Who are the worst performers in National’s dismal caucus?
In 1972, National ran a campaign with the slogan “Man for Man, the Strongest Team”. It was a joke way back then; Labour was significantly more talented and energetic than National. Anyone who squirmed throughout Kelvin Davis’s failure to counter the lightweight but aggressive Paul Henry yesterday morning will be well aware that today’s Labour opposition is certainly failing to impress; however, National supporters are the very last people that should be passing comment on this.
I started to compile this list yesterday on Google Groups, in the course of a dispute with a fanatical National Party troll who had sneered at “Labour’s desperation and lack of intellectual rigour”…..
1.) HEKIA PARATA. Poor old Hekia Parata: I know you’re only filibustering when you make a demand to see something which is obvious to anyone who has lived in this country for the last ten years, but a great place to start is her intellectual meltdown in August 2011, when she started burbling thusly: “Well, ahhhh, ummmm, it includes a variety of various variables. We have a suite of variables. Ahhhhh, look….”
2.) CRAIG FOSS. One of the world’s nicest guys, but incompetent. The fact that he was the DEPUTY to the most incompetent National front-bencher, Hekia Parata, hasn’t helped his credibility one iota. Foss will forever be synonymous, sadly for him, with the Novopay débâcle…
3.) LOUISE UPSTON. We presume she is following some neck-strengthening regime at a gymnasium, since she has to be in top form to keep nodding affirmatively during parliamentary Question Time—her only discernible rôle.
4.) TODD McCLAY. What did anyone expect from the son of one of the vilest hypocrites, and criminals, to ever enter parliament? Is his reprobate of an old man out of the Big House yet?
As neoliberalism gradually dismembers the country, it is now the middle class who are feeling the pinch.
The revolution devours its own.
Sadly, by the time they wake up and vote out all the parties who support the Tandian cult, the TPP will will be signed and it’ll be too late.
‘Increasing living costs are giving rise to the “middle-class poor”, an expert says, as a new report shows a large chunk of Canterbury families are under financial stress.’
Say you had an unexpected bill of $5k or where sacked tomorrow how would you be financially in three weeks time. Because I’m similar to your case but there’s not a lot of wriggle room.
Well my hot water cylinder needs replacing but luckily my mortage is up for renewal very shortly so that takes care of that plus I live in christchurch so jobs are easy to come by down here
Seriously anyone having problems in Auckland should come down to Christchurch
yes because relocation is free and there are no social ties keeping people close to sick relatives or even just keeping kids in the same school with their friends /sarc
More like maybe the interweb assurances of tory shills as to where the grass is greener tend to ignore the practicalities involved in jumping the fence. Even assuming that the grass is still greener when you finally get to it.
My nephew’s a builder. He looked at coming down to Christchurch, help with the rebuild etc. After doing the sums it was obvious that he couldn’t afford to as the amount being paid was well below the cost to live.
It wasn’t a case of life being hard but the fact that he would have ended up paying someone else to work for them.
Even this long after the earthquakes I doubt if there’s a lot of any other work to do.
Also, the hot water cylinder is a minor expense – you shouldn’t need to take out a mortgage to replace it.
Which you shouldn’t need to do. Doing so is the action of someone in poverty. But I’m sure that that bank, who will create the money for you, will be happy to get the interest for doing nothing.
“My nephew’s a builder. He looked at coming down to Christchurch, help with the rebuild etc. After doing the sums it was obvious that he couldn’t afford to as the amount being paid was well below the cost to live”
Sounds like he has your negative cant do attitude.
Average rate for a builder in Christchurch $26.77 per hour
I could easily live on that, many people do.
I was in the building industry for 20 years and worked away in Wellington for six months until I could get a local job. There is nothing difficult about it.
Average rate for a builder in Christchurch $26.77 per hour
He says as if that’s a lot of money.
My nephew usually get $35/hour + GST. After expenses (my nephew’s self-employed) that comes down to somewhat less than the minimum wage. $27/hour isn’t worth considering especially with the inflated rents in Christchurch.
It’s not a question of charging – it’s a question of what people are willing to pay. If he tries charging more than that then he doesn’t get hired.
And the most he ever got offered for Christchurch work was sub $25/hour + GST and that was only a couple of months ago so I really have NFI WTF you got $26.77 from.
My father’s mate owns a caryard in CHC and he reckons all these ‘cashed up’ tradies who come in and buy these utes, etc get them repo’d a few weeks later.
Not too sure if they are as cashed up as we thought.
But anyway. from where I am sitting, the earthquake rebuild is the modern equivalent of the gold and land rushes of the mid 19th centuries — a big free for all with a few people getting rich, and the rest of them losing their shirts.
If only we hadn’t of chopped ‘Auntie MOW’.
Anyway, there are a lot of cheap houses ($40-50000 in the likes of Ohura, Taumarunui, Kawerau, and Murupara. No jobs though, but if you bought say, 54 New Road in Taumarunui for 50,000 (which is for sale at the moment), which is a deposit on a house anywhere else, you would only have to pay rates/insurance of a little under $60 per week $25 a week for a broadband package, and a bike to commute (only use a car if it is wet or for emergencies) you would be living the dream — having a poor paying job could work.
Yep. Our head gasket blew on our car. No wiggle room for finding $2.9K. Paying that off for the next 60 weeks.
Then theres’ unexpected vet bills. All our savings went along time ago.
As for losing your job, Mr R is in the position of being compelled to pay income protection insurance. That would last 6 months to cover the mortgage.
No one had income protection insurance years ago. You didn’t need it. Kind of a racquet really, a form of subtle extortion. Will be interested to see what Jane Kelsey has to say about the insurance industry in her new book.
Now days, life is unstable and the future is uncertain. Maybe that’s how they super wealthy like it. Don’t want the ordinary people feeling too comfortable in their lives, that might make them a bit more, you know, equal.
Some one posted this fairfax article a few days ago. Interesting reading and not surprising.
Remember wages have been stagnant for many years for many people, rates and utility bills are going up, insurance costs are up, accommodation is becoming more and more expensive in the cities, petrol has gone up, we had an increase in every individual’s living costs of 2.5% six years ago and there’s no relief in sight.
There’s only so many increases households can absorb, while wages and salaries remain the same.
For us, we are on one good salary, (not mine, I’m unemployed and unwell) but every week is a struggle. That one good salary has been the same for six years and costs keep going up up up. Going for a coffee in the weekend is our social highlight of the week.
There’s no holidays, movies, dinners, day trips, no new clothes and shoes. No one comes for dinner these days as we can’t afford the extra food.
I hate to think how much worse our situation would be if we hadn’t left Auckland nine years ago.
Maybe scratch the surface a bit more and you’ll find that life in NZ is only sweet for those on a very high income, or come from a wealthy family.
