Every party complains about the media coverage they get, but not too loudly in case they lose favour and coverage. Media reports commonly don’t seem accurate to those being reported on. Mostly that is a natural effect of someone else looking at things differently.
In our democratic system the media hold a lot of power.
Just as most politicians mean well and work hard, the same for journalists. Personal views and preferences must influence how stories are chosen and covered but most journalists try to provide width and balance to their coverage.
Actually Peter it’s down to the management editing and controlling what’s published by setting agendas and employing kids just look at the fresh young faces doing stories on drunken sport heads on the TV.
To quote a good mate, also a senior experienced journo, ‘too few employers and the editors have preconceived yarns to get out there, cross them and you’re out of a job’
Games is rigged dude…..watch Oz news to get a stark contrast in how balanced reporting is done.
I know it’s rigged. A few people are looking at what might be able to be done to hold them to account, a bit at least. Power of the ‘net may be able to apply some pressure.
what might be able to be done to hold them to account, a bit at least.
Geez Pete. You are standing for a party headed by a hairpiece that backs this current rabble like a bad smell. This is not “holding them to account”. Your party is part of the problem.
It is part of this contrived gerrymander that gives the right an undue advantage. Basically if the hairpiece wins National gets 1.2% more of the party vote than it actually won.
Your comments are hypocritical. If you truly want to “hold them to account” then resign and join a real party, one determined to do something for ordinary people, not for millionaires.
But that’s the problem, the millionaries are loosing their shirts because they are running the country so badly.
But worse they’ve locked in the tax system to make any company that grows (or farm, crafer) into a target for foreign take over.
NZ is digging itself faster into serfdom, and that’s what’s so astonishing about the elite here, that they really are that incredibly self-destructive.
The culture is set by media and the jerk elite has decided it doesn’t care what nonsense is peddled, or by whom.
Am STILL awaiting a ‘progress report’ (promised Friday morning 18 November 2011) from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
ARE THE NZ SFO GOING TO EQUALLY LAY CHARGES AGAINST ACT CANDIDATE FOR EPSOM JOHN BANKS, AND ACT LEADER DON BRASH, AS WERE LAID AGAINST FORMER FELLOW DIRECTOR OF HULJICH WEALTH MANAGEMENT (NZ) LTD – PETER HULJICH FOR SIGNING ‘REGISTERED PROSPECTUSES’ WHICH CONTAINED UNTRUE STATEMENTS – OR NOT?
IF NOT – WHY NOT?
How come ACT’s ‘ONE LAW FOR ALL’ – apparently doesn’t apply to the ACT Leader Don Brash, and ACT candidate for Epsom John Banks?
Where’s ACT’s ‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ for ‘white collar’ CRIME?
Will be following up with the SFO this morning…..
Of course this issue is being given the mainstream media coverage one would expect in election year……
Not.
(Situation normal)
Penny Bright
CENSORED
Independent Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ CRIME, CORRUPTION (and its root cause – PRIVATISATION) and ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’ [email deleted]
The teapot scandal will break National
Rena will scupper them
Labours policys will bring them back
NZ will have a collective wakening to what John Keys about
The Greens, Mana, Winston First and Labour will get enough votes
The worm turned
Attacking the Mad Butcher will get votes
Playing the personality politics is the way to go (not that Labours doing that of course)
Any one of the above is a game changer so don’t give up hope just yet
He wants folks to swallow his shit recipes
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-election2011-20111123-0708-national_defends_record_on_trans-tasman_exodus-048.mp3" /]
David Cunliffe makes excellent points:
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-election2011-20111123-0714-labours_finance_spokesman_discusses_emigration_stats-048.mp3" /]
Strange lack of empathy from Joanne Black, in the latest Listener, for Bradley Ambrose. Remember she has admitted to leaving a tape running hidden behind a bunch of flowers after a press conference with then PM Geoffrey Palmer. Then she played it to other journalists and possibly politicians including Ruth Richardson who then used it in the house to mock the PM.
Bradley Ambrose was pushed away, with a scrum of other journalists, from a public meeting in a cafe, to a position a few feet away. Whether or not it was accidental, he left the mike in full view of several DPS staff and the two politicians, none of whom noticed it. When he realised it was still recording he alerted his contracted employer and deleted it.
When he realized it was still recording he alerted his contracted employer and deleted it.
Hmm more like he rubbed his hands together and thought ha ha pay day is coming!
Deleted it – don’t you mean copied it and sold to who ever would buy it?
His argument that it was all an accident and he didn’t mean to tape the conversation would be like you or me walking out of a supermarket with groceries without paying for them, going home and eating the groceries.
When Plod comes around to have a chat you say, oh yes I realized after I got home that I hadn’t paid for the groceries so it wasn’t stealing – but I decided to eat them anyway as it was ok to.
Wouldn’t hold up in court as the consumption proves the intent. I think Mr Ambrose is going to find out this afternoon that the judge will decide that his selling of the conversation will allow a prosecution to use this as evidence as to his intention or otherwise of taping the conversation deliberately.
Your last point is incorrect, Jimmie, because the judge is not being asked to rule on the question of the selling of the conversation, just whether it was a private conversation or not. If not, that lets the cameraman off the hook, if it is private, then the cops have to then make the decision about prosecution.
By the way, who said he sold the tape? I haven’t seen it reported anywhere that he was paid for it.
“that the judge will decide that his selling of the conversation will allow a prosecution to use this as evidence as to his intention or otherwise of taping the conversation deliberately.”
Granny Herald has returned to form pushing propaganda and disinformation for the Nats in on it’s front page with article from chief cheerleader John sycophant Armstrong. The editor busied himself with talking up the dangers of earthquakes prone buildings in Auckland (FFS!) demanding ‘the public have a right to know’ but has nothing to say on the suppression of information involved in the ombudsman withholding advice that the government received from treasury wrt asset sales, or the lack of any concrete evidence to back up Nationals claim that ownership will be retained by
New Zealanders.
Inside the political pages the talk (excepting Rudman) was all about how Shonkeys charm is like the sun and without it we would all surely wither and die.
And Kathryn Ryan gets bored quickly has an idea she just has to express right then and talks over the top of Key rather than waiting for a natural pause. Just done it 3 times in 30 seconds. (it’s not just Key she does it all the time as does Kim Hill end rant. RANt continues – she also talks way too quick. It’s like dealing with an 8 year old who has to blurt everything out in one go. Key and Goff have a much more moderate pace and the contrast really grates).
Key said something really interesting right up front after the introduction when Ryan said that Nats could govern alone based on recent polls, the first party to do so under MMP. He then said something like ‘that [Fairfax] poll could be overstating things’.
Katherine is the interviewer. She asks the question. Key goes off on a tangent and avoids the question. Katherine attempts to return to the question. Key shouts over her and continues to avoid.
Pity. Key could have answered some good questions but failed.
It’s a long form interview – she doesn’t have to rush. But she does it all the time. No doubt she’ll be as irritating with Goff tomorrow. It appears like it is more about her and her voice getting airspace. Kim Hill has developed the same problem.
I didn’t hear the whole interview, but a part of it I did hear, Key was wandering off the question that was asked and started talking about Goff, so Kathryn had to interrupt to get him back on track.
In the interview Key admitted that they are planning to spend 4 billion dollars on the power grid/network.
So let’s get this straight. He is going to spend billions upgrading the lines and wants to sell the power generation plants that need the lines to deliver their product.
We are paying to build the trucks, and the roads, that takes their goods to market for us to buy
================
How can the host not have the basic treasury and budget figures on hand.
Key says National just delivered a zero budget – i hear crickets-
key says labour left hundreds of billions of debt – more crickets –
Key said they have not lumped NZ with new debt – i swear i heard a black hole open up –
The 4b is old news and probably accounted for as it is 100% funded by consumers. It has meant Transpower has not been giving the govt a dividend in recent years despite making 100m or so a year. I think Labour started the ball rolling in about 2007. Oh and Labour allowed Transpower to ‘sell’ the national grid to Wachovia in a buy and lease back arrangement to rort US taxpayers.
But your analogy doesn’t hold. The govt already builds and owns the roads. But it doesn’t try and own the cars and trucks that run on them, or the factories that fill the trucks, or the office blocks filled by people who drive their cars on the roads. Are you calling for wholescale nationalisation of the means of production and transport?
it is a very clear and simple metaphor of what is represented by NZ paying to build new power grid systems and transmission lines and then selling the companies that produce the electricity that will use those very lines to sell power back to NZ. or were you just wanting to waste my time?
the whole structure is corrupt and the more we all look into it the murkier the whole story becomes.
Left , Right, doesn’t matter, the deals done in NZ the last thirty years have to be brought to light and those responsible have to be held to account.
Even this single phone call raises more than a few questions as to the legitimacy of the status quo.
It’s a completely odd ‘metaphor’ because it’s not one.
But that aside, what you are saying is that it is strange and illegitimate for the government to build a road to develop some crown land at the end of it, and then sell that land to private enterprises (like farmers, builders and developers), who will then turn it into a housing estate or warehousing or farms and use that same crown owned road to service the area and bring produce and people out of it to other places served by the same crown owned roading network. Strange, because that is how much of NZ was developed and they are still doing it today http://www.primecommercial.co.nz/1657269
“Are you calling for wholescale nationalisation of the means of production and transport?”
