive age, the gene pool for the future is safe.
However, that means the gene pool would be more valuable and so please don’t tell John Key or he will sell that.
I would like to ask Thompson what research he has carried out regarding menstruation and productivity?
51 is the average age of menopause. I suppose he has a different comment for women over 50, slow due to declining reflex as a result of the ageing process.
Does anyone know if Thompson smokes, because smokers can be targeted as not being as productive as non smokers? Obese people have been targeted as well.
Thompson is a fucking douchebag who thinks he’s in 1911, not 2011.
The crap coming out of his mouth doesnt suprise me in the slightest. He (as well as his boyfriends Lowe and O’Reilly) think that all workers are somehow expendable, to be thrown away on a whim.
If Helen Kelly was even remotely her father’s daughter, she would have a picket line outside the studio (and his work) lickety split.
Helen Kelly certainly won that round. Women, all around New Zealand in Australia and globally will be sent this piece of information from any number of women who are appalled at the idiots Thompson and Hosking’ behaviour and who will now realise that while they were putting aside the feminist mantra thinking most men actually liked, respected and wanted them to have equal pay/pay equity, they now know that is, was and will always be a lie.
Women, if they don’t want to deserve the unproductive tag that these men have given them, will ensure that they think very carefully come election time knowing now as they do that Thompson and Hosking, not to mention John Campbell and Paul Holmes are on the side of John Key and Steven Joyce the two men of Hollow Men fame and with neo-conservative contacts globally and with their own agenda for taking away the few rights that women own at present, by reducing women’s safety through closing down refuges, reducing their children’s income which is what the benefit is directed at thereby forcing them to stay with violent partners and thereby having no independent voice to state their needs and to demand real equality.
By directly forcing women into unemployment, this government has a cheap, desperate, voiceless workforce at the mercy of conservative cruelties and and cruel treatment at home if they are unfortunate enough to be forced to stay in an unwanted relationship like that.
Once again we have a backlash against women; once again women are called upon to stand up and fight back.
Morrissey – NewstalkZB – fair and balanced? Interviewer has blonde hair and is a plonker who specialises in planking? Were you listening to Mary Wilson interviewing Thompson from the employers group? He is too grand to have his spiel interrupted to actually answer her question. And is affronted when she persists.
He repeated his comments and says he knows from his own, and others experiences, of women who have monthly time off. And of course they have a propensity to have children (my words). Mary wanted to know how many, what percentage, need extra time off monthly. He is a leader in the employers group and he doesn’t bloody well know. He has no personal, particular to NZ, or general statistics. I think such remarks are rich coming from people in good comfortable situations. They don’t want to recognise that having babies is part of life, creates future customers if that’s how they judge everything, and finally that once they, now enjoying the good things in life, were once babies themselves. And then women are generally being paid less than men, which could be argued was reasonable because of extra time off.
Morrissey – NewstalkZB – fair and balanced?
Another of their slogans is “Tune Your Mind”.
And that is not a joke.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/women-s-monthly-problems-reduce-productivity-ema-boss-4258057
/facepalm
It’s still discrimination when you use a person’s abilities to rule them out for getting paid the same for the same freaking work, even more so when there’s a majority of women who don’t have serious period problems. Plus, expecting females to always “take care of the kids” is likewise sexist, as it paints it as being a solely female role, instead of something guys can do just as well (if they actually get over teh stupid man myths and do it that is).
And the money quote:
Sheesh, just come out and admit it, instead of the usual pathetic “I’m not x, but…” that is used to oft in an attempt to excuses one inability to overcome ones racist/homophobic/sexists/feminazi*/transphopic biases.
But hey, it’s an old white dudely dude who heads up a club of mostly dudes, so how could he possibly be wrong?…
/sigh
________________________________________
*i.e. the feminists who treat trans, gays, bi’s and heterosexuals as crap, often with a side of treating sex workers as human scum. see “womyn born as womyn” for the keystone example along with the backing ideas. Doesn’t refer to the porn wars due to the fact that monolithic descriptions are failtastic due to the myriad real issues involved.