Poor old cow cocky gets stiffed by the supermarket cartels. Expect to see more farm gates sales as some dairy farmers join the growing working poor. Where is Shane Jones when ya need him? Kicked back on a deck chair in some Pacific paradise pondering his return to political life. Meanwhile Clayton Cosgrove gives thought of taking up the fight, then falls back asleep and leaves it up Labour’s big hitter David Shearer…chuckle.
Basically most commentators expected the large stockpiles of WMP in China to be consumed by the end of 2014, as it turns out they still exist. The really worrying thing about this is that it seems that Fonterra really don’t have good visibility/information on China while at the same time basing a big part of NZ’s Dairy growth strategy on this country. Its seems that China’s consumption of WMP is much lower than we (and the dairy industry in USA and EU) have been led to believe. I suspect that the Chinese have NOT been in a rush to put the West right on this, knowing the free market will over-supply leading to China importing well below cost for many years to come. Clever buggers.
My guess is that we wont see prices over $5.50 KG ms for years because it seems that many of the assumptions around Chinese/Asian demand were wrong, it also means that regional NZ is going to go through hard times for many years to come.
I think there is upside in this though, our NZ $ will stay low helping other importers and the tourist industry plus NZ will really re-establish itself as the lowest cost dairy producers on the cost curve. Enviromentally this will also be positive as farmers will have to go back to grass-only-feed, leading to lower nitrate levels leaking off farms and improved waterways etc. So it isn’t all bad.
@Saarbo… agree with you about the possible upside for the environment….however a whole lot of Chinese might start buying bankrupt NZ dairy farms … especially with Chinese ‘tourists’ ( business opportunists) pouring into the country
…and while jonkey nact persuaded Fonterra NOT to export to China when we had the chance ( NZ was exempt from Russia’s ban on dairy imports) …now China is building a giant milk farm to export to Russia
… based on NZ expertise, experience and NZ cow stock….NZ exports cows to China…
( how about that for NZ government stupidity and Chinese duplicity!)
“Prior said that Prime Minister John Key had recently warned Fonterra not to take advantage of the boycott, yet Pepsi and Danone had invested heavily in the Russian dairy sector through two major Russian companies.
“Because the boycott is country-specific, naturally they [multinationals] have an opportunity to switch to sourcing from South American subsidiaries or whatever – we’ve given something for absolutely nothing,” Prior said…
That interesting. I attended a Fonterra presentation recently and a lot of farmers were asking Fonterra why it isn’t supplying Russia. Its a good question. Im not up with the whole geo-political ramifications of sending dairy products to Russia, but can we afford NOT to send product to Russia.
WMP is pretty interesting. When stored in bulk and under good conditions, it has a “expiry date: measured in years, and is usually good for a decade. The frigging stuff is effectively as sterile as concrete after processing.
We also have a stockpile of WMP. Last time I looked at it in the stats department figures, it looked like close to a years supply.
“Tenants are being evicted from their communities all over New Zealand and only a limited amount of private and publicly funded housing is being built in its place’ said Vanessa Cole, researcher for the Tamaki Housing Collective, speaking this week at the Unitary Plan Hearings Panel. Vanessa has recently completed a one year masters thesis on the effects of displacement in the affordable housing sector.”
I agree with Labour on this – STOP the flag change rubbish. I don’t really like our existing flag. My choice is the tino rangatiratanga flag. I will not support an alternative so leave it all alone – I quite like the existing situation.
Maybe if Little Angry hadn’t have waited until he and Labour were under the pump after outing themselves as racists then it might have meant something but as it is it looks like hes trying to find a distraction
For the record I favour a change of flag but I’m not really fussed either way
I think that the point about the flag isn’t so much about changing it or not. It is that the stupid arsehole in charge of it (John Key) appears to have done it on a whim and then *chose* to waste 10’s of millions of taxpayer’s dollars in a process that appears to have been designed to be as wasteful as possible.
I’d have liked to have seen some information at the start about some real basics like if there was any benefits for NZ (something that I still haven’t seen), if there was widespread support for doing it (it appears that there never was), and what we were trying to achieve (ie the measureables that would define success). In other words the responsible approach to any government expenditure of money.
None of those things have at yet been done, and they have apparently already wasted $8.4 million for a process that excites history seeking graphic designers and those carefully selected piglets supping at the taxpayers trough.
Instead we have a two part referendum that looks like some dirtbag’s idea about how to grow support for something that they knew wasn’t ready to go. To me it looks like the actual decision process was John Key jerking off at his desk one day while contemplating his ego.
+100 Maui…Labour is on the up and up…gaining traction and momentum ….heading for a BIG WIN at the next Election
(….although I retain the forlorn hope that maybe this jonkey nact government will be forced to resign before then…. and before they do any more damage to New Zealand.)
lol…well I am feeling good at the moment…jonkey nactional is going down in the polls…and Labour seems to be getting in a few king hits at last that resonate with the public
btw what is all this about the money in the airport bags?…NZ millions of dollars leaving the country for Hong Kong?…know anything about this Pucky?…what would you suggest….seems highly irregular if not illegal !
…ill- gotten gains ?…prostitution?.
…gambling?
…Auckland real estate fees?
…issues of tax avoidance/evasion?
…and whats wrong with bank transactions?
Shearer snapper stunt was one of the funniest things I’ve seen by political leader in the House, and it just keeps on giving. Seeing Shearer pleased as punch holding up those snapper was gold. Everyone apart from himself knew he was about to join them in being fried. Unfortunately the religiously touched Cunliffe couldn’t convert enough to the Labour faith.
Key retorts during question time yesterday “I accept that a whale is a mammal and not a fish. But the last Labour leader that came to Parliament dangling those out like that leader was gone by lunchtime; I reckon he [Little] might be too.”
People, watch out for Auckland Council’s fire sale coming up.
– sea port
– air port 23%
– AECT available August 2073 brought forward ($2.1b)
– film studio in Henderson
– all the old Council chambers
– Community centres not worth the upgrade
– Acceleated land sales as Auckland Development Company seeks fast $$ results off the block
Share brokers already salivating.
This is a full Tory attack, report due November.
Goff needs to come out shortly, it will give him unassailable momentum.
My ethically-minded daughter sent me this link to remind us that along with the ill-considered decision to withdraw the start-up incentive for Kiwisaver, there is another concern about where our funds go.
I guess from your having read the link, PR, as your reference to Assassins shows, that the point about paying attention to the ethical basis of investments passed you by?
Is it not important to you as to how we earn our money and who might be harmed in that pursuit of profit and income?
That last Mary Holm link has a question about a Kiwisaver ethical investment plan, Amanah Kiwisaver, which to summarise does not, amongst other things, invest in money lending, weapons of war, tobacco, gambling, alcohol and pornography. Its ethics brings it within the beliefs of the Christian and Islamic religions; it is Halal.
Amanah Kiwisaver does not invest in banks, which are after all the largest moneylenders in New Zealand.
+100 mac1…this is all pretty concerning…and this one in particular !