Why not? The idea probably gives you an aneurysm, but as my late brother used to say “If you’re going to sin, might as well make it an original one!” 😀
(PS I think you meant wholesale though wholescale is orignal, and almost fits!)
Lew has an interesting observation over on Kiwipolitico:
The other day David Farrar got in a pre-emptive whinge about Bryan Bruce’s Inside New Zealand documentary on child poverty that aired last night on TV3.
Yeah, it’s election week, and yeah, Labour are emphasising their poverty alleviation focus on the back of this documentary. But isn’t it more telling that National and its proxies immediately and reflexively go on the defensive, rather than acknowledging the problems of child poverty and renewing its commitment to resolving them?
But National are the government now, and their defensiveness, I think, signals that they know they bear some responsibility for child poverty. And yet they’re not willing to do much about it, beyond the tired old saw of “a rising tide lifts all boatsâ€, and announcements that they will further constrict the welfare state to force the parents of these sick children to seek jobs that aren’t there. (And yes; National bought time during the documentary as well: the “cracking down on benefit fraud†ad was a particularly cynical form of irony.)
So, when the psychopaths in National heard that there was a documentary showing just how bad the poverty in NZ had become over the last three decades of neo-liberalism they called it a Labour advert, said it wasn’t their fault and then promised to make it worse by cracking down on beneficiaries?
The other side of that is that most of the poverty statistics you see variously quoted as appalling, third world etc date from Labour’s time in power, a period of apparantly massive growth and success. That’s just the nature of the time it takes to collate and analyse this stuff. We are not going to know the impact of National on the trend for some time, like it or not.
Did you see the bit where I mentioned the last three decades of neo-liberalism? Yes, Labour’s to blame as well.
The point was that, given the evidence, National whinge and whine and don’t do anything to get rid of the poverty. Of course, they don’t want to because having large amounts of poverty pushes wages down just as John Key said he wanted.
Key was interviewed by Katherine Nine to Noon. (Try hard to be open minded.)
Katherine shouted down.
Key: Slippery. Evasive. Devious.
(Comparing his performance with that of other leaders in terms of honesty credibility trust. Awful!)
Shonkey could get caught with two 13 year old girls in the back of the limo and his fan club would still be relaxed. The rabid and rapid response of the Kiwiblog gargoyle re one widely perceived advantage to Phil Goff following the TV3 debate shows these people are on maximum wind.
Judge Helen Winkelmann’s phone would possibly have been busy last nite.
Really the likes of Key, Farrar and Joyce can only be considered as traitorous swine running a continuous ‘dark op’ on behalf of capital in NZ.
You are spot on, Key could do anything and it would not matter. The basic issue is that NZers (as pointed out in Trotters latest column) want reassurance and parenting from their lovely leader. Facts and policies are of no real issue, we just want to be lead by nice daddy John.
Upshot is that we will as a nation ignore that nice daddy John will sell of the house and then have an affair with a merchant bankster mistress, all so long as we feel reassured. And in 3 years we will wont get letters from Hawaii from runaway daddy because we wont have our own address, we will be out in the street.
Which begs the question: when will we grow up and become adults assessing our own futures? When will we leave political infancy?
Any chance you explaining to me the point and its value of always attacking the PM. Hasn’t he also gotten a heap of ministers and MPs running things.. so what’s with the obsession.. don’t you see how counter-productive this is.. and how excellent JK is fending it off.. looks to me a lot of the time like he’s inviting it so he can deflect scrutiny from the others..
Cheers, I’ve got so used to the tags and automatic logons that I even forgot to re-enter the data on the comment above and had to go back and reload it.
Yep. Unfortunately I’ve spent the last week pushing data for election day targeting which is more time dependent.
I know how to fix the problem to get around the new cache, but it takes time to dig out the old code from javascript. I just haven’t had time to do so. But I’m almost done. However I also have to stop my holiday and go back to the paying job…
I’d revert it back to the normal system, but we’re getting read peaks that are quite high. Tonight for instance we did about a quarter of the days page views in just over an hour after the debate (and surprise surprise we just made another record for highest page view day and highest visitor day – the second this week). The cache was the only thing that made the system operate without falling unresponsive. It was feeding the same cached page to multiple readers rather than regenerating it for each reader.
That generates a separate page for each logged in user (whilst serving up cached copies for non-logged in) and therefore has all of that stuff operational without issues (it is the readers that cause the peak issues)
Prior to the last election in 2008, National promised that New Zealander’s would Wave goodbye to higher taxes… however National increased GST to 15%. The broken promise ensured that socially negative statistics kept growing.
National’s pledge card also said: Not your loved ones… meaning that New Zealander’s would stop leaving en mass. However we‘ve seen the first net migration loss in ten years and the increasing exodus has continued to grow under National over the last three years.
Some people have argued that the Christchurch earthquakes are the reason for the continued exodus… however only a small percentage of those leaving come from Christchurch. The vast majority of people are leaving because National has mismanaged the economy and things are getting worse here in New Zealand.
Get it right Jackal, National did not mismanage the economy, they did not even attempt to do anything other than transfer wealth to their mates, scrap social expenditure and plan to sell off the silver to themselves.
Incorrect. National has
– deliberately skewed the economy in favour of the wealthy elite,
– generated a massive government debt
– overseen an embarrassing credit downgrade
All in preparation for the privatisation of our juicy public assets.
Another wealth grab by the insatiable banksters and their useful idiots…
That GST increase was fiscally risk neutral.. go ask any pensioner whose fixed income had to otherwise take a hit on regular grocery for example.. try for more REAL in your comments please.
“That GST increase was fiscally risk neutral.. go ask any pensioner whose fixed income had to otherwise take a hit on regular grocery for example.”
That’s gurble, really! What does ” fiscally risk neutral” even mean? It’s jargon of some sort, each of the words makes sense on its own, but together? No… ?????
More great Poll results for National despite all the personal Mudslinging from Labour. I know Iprent is not in favour of this as I have read his comments on it before. That the Election should always be fought on a Policy basis. There are two real problems for Labour in this Election that I see.
1) The associated link with Winston Peters as shown by the contrived worm,and polls the Public dont trust him even though Phil Goff says he does.
2) The rise of the Greens this party is appearing as fresh full of new ideas and the voters choice for the left vote. While Labour throws out its same old same old. I believe within 3 more Elections that the Greens will have a bigger voter base than Labour unless Labour can revitalise itself.
To do that they need to attract some smart Business people to their ranks who can show some comercial nouse. This means there will be a direct or indirect conflict with the Union power base in Labour.At the moment they cant show any credible way how they are going to grow the Economy without over taxing a smaller ,and smaller base of people. Sooner or later the leaves all fall off the money tree, and labour has no plans to show how it can create wealth in the Economy so Businesses will invest money ,and hire more people
Hi Bill,
I just spent a couple of minutes puzzling how the ‘Bill of old’ could have changed his attitude so drastically, and concluded that you are a new commenter. I think you need a new handle.
At least I assume it’s not you Bill – Standard author and parecon proponent?
At least I assume it’s not you Bill – Standard author and parecon proponent?
Yep….I mean no. Not me. And the person signing in as ‘bill’ on another thread isn’t me either. (Have commented beneath the comments with those handles asking that the handles be changed.)
I don’t think Bill actually logged in to comment. That’s the problem. You can comment without logging in, all you need to do is provide a name (say “Bill”) and an email address.
Probably the only way to avoid this is to require commenters to log-in, because I believe all login usernames are unique.
I believe within 3 more Elections that the Greens will have a bigger voter base than Labour unless Labour can revitalise itself.
That I kinda agree with. The rest of your comment was complete delusional BS. With Peak Oil already here the economy can’t be grown so all we’re left with is correcting the misallocation of resources that capitalism has caused. NAct, wants to do the opposite and make things worse.
big ups to Rob Guyton – constantly posting on good green issues and with a wicked sense of humour – exhibit 1 this headline – “This man suffers from worms” guess who?
It has many in-text links, which I intend to follow up on. One crucial aspect is the recent disclosure of a 1987 EPA report which found:
‘…fracking contaminated well and groundwater in West Virginia. For decades, the industry had been able to deny this critical case study and insist fracking was perfectly safe because, as the New York Times notes, the case’s details “were sealed from the public when energy companies settled lawsuits with landowners.†Now, though, the oil and gas industry cannot issue such denials with impunity…’
I’m not sure what you are getting excited about. The report interesting and well written but comes pretty much to the same conclusion as others – it’s the integrity of the casings that are the issue not the fracking process. This is a known issue and applies to any well of any sort going through ground water. The report is very clear that the fracked zone does not directly affect the aquifer.
…it’s the integrity of the casings that are the issue not the fracking process.
/facepalm
The fracking process forces apart the rock so we can assume that “the integrity of the casings” has no bearing whatsoever on if the fracking compound enters the ground water. Physics ensures that it will.
No because the fracking (usually) happens thousands of feet below any ground water. The fractures themselves are millimetres wide which is why sand is use as a proppant to keep the cracks open. and they wouldn’t/shouldn’t intersect say with an aquifer in these circumstances because they primarily travel laterally within a geological formatin rather than vertically between formations.
The casings are supposed to contain fluids and gas as they pass through other geological formations from the source rock to the well head. It is these failing that seem to be the issue. Like a hose getting a hole in it while you are running a siphon. If you’ve done it a thousand times before and it fails once, it’s likely the hose is the problem not the siphoning method.