I’ve read that men think about sex every minute or so, and more often than women. I think their pay should be docked because they are just not keeping their minds on the job.
If Alasdair Thompson puts Michelle Boag on an aged care job, on the minimum wage, what are the chances that Boag will have the part of anatomy which Thompson values so much being docked?
LOL Carol
Hehehehe…
+ 1n hours pay docked for every porno-mail they send.
The use of the feminazi term in your post confuses issues. Not only is it invoking Godwin’s Law in respect of feminism failures and trans culture, but it’s a term used by the racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobics (that you refer to in the same sentence) as a way of undermining the good stuff that feminism does.
And you’re ignoring the major problems within feminism that lead me to re-appropriating that term for a slightly better use, then there’s the white, non-disabled, cis face of some of the more mainstream fractions of feminism, not that they’re as problematic as the feminazis, more varying shades of frustration. And while teh term is loaded, I’d rather re-purpose it to a much better end than let the anti-feminist fucktards lord over it
Mind you, I do have troll blood coursing through my veins, so yeah.
I’m not ignoring those problems (I think they need to be critiqued and sorted, although my strategies would be boldly different than yours), I just think appropriating the term in the way that you do creates confusion not clarity.
I do take your point about troll blood though.
Campaign to keep Public Libraries free:
http://kapitiindependentnews.net.nz/home/keep-libraries-free/
The campaign was launched by LIANZA — the New Zealand libraries’ national association — last month. It aims to raise the profile of the issue in the General Election campaign this year.
I definitely support this, especially because:
“Charges would be a personal barrier for many and would restrict libraries supporting all members of the public to be well informed.
“A well-informed, educated population brings economic benefits to the whole country, so it’s regressive to restrict libraries’ ability to support such a positive social outcome.
Yep. Same sort of thing happens most Wed. mornings with Steven Joyce and Annette King. King rarely gets a chance to finish what she’s saying before Joyce shouts over the top of her. More often than not she’s replying to a direct question from Hosking but does he intervene and shut Joyce up? No – hardly ever anyway. Just lets him get away with it.
It’s bully boy tactics and I believe part of the reason these Ministers (and their mates) get away with it is because todays crop of media types are scared of them… scared if they stray too far out of line they will lose their positions and prospects. I’m starting to pick up some real parallels with the Muldoon regime when journalists and reporters were overtly terrified of him. This time around though it’s not just one person, but a collective group of them.
oops: meant to be reply to Morrissey
Joyce is a very smooth and competent operator, and King handles herself well in those exchanges, I think. But Hosking really is a disgrace; he makes no attempt to be even-handed or even to ask probing questions.
The worst bullying, though, happens on Drivetime with Larry Williams. Compared to Williams, Hosking is indeed “fair and balanced”.
No, not really! Hosking’s terrible. There are some intelligent and hard-working presenters on NewstalkZB, but they are few and far between, and they do not have the prime spots. That’s no accident, it’s company policy. Former CEO Bill Francis said that he preferred extreme right wing hosts like Leighton Smith and Paul Holmes because they were “more entertaining” and “easier to understand”. Naturally, he gave no evidence to back up these statements.
The only way the RWNJs can win the debate is to try and drown out everybody else. If they left it to actual debate on merits and facts they know they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on as nothing they say is related to truth.
170,000 jobs = Aspirational or Bullshit? You’re spoilt for choice.
And, coming up next, even the military is losing jobs:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5182350/Hundreds-of-military-staff-face-redundancy
You would have thought that Christchurch needs help ?
Can this government see dots to join ? Any dots at all ? Hello HELLo ?
I like the way the Standard Icon looks in the address bar. To me, it looks like a hamburger. This makes me happy.
lol it does!
What do you reckon the Kiwiblog one looks like?
lol ahahaha – or is it just my warped mind?
Umm. A pile of shit?
So the Speaker has just ruled that Joyce is justified in using the term xenophobic in response to Labour’s questions about the rail engineers, asset sales, and not supporting Kiwi workers and businesses over foreign ones because, according to labour, foreign interests will shift profits overseas. The justification given by the speaker was that Labour used an equally emotive term in the question…. the term being privatisation.
