Key acknowledged that Trump campaigned against TPP but added: “The United States isn’t an island. It can’t just sit there and say it isn’t going to trade with the rest of the world so at some point they are going to have to give some consideration to that but naturally we are a bit disappointed.”
Actually, they can. They certainly have the resources and capabilities to keep their living standards high without trade.
Of course, without trade their rich people won’t get any richer. In fact, they’ll probably become very poor quite rapidly.
There will be trade. It’s just there won’t be a leader of the free world to bomb the fuck out of poor farming communities who don’t trade in US dollars
Real nice of the government to let quake stricken people use up their own retirement savings. This is transferring hardship from the present to the future.
I’m not sure this government even gets what Kiwisaver is about.
They understand exactly what KS is about. Even better when folks use their own rather than any govt assistance so you can promise more vapour tax trimming.
Wasn’t that another broken election promise that they wouldn’t touch it yet have several times making it less attractive to the punter and better for the ticket clipping fund managers and govt.
And then asking people to support charities so the government doesn’t have to pay.
Of course the simple way is to make corporations and the rich pay more tax, but it’s better, isn’t it Mr Key, to put the begging bowls out and rely on the generosity of the poor?
The rich need that money for their 15th property. larger boat, extension on the luxury beach house, third international holiday, school fees for King’s……
Yep – I thought that was on the nose, too. This bloddy govt will do anything it can to stop it having to help ordinary people in times of crisis ……. just shitty.
I do hope those ordinary people will wake up in time for the election – but these disasters are displacing so many people, disrupting so many of their lives, that they might not even be able to vote – if they don’t have a permanent address.
Has the Electoral Commission said anything about that, yet ?
Yep – I thought that was on the nose, too. This bloddy govt will do anything it can to stop it having to help ordinary people in times of crisis ……. just shitty.
Oh, they’re doing more than that with this move. They’re undercutting peoples retirement funds meaning that some people will have to keep working longer.
Killing trees to enhance the view and the $$$ – yuck.
“Thames-Coromandel District Council has reported a spike in native trees being vandalised and destroyed recently, including pohutukawa.
TCDC parks and reserves manager Derek Thompson believes people were poisoning the trees for better beach views from their holiday homes, and called it “selfish and disappointing”.
He believed the poisoning would only increase during the warmer months.”
About 30 odd years ago, Takapuna Beach (North Shore, Auckland) had a magnificent beach frontage lined with huge spreading pohutukawa. In the intervening years, non-notified resource consent has been given time after time to the rich dudes who have bought up the beachside properties, and those magnificent pohutukawas have dwindled down to a few skinny limbs per tree, and even entire trees have disappeared. Oh, and some of the trees were “accidentally damaged” during property re-build and were “too dangerous” to retain.
The selfish wealthy have no idea what they’re doing to the environment.
Yeah, but your standards are quite low James. Do people really enjoy being in the environment of big box stores and subdivisions like botany. They aren’t made for people to be outside, they’re made for you to be in your car as much as possible. Someone described our new subdivisions as a fenced in herd of grazing turtles. We could do far far better if we actually tried.
Our hero the unitary plan! Helping the rich do whatever the fuck they like as long as they pay some hefty fees to private planners and ‘environmental lawyers’ to produce 70 page reports that bury the effects. The council love giving out ratepayers money to private environmental lawyers to steal the harbour and take away people’s amenity and the council love to control all the separate COO’s to say all the same things in environmental court so it looks like they all agree.
Hey there were a lot of cheerleaders for the unitary plan – the fake news is alive and well in NZ. Environmental degradation and the average homeowners rights are gonna get a lot worse.
Still waiting to see the ‘affordable’ housing to spring up with the SHA and Unitary plan that were pushed through.
Trees hold the ground together against erosion. With sea level rise, the poisoners will be at high risk for losing land … and their neighbours will too.
Nats probably think that erosion doesn’t need to be a “thing” anymore because if one 7.8M quake can lift the seabed by 6+ metre in places, then no need to worry about erosion.
Just sit tight and wait for a few more quakes to keep lifting the seabed. Erosion problem sorted.