There’s also been an increase in stranding’s closer to the MV Rena disaster, which is known to have released over 2000 barrels of heavy crude oil into the ocean. 3150 Litres of Corexit 9500 was also applied throughout the cleanup operation and 23,240 kgs of Alkylsulphonic Acid was lost overboard.
Quick question to moderators : why am I having to type in user name and mail address for every comment? It used to store them. Problem at my end or yours?
so kweewee is going to sell Kiwibank.
it doesnt belong to him or his party either (the john kee and matthew hooton party).
It belongs to New Zealanders and Phill Goff should make that quite clear to New Zealanders tonight on teevee.
They have edited their site. What they had (up until yesterday afternoon) was:
National and Labour serve foreign interests not New Zealand. They will both swamp us with immigration, they will both serve the wealthy on the backs of the poor, don’t be fooled by them again, vote for the other parties. get blue and red out. If you want traditional Kiwi life vote NZ First.
“In this country we must vote for the smaller parties…” replaced “If you want traditional Kiwi life vote NZ First.”
Over the last week or so, it has been reported in several media articles that he is a National supporter – that probably should now be “was” in the past tense.
I feel, especially in these last days leading up to our elections, that it is vital that New Zealanders see this. Actually, stuff the elections, this is something that every person in Aotearoa needs to watch and think about because this is about us as a community, this is about us taking responsibility as human beings. This is about us putting people before corporations and profits.
After my initial surge of rage, disgust, and extreme sadness at watching this clip, my main three questions are these:
Firstly, what on EARTH are they teaching at the police colleges that produce policepeople that are so eager to inflict serious harm on other humans? When I was at primary school, even at high school, to want to become a policeperson came out of a desire to help, protect and generally do good in a community. Not sit on a desperate and upset man and calmly beat him around the head and ribs with a police-issue baton in front of his extremely pregnant partner SO THAT A LUCRATIVE POWER COMPANY WHO TURNS OVER MILLIONS EACH YEAR CAN SAVE A FEW BUCKS!! (which turned out to be a mistake on the power company’s part anyway!)
Secondly, what lack of humanity allows contractors to carry on their job when they can see the result it is having? What is this crazy hold over people that lets them use the excuse ‘I was just doing my job’ when they can see that doing their job is causing a man to receive head injuries? When it is causing immense distress to a woman who is overdue to give birth?
And, in conclusion to the first two questions I guess, as it was so VERY obvious that things weren’t going so well in this situation (to put it lightly) why on earth could the police and contractors not take the sensible approach, pull back, and reassess the situation?? I cannot think of any reason why the disconnection of power had to happen at that specific time, given the resulting circumstances. Not exactly a life-or-death situation for the power company was it? Are we really the type of society who would rather see another human beaten till they bleed rather than have a company lose out on a few profits?? Do we truly worship money that much? Should we really let it control us in that way?
To those of you who say, regarding the police, that they were only doing their jobs, then I say – well, if that is their job, then I think it’s time we thought about what sort of system we’re living under. Because I don’t want any part of it.
OMG! That is one of the most outrageous abuses of police plus corporate power toward an individual in NZ that I have ever seen – and all this is completely legal???? (call me sheltered, but Wow!). There was no crime that warranted that sort of treatment (and not even an unpaid power bill, in the end).
seeing a lot of calls for the death penalty, if any country ever commits to arresting them.
I say no to the death penalty for these architects of misery.
Incarceration in a penitentiary, life sentences, no house arrest, no quick deaths, no easy out for these murderers, let their long final days be spent in fear and regret.
Good God. We have had 20 plus years now of “Tomorrow’s Schools” and ERO.
Parents have been free to join boards of trustees in open and free elections.
They have had screeds of information available to them.
One has to wonder just who is driving this attitude.
One thing is for certain – Delorus Umbridge is going to create an extremely demoralised teaching profession. Of course, she is a here-today-gone-tomorrow politician and will not be subject to any scrutiny herself – in fact apart from the infamous Merv Wellington and David Lange, people would be hard pressed to name the succession of Ministers of Education.
Why has she got such a snitch on teachers? Is she holding a grudge against her 1960’s teachers and schools. Did she fail School Cert?
Did a teacher guest in one of her hotels do something untoward in a room?
Not really, Greens will only grow until they risk leaving behind the activist base. So the question for the Greens is; are you an activist party or one for the middle classes?
Oh fuck, we’ve got ads from the anti-MMP brigade playing at the top of the page. They’re really going all out now in splurging on ads focusing on Winston, even stooping as low as to buy ads on facebook.
When you’re up to your neck in shit it’s tempting to try to get out of it.
However, the ‘Lucky Country’ isn’t so lucky these days, especially for new arrivals.
‘According to press release from the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia, “First time home buyers have little confidence in the Australian economy, as they baulk at property purchases and hoard their cashâ€.’
‘SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The world’s second-largest iron ore miner Rio Tinto PLC /quotes/zigman/182541/quotes/nls/rio RIO -1.35% will boost its fleet of driverless trucks 15-fold to 150 vehicles over the next four years, as part of a bid to increase margins at its mines in Australia’s Pilbara region.’
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The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
The Ombudsman has been surveying people about their knowledge of the OIA and the right to information. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that widespread:The Chief Ombudsman says too many New Zealanders were in the dark over their right to access official information. Peter Boshier said an independent survey released yesterday on ...
In the wake of last Friday's climate strike, Peter McKenzie had an article in The Spinoff about protest strategies. The school strike movement is "polite" and cooperates with those in power because that's its kaupapa - its led by schoolkids who understandably don't want to risk arrest. But there's more ...
So, the latest ruminations on the gnews from Westminster (Again, sorry; I'll stop making that pun right now). This follows on from, and likely repeats bits of, my last post, on the suggestion that a Government of National Unity (GNU) should be set up and then oversee a referendum before ...
New Zealand likes to think of itself as not a racist country (despite being founded on the racist dispossession and subjugation of Maori). But for years, we've had a racist refugee policy, which basicly excludes refugees from Africa and the Middle East unless they already have relatives here. Now, the ...
Several people have asked me whether a particular repeat litigant could be declared a vexatious litigant, in light of their recent decision to appeal an adverse High Court ruling. My nascent tweet thread was getting ridiculously long, so it became this blog post instead.The short answer is: no. The particular ...
Appealing To The Past: Action Zealandia, like so many of the organisations springing up on the far-Right, across what they call the “Anglosphere”, is born out of the profound confusion over what a man is supposed to be in the twenty-first century and, more importantly, what he is supposed to do.THE STATUE OF ...
The attempts of anti-democratic transactivists to (often violently) disrupt women’s rights organising is largely ignored by those sections of the left most prone to misogyny and authoritarianism in New Zealand. In Britain, however, scores of trade union and left activists added their names to a letter in July, defending ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill. The Bill would establish an independent, quasi-judicial body to investigate and review potential miscarriages of justice, and refer them back to the Court of appeal if required. It would be a vital backstop to our judiciary, help ...
by The Spark On September 14, a total of 22 drones and cruise missiles struck two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. Abqaiq is the largest oil production facility in the world. For a few days afterwards, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi national ...
How much will NeoLiberal irregulation of the building sector and subsequent leaky homes crisis cost us? $47 billion, according to a new book:The total cost to fix all of New Zealand's leaky homes would be $47 billion, probably. The estimate comes from a new book, Rottenomics written by journalist Peter ...
Below is the start of another excellent article on the Freer Lives blog. Click onto the link at the end of this extract to read the full article. The punch-a-terf, kill-a-terf message pervades social media, always righteously delivered, chin held high. By contrast, the dehumanised “terfs” themselves, that is gender-critical ...
The Reserve Bank is currently planning tighter banking regulation, requiring banks to hold enough local capital to survive a 1-in-200 year financial crisis in order to protect consumers. The big Aussies banks, those foreign leeches who suck $5 billion in profit out of our economy every year, don't like that, ...
Its the usual story: a police officer beats a handcuffed suspect so hard they break one of their own fingers. The IPCA investigates and concludes that the use of force was unlawful. And the police refuse to do anything about it:A man punched repeatedly in the face by a police ...
From time to time we add links to our blogroll. The latest blog we have added is Freer Lives. This is a Marxist gender-critical blog, based in Melbourne, Australia. On it you will find a bunch of excellent articles which use the tools of Marxist analysis to critique the rise ...
Last Friday say the largest protest in a generation, as 170,000 people joined the school strike and marched to demand real action on climate change. The demands of the school strike were simple and clear: declare a climate emergency, set a climate target of net-zero by 2040, impose a total ...
Labour is a rather middle of the road capitalist party and earlier this year we discussed how far from being ‘transformative’, Ardern’s government is. An article published this week in the Guardian, by Bryce Edwards (political scientist and commentator at Victoria University), looks at Ardern’s business as usual performance. Where ...
In the hours since my last interminable wittering about the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain, there has been a slight maybe development:A Corbyn-led caretaker government could then sit for several months while it enacted and delivered a referendum with the support of smaller parties and ...
Jeremy Clarkson says much like Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank “didn’t like what was going on”, but “she didn’t have a tantrum about it.” Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has offered praise to historical figure Anne Frank, comparing her favourably to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he attacked in ...