….”KiwiSavers are, by default, passive players in the highest levels of global capitalism because KiwiSaver funds are shareholders in some of the biggest names in financial services, including some that have been pinged with some enormous fines and have agreed to pay enormous sums to end lawsuits.
Goldman Sachs is among them. It was described by Rolling Stone magazine in 2009 as “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
It’s coughed up some staggering fines and settlements for its past actions.
Hes never hidden his wealth, hes never tried to suggest hes something hes not and $14000 for a meal cooked by Blumenthal and three nights accommodation sounds like he wanted to do something special for his wife which he can afford to do
But if you think that running the Keys a rich prick line is going to work now after 7 odd years then by all means do so
He’s running the line “‘I’m not a ridiculously lavish guy’ “, when he quite obviously is.
So he is a liar. And the question becomes “why is he lying about this, now?”
The obvious answer is that National party research has suggested that people don’t like a PM who lives high on the hog when they are struggling. It looks a bit too much like he’s profited off their pain (and given his forex trading and shares in privatised SOEs, it’s probably not far off the truth).
So ke’s pretending to be just a simple multimillionaire with mansions in at least two countries, a vineyard he doesn’t know about because it’s in a trust, $6k suits, $7k dinners (and three nights accommodation, ok), too many shares to remember, yep, not lavish at all /sarc.
It is exceptionally lavish from the perspective of ordinary New Zealanders, though.
And in case you haven’t noticed, this entire thread is in response to a defensive wee puff-piece where tugger pretends he has a simple lifestyle. This isn’t a line “the left” ran. This is a specific line from Key’s own media machine targeted at a general public perception that he’s out of touch.
The thing is that it’s backfired, because it just means that greenstone suits and Hawaiian mansions are not “lavish” in his estimation. I doubt most ordinary NZers (who are just struggling to get by) would agree.
I doubt was NZers would want the leader of NZ to dress shabbily but I’m interested in knowing what is the maximum amount the leader of NZ is allowed to spend on a suit?
But if the emperor chooses to spend more money on greenstone-washed suits than Elvis spent on rhinestones, the emperor would be foolish to pretend to ordinary NZers that an emperor’s lifestyle is anything less than lavish.
I’m quite pleased the Leader of NZ is wearing top-end NZ clothing on the world stage but i get it, anything the left can think of to try to discredit John Key is all good
We’ll see how well that works out for the left (I’m guessing it won’t work as well as the left think)
Oh, as a tory you’re easily impressed by conspicuous and vacuous consumption.
But “the left” didn’t start this debate. The nats thought tugger’s lavish lifestyle was alienating New Zealanders, so generated this puff piece. And the puff-piece has backfired, because now you’re explaining how it’s fine that he has a lavish lifestyle wearing suits with an invisible greenstone wash, when the entire point of the article was him explaining how he didn’t live a lavish lifestyle.
Putin lavish lifestyles into context.
Putin made all his money through hard graft no pun intended.
Key likewise selling Merrill Lynch’s Ponzi schemes insider trading and libor started while Key was at Merrill Lynch.
The
Oh noes, people might actually be forced to look after those around them as they use the resources that belong to those around them. Oh, woe are the capitalists…
The bit you seem to be missing is that you’re preferred option of free-market capitalism isn’t actually providing for the people of Venezuela. When that happens, as it does every time capitalism is tried, then the government needs to step in and take over.
We see the same things happening here in NZ with a quarter of our children going hungry despite the fact that we produce enough food to feed everyone but our political parties are too scared to do anything about it.
Either way it raises the question:
What was the origin of the $10 million in cash that was being flown out of the country and why wasn’t it deposited via a bank in NZ?
Helen Clark wore Jane Daniels – check the prices.
She owned 5 houses.
She enjoyed expensive skiing holidays in Europe and South America and her husband travelled at our expense. Along with their friends Chris Carter and his husband, also at our expense.
Where was the outrage then?
John Key pays for his wife on official trips. He has drastically tightened travel and expenses.
I hate these double standards.
Surely we are bigger than this – attacking people rather than promoting good policy for the benefit of NZ.
Helen Clark is a one percenter and a humanitarian. John Key is a 0.01%’er and a bankster, transferring the wealth of the many to the greedy pockets of the foreign few while ensuring the local elite get their cut.
Perhaps Lynda we should take note of taxpayers not only pay for the cost of holidays in Hawaii, but also the cost of the security detail who travel with John Key. Someone has to pay for helicopter trips to attend meetings and so on. Where would the comparison end?
and she earned it, making sure the ladder was still there for others, supporting society in general and balancing the books at the same time.
Key spends alot of time abroad, taking selfies, making a quick buck from selling hard earned (by previous generations) assets, changing laws to turn us into a low wage economy, avoiding any difficult issues or facts that don’t effect him and his cronies, skimming every last dollar away from society in general for the benefit of his mates in business…….etc.He is tacky and cheap, no class and a very long way from being a statesperson, as Helen was.
“the emperor has no clothes on”
Chris Carter lost his job Helen Clark paid for her own holidays had 4 investment properties that are mortgaged.
Ministerial Travel costs have gone up considerably since the Clark lead soft right wing government left office.
Also the Cost of running govt has gone from $145 million a year for the PMs slush under Labour down from the Bolger Shipley $1billion a year inflation adjusted figures.
Under Key that is back up to $850 million.
ianmac
Fair enough but didn’t they go skiing too? Or did we send Helen off on holiday in Norway without the DPS?
Meetings etc are surely part of the job not holidays.
But you have to love the envious excitement as people write about the mansion in Hawaii. It must be their pinnacle of wealth and ostentation!!
PR shifting the blame.
Robber Barons they were called back in the day.
Now with expert Media manipulation they are made to look like hero when in reality Banksters are playing a real life game of Monopoly denying more and more people by monopolizing more and more to fewer and fewer rich oligarchs.
Deliberately undermine democracy to achieve their goal.
I doubt you have bothered to read Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
As usual you are commenting from an illiterate and uninformed position.
But that doesn’t stop the usual trolling.
No. Don’t think the detail travelled overseas with Helen, and not even around her when at home, walking to the supermarket let alone having them living onsite as they do with your mate Key.
“But you have to love the envious excitement …” I feel sorry for Key and his need to be “cool”, I would never aspire to have what he has sought Lynda Brown, I cannot imagine a more vacuous life, needing to win and “look” good, at the cost of anyone around him, rather than feel good is a long way from anything I would envy.
The argument that people are “envious” is generally what greedy people say to justify the obscene wealth gap?
Heh. RNZ reports from today’s court proceedings that the latest person to have blogged on Slater’s behalf is his wife. He has had words with her for breaching his keep-quiet agreement, he reckons.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that the median price for a house in Sydney has hit the $1 million (Aus) mark.
House prices in Sydney surged 8.4% in the last quarter.