Such is the perspicacity of thought in those quarters.
Thanks James! Great to see into the mind of a Nat supporter. (sarc). So we need not worry about erosion because at the end of the day an earthquake could lift the seabed and correct it! What logic!
Actually James is correct. However he has a problem with his time scales. There is a pretty good probability that the current human species would be naturally extinct before geological uplift fixes the erosion.
Yes bring back the good old days when you’d drive SH1 and see dozens of men brastfeeding shovels on the side of the road. Those were real jobs, with dignity.
Ever noticed how many vehicles and workers are required to mow a strip of road verge now (have seen 10 men and five vehicles supporting one ride-on mower operator on the Johnsonville to Porirua stretch of SH1). Instead of paying to keep notional ‘shovel leaning’ labourers off the UB, the taxpayers/ratepayers are charged over the odds for private sector workers to lean on steering wheels. Guess who takes the cream off the contracts – isn’t likely to be the workers.
So you’re saying seize private assets without compensation? What would be the appropriate response if after a nationalisation was announced Fulton Hogan et al destroyed all their equipment, leaving nothing to seize?
Come on Richard, argue that for Maori, I’m sure they would appreciate you standing up for the good fight. No wait you in Aussie right. Stand up for our aboriginal brothers and sister, and work out what they should get for all the private assets that were taken from them without compensation.
Agree, better training and promotes a long term investment in what is good for New Zealand. Instead of maximum private profit and zero investment in the temporary and insecure staff from the local labour company.
I am putting this link up because I was listening to it without watching and I was amazed how much simon bridges sounds like john key – same smashing up of words and syntax and timing imo. He is obviously going all the way with these mimicry skills.
The thing is about investing, is you can repeat buzz words, but unless you have a proven track record implementing professional strategy, and make money, you will end up very untalented in very important positions.
I had to teach myself. I came from a fatherless background which forced me to learn in double quick time. I also experienced a life before the mother of all budgets so replicating my success has moved on like opening and closing doors and passing ships
yeah saw that – amazing how both likers and dislikers see trump as a hit1er type
““Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!”
That’s how Richard B. Spencer saluted more than 200 attendees on Saturday, gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., for the annual conference of the National Policy Institute, which describes itself as “an independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.”
Spencer has popularized the term “alt-right” to describe the movement he leads. Spencer has said his dream is “a new society, an ethno-state that would be a gathering point for all Europeans,” and has called for “peaceful ethnic cleansing.””
well yes we gave the biggest MORAN trump (as did you minimoran) itself massive exposure as all his misogynist, racist hit1erish tendencies emerged during the campaign – don’t thank us we did it out of fairness cos that is the left.
The left fancies itself as being fair, but with regards to Trump that’s nothing but a conceit.
Millions of Trump voters decided that they had enough of left wing bullyshaming and intimidation, and decided to keep their preferred choice of candidate to themselves.
“Millions of Trump voters decided that they had enough of left wing bullyshaming and intimidation, and decided to keep their preferred choice of candidate to themselves.”
methodology, assumptions and all of the rest contributed to the trump election – one thing that didn’t is a nobody from dunners. You are yesterdays news nobby.
When did a the left become a lumpen grouping? There is no left as a homogeneous group. Least of all on this site, so it’s getting tiresome bro. Especially when it the same line trolls use!
And some of us critise trump for the 1%er he is, carries on being, and always has been. I know your under some delusion he is not, but then again you don’t want to admit his alt-right connection either. Nor the fact his appointments so far, have been very much in favour of the corporate elects.
We are talking about the country that produced capitalism. Taking capitalism out of the White House would be like Hollywood trying to make a movie whit out white people.
Said another way, you couldn’t make a movie in North Korea with out a glorious leader uniting country against hordes of white salesmen.
On the other hand we are seeing a dangerous move to unwind what ever hard work was left over from Martin Luther Kings days, if we are to have any shot at halting total fascist I think Bernie Sanders Has to win in 2020
Trump is a 0.1%’er thanks. Just like Hillary Clinton.