Press release by Speak Up For Women Lesbians from women’s rights group Speak Up For Women are furious at reports that Rainbow Tick are threatening Massey University with the removal of their ‘tick’ if they let the group’s event go ahead. The group has been under attack from trans ...
By Duncan Garner Before you jump down my throat, nobody cares about the environment more than me. I have a garden, and since my wife and I broke up, I’ve let it grow wildly out of control, so please don’t tell me I’m not doing enough for plants. They’re ten ...
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...
Yesterday the High Court released its decision in Moncrief-Spittle v Regional Facilities Auckland Limited, on the (alleged) decision by the Auckland Council and Mayor Phil Goff to deny use of a public venue to a pair of visiting nazi grifters. Based on the information available back then, I said that ...
Image credit:45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ...
So, more on the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain.Two things, first. The numbers in parliament make things very difficult. And anyone who is saying X will happen or Y is impossible is spinning. We can not tell and will not know until votes are actually ...
The government is promising tough action against climate change via the Zero Carbon Bill and a strengthened ETS. Meanwhile, the Overseas investment Office is granting foreign coal companies permission to expand coal mining:Coal Action Network Aotearoa has slammed a decision by the Overseas Investment Office to allow Bathurst Coal to ...
Don't You Dare Let Them Down, Jacinda! Many New Zealanders, especially young New Zealanders, continue to believe that change – real change – is possible. Do we have criticisms about the way in which Jacinda’s government has gone about “transforming” New Zealand? Of course we do. But the very fact ...
. . With some historical and present context, it should become readily apparent to Pakeha that the occupation at Ihumātao is not a free-for-all conflict for any and everyone to become involved in. First, some important dates: . 1840 . The year in which the Treaty of Waitingi was signed. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Another busy week, from speaking with world leaders on the world stage about climate change, to equipping our school leavers with everything they need to get ahead in life. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says Air New Zealand has "an obligation to look after Kiwis", and urged the national carrier not to hike up their prices after Jetstar airline announced their withdrawal from regional flights this week. The Provincial Champion also expressed his disappointment at Jetstar’s decision on ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will help fund a new dredge for the Port of Greymouth to ensure the regional fishing fleet have a reliable and productive harbour, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today “Last year the movements of ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said he was "immensely disappointed" at the withdrawal of the Jetstar airline from regional routes. He has also warned national carrier Air New Zealand not to capitalise on the Australian budget airline’s decision by “gouging” regional air travellers. "Air New Zealand has historically challenged ...
International credit ratings agency Moody's gave a glowing assessment of New Zealand’s economy in its latest report, which ranks the country’s economic strength as "very high" while saying growth remains "robust". The report says it's expected New Zealand's economy will grow between 2.5 and 3 percent in the next few ...
The Coalition Government is allocating nearly $6 million to a campaign to stop Australian beekeepers marketing their products as "mānuka" honey. This move comes after Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones accused Australian honey producers of trying to steal what was indigenous to New Zealand. "The Aussies are trying to ...
The Provincial Growth Fund has provided $400,000 to Great South to help the agency drive Southland's regional economic development aspirations. The funding will allow Great South, which is Southland's economic development agency, to appoint a portfolio manager and a project support adviser, who will provide project management expertise and support ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The One Billion Trees Fund has just hit two significant milestones that will create more than 7,500 hectares of new forest cover, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Speaking at a celebratory dinner at Parliament to mark 100 years of the New Zealand Forestry Service, Minister ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves tomorrow for Dubai, London and Berlin for a series of meetings to advance New Zealand’s trade interests. In Dubai he will visit New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 where construction is underway. There he will meet Minister of State for International Cooperation, Her ...
Confirmation that PHARMAC will fund two new cancer drugs is further evidence of the good progress the Government is making to improve the treatment of New Zealand’s leading cause of death, Health Minister David Clark says. From 1 December PHARMAC will fund alectinib (Alecensa) for ALK positive advanced non-small cell ...
An additional $2.7 million has been announced for the Government Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation on the first anniversary of the strategy’s launch. Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson gave the opening address to the first Sport NZ Women + Girls Summit in Wellington today, ...
As part of its work to ensure businesses can get the skilled workers they need, the Coalition Government is re-opening and re-setting the Parent Category visa programme, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. The move will: support skilled migrants who help fill New Zealand’s skills gaps by providing a pathway for ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has today announced Major General Evan Williams of the New Zealand Defence Force has been selected as the commander of a significant, longstanding peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. In December, Major General Williams takes over as Force Commander for the Multinational Force and Observers ...
A record number of nurses are now working to deliver health services to New Zealanders as the Government’s increased funding and new initiatives rebuild key workforces start to show results, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. • 1458 more DHB nurses since the Government took office • 106 more midwives ...
Farmer and former Nuffield scholar Mel Poulton has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, announced today. The position supports key Government objectives, including raising the value of New Zealand agricultural goods and services. Mel is ...
New Zealand’s Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage is acknowledged and celebrated today as waka of the Tuia 250 voyage flotilla arrive in Tūranga / Gisborne. “Today we celebrate Tangata Whenua, the first people of Aotearoa, and the triumphs of the voyaging tradition that brought our ancestors here from Polynesia 1000 ...
“Fijian Language Week starts on Sunday and the theme reminds us how important it is that we each have something to anchor ourselves to, something that can help us pause and feel in control in a rapidly changing world,” says Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “Family, culture, faith, ...
The Government is establishing an Airspace Integration Trials Programme to support the safe testing and development of advanced unmanned aircraft and accelerate their integration into the aviation system, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods announced today. The Government will work with leading, innovative aviation industry partners to test and ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today welcomed the NZ Transport Agency’s decision to fund urgent safety improvements and confirm the designation of the Ōtaki to North of Levin highway. Safety upgrades will be made along 23.4km of the existing state highway, running along SH1 from the end of the Peka Peka ...
New Zealand playing its part in Asia-Pacific and globally are behind changes announced today to the Coalition Government’s three year refugee quota policy, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “We are proud to be a welcoming and inclusive nation committed to supporting some of the world’s most vulnerable people to rebuild ...
One of the important parameters of the agreement’s aims was to ensure there was no threat to food production from the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. ...
A monument to Winston Peters and Think Big projects would both boost the economy, but Argentina learned the hard way they can also impoverish a nation, writes Tony Burton.Everyone who loves New Zealand should visit Argentina. There are more similarities than you might think – large areas of wild natural ...
The Salvation Army foodbank in Waitakere ran out of food last week; an indication of the strain many New Zealand whanau are under as they struggle to afford the cost of living. Wednesday, October 16 is World Food Day, and as demand for services offered ...
Phil Goff was re-elected by a huge margin on Saturday. How will he put that mandate to use this term? Hayden Donnell asks the questions.Phil Goff is once again Auckland’s mayor. Preliminary local election results show him with a lead of nearly 100,000 votes over his nearest challenger, John Tamihere. ...
Catherine Bindon from Ban the Boom has created these colourful and positive posters for you to use to show you don't support the use of fireworks in your neighbourhood over the next few weeks distressing our animals and birds. ...
On Tuesday morning the Operation Burnham inquiry hearing resumed after it was suspended three weeks ago. The hearing is being held at Royal Society of New Zealand, 11 Turnbull St, Thorndon, Wellington on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Lecturer in Critical Thinking; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland It’s not uncommon for science and religion to be framed as two opposing forces. The Catholic church has famously struggled to accommodate scientific research in its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cat Pausé, Senior Lecturer in Human Development, Massey University The British Psychological Society is calling for changes for how we talk about fatness, suggesting we should no longer use the phrase “obese people”, but instead, “people with obesity” or “people living with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The federal government’s much-vaunted Snowy Hydro expansion is supposed to smooth out the bumps in electricity supply as Australia transitions to renewables. But not only is the project a bad deal for taxpayers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By María Yanotti, Lecturer of Economics and Finance Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania The housing market is moving again. In the past month, national prices have climbed 0.9%. What matters most to buyers (and especially to investors), along with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, University of Melbourne It seems appropriate that a painting titled Feng Shui dominates the new exhibition of Guan Wei’s work ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Matthews, Lecturer in Digital Media and Popular Culture Researcher, Auckland University of Technology According to a recent study, the sixth leading cause of death for young men in the United States is the warranted and unwarranted use of police force. With ...
The Council of Trade Unions has today released its report - Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness . The report details the six key principles needed for Fair Pay Agreements to deliver real change for working people, and democratic agreements ...
Too many New Zealanders endure poor working conditions in jobs that don’t pay enough and offer few opportunities for career progression, and the union movement is calling for change. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the latest polls which show a drop in support for Labour are not a concern when it comes to forming a government. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: A pair of polls put pressure on the Labour Party, a wild night of weather in the North Island, and Shane Jones snapped brandishing a semi-automatic.Parliament resumes today after a fortnight recess, and MPs were given a welcome-back present in ...
Mandy Hager, the newly elected head of the New Zealand Society of Authors, is lobbying the government to improve the lot of writers - to no avail, despite the Prime Minister's championing of the arts. ...
Given the vast impacts that poor diet have had on global health, a deficit in nutrition education in medicine represents a big problem, writes Dr Jennifer Crowley. ...
Any time Olympian Luuka Jones needs advice or encouragement in her pursuit of more canoe slalom success, she doesn’t have to look far. Jones’ coach, Campbell Walsh, is also her partner. ...
Competition for the rights to broadcast sports matches involving NZ’s top teams has produced a bonanza for the sporting bodies, forcing media companies to be a lot more innovative. ...