Low interest rates and increasing numbers of private investors has led to the increase. Young house buyers will be left out of the property ownership market for at least a generation.
Is that the only policy they’re relying on? It’s hard to decide which would be more stupid: relying on a single policy in this context, or your pretence that’s the only tool in the box.
Or is your pretence merely what passes for a clever ruse on your planet?
Naki Man and the rest of the RWNJs use the Look, it doesn’t work distraction to try and prevent rules that they don’t either from being implemented in the first place or getting rid of them. The reason why they don’t like them is because they work.
The bubble will burst highly geared investors will go bankrupt their banks will take a massive hit or go bankrupt .
It’s only a matter of time speculation is counter productive the market will fail Australia will go first NZ will come later just like 2007/8.
Having no plan to increase supply an immigration policy that has no plan .
Laissez faire it will sort everything by its self imagine if a business was run like that or the all black’s they would not be successful.
Policies such as the govt modernising and building more cheap housing all immigrants moving to areas where housing is in short supply have to build a new house Australia does that.
And an Capital gains tax .
Cut out absetee ownership as well.
When the Crash comes it will cost every one.
I holidayed at Hatfields when I was a kid (70s/80s), & I used to see Muldoon walking to the beach & having a dip, relaxing on the sand, just him sometimes with his wife, everyone just left him alone…those were the days huh.
Well, if you wanted to completely and utterly stop people from using drones then this would do it:
A change in the rules around flying drones will come into effect next week and will prevent drones being flown in public spaces without consent and a safety plan in place.
The change to Rule Part 101, which requires drone users to have consent of people and property owners before flying a drone over them, will keep people safe, General Manager of general aviation for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Steve Moore said.
Yeah, like anybody’s going to give permission and this bit:
Having a conversation with a property owner beforehand is an effective means of risk management because they are likely to have the best knowledge of the risks.
is complete bollocks. The landowner won’t have a clue as to what risks are there.
Oh, wait:
Civil Aviation Rule Part 102 – Unmanned Aircraft Operator Certification will also come into force on August 1 and will enable people who want to operate outside the existing rules for unmanned aircraft to do so if they have in place a plan to manage the safety risks.
“This new rule part gives operators greater freedom while maintaining the highest standards of aviation safety,” Mr Moore said.
Those who cannot get consent from a landowner or individuals can still fly a drone if they get an operating certificate from the CAA under Rule Part 102.
“These changes strike a balance between safety and enabling operations,” he says.
Really, why didn’t they just say that to fly an unmanned aircraft you needed to get a license? And I suspect that the answer to that is because they didn’t want to force people flying remote controlled aircraft to have to get a license.
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Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
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Who are the worst performers in National’s dismal caucus?
In 1972, National ran a campaign with the slogan “Man for Man, the Strongest Team”. It was a joke way back then; Labour was significantly more talented and energetic than National. Anyone who squirmed throughout Kelvin Davis’s failure to counter the lightweight but aggressive Paul Henry yesterday morning will be well aware that today’s Labour opposition is certainly failing to impress; however, National supporters are the very last people that should be passing comment on this.
I started to compile this list yesterday on Google Groups, in the course of a dispute with a fanatical National Party troll who had sneered at “Labour’s desperation and lack of intellectual rigour”…..
1.) HEKIA PARATA. Poor old Hekia Parata: I know you’re only filibustering when you make a demand to see something which is obvious to anyone who has lived in this country for the last ten years, but a great place to start is her intellectual meltdown in August 2011, when she started burbling thusly: “Well, ahhhh, ummmm, it includes a variety of various variables. We have a suite of variables. Ahhhhh, look….”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30082011/#comment-369467
2.) CRAIG FOSS. One of the world’s nicest guys, but incompetent. The fact that he was the DEPUTY to the most incompetent National front-bencher, Hekia Parata, hasn’t helped his credibility one iota. Foss will forever be synonymous, sadly for him, with the Novopay débâcle…
http://www.nzei.org.nz/NZEI/Media/Releases/2012/11/Minister_of_Education_needs_to_front_up_over_Novopay_sign-off.aspx#.Va8p8eD7JFQ
3.) LOUISE UPSTON. We presume she is following some neck-strengthening regime at a gymnasium, since she has to be in top form to keep nodding affirmatively during parliamentary Question Time—her only discernible rôle.
4.) TODD McCLAY. What did anyone expect from the son of one of the vilest hypocrites, and criminals, to ever enter parliament? Is his reprobate of an old man out of the Big House yet?
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2010/03/30/todd-mcclay-says-that-beneficiaries-are-more-likely-to-murder-children/
I might add to it in coming days….
Coming up soon….
Maggie Barry, Melissa Lee, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and Chris Bishop.
The original post was on this site…..
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nz.general/xWOWyYUzXgs
Sam Lotu-Iiga has to be the worst.that interview with Sean Plunket showed how poor he is.
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/I-dont-know-what-happened—Corrections-Minister-wont-answer-questions-over-prisoners-death/tabid/506/articleID/91909/Default.aspx
Just like Doug Graham and Bill Jeffries –
shows that the skills needed to become a Minister bear absolutely no relation to the skills needed to be a Minister
and this is one of the inherent flaws in our democratic system
Chill out or your blood pressure will go through the roof.
yeah, and when the tories sign the TPPA pharmac might not be able to afford to subsidise the pills to keep blood pressure under control…
Nice one McFlock
As neoliberalism gradually dismembers the country, it is now the middle class who are feeling the pinch.
The revolution devours its own.
Sadly, by the time they wake up and vote out all the parties who support the Tandian cult, the TPP will will be signed and it’ll be too late.
‘Increasing living costs are giving rise to the “middle-class poor”, an expert says, as a new report shows a large chunk of Canterbury families are under financial stress.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/70301032/middleclass-poor-struggling-with-financial-stresses-report
I find this interesting, as someone who makes less than the average or median wage and has a mortgage I’d have to ask what these people are doing?
Say you had an unexpected bill of $5k or where sacked tomorrow how would you be financially in three weeks time. Because I’m similar to your case but there’s not a lot of wriggle room.
Well my hot water cylinder needs replacing but luckily my mortage is up for renewal very shortly so that takes care of that plus I live in christchurch so jobs are easy to come by down here
Seriously anyone having problems in Auckland should come down to Christchurch
yes because relocation is free and there are no social ties keeping people close to sick relatives or even just keeping kids in the same school with their friends /sarc
Jeepers lifes sometimes tough? Who’da thunk it? Ah well better not try to do anything to improve your lot because its a bit hard
More like maybe the interweb assurances of tory shills as to where the grass is greener tend to ignore the practicalities involved in jumping the fence. Even assuming that the grass is still greener when you finally get to it.
My nephew’s a builder. He looked at coming down to Christchurch, help with the rebuild etc. After doing the sums it was obvious that he couldn’t afford to as the amount being paid was well below the cost to live.