51 minute company delay in raising Pike River alarm, Mine Rescue not allowed access
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733977
Funny how this gets revealed on the same day as the Christchurch housing buyout package
To my fellow lefties out there I need a bit of infrormation regarding some statistics .What was the unemployment figures under the last labour government as against the Nats. Plus what was the sickness benifit figures.
No nutty replies from the Right please.
Not sure exactly what you’re after, so here are some good places to start looking.
Statistics NZ table builder quarterly unemployment figures from1990
Statistics NZ table builder Annual Household income from 1998 (select “govt transfers”)
Ministry of Social Development benefit stats page (the current one is only from 2000, but the sickness benefit sheet on the 2004 page has 10 year trends going to 1994.).
You might also want to match unemployment rate or benefit levels with quarterly gdp – it’s always looked like an interesting project to me, but I haven’t had the time. Doesn’t quite intersect with my current field 🙂
No Confidence
Steven Joyce was asked some hard questions today by Labour Minister of Communications and Information Technology David Cunliffe concerning Nationals Privatisation plans for New Zealand’s SOEs. Once again the speaker of the house Lockwood Smith came to National’s rescue. Lockwood argued that Joyce didn’t have to answer a question because the Minister disagreed with the word “Privatisation.” What utter Bullshit!
Lockwood equated privatisation with Joyce’s use of xenophobia, and said they were both emotive terms. But Joyce’s claim that opposing asset sales on sovereignty issues is xenophobic doesn’t wash… nevertheless, it’s the line NAct is peddling.
Bullshit right wing constraining of the English language.
The heart of the Left is in emotive rallying cries, and it makes sense that National would want the language of cold hard rational but false neoliberalism to rule instead.
Since when is the word Privatisation out of bounds… because National says so? Calling somebody xenophobic is entirely different, and Anette King rightly stood up for herself. If the Government can’t even get these simple facts right, it’s no wonder New Zealand is in such a mess.
Carol – Perhaps Lockwood should provide a list of words inappropriate because they have emotional contexts.
I can think of Beemer, babies, going forward, at the end of the day, sheepskin, exchange rate, oh lots just off the top of my head. I think there are 72,000 head words or such in my dictionary. Perhaps he should work through it alphabetically and produce a banned list of yucky words.
Exactly, jackal & prism. Saying privatisation is an (negatively) emotive word is totally (right wing) ideological on the part of the Speaker.
I’d also add, kicking the tyres, ambishoush for New Zild, mum and dad investors, more 100% pure than…….
FIFY
Carol Just another one. I can’t stand hearing people who boost themselves by saying they are ‘passionate’ about something. Sounds totally pseudo.
Asset Sales to foreignors under the radar?
Two news items, one from Commerce Commission and one showing the real owner’s details. Looks suspiciously like a sale to a foreign company of New Zealand assets owned by the people of Selwyn District and Christchurch City, 100% being sold off to an American company.
The Commerce Commission press release doesn’t mention it is a foreign company, knowing that Matariki sounds like a New Zealand business enterprise and doesn’t acknowledge that probably the Overseas Investment watchdog should be looking into it, unless the Commerce Commission can keep it quiet. Let’s not keep it quiet. Is this the work of CERA, selling off assets already, assets which could provide productive work for generations of Kiwis AND the dividends. Go figure.
‘Scoop >> Business Thursday, 23 June 2011, 9:48 am
1 – Press Release: Commerce Commission
Matariki Forests applies for clearance to acquire the Selwyn Plantation Board’s forestry assets
The Commerce Commission has received an application from Matariki Forests seeking clearance to acquire the forestry assets of the Selwyn Plantation Board.
Matariki Forests is New Zealand’s third largest forestry company and owns exotic forests throughout New Zealand. It is the largest forest owner in Canterbury.
The Selwyn Plantation Board owns exotic forests in Canterbury. It is owned by the Selwyn District Council (60 per cent) and Christchurch City Council (40 per cent).