The Wellington suburb’s successful opposition to a proposed Bottle-O shows how the system is biased towards communities with the organisation, capacity and resources to protest effectively, says Jenesa Jeram.For those unfamiliar with Wellington geography, Khandallah is a Very Nice place to live (Aucklanders: think Remuera). So when it was reported ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission conducted an inquiry into mortgage pricing as recently as last year. Now Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has asked it to do another, broader one, in order to ensure the banks’ ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe results of the local government elections appear to show that New Zealanders are generally supportive of a more diverse range of representatives, having voted in greater numbers for candidates from traditionally under-represented groups. The elections have therefore modernised our councils in a small but very significant ...
The Inquiry has today published Minute No 21. This Minute sets out how the Inquiry intends to proceed given that the Attorney-General the Hon David Parker has agreed to extend the Inquiry’s reporting date by three months to 31 March 2020. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grace Skrzypiec, Senior Lecturer, Flinders University Many Australian students don’t know the difference between banter and bullying, with some saying they joke about wishing their friend would “drown” or “die in a car crash”. More than 800 Australian students aged 11-16 took ...
But he did play a crucial role in helping journeyman Andy Foster knock over Justin Lester. Team Gone By Lunchtime size up the local elections, gaze plaintively at the dramas in the NZ First Party, and ask how bad the new poll is for Jacinda Ardern.Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and ...
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ben Reid, executive director of the AI Forum, about the role of government in embracing and regulating AI.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Henry Cooke (Stuff): How to lose an election: Over-promise or under-deliver Simon Collins ...
By RNZ Pacific A Solomon Islands province has agreed to lease a large island to a Chinese developer to develop into a special economic zone, weeks after the country opened diplomatic ties with China. But already cracks abound; there has been no official announcement and the provincial premier says the ...
The New Zealand First MP and Minister Shane Jones is still backing the firearms ban, despite being pictured with what appears to be an AR-15 semi-automatic while holidaying in Asia. ...
Everyone needs to be concerned about the draft National Policy Statement on Urban Development that the Ministry for the Environment has released. It is incompatible with the spirit of transparency and inclusiveness. ...
Prodigal Son is a new crime procedural coming hot and fresh to TVNZ 1 on Mondays at 8.30pm.Jean Sergent has a few reasons why you should be watching it. If you like serial killer shows, Michael Sheen, dark drama, Michael Sheen, twisted family dynamics, or Michael Sheen – strap yourself ...
Voters in the 2019 local elections have elected the largest number of new mayors in 30 years, with 26 candidates set to don mayoral chains for the first time later this month. ...
A team of investigators dedicated to stamping out violent extremism online is being set up with the government announcing $17 million in funding over four years. ...
In a major boost to efforts to counter violent extremism on the internet, the Government has promised $17m over four years to the Censorship Compliance Unit. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) is recommending members hold on to potentially illegal shotgun shells containing steel shot until the law banning certain types of ammunition is clarified. ...
The final dinner party on Married at First Sight NZ brought an ugly misogyny to light. But it was far from the first time sexism reared its head this season, writes Alex Casey.It began with a man being edited out of the show after his domestic violence charges came to ...
New collaborative gifting platform Joyable is looking to shake up how we group-purchase gifts. Co-founders (and sisters) Rochelle Sheldon and Kimberley Crossman explain how their latest venture works. Joyable (not to be confused with the social anxiety-reducing app of the same name) is a somewhat left-field move for co-founder Rochelle ...
The extraordinary battle for the Tron has ended in a way no one quite saw coming, with the city relinquishing its stranglehold on the title of New Zealand’s most embarrassing council. Angela Cuming reports.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a ...
On the eve of the announcement of the winner of the 2019 Booker prize, Spinoff books editor Catherine Woulfe outs herself as a giant know-nothing. Booker time. Tomorrow morning I will sit there refreshing Twitter like the drinking bird on The Simpsons. A winner will be announced. And I’ll be gripped ...
National's claim that things only went south when Phil Twyford took charge of transport is not supported by us at CEAC and we see that this begun in 2008 as we witnessed the change then while working as a partnership group with NZTA then. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Churchill, Research Fellow in Sociology, University of Melbourne There’s an old maxim: not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. But there are some things we should count, and gender and sexual diversity are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Pollock, Climatologist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Northern Australia is likely to see fewer cyclones than usual this season, but hot, dry weather will increase the risk of fire and heatwaves across eastern and southern Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology today released ...
We are in The Good Time for avocados. Alex Casey talked to an expert on how to make the most of it. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. A time when a new avocado headline is published somewhere in New Zealandeverysingleday. A time when it is ...
Sexual harassment and assault are an issue in all walks of life, but addressing the problem is particularly difficult when the perpetrator holds public office. Today campaigner Carrie Buckmaster launches a parliamentary petition calling for more transparency on the issue.The ongoing Labour Party scandal around handling of sexual harassment allegations ...
Dunedin’s new mayor Aaron Hawkins is the first official Green Party mayor in NZ and, arguably, the first to represent the city’s student population as much as its older residents. Josie Adams, who guessed he would win, asked him ten questions about his win.The Spinoff local election ...
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (F&P) has upgraded its full year guidance again after gaining the right to sell its new full face mask in the United States. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Shadow foreign minister Penny Wong says Australia needs to “define the boundaries” of its engagement with China now the relationship between the two countries is in a new phase. Focusing on China policy in a ...
Canon Rugby in Focus: Ireland awaits an All Blacks team that will be well-rested. Perhaps too well-rested. Rested and ready, or a game short and not match fit. Those are the two scenarios that will have All Blacks fans fretting this week ahead of ...
With the government recently announcing a desire to help our cities grow up and out, leading New Zealand IoT expert Kriv Naicker today questioned whether New Zealand is falling behind in the use of smart city technology to help achieve this goal. ...
You famously said climate change was this generation’s nuclear-free moment. But when Extinction Rebellion uses the tactics of the Nuclear Free movement, you say you aren’t impressed. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Regina Jefferies, Affiliate, Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW In the past five years, more than 95,000 people who arrived by plane have lodged a claim for asylum in Australia, new statistics show. Labor’s Immigration Spokesperson, Senator Kristina ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karen Waller, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Organs from potential donors once rejected as being unsafe to transplant may not be as risky as once thought, new Australian research shows. Our study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, suggests organs from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Merrilyn Delporte, PhD Candidate, Queensland University of Technology Australia’s refugee policy has led to a two-track education system. Those processed offshore, and deemed refugees by the time they have arrived in Australia, are entitled to fee support for university. But the almost ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marion Terrill, Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute Congestion charging should be introduced in Australia’s largest cities, as Grattan Institute’s latest report shows. Our analysis also finds that the people who commute to the Melbourne and Sydney CBDs by driving are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David C. Ribar, Professorial Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Australia, like the United States, makes it hard for people who get benefits to stay on them. It’s not simply a matter of withdrawing benefits as people get jobs and work more hours ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ana Silkatcheva, Doctoral Candidate (Oriental Studies – Islamic Art and Archaeology), University of Oxford; Curatorial Researcher, Nicholson Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney In 2005, the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) opened Australia’s first permanent galleries of Islamic art. ...
Council's can expected more pressure from their own ranks to tackle climate change with a new crop of young councillors determined to fight it head on. ...
Open mike 23/11/2011 
Two years ago Catalans braved police batons and rubber bullets to vote overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum. Today, Spain jailed nine politicians who organised and supported that referendum process for a combined total of a hundred years for "sedition", after a trial that was little more than a judicial ...12 hours ago
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...3 days ago
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...3 days ago
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Every party complains about the media coverage they get, but not too loudly in case they lose favour and coverage. Media reports commonly don’t seem accurate to those being reported on. Mostly that is a natural effect of someone else looking at things differently.
In our democratic system the media hold a lot of power.
Just as most politicians mean well and work hard, the same for journalists. Personal views and preferences must influence how stories are chosen and covered but most journalists try to provide width and balance to their coverage.
Some journalists abuse their power, framing stories and promoting their own agendas and egos way beyond normal journalistic boundaries.
Actually Peter it’s down to the management editing and controlling what’s published by setting agendas and employing kids just look at the fresh young faces doing stories on drunken sport heads on the TV.
To quote a good mate, also a senior experienced journo, ‘too few employers and the editors have preconceived yarns to get out there, cross them and you’re out of a job’
Games is rigged dude…..watch Oz news to get a stark contrast in how balanced reporting is done.
I know it’s rigged. A few people are looking at what might be able to be done to hold them to account, a bit at least. Power of the ‘net may be able to apply some pressure.
what might be able to be done to hold them to account, a bit at least.
Geez Pete. You are standing for a party headed by a hairpiece that backs this current rabble like a bad smell. This is not “holding them to account”. Your party is part of the problem.
It is part of this contrived gerrymander that gives the right an undue advantage. Basically if the hairpiece wins National gets 1.2% more of the party vote than it actually won.
Your comments are hypocritical. If you truly want to “hold them to account” then resign and join a real party, one determined to do something for ordinary people, not for millionaires.
But that’s the problem, the millionaries are loosing their shirts because they are running the country so badly.
But worse they’ve locked in the tax system to make any company that grows (or farm, crafer) into a target for foreign take over.
NZ is digging itself faster into serfdom, and that’s what’s so astonishing about the elite here, that they really are that incredibly self-destructive.