It wasn’t a case of life being hard but the fact that he would have ended up paying someone else to work for them.
Even this long after the earthquakes I doubt if there’s a lot of any other work to do.
Also, the hot water cylinder is a minor expense – you shouldn’t need to take out a mortgage to replace it.
I’m not taking out a mortgage to replace it, just adding it to the existing mortgage
Which you shouldn’t need to do. Doing so is the action of someone in poverty. But I’m sure that that bank, who will create the money for you, will be happy to get the interest for doing nothing.
Draco
“My nephew’s a builder. He looked at coming down to Christchurch, help with the rebuild etc. After doing the sums it was obvious that he couldn’t afford to as the amount being paid was well below the cost to live”
Sounds like he has your negative cant do attitude.
Average rate for a builder in Christchurch $26.77 per hour
I could easily live on that, many people do.
I was in the building industry for 20 years and worked away in Wellington for six months until I could get a local job. There is nothing difficult about it.
He says as if that’s a lot of money.
My nephew usually get $35/hour + GST. After expenses (my nephew’s self-employed) that comes down to somewhat less than the minimum wage. $27/hour isn’t worth considering especially with the inflated rents in Christchurch.
Draco
$26.77 is the employee wage rate, If he only charges $35/hour +GST he would be far better of on wages.
It’s not a question of charging – it’s a question of what people are willing to pay. If he tries charging more than that then he doesn’t get hired.
And the most he ever got offered for Christchurch work was sub $25/hour + GST and that was only a couple of months ago so I really have NFI WTF you got $26.77 from.
My father’s mate owns a caryard in CHC and he reckons all these ‘cashed up’ tradies who come in and buy these utes, etc get them repo’d a few weeks later.
Not too sure if they are as cashed up as we thought.
But anyway. from where I am sitting, the earthquake rebuild is the modern equivalent of the gold and land rushes of the mid 19th centuries — a big free for all with a few people getting rich, and the rest of them losing their shirts.
If only we hadn’t of chopped ‘Auntie MOW’.
Anyway, there are a lot of cheap houses ($40-50000 in the likes of Ohura, Taumarunui, Kawerau, and Murupara. No jobs though, but if you bought say, 54 New Road in Taumarunui for 50,000 (which is for sale at the moment), which is a deposit on a house anywhere else, you would only have to pay rates/insurance of a little under $60 per week $25 a week for a broadband package, and a bike to commute (only use a car if it is wet or for emergencies) you would be living the dream — having a poor paying job could work.
Yep. Our head gasket blew on our car. No wiggle room for finding $2.9K. Paying that off for the next 60 weeks.
Then theres’ unexpected vet bills. All our savings went along time ago.
As for losing your job, Mr R is in the position of being compelled to pay income protection insurance. That would last 6 months to cover the mortgage.
No one had income protection insurance years ago. You didn’t need it. Kind of a racquet really, a form of subtle extortion. Will be interested to see what Jane Kelsey has to say about the insurance industry in her new book.
Now days, life is unstable and the future is uncertain. Maybe that’s how they super wealthy like it. Don’t want the ordinary people feeling too comfortable in their lives, that might make them a bit more, you know, equal.
Some one posted this fairfax article a few days ago. Interesting reading and not surprising.
Remember wages have been stagnant for many years for many people, rates and utility bills are going up, insurance costs are up, accommodation is becoming more and more expensive in the cities, petrol has gone up, we had an increase in every individual’s living costs of 2.5% six years ago and there’s no relief in sight.
There’s only so many increases households can absorb, while wages and salaries remain the same.
For us, we are on one good salary, (not mine, I’m unemployed and unwell) but every week is a struggle. That one good salary has been the same for six years and costs keep going up up up. Going for a coffee in the weekend is our social highlight of the week.
There’s no holidays, movies, dinners, day trips, no new clothes and shoes. No one comes for dinner these days as we can’t afford the extra food.
I hate to think how much worse our situation would be if we hadn’t left Auckland nine years ago.
Maybe scratch the surface a bit more and you’ll find that life in NZ is only sweet for those on a very high income, or come from a wealthy family.
Milk prices. The international milk price is at a 10 year low but at the supermarket I am still paying the highest prices ever.
How can we get the government to look into the monopoly pricing of our domestic milk.
Poor old cow cocky gets stiffed by the supermarket cartels. Expect to see more farm gates sales as some dairy farmers join the growing working poor. Where is Shane Jones when ya need him? Kicked back on a deck chair in some Pacific paradise pondering his return to political life. Meanwhile Clayton Cosgrove gives thought of taking up the fight, then falls back asleep and leaves it up Labour’s big hitter David Shearer…chuckle.
And the gummint is putting the screws on the raw milk industry
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/278856/raw-milk-rules-%27impossible%27-for-farmers
Something that has recently come out, is China still has huge stocks of Whole Milk Powder,
http://news.forexlive.com/!/bnz-cuts-it-forecast-for-fonterras-dairy-payout-to-nz380kg-20150722
Basically most commentators expected the large stockpiles of WMP in China to be consumed by the end of 2014, as it turns out they still exist. The really worrying thing about this is that it seems that Fonterra really don’t have good visibility/information on China while at the same time basing a big part of NZ’s Dairy growth strategy on this country. Its seems that China’s consumption of WMP is much lower than we (and the dairy industry in USA and EU) have been led to believe. I suspect that the Chinese have NOT been in a rush to put the West right on this, knowing the free market will over-supply leading to China importing well below cost for many years to come. Clever buggers.
My guess is that we wont see prices over $5.50 KG ms for years because it seems that many of the assumptions around Chinese/Asian demand were wrong, it also means that regional NZ is going to go through hard times for many years to come.
I think there is upside in this though, our NZ $ will stay low helping other importers and the tourist industry plus NZ will really re-establish itself as the lowest cost dairy producers on the cost curve. Enviromentally this will also be positive as farmers will have to go back to grass-only-feed, leading to lower nitrate levels leaking off farms and improved waterways etc. So it isn’t all bad.
@Saarbo… agree with you about the possible upside for the environment….however a whole lot of Chinese might start buying bankrupt NZ dairy farms … especially with Chinese ‘tourists’ ( business opportunists) pouring into the country
…and while jonkey nact persuaded Fonterra NOT to export to China when we had the chance ( NZ was exempt from Russia’s ban on dairy imports) …now China is building a giant milk farm to export to Russia
… based on NZ expertise, experience and NZ cow stock….NZ exports cows to China…
http://www.rt.com/business/270463-china-russia-milk-farm/
( how about that for NZ government stupidity and Chinese duplicity!)
“Prior said that Prime Minister John Key had recently warned Fonterra not to take advantage of the boycott, yet Pepsi and Danone had invested heavily in the Russian dairy sector through two major Russian companies.