The clearance application relates to both parties’ involvement in the supply of saw and pulp logs in the Canterbury region. In considering the application, the Commission’s role is to determine whether the acquisition has the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.
A public version of the application will be available shortly on the Commission’s website:
http://www.comcom.govt.nz/clearances-register
2 – Matariki Forests, global forester Rayonier’s New Zealand arm, is seeking Commerce Commission permission to buy a swathe of Canterbury forest and farmland owned by the Christchurch City and Selwyn District councils.
Matariki, the country’s third-largest forest owner, lodged the application to buy the assets of the Selwyn Plantation Board, a council-controlled organisation, owned 61 per cent by Selwyn Investment Holdings and 39.3 per cent by Christchurch City Holdings.
Matariki is the New Zealand arm of Rayonier, a global forester based in Florida.
It is unclear whether Overseas Investment Office permission will be required, assuming the Commerce Commission rules the acquisition is not anti-competitive.
• Rayonier seeks clearance to buy Canterbury forests’
Good post Jum. I wonder if this sort of deal would get so far if Jim Anderton had been Mayor?
Prism,
Mmm. I hope lots of people are remembering the fact that Anderton was streets ahead of Parker before the first earthquake; now they know that Parker and his followers are simply following NAct’s instructions, just as they will with Auckland’s freed up asset portfolio in 2012 if they get back in.
Labour needs to return these assets back to a 75% required citizen agreement before selling.
*big loud sigh*
Let’s show this one again. New Zealand assets being stolen all over the place. And now the election.
‘Colonial Viper 5
23 June 2011 at 10:14 am
Goldman Sachs buys into MediaWorks
Yeah. You read that right. National and Goldman Sachs are just now completing their plans to steal the November New Zealand election.
I wonder who the lead IB in the sale of our state assets are going to be.
http://www.scoopit.co.nz/story.php?title=goldman-takes-13-mediaworks-stake&ScoopSrc=scoopit_latest
Reply
I see that Papandreou has succeeded in pushing austerity measures through the greek parliament. This looks bad for the greeks, though I’m not really qualified to judge whether default would have been worse. Bryan Gould seems think it would have been preferable.
“If I have to choose between the posturing of politicians and the greed of bankers on the one hand, and the decent lives of ordinary people on the other, there is no choice. The Greeks must default, abandon the euro and make a fresh start.”
http://www.bryangould.net/id162.html
Papandreaou is the inside man for the bankster occupiers of Greece.
I’m glad Gould has come to this conclusion. Greece is being asked to sell off all its real hard assets for pennies on the pound to gain less than 6 months worth of additional debt to pay its current debt.
The financial terrorists are in a race to see who can pick up the most valuable Greek assets at the cheapest price now, because a Greek default is virtually unavoidable.
Would be bad for the EU and the Euro(€) (both would probably collapse (Actually, this reminds me of what happened to the Gold Standard in the late 19th century)) but good for the Greeks. Guess why it’s being rammed down the Greeks throat.
When taking issue with Mr Thompson, employer spokesperson, why didn’t Hekia Parata, Minister of Women’s Affairs, put forward the stats that her department should have had to hand if she had bothered to ask them and do her job advocating and advancing women’s lives.
Asshole of the Week Award – Alasdair Thompson
Alasdair Thompson is clearly a fully fledged asshole! He typifies the chauvinistic old man, which is unfortunately a prevalent disease in this country. It’s mainly caught by older males who believe they’re somehow superior to woman, who they believe need to be subservient to the status quo.
I would love to post him my used tampon, if only I were menstruating.
You could always email him a picture: [email protected]
I notice they have one “token” woman on the EMA board. One out of seven… I rest my case.
http://www.ema.co.nz/our_people.asp
The board should be revamped. Offer a seat to Helen Clark and a former Minister in charge of employment law.
They needed one to get the coffee.
Colonial Viper – Not if it was Dame Margaret Bazley. She would take her seat as one of the boys.
Jim Nald
If we could just get some more women scientists, you could get your wish…
Or I could get some from the supermarket, squirt some tom tom sauce,
put them in the mail to him and send him the tompons