The culture is set by media and the jerk elite has decided it doesn’t care what nonsense is peddled, or by whom.
Murdoch is an Australian.
Murdoch is an American citizen.
Yes, he is but he was born in Australia and, I believe, still carries Australian citizenship.
Are you complaining about the latest FairFax poll in which UF polls at one tenth of one percent?
Pete, I read your article and I must say I’m surprised.
11 paragraphs about parties conniving to assist each other into seats and not one mention of United Future’s deal with National.
Banks and Brash under attack at Epsom candidate meeting last night:
http://i41.tinypic.com/4sbqmo.jpg
I guess TVNZ will be showing some footage:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2816f49.jpg
More pics at:
Thanks for that ‘Jayman’! 🙂
22 November 2011 Epsom candidates meeting at the Parnell Jubliee Building 545 Parnell Rd.
I recommended to Epsom voters last night that they do not vote for yet- to- be- charged or convicted ‘white collar’ crook – John Banks.
http://i39.tinypic.com/xkohly.jpg
Am STILL awaiting a ‘progress report’ (promised Friday morning 18 November 2011) from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
ARE THE NZ SFO GOING TO EQUALLY LAY CHARGES AGAINST ACT CANDIDATE FOR EPSOM JOHN BANKS, AND ACT LEADER DON BRASH, AS WERE LAID AGAINST FORMER FELLOW DIRECTOR OF HULJICH WEALTH MANAGEMENT (NZ) LTD – PETER HULJICH FOR SIGNING ‘REGISTERED PROSPECTUSES’ WHICH CONTAINED UNTRUE STATEMENTS – OR NOT?
IF NOT – WHY NOT?
How come ACT’s ‘ONE LAW FOR ALL’ – apparently doesn’t apply to the ACT Leader Don Brash, and ACT candidate for Epsom John Banks?
Where’s ACT’s ‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ for ‘white collar’ CRIME?
Will be following up with the SFO this morning…..
Of course this issue is being given the mainstream media coverage one would expect in election year……
Not.
(Situation normal)
Penny Bright
CENSORED
Independent Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ CRIME, CORRUPTION (and its root cause – PRIVATISATION) and ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’
[email deleted]
Bugger the polls. My Ipredict short against National winning isn’t looking too healthy now. 🙂
16.2 % undecided…!
Now just hang on a minute:
The teapot scandal will break National
Rena will scupper them
Labours policys will bring them back
NZ will have a collective wakening to what John Keys about
The Greens, Mana, Winston First and Labour will get enough votes
The worm turned
Attacking the Mad Butcher will get votes
Playing the personality politics is the way to go (not that Labours doing that of course)
Any one of the above is a game changer so don’t give up hope just yet
You were one of those chumps who thought the All Blacks would win the final by 20 points, weren’t you?
Oh yeah sorry I also should add:
Assett sales
A win by 20 or a win by 1 is still a win (I will admit to some nerves during the match)
Bill English now bullshitting on Morning Report
You mean he actually stopped? Damn – I missed it.
There was a brief interlude in 2008 when he said stuff like
– “we want to get rid of kiwibank”
– “labour left the government accounts in good shape”
but this lapse into reality was soon remedied and the BS is spraying all and sundry once more
bill english = bull egregious
worst Nat leader ever, lost 2002 with 21% or something
National’s deep unpopularity was the only reason NZF/Winston was in parliament.
Winston is National’s problem child (one of many)
Clarification – should have read:
Bill English bullshitting on Morning Report now
He wants folks to swallow his shit recipes
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-election2011-20111123-0708-national_defends_record_on_trans-tasman_exodus-048.mp3" /]
David Cunliffe makes excellent points:
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-election2011-20111123-0714-labours_finance_spokesman_discusses_emigration_stats-048.mp3" /]
Strange lack of empathy from Joanne Black, in the latest Listener, for Bradley Ambrose. Remember she has admitted to leaving a tape running hidden behind a bunch of flowers after a press conference with then PM Geoffrey Palmer. Then she played it to other journalists and possibly politicians including Ruth Richardson who then used it in the house to mock the PM.
Bradley Ambrose was pushed away, with a scrum of other journalists, from a public meeting in a cafe, to a position a few feet away. Whether or not it was accidental, he left the mike in full view of several DPS staff and the two politicians, none of whom noticed it. When he realised it was still recording he alerted his contracted employer and deleted it.
>>>> When he realised it was still recording he alerted his contracted employer and deleted it.
Are you sure about that?
Well he definitely did the first half.
Ruth Richardson is only a few degrees to the right of Joanne Black.
HOS is not Ambrose’s employer.
Joanne Blacks husband is one of Key’s advisors. Says it all.
Interesting chart……..
http://tiny.cc/dpjbg
When he realized it was still recording he alerted his contracted employer and deleted it.
Hmm more like he rubbed his hands together and thought ha ha pay day is coming!
Deleted it – don’t you mean copied it and sold to who ever would buy it?
His argument that it was all an accident and he didn’t mean to tape the conversation would be like you or me walking out of a supermarket with groceries without paying for them, going home and eating the groceries.
When Plod comes around to have a chat you say, oh yes I realized after I got home that I hadn’t paid for the groceries so it wasn’t stealing – but I decided to eat them anyway as it was ok to.
Wouldn’t hold up in court as the consumption proves the intent. I think Mr Ambrose is going to find out this afternoon that the judge will decide that his selling of the conversation will allow a prosecution to use this as evidence as to his intention or otherwise of taping the conversation deliberately.
Your last point is incorrect, Jimmie, because the judge is not being asked to rule on the question of the selling of the conversation, just whether it was a private conversation or not. If not, that lets the cameraman off the hook, if it is private, then the cops have to then make the decision about prosecution.
By the way, who said he sold the tape? I haven’t seen it reported anywhere that he was paid for it.
These sorts of comments are why he now has a defamation case against Key.
“that the judge will decide that his selling of the conversation will allow a prosecution to use this as evidence as to his intention or otherwise of taping the conversation deliberately.”
But as we now know, she didn’t… 🙂
Granny Herald has returned to form pushing propaganda and disinformation for the Nats in on it’s front page with article from chief cheerleader John sycophant Armstrong. The editor busied himself with talking up the dangers of earthquakes prone buildings in Auckland (FFS!) demanding ‘the public have a right to know’ but has nothing to say on the suppression of information involved in the ombudsman withholding advice that the government received from treasury wrt asset sales, or the lack of any concrete evidence to back up Nationals claim that ownership will be retained by
New Zealanders.
Inside the political pages the talk (excepting Rudman) was all about how Shonkeys charm is like the sun and without it we would all surely wither and die.
Homebrew + Tourrettes’ song ‘Listen to us’ has had almost ten thousand plays in a week.
listen to it here on:
Vote for this song on the bFM top ten here:
http://www.95bfm.com/default,top10.sm
— let’s make the #1 MEAN SOMETHING this year…
Key on RNZ right now, getting all flustered and talking over the host
And Kathryn Ryan gets bored quickly has an idea she just has to express right then and talks over the top of Key rather than waiting for a natural pause. Just done it 3 times in 30 seconds. (it’s not just Key she does it all the time as does Kim Hill end rant. RANt continues – she also talks way too quick. It’s like dealing with an 8 year old who has to blurt everything out in one go. Key and Goff have a much more moderate pace and the contrast really grates).
Key said something really interesting right up front after the introduction when Ryan said that Nats could govern alone based on recent polls, the first party to do so under MMP. He then said something like ‘that [Fairfax] poll could be overstating things’.
It’s an interview, not a party political broadcast.
Not that Key would know the difference.
Katherine is the interviewer. She asks the question. Key goes off on a tangent and avoids the question. Katherine attempts to return to the question. Key shouts over her and continues to avoid.
Pity. Key could have answered some good questions but failed.
It’s a long form interview – she doesn’t have to rush. But she does it all the time. No doubt she’ll be as irritating with Goff tomorrow. It appears like it is more about her and her voice getting airspace. Kim Hill has developed the same problem.
I didn’t hear the whole interview, but a part of it I did hear, Key was wandering off the question that was asked and started talking about Goff, so Kathryn had to interrupt to get him back on track.
Winston’s weird:
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2011/11/winson-takes-deng-xiaoping-for-drive.html
National Front at Christchurch candidates meeting: http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=209559
Pieces of chicken shit scum bags is what they are.
In the interview Key admitted that they are planning to spend 4 billion dollars on the power grid/network.
So let’s get this straight. He is going to spend billions upgrading the lines and wants to sell the power generation plants that need the lines to deliver their product.
We are paying to build the trucks, and the roads, that takes their goods to market for us to buy
================
How can the host not have the basic treasury and budget figures on hand.
Key says National just delivered a zero budget – i hear crickets-
key says labour left hundreds of billions of debt – more crickets –
Key said they have not lumped NZ with new debt – i swear i heard a black hole open up –
The 4b is old news and probably accounted for as it is 100% funded by consumers. It has meant Transpower has not been giving the govt a dividend in recent years despite making 100m or so a year. I think Labour started the ball rolling in about 2007. Oh and Labour allowed Transpower to ‘sell’ the national grid to Wachovia in a buy and lease back arrangement to rort US taxpayers.