It’s the American system. It’s the only way you can win the White House. No one earning $100K per year has a chance.
I know your under some delusion he is not, but then again you don’t want to admit his alt-right connection (1) either. Nor the fact his appointments so far, have been very much in favour of the corporate elects. (2)
1) Trump isn’t “alt-right”. He is the new radical working class focussed centre. And it is going to gut the Democratic Party.
2) Trump doesn’t owe a single thing to the corporates, the corporate media or to Wall St. Reince Priebus is not a corporate lackey. Bannon is former Goldman Sachs but as far as I can tell he despises his old Wall St/Investment banking set. Ben Carson who is likely to be the new HHS head is a neurosurgeon. Lt Gen Flynn is a career military intelligence guy as NSA. Probable SecDef Marine Corp Gen Mattis is a career military leader. SecState could be Giuliani or Romney. Both are entrepreneurs with their own successful businesses.
Further Trump is implementing rules which say that no executive in his Administration will be able to work as a corporate lobbyist for 5 years after leaving his White House, or EVER work lobbying for a foreign govt.
When have I said h.r.c was not? You know it’s the lies, that hurt.
Just one, Lt Gen Flynn thinks Islam is a cancer, I know he spins it to say Islamism, but he thinks Islam is a cancer. If that not the voice of the 1% then someone hand me a cottontail.
Do I need to remind you that the nazi party put socialist into their title to be the ” new radical working class focussed centre” Following the example of the Italian fascists.
Good to see you have not given up your fawning over the 1% Richard. But lets go through your juvenile response line by line shall we.
How can a religion be a cancer, unless you are some sort of unreconstructed Marxist still in the throws of “opium of the people” argument.
“A death cult”, you what, never heard of the Sufi revival, nor I’m guessing the 5 pillars.
“A blight on the civilised world” OK now just don’t use any maths which uses the symbols 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, ok as you seem to think your better than that. Actually I could go on for hours what scientific contributions Muslims have given the world. But I’ll leave it at one more , Richard don’t bother going to a hospital ever again, as it was a pesky idea from Islam.
“a barbaric misogynistic relic” So the right to own property, get an education, and rights in relation to children. Rights for widows. Yeah we have slowly adopted those ides in the west, took a while though.
“Dark Ages”, That term just sums you up there Richard.
You could say exactly the same about Christians – leaving aside the vast majority of them who aren’t in killing and maiming for their religious beliefs. Just like you could with Muslims like the guy who sits next to me in prayer everyday – right opposite the fundie christian that does in the same way. We respect each other right to be wrong. Ity makes for interesting discussions.
Of course I’d be hard put to say the same about the misogynist bigots known as the type of “liberals” who take a set of economic principles and make it a religous experience. Where were they when compassion and intelligence were being handed out. People who really couldn’t understand the word ethics because they think it means that they can’t screw others without consequence in the way that they prefer.
You appear to be one of those semi-intelligent animals.. Buts that’s ok. We understand you are evil and fuck yourself up the belly button each day (to get back at your mother) like all good conservatives whilst praying to Mammon to release your from your torment. Provided you don’t preach to us, we can tolerate you being a fuckwit…
That is a very good manifesto, but in our current political climate it has two chances of getting off the ground…. fat chance or no chance.
I would love to see it get some traction . But how?
Thanks Paul, very interesting, much better than I was expecting – especially the rise of the careerist and the cartel mentality.
“Since the first MMP election 20 years ago, not a single new party has broken into Parliament. From New Zealand First to the Maori Party every group was either already in Parliament, or created by a party-hopping MP”
Good article, I think he may have hit on one of the main reasons for Labour’s recent poor showing at the elections too:
“All political parties focus more these days on the easier answers of posing as bicultural, more politically correct, or culturally sensitive. This usually has minimal impact on improving life for those in poverty and hardship, but makes the coterie of liberal politicians feel superior.
There is a place for this cultural approach – highlighting sexism, racism, or transphobia – but an overwhelming focus on this can lead to a larger disconnect between politicians and the public. An anti-establishment movement would