“Because the boycott is country-specific, naturally they [multinationals] have an opportunity to switch to sourcing from South American subsidiaries or whatever – we’ve given something for absolutely nothing,” Prior said…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/63925190/russian-trade-threat-ongoing
correction to 3.2.1.. …Jonkey Nact persuaded Fonterra NOT to export to RUSSIA when we had the chance
That interesting. I attended a Fonterra presentation recently and a lot of farmers were asking Fonterra why it isn’t supplying Russia. Its a good question. Im not up with the whole geo-political ramifications of sending dairy products to Russia, but can we afford NOT to send product to Russia.
I would say we can NOT afford to ignore any potential trading partner for dairy
…especially if it means the difference between dairy farmers going to the wall
….NZ farmers being forced off their land
… and New Zealand farm land being bought up by foreigners
“Something that has recently come out, is China still has huge stocks of Whole Milk Powder”
I agree with your post, but that stock pile of over priced WMP cant be to far away from its expiry date.
WMP is pretty interesting. When stored in bulk and under good conditions, it has a “expiry date: measured in years, and is usually good for a decade. The frigging stuff is effectively as sterile as concrete after processing.
We also have a stockpile of WMP. Last time I looked at it in the stats department figures, it looked like close to a years supply.
The news just keep getting worse, Ive heard rumours of large stocks of WMP in NZ warehouses, sounds like they are fact.
Tony Blair. Right of John Key. Discuss.
you discuss
“Tony Blair. Right of John Key. Discuss.”
Who gives a fucking shit, they are both aresholes, and one is a war criminal.
which one?
A case could be made for both, if the SAS were sending prisoners to be tortured with the knowledge of the government.
“Tenants are being evicted from their communities all over New Zealand and only a limited amount of private and publicly funded housing is being built in its place’ said Vanessa Cole, researcher for the Tamaki Housing Collective, speaking this week at the Unitary Plan Hearings Panel. Vanessa has recently completed a one year masters thesis on the effects of displacement in the affordable housing sector.”
https://www.facebook.com/allaboutAKL/videos/1097677906912631/?fref=nf
I agree with Labour on this – STOP the flag change rubbish. I don’t really like our existing flag. My choice is the tino rangatiratanga flag. I will not support an alternative so leave it all alone – I quite like the existing situation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=152626
had to lol with the new reporter on Little’s left
Headline should have read:
Labour wants a diversion as their racially-motivated attack didn’t work as well as expected
nah – just the constantly changing world spinning through space mate
Labour couldn’t pick two better issues where National are vulnerable and defenceless on in my mind.
Maybe if Little Angry hadn’t have waited until he and Labour were under the pump after outing themselves as racists then it might have meant something but as it is it looks like hes trying to find a distraction
For the record I favour a change of flag but I’m not really fussed either way
I think that the point about the flag isn’t so much about changing it or not. It is that the stupid arsehole in charge of it (John Key) appears to have done it on a whim and then *chose* to waste 10’s of millions of taxpayer’s dollars in a process that appears to have been designed to be as wasteful as possible.
I’d have liked to have seen some information at the start about some real basics like if there was any benefits for NZ (something that I still haven’t seen), if there was widespread support for doing it (it appears that there never was), and what we were trying to achieve (ie the measureables that would define success). In other words the responsible approach to any government expenditure of money.
None of those things have at yet been done, and they have apparently already wasted $8.4 million for a process that excites history seeking graphic designers and those carefully selected piglets supping at the taxpayers trough.
Instead we have a two part referendum that looks like some dirtbag’s idea about how to grow support for something that they knew wasn’t ready to go. To me it looks like the actual decision process was John Key jerking off at his desk one day while contemplating his ego.
How about John Key using half of his huge fortune to fund the flag change since it his vanity project. $26million wouldn’t even dent his bank account.
I am sure that if it was his own money then the project would have looked quite different…
lol
+100 Maui…Labour is on the up and up…gaining traction and momentum ….heading for a BIG WIN at the next Election
(….although I retain the forlorn hope that maybe this jonkey nact government will be forced to resign before then…. and before they do any more damage to New Zealand.)
I’m almost going to feel bad for you at the next election…almost 🙂
lol…well I am feeling good at the moment…jonkey nactional is going down in the polls…and Labour seems to be getting in a few king hits at last that resonate with the public
btw what is all this about the money in the airport bags?…NZ millions of dollars leaving the country for Hong Kong?…know anything about this Pucky?…what would you suggest….seems highly irregular if not illegal !
…ill- gotten gains ?…prostitution?.
…gambling?
…Auckland real estate fees?
…issues of tax avoidance/evasion?
…and whats wrong with bank transactions?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11485635
Shearer snapper stunt was one of the funniest things I’ve seen by political leader in the House, and it just keeps on giving. Seeing Shearer pleased as punch holding up those snapper was gold. Everyone apart from himself knew he was about to join them in being fried. Unfortunately the religiously touched Cunliffe couldn’t convert enough to the Labour faith.
Key retorts during question time yesterday “I accept that a whale is a mammal and not a fish. But the last Labour leader that came to Parliament dangling those out like that leader was gone by lunchtime; I reckon he [Little] might be too.”
The P.M. is good at leg pulling isn’t he…actually an expert at…pulling!Blame Fran Mold for the snapper ,hopelessly out of her depth .
People, watch out for Auckland Council’s fire sale coming up.
– sea port
– air port 23%
– AECT available August 2073 brought forward ($2.1b)
– film studio in Henderson
– all the old Council chambers
– Community centres not worth the upgrade
– Acceleated land sales as Auckland Development Company seeks fast $$ results off the block
Share brokers already salivating.
This is a full Tory attack, report due November.
Goff needs to come out shortly, it will give him unassailable momentum.
My ethically-minded daughter sent me this link to remind us that along with the ill-considered decision to withdraw the start-up incentive for Kiwisaver, there is another concern about where our funds go.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/70402581/revealed-where-your-kiwisaver-cash-ends-up
I don’t believe that Bill English had ethical concerns high on his list, though.
I’d rather they invested in Bethesda, never got into assassins creed but Fallout oh hell yeah!
I guess from your having read the link, PR, as your reference to Assassins shows, that the point about paying attention to the ethical basis of investments passed you by?
Is it not important to you as to how we earn our money and who might be harmed in that pursuit of profit and income?
Its not up to me where other people invest their money, if they’re worried they can start here:
https://www.sorted.org.nz/a-z-guides/kiwisaver-schemes-and-funds
and can check this out:
http://www.maryholm.com/heraldholm.php?article=772
That last Mary Holm link has a question about a Kiwisaver ethical investment plan, Amanah Kiwisaver, which to summarise does not, amongst other things, invest in money lending, weapons of war, tobacco, gambling, alcohol and pornography. Its ethics brings it within the beliefs of the Christian and Islamic religions; it is Halal.
Amanah Kiwisaver does not invest in banks, which are after all the largest moneylenders in New Zealand.
For more information go to http://www.amanahnz.com
That was a very informative link, puckish rogue. Thank you.