But your analogy doesn’t hold. The govt already builds and owns the roads. But it doesn’t try and own the cars and trucks that run on them, or the factories that fill the trucks, or the office blocks filled by people who drive their cars on the roads. Are you calling for wholescale nationalisation of the means of production and transport?
it is a very clear and simple metaphor of what is represented by NZ paying to build new power grid systems and transmission lines and then selling the companies that produce the electricity that will use those very lines to sell power back to NZ. or were you just wanting to waste my time?
the whole structure is corrupt and the more we all look into it the murkier the whole story becomes.
Left , Right, doesn’t matter, the deals done in NZ the last thirty years have to be brought to light and those responsible have to be held to account.
Even this single phone call raises more than a few questions as to the legitimacy of the status quo.
It’s a completely odd ‘metaphor’ because it’s not one.
But that aside, what you are saying is that it is strange and illegitimate for the government to build a road to develop some crown land at the end of it, and then sell that land to private enterprises (like farmers, builders and developers), who will then turn it into a housing estate or warehousing or farms and use that same crown owned road to service the area and bring produce and people out of it to other places served by the same crown owned roading network. Strange, because that is how much of NZ was developed and they are still doing it today http://www.primecommercial.co.nz/1657269
“Are you calling for wholescale nationalisation of the means of production and transport?”
Why not? The idea probably gives you an aneurysm, but as my late brother used to say “If you’re going to sin, might as well make it an original one!” 😀
(PS I think you meant wholesale though wholescale is orignal, and almost fits!)
Lew has an interesting observation over on Kiwipolitico:
So, when the psychopaths in National heard that there was a documentary showing just how bad the poverty in NZ had become over the last three decades of neo-liberalism they called it a Labour advert, said it wasn’t their fault and then promised to make it worse by cracking down on beneficiaries?
Yeah, National, really helpful – not.
The other side of that is that most of the poverty statistics you see variously quoted as appalling, third world etc date from Labour’s time in power, a period of apparantly massive growth and success. That’s just the nature of the time it takes to collate and analyse this stuff. We are not going to know the impact of National on the trend for some time, like it or not.
“We are not going to know the impact of National on the trend for some time, like it or not.”
No, but we can make some very educated guesses about whether it’s going to be better, worse, or the same…
Did you see the bit where I mentioned the last three decades of neo-liberalism? Yes, Labour’s to blame as well.
The point was that, given the evidence, National whinge and whine and don’t do anything to get rid of the poverty. Of course, they don’t want to because having large amounts of poverty pushes wages down just as John Key said he wanted.
Key was interviewed by Katherine Nine to Noon. (Try hard to be open minded.)
Katherine shouted down.
Key: Slippery. Evasive. Devious.
(Comparing his performance with that of other leaders in terms of honesty credibility trust. Awful!)
Shonkey could get caught with two 13 year old girls in the back of the limo and his fan club would still be relaxed. The rabid and rapid response of the Kiwiblog gargoyle re one widely perceived advantage to Phil Goff following the TV3 debate shows these people are on maximum wind.
Judge Helen Winkelmann’s phone would possibly have been busy last nite.
Really the likes of Key, Farrar and Joyce can only be considered as traitorous swine running a continuous ‘dark op’ on behalf of capital in NZ.
You are spot on, Key could do anything and it would not matter. The basic issue is that NZers (as pointed out in Trotters latest column) want reassurance and parenting from their lovely leader. Facts and policies are of no real issue, we just want to be lead by nice daddy John.
Upshot is that we will as a nation ignore that nice daddy John will sell of the house and then have an affair with a merchant bankster mistress, all so long as we feel reassured. And in 3 years we will wont get letters from Hawaii from runaway daddy because we wont have our own address, we will be out in the street.
Which begs the question: when will we grow up and become adults assessing our own futures? When will we leave political infancy?
Any chance you explaining to me the point and its value of always attacking the PM. Hasn’t he also gotten a heap of ministers and MPs running things.. so what’s with the obsession.. don’t you see how counter-productive this is.. and how excellent JK is fending it off.. looks to me a lot of the time like he’s inviting it so he can deflect scrutiny from the others..
Quick note for LP: WYSIWYG and the name and email cookies are no longer working on Firefox.
Edit: or IE.
Lynn’s aware. I thought he was going to fix it but evidently hasn’t done so yet.
Cheers, I’ve got so used to the tags and automatic logons that I even forgot to re-enter the data on the comment above and had to go back and reload it.
Yep. Unfortunately I’ve spent the last week pushing data for election day targeting which is more time dependent.
I know how to fix the problem to get around the new cache, but it takes time to dig out the old code from javascript. I just haven’t had time to do so. But I’m almost done. However I also have to stop my holiday and go back to the paying job…
I’d revert it back to the normal system, but we’re getting read peaks that are quite high. Tonight for instance we did about a quarter of the days page views in just over an hour after the debate (and surprise surprise we just made another record for highest page view day and highest visitor day – the second this week). The cache was the only thing that made the system operate without falling unresponsive. It was feeding the same cached page to multiple readers rather than regenerating it for each reader.
Best suggestion – register and login.
That generates a separate page for each logged in user (whilst serving up cached copies for non-logged in) and therefore has all of that stuff operational without issues (it is the readers that cause the peak issues)
Another broken promise
Prior to the last election in 2008, National promised that New Zealander’s would Wave goodbye to higher taxes… however National increased GST to 15%. The broken promise ensured that socially negative statistics kept growing.
National’s pledge card also said: Not your loved ones… meaning that New Zealander’s would stop leaving en mass. However we‘ve seen the first net migration loss in ten years and the increasing exodus has continued to grow under National over the last three years.
Some people have argued that the Christchurch earthquakes are the reason for the continued exodus… however only a small percentage of those leaving come from Christchurch. The vast majority of people are leaving because National has mismanaged the economy and things are getting worse here in New Zealand.
Get it right Jackal, National did not mismanage the economy, they did not even attempt to do anything other than transfer wealth to their mates, scrap social expenditure and plan to sell off the silver to themselves.
“National has mismanaged the economy”
Incorrect. National has
– deliberately skewed the economy in favour of the wealthy elite,
– generated a massive government debt
– overseen an embarrassing credit downgrade
All in preparation for the privatisation of our juicy public assets.
Another wealth grab by the insatiable banksters and their useful idiots…
people leaving en masse because they are worried we are going to get another 3years of Shonkey .
That GST increase was fiscally risk neutral.. go ask any pensioner whose fixed income had to otherwise take a hit on regular grocery for example.. try for more REAL in your comments please.
“That GST increase was fiscally risk neutral.. go ask any pensioner whose fixed income had to otherwise take a hit on regular grocery for example.”
That’s gurble, really! What does ” fiscally risk neutral” even mean? It’s jargon of some sort, each of the words makes sense on its own, but together? No… ?????
More great Poll results for National despite all the personal Mudslinging from Labour. I know Iprent is not in favour of this as I have read his comments on it before. That the Election should always be fought on a Policy basis. There are two real problems for Labour in this Election that I see.
1) The associated link with Winston Peters as shown by the contrived worm,and polls the Public dont trust him even though Phil Goff says he does.
2) The rise of the Greens this party is appearing as fresh full of new ideas and the voters choice for the left vote. While Labour throws out its same old same old. I believe within 3 more Elections that the Greens will have a bigger voter base than Labour unless Labour can revitalise itself.
To do that they need to attract some smart Business people to their ranks who can show some comercial nouse. This means there will be a direct or indirect conflict with the Union power base in Labour.At the moment they cant show any credible way how they are going to grow the Economy without over taxing a smaller ,and smaller base of people. Sooner or later the leaves all fall off the money tree, and labour has no plans to show how it can create wealth in the Economy so Businesses will invest money ,and hire more people
Please choose or use a different ‘log in’ name. Cheers.
Hi Bill,
I just spent a couple of minutes puzzling how the ‘Bill of old’ could have changed his attitude so drastically, and concluded that you are a new commenter. I think you need a new handle.
At least I assume it’s not you Bill – Standard author and parecon proponent?
Yep….I mean no. Not me. And the person signing in as ‘bill’ on another thread isn’t me either. (Have commented beneath the comments with those handles asking that the handles be changed.)
I don’t think Bill actually logged in to comment. That’s the problem. You can comment without logging in, all you need to do is provide a name (say “Bill”) and an email address.
Probably the only way to avoid this is to require commenters to log-in, because I believe all login usernames are unique.
That I kinda agree with. The rest of your comment was complete delusional BS. With Peak Oil already here the economy can’t be grown so all we’re left with is correcting the misallocation of resources that capitalism has caused. NAct, wants to do the opposite and make things worse.
big ups to Rob Guyton – constantly posting on good green issues and with a wicked sense of humour – exhibit 1 this headline – “This man suffers from worms” guess who?
http://robertguyton.blogspot.com/2011/11/this-man-suffers-from-worms.html
haha excellent!
Salon: Cities, the new hydrofracking victims.
That article should be read by every NZer.
It has many in-text links, which I intend to follow up on. One crucial aspect is the recent disclosure of a 1987 EPA report which found:
‘…fracking contaminated well and groundwater in West Virginia. For decades, the industry had been able to deny this critical case study and insist fracking was perfectly safe because, as the New York Times notes, the case’s details “were sealed from the public when energy companies settled lawsuits with landowners.†Now, though, the oil and gas industry cannot issue such denials with impunity…’
I’m not sure what you are getting excited about. The report interesting and well written but comes pretty much to the same conclusion as others – it’s the integrity of the casings that are the issue not the fracking process. This is a known issue and applies to any well of any sort going through ground water. The report is very clear that the fracked zone does not directly affect the aquifer.
