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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A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arjen Vaartjes, PhD Student, Quantum Physics, UNSW Sydney Dmitriy Rybin / Shutterstock What makes something quantum? This question has kept a small but dedicated fraction of the world’s population – most of them quantum physicists – up at night for decades. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University Australia’s minister for home affairs announced on Sunday that the federal government has struck a deal with Nauru to “resettle” three non-citizens from what’s come to be known as the “NZYQ cohort”. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Fitzpatrick, Professor in International History, Flinders University (From left to right): Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany.German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons Ukraine ...
The purpose was to establish the facts and provide an independent assessment of government agency activity in relation to allegations that personal data may have been misused during the 2023 General Election. ...
Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster said he is carefully reviewing the referrals raised in the two reports. That work will be done in the context the Privacy Act and the need to ensure individuals’ rights to privacy is protected and respected. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bhavna Middha, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The average Australian household size has decreased from 4.5 people per household in 1911 to 2.5 people in 2024. At the same time, the average house size has increased, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Page Jeffery, Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Sydney suriyachan/Shutterstock When the Australian government passed legislation in November last year banning young people under 16 from social media, it included exemptions for platforms “that are primarily for the purposes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leslie Roberson, Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland If you’ve ever been stopped by quarantine officers at the airport, you might think Australia’s international border is locked down like a fortress. But when it comes ...
Duncan Sarkies’ latest novel, Star Gazers, is about the collapse of democracy in a society of alpaca breeders. Here are some things his intensive research revealed. 1 How greed works, psychologicallyYes, I guess I already understood greed, but I could never understand why people who already have everything they ...
The proposed cuts would see only two full time Telehealth data and digital roles, and one Planning, Funding and Outcomes (PFO) role remain, reduced from 17 Telehealth support roles (including vacant roles). Roles proposed to be cut include Telehealth ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Ministers to end funding for Te Kurahuna programmes and workshop grifters that have received millions in taxpayer funding, despite the Government’s supposed focus on cutting costs. ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist, in Avarua, Rarotonga More than 400 people have taken to the streets to protest against Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown’s recent decisions, which have led to a diplomatic spat with New Zealand. The protest, led by Opposition MP and Cook Islands United Party ...
In the second episode, Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester unearth some truths about dating on a dance floor in South Canterbury. Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is a brand new documentary series for The Spinoff following award-winning comedians and friends Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester as they embark ...
The first half of a billion-dollar pipe that will drastically reduce wastewater overflows in the Auckland isthmus is now in operation. As I biked south, I thought about all the poo sloshing beneath my wheels. Tubes of it disgorging from U-bends, into wastewater pipes laid under our streets that become ...
🚐 The vulnerability continues as the pair head to the Hunt Ball in South Canterbury in search of a rich farmer, before getting some sage relationship advice from Brynley’s Dad and Oma. ❣️ Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club follows comedians Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester as they head out on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Garrett, Lecturer in Exercise Science and Physiology, Griffith University Australia’s love affair with the major football codes – the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) – is well documented. However, one aspect that stands out to many observers, ...
The White Lotus is back for season three. Here’s what we made of episode one. The third White Lotus season rinses and repeats – and thank God for that. Turns out there is enough comedic and dramatic juice in resort-set ensemble satires on privilege in the modern world, ...
Founder, journalist and author Tim Burrowes joins Duncan Greive to discuss a torrid decade in Australian media and whether there are reasons to be optimistic amid the carnage. Tim Burrowes is the author of a book and a Substack called Unmade, which are truly essential guides to media in ...
The self-appointed apostle says he could be to Christopher Luxon what Elon Musk is to Donald Trump, and his track record speaks for itself.Who is New Zealand’s answer to Elon Musk? The Herald’s tech insider, Chris Keall, put the question to his LinkedIn acolytes the other day. “If Luxon ...
The last good thing at the supermarket is gone. Mad Chapman mourns the Cadbury mini egg cartons. When life is overwhelming and it feels like every story around you is a bad news story, there are a few things that can be relied upon to instil a sense of calm, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Parker, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Melbourne CSHE, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Judges in Australian courtrooms have a lot of power. They can decide on someone’s guilt and the punishment for it, including lengthy prison time. But what if they get ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Birrell, Researcher, Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock Australians are waiting an average of 12 years to seek treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, our new research shows. While ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland Almost 200 nations have signed an ambitious agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss but none is on track to meet the crucial goal, our new research reveals. The agreement, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa Collin, Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University Australian school students’ civics knowledge is the lowest it has been since testing began 20 years ago, according to new national data. Results have fallen since the last assessment in 2019 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Buckley, Senior Research Fellow, Education Research, Policy and Development Division, Australian Council for Educational Research Michael Jung/ Shutterstock There is a persistent gender gap in Australian schools. Boys, on average, outperform girls in maths. We see this in national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Deane, Professor, Queensland University of Technology Australian beef exports to the United States are GST-free and should not be subject to any retaliatory tariff. William Edge/Shutterstock The latest round of proposed tariffs from US President Donald Trump includes a response ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 36-year-old tertiary adviser and bartender shares her approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female. Age: 36. Ethnicity: Pākehā. Role: Tertiary adviser, ...
The change allows for devices that do screening, similar to at drink-drive checkpoints, rather than having to test oral fluid to an evidentiary standard. ...
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.