Blinglish couldn’t possibly have ethics on his list at all as he doesn’t have any.
+100 mac1…this is all pretty concerning…and this one in particular !
….”KiwiSavers are, by default, passive players in the highest levels of global capitalism because KiwiSaver funds are shareholders in some of the biggest names in financial services, including some that have been pinged with some enormous fines and have agreed to pay enormous sums to end lawsuits.
Goldman Sachs is among them. It was described by Rolling Stone magazine in 2009 as “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
It’s coughed up some staggering fines and settlements for its past actions.
It is also a staple of KiwiSaver portfolios…..
It’s the end of the week we are no doubt all stressed out, tomorrow is POETS day so lets have a bit of light relief.
Came from the Nutters Club
Honesty.
Team member interviewing a job applicant for a job.
Team member, Tell me your greatess weakness?
Job applicant. My honesty
Team member, I don’t think honesty is a weakness
Job Applicant, I don’t give a shit what you think.
Well I laughed.
So apparently the focus groups have decided that tugger key is looking a bit like a rich prick.
The response is that the guy who spent $14,000 on dinner for two whines that he doesn’t have a “lavish” lifestyle, even in his Hawaii mansion.
So is it that he can afford to do it or that he did it that offends you so much?
It’s more that he then tries to pretend that it’s normal, and not at all lavish.
While a quarter of kids live in poverty.
Hes never hidden his wealth, hes never tried to suggest hes something hes not and $14000 for a meal cooked by Blumenthal and three nights accommodation sounds like he wanted to do something special for his wife which he can afford to do
But if you think that running the Keys a rich prick line is going to work now after 7 odd years then by all means do so
No, you’re avoiding the point (quelle surprise).
He’s running the line “‘I’m not a ridiculously lavish guy’ “, when he quite obviously is.
So he is a liar. And the question becomes “why is he lying about this, now?”
The obvious answer is that National party research has suggested that people don’t like a PM who lives high on the hog when they are struggling. It looks a bit too much like he’s profited off their pain (and given his forex trading and shares in privatised SOEs, it’s probably not far off the truth).
So ke’s pretending to be just a simple multimillionaire with mansions in at least two countries, a vineyard he doesn’t know about because it’s in a trust, $6k suits, $7k dinners (and three nights accommodation, ok), too many shares to remember, yep, not lavish at all /sarc.
I don’t think he is a ridiculously lavish guy, hes done well but I know “ordinary” kiwis that have holidays in Hawaii, that wear nice suits
Keys a success and you’re suffering from the tall poppy syndrome
Know any “ordinary Kiwis” who own a mansion in Hawaii? Because, that sounds kind of “lavish” to me.
Every year, when they own the mansion? Or an occasional stay in a hotel as a special trip?
“Nice” suits? Or $6k suits pretentiously washed in greenstone?
You have no fucking idea what “ordinary” is. Tugger’s a liar and you’re his shameless toadying lickspittle.
Bollix, its not lavish when you’re worth, conservativly, 50 million plus
This is the same “rich prick” “one percent” line the left have run since 2008 and look how well its done
It is exceptionally lavish from the perspective of ordinary New Zealanders, though.
And in case you haven’t noticed, this entire thread is in response to a defensive wee puff-piece where tugger pretends he has a simple lifestyle. This isn’t a line “the left” ran. This is a specific line from Key’s own media machine targeted at a general public perception that he’s out of touch.
The thing is that it’s backfired, because it just means that greenstone suits and Hawaiian mansions are not “lavish” in his estimation. I doubt most ordinary NZers (who are just struggling to get by) would agree.
I doubt was NZers would want the leader of NZ to dress shabbily but I’m interested in knowing what is the maximum amount the leader of NZ is allowed to spend on a suit?
“Allowed”? As much as they want.
But if the emperor chooses to spend more money on greenstone-washed suits than Elvis spent on rhinestones, the emperor would be foolish to pretend to ordinary NZers that an emperor’s lifestyle is anything less than lavish.
I’m quite pleased the Leader of NZ is wearing top-end NZ clothing on the world stage but i get it, anything the left can think of to try to discredit John Key is all good
We’ll see how well that works out for the left (I’m guessing it won’t work as well as the left think)
Oh, as a tory you’re easily impressed by conspicuous and vacuous consumption.
But “the left” didn’t start this debate. The nats thought tugger’s lavish lifestyle was alienating New Zealanders, so generated this puff piece. And the puff-piece has backfired, because now you’re explaining how it’s fine that he has a lavish lifestyle wearing suits with an invisible greenstone wash, when the entire point of the article was him explaining how he didn’t live a lavish lifestyle.
Methinks you both protest too much.
This could be the perfect time for the PM to finally clarify how much of his salary he donates to charity ! 😉
Putin lavish lifestyles into context.
Putin made all his money through hard graft no pun intended.
Key likewise selling Merrill Lynch’s Ponzi schemes insider trading and libor started while Key was at Merrill Lynch.
The
Oh poor, poor PR. Your cupidity is showing. Your high priest of money worship, really does like a smug, amoral, elitist.
You know the PM is out of touch – because most of us are struggling to even have a holiday, let alone, own, then fly to a second mansion in Hawaii.
The Venezuelan government acting like true leftists and forcing farmers to sell their produce to the State. Expect to see more shortages.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/11754156/Venezuelan-farmers-ordered-to-hand-over-produce-to-state.html
Serves the farmers right for being rich pricks
Oh noes, people might actually be forced to look after those around them as they use the resources that belong to those around them. Oh, woe are the capitalists…
Damn straight! Nothing says fair like the farmers bailing out the politicians
The farmers never seem to do that. Always seems to be the farmers taking the rest of the country for a ride.
Yup nothing to do with Venezulas socialist policies at all
No doubt the US would be very pleased to see the Venezuelan government fall and will be supporting and funding all possible activities in that regard.
The bit you seem to be missing is that you’re preferred option of free-market capitalism isn’t actually providing for the people of Venezuela. When that happens, as it does every time capitalism is tried, then the government needs to step in and take over.
We see the same things happening here in NZ with a quarter of our children going hungry despite the fact that we produce enough food to feed everyone but our political parties are too scared to do anything about it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/70481138/over-1-million-lost-at-hong-kong-airport-after-flight-from-auckland
“A bag containing more than $1 million in Chinese currency was lost at Hong Kong International Airport ” (bold mine)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11485635
“Cathay Pacific Airlines has lost a bag containing $1 million in New Zealand bills at Hong Kong airport.” (bold mine)
Is it any wonder people get confused?
Either way it raises the question:
What was the origin of the $10 million in cash that was being flown out of the country and why wasn’t it deposited via a bank in NZ?
+100 freedom…questions to be answered here!!!
If you have the time. I would recommend this video. The wonderful Chris Hedges talking about the background of his new book.
So pleased that Hedges was finally ordained!!!