/facepalm
The fracking process forces apart the rock so we can assume that “the integrity of the casings” has no bearing whatsoever on if the fracking compound enters the ground water. Physics ensures that it will.
No because the fracking (usually) happens thousands of feet below any ground water. The fractures themselves are millimetres wide which is why sand is use as a proppant to keep the cracks open. and they wouldn’t/shouldn’t intersect say with an aquifer in these circumstances because they primarily travel laterally within a geological formatin rather than vertically between formations.
The casings are supposed to contain fluids and gas as they pass through other geological formations from the source rock to the well head. It is these failing that seem to be the issue. Like a hose getting a hole in it while you are running a siphon. If you’ve done it a thousand times before and it fails once, it’s likely the hose is the problem not the siphoning method.
Nice fancy ideas mate, let down by actual fracking contaminants found in drinking water all over the world.
you’ll be able to list them then…
Toxins to blame for increased whale stranding’s?
There’s also been an increase in stranding’s closer to the MV Rena disaster, which is known to have released over 2000 barrels of heavy crude oil into the ocean. 3150 Litres of Corexit 9500 was also applied throughout the cleanup operation and 23,240 kgs of Alkylsulphonic Acid was lost overboard.
Quick question to moderators : why am I having to type in user name and mail address for every comment? It used to store them. Problem at my end or yours?
Collective disorder tracks Occupy facebook pages, twitter accounts and Reddit subs.
so kweewee is going to sell Kiwibank.
it doesnt belong to him or his party either (the john kee and matthew hooton party).
It belongs to New Zealanders and Phill Goff should make that quite clear to New Zealanders tonight on teevee.
An interesting read.
Google Doc: Private Clearinghouses and the Origins of Central Banking
Actually Key is not selling kiwibank, thats a big lie.
Correct. National will sell KiwiBank after Key resigns.
Is it true or is just bs that Bradley Ambrose has ties to Kyle Chapman?
Look which party Kyle Chapman is supporting.
http://rwrnz.blogspot.com/2011/11/elections.html
Reading things that aren’t there again Pete. He doesn’t say, but he does say to vote for one of the small parties.
Perhaps he means UF. You’re all white aren’t you?
They have edited their site. What they had (up until yesterday afternoon) was:
“In this country we must vote for the smaller parties…” replaced “If you want traditional Kiwi life vote NZ First.”
Pete:
Well they anit voting for national and please give me a headsup, I dont want to go to that
hate site again.
Back to my original question is it true that Bradley Ambrose has ties to this group?
Over the last week or so, it has been reported in several media articles that he is a National supporter – that probably should now be “was” in the past tense.
Bugger all this election nonsense – I’m going bush. Out after the event so will keep fingers crossed ……
Don’t forget to vote!
Well, as of this time it looks like most people have considered leaving for Australia*.
* If you believe those really stupid online polls.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/tanks-in-small-towns/248975/
Can everyone please post this to their social network of choice, please get justice against police brutality in NZ.
Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QQ3XA7KgrY
[Quote]
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2011
[b]where is the humanity?[/b]
I feel, especially in these last days leading up to our elections, that it is vital that New Zealanders see this. Actually, stuff the elections, this is something that every person in Aotearoa needs to watch and think about because this is about us as a community, this is about us taking responsibility as human beings. This is about us putting people before corporations and profits.
After my initial surge of rage, disgust, and extreme sadness at watching this clip, my main three questions are these:
Firstly, what on EARTH are they teaching at the police colleges that produce policepeople that are so eager to inflict serious harm on other humans? When I was at primary school, even at high school, to want to become a policeperson came out of a desire to help, protect and generally do good in a community. Not sit on a desperate and upset man and calmly beat him around the head and ribs with a police-issue baton in front of his extremely pregnant partner SO THAT A LUCRATIVE POWER COMPANY WHO TURNS OVER MILLIONS EACH YEAR CAN SAVE A FEW BUCKS!! (which turned out to be a mistake on the power company’s part anyway!)
Secondly, what lack of humanity allows contractors to carry on their job when they can see the result it is having? What is this crazy hold over people that lets them use the excuse ‘I was just doing my job’ when they can see that doing their job is causing a man to receive head injuries? When it is causing immense distress to a woman who is overdue to give birth?
And, in conclusion to the first two questions I guess, as it was so VERY obvious that things weren’t going so well in this situation (to put it lightly) why on earth could the police and contractors not take the sensible approach, pull back, and reassess the situation?? I cannot think of any reason why the disconnection of power had to happen at that specific time, given the resulting circumstances. Not exactly a life-or-death situation for the power company was it? Are we really the type of society who would rather see another human beaten till they bleed rather than have a company lose out on a few profits?? Do we truly worship money that much? Should we really let it control us in that way?
To those of you who say, regarding the police, that they were only doing their jobs, then I say – well, if that is their job, then I think it’s time we thought about what sort of system we’re living under. Because I don’t want any part of it.
[/quote]
http://commonbravery.blogspot.com/2011/11/where-is-humanity.html
OMG! That is one of the most outrageous abuses of police plus corporate power toward an individual in NZ that I have ever seen – and all this is completely legal???? (call me sheltered, but Wow!). There was no crime that warranted that sort of treatment (and not even an unpaid power bill, in the end).
John Key/Nathan Guy must be panicking re holding the seat of Otaki
I spotted added to most of his billboards in orange
Your vote is crucial this sat
hahaha so dont believe the polls that are cintinuly paraded on tv by the media
Lefties get out there and vote
I’ve seen the same thing today. The Nats are worried!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10768051
So we had Lab MP’s including Phil Goff support this, now as this would have been for me a great green/environmential policy. Not a mention, I even commented that the up comming Labour weekend would have been a great time to promote this. Perhaps this was all just Phil’s opportunity for a smile and wave photo.
Does The Labour party really act on saving our environment, or as I am comming to believe AFKTT, Labour is as indebted to the system as Nation is ;-(
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/4510990/Coromandel-beach-friends-spell-out-their-opposition
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2011/01/04/preserve-new-chum-wainuiototo-beach-for-everyone/
today is an historic day, and it is the smallest step that can lead the longest march
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/211548.html
Should be true but is it?
yes yes yes it is true
downloaded and watched a dozen times. it keeps getting better and better every time
fact is Fact and The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal
has now shown the world what real strength is all about.
seeing a lot of calls for the death penalty, if any country ever commits to arresting them.
I say no to the death penalty for these architects of misery.
Incarceration in a penitentiary, life sentences, no house arrest, no quick deaths, no easy out for these murderers, let their long final days be spent in fear and regret.
What do folks think about this info?
You certainly won’t get to read it in mainstream media!
Why Epsom voters whouldn’t support ‘white collar’ CRIMINALS?
😉
http://www.pennybright4epsom.org.nz/
Penny Bright
Independent Candidate (CENSORED) for Epsom
Editorial: Trust parents with the facts about schools
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10767804
Good God. We have had 20 plus years now of “Tomorrow’s Schools” and ERO.
Parents have been free to join boards of trustees in open and free elections.
They have had screeds of information available to them.
One has to wonder just who is driving this attitude.
One thing is for certain – Delorus Umbridge is going to create an extremely demoralised teaching profession. Of course, she is a here-today-gone-tomorrow politician and will not be subject to any scrutiny herself – in fact apart from the infamous Merv Wellington and David Lange, people would be hard pressed to name the succession of Ministers of Education.
Why has she got such a snitch on teachers? Is she holding a grudge against her 1960’s teachers and schools. Did she fail School Cert?
Did a teacher guest in one of her hotels do something untoward in a room?
What is it with her?
Not really, Greens will only grow until they risk leaving behind the activist base. So the question for the Greens is; are you an activist party or one for the middle classes?
You can be an activist and middle class.
Why is there an ad for Vote for Change at the top of The Standard? “give MMP the boot”.
Epsom voters could not look themselves in the eye if they voted in “that” man.
bye bye binky.
Oh fuck, we’ve got ads from the anti-MMP brigade playing at the top of the page. They’re really going all out now in splurging on ads focusing on Winston, even stooping as low as to buy ads on facebook.
There’s also an IAG investment ad on the main page. What’s going on?
Key: “National is rolling out ultra fast broadband”
Kiwis leaving for Australia: We’re rolling out ultra fast
JN.
When you’re up to your neck in shit it’s tempting to try to get out of it.
However, the ‘Lucky Country’ isn’t so lucky these days, especially for new arrivals.
‘According to press release from the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia, “First time home buyers have little confidence in the Australian economy, as they baulk at property purchases and hoard their cashâ€.’
http://www.whocrashedtheeconomy.com/blog/category/australian-housing/
and
‘SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The world’s second-largest iron ore miner Rio Tinto PLC /quotes/zigman/182541/quotes/nls/rio RIO -1.35% will boost its fleet of driverless trucks 15-fold to 150 vehicles over the next four years, as part of a bid to increase margins at its mines in Australia’s Pilbara region.’
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rio-tinto-boosts-driverless-iron-ore-truck-fleet-2011-11-02
and
http://au.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=%5EAORD
Out of interest, are you allowed to blog or post on blogs on election day about the election??????