Awesome pics of Awesome Nature
Always wanted get close and personal to an active volcano. Maybe the mighty photos will have to do.
Helen Clark wore Jane Daniels – check the prices.
She owned 5 houses.
She enjoyed expensive skiing holidays in Europe and South America and her husband travelled at our expense. Along with their friends Chris Carter and his husband, also at our expense.
Where was the outrage then?
John Key pays for his wife on official trips. He has drastically tightened travel and expenses.
I hate these double standards.
Surely we are bigger than this – attacking people rather than promoting good policy for the benefit of NZ.
Helen Clark is a one percenter and a humanitarian. John Key is a 0.01%’er and a bankster, transferring the wealth of the many to the greedy pockets of the foreign few while ensuring the local elite get their cut.
Huge difference.
Even you should be able to figure it out.
Perhaps Lynda we should take note of taxpayers not only pay for the cost of holidays in Hawaii, but also the cost of the security detail who travel with John Key. Someone has to pay for helicopter trips to attend meetings and so on. Where would the comparison end?
and she earned it, making sure the ladder was still there for others, supporting society in general and balancing the books at the same time.
Key spends alot of time abroad, taking selfies, making a quick buck from selling hard earned (by previous generations) assets, changing laws to turn us into a low wage economy, avoiding any difficult issues or facts that don’t effect him and his cronies, skimming every last dollar away from society in general for the benefit of his mates in business…….etc.He is tacky and cheap, no class and a very long way from being a statesperson, as Helen was.
“the emperor has no clothes on”
+100 whateva next?
Chris Carter lost his job Helen Clark paid for her own holidays had 4 investment properties that are mortgaged.
Ministerial Travel costs have gone up considerably since the Clark lead soft right wing government left office.
Also the Cost of running govt has gone from $145 million a year for the PMs slush under Labour down from the Bolger Shipley $1billion a year inflation adjusted figures.
Under Key that is back up to $850 million.
Guess I am just not one-eyed enough.
I’mma going to help you out…John Key = bad/evil (depending on the news story of the day) and thats all you need to know
The blind leading the blinderer…
There’s being fair minded, and there is lacking judgement in character. You’re the latter.
ianmac
Fair enough but didn’t they go skiing too? Or did we send Helen off on holiday in Norway without the DPS?
Meetings etc are surely part of the job not holidays.
But you have to love the envious excitement as people write about the mansion in Hawaii. It must be their pinnacle of wealth and ostentation!!
Key is a member of the trans-national bankster cartel. That is the basic problem.
Dont forget hes a neoliberal as well, just so we can get all the buzzwords in
each of these words has deep meanings and implications for the future of this nation and its people, if you care that is.
PR shifting the blame.
Robber Barons they were called back in the day.
Now with expert Media manipulation they are made to look like hero when in reality Banksters are playing a real life game of Monopoly denying more and more people by monopolizing more and more to fewer and fewer rich oligarchs.
Deliberately undermine democracy to achieve their goal.
+1
I doubt you have bothered to read Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
As usual you are commenting from an illiterate and uninformed position.
But that doesn’t stop the usual trolling.
Troll
[Do try and put some thought and effort into your responses, Realblue. Otherwise you look like, well, a troll. TRP]
No. Don’t think the detail travelled overseas with Helen, and not even around her when at home, walking to the supermarket let alone having them living onsite as they do with your mate Key.
“But you have to love the envious excitement …” I feel sorry for Key and his need to be “cool”, I would never aspire to have what he has sought Lynda Brown, I cannot imagine a more vacuous life, needing to win and “look” good, at the cost of anyone around him, rather than feel good is a long way from anything I would envy.
The argument that people are “envious” is generally what greedy people say to justify the obscene wealth gap?
Oh dear. A certain problematic bloggeur appears to have burned through all the cash he was collecting to pay for lawyers: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/279495/slater-accused-of-contempt-of-court
Heh. RNZ reports from today’s court proceedings that the latest person to have blogged on Slater’s behalf is his wife. He has had words with her for breaching his keep-quiet agreement, he reckons.
A new affliction spreading across China – might be contagious too. http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/turmoil-in-chinas-stock-markets-takes-a-psychic-toll/
The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that the median price for a house in Sydney has hit the $1 million (Aus) mark.
House prices in Sydney surged 8.4% in the last quarter.
Low interest rates and increasing numbers of private investors has led to the increase. Young house buyers will be left out of the property ownership market for at least a generation.
yep capital gains tax not working very well when the average house price is $1mill
Is that the only policy they’re relying on? It’s hard to decide which would be more stupid: relying on a single policy in this context, or your pretence that’s the only tool in the box.
Or is your pretence merely what passes for a clever ruse on your planet?
Naki Man and the rest of the RWNJs use the Look, it doesn’t work distraction to try and prevent rules that they don’t either from being implemented in the first place or getting rid of them. The reason why they don’t like them is because they work.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/currencies/we-aint-seen-nothing-yet-chinese-foreign-investment-in-australian-property-tipped-to-surge-20150721-gigfaz
Meanwhile in the lucky country where the bullshit is not so easy to hide.
http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/china-doubles-down-on-australian-real-estate-20150715-gicgju.html
The bubble will burst highly geared investors will go bankrupt their banks will take a massive hit or go bankrupt .
It’s only a matter of time speculation is counter productive the market will fail Australia will go first NZ will come later just like 2007/8.
Having no plan to increase supply an immigration policy that has no plan .
Laissez faire it will sort everything by its self imagine if a business was run like that or the all black’s they would not be successful.
Policies such as the govt modernising and building more cheap housing all immigrants moving to areas where housing is in short supply have to build a new house Australia does that.
And an Capital gains tax .
Cut out absetee ownership as well.
When the Crash comes it will cost every one.
Greed is good, eh, naki man?
Unbelievable….
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/problem-gambling-foundation-wont-have-funding-cut-2015072317#axzz3gh3bGPQK
This is good news. Go the problem gambling foundation
ankerawshark +100 ….very great news!….and they had a very effective lawyer, in Mai Chen
http://pgfnz.org.nz/news/problem-gambling-foundation-judicial-review/
Muldoon and family used to holiday up at his bach at Hatfields Beach. Not too sure whay Lange did but doubt if it was extravagant.
Those were the days.
I holidayed at Hatfields when I was a kid (70s/80s), & I used to see Muldoon walking to the beach & having a dip, relaxing on the sand, just him sometimes with his wife, everyone just left him alone…those were the days huh.
Well, if you wanted to completely and utterly stop people from using drones then this would do it:
Yeah, like anybody’s going to give permission and this bit:
is complete bollocks. The landowner won’t have a clue as to what risks are there.
Oh, wait:
Really, why didn’t they just say that to fly an unmanned aircraft you needed to get a license? And I suspect that the answer to that is because they didn’t want to force people flying remote controlled aircraft to have to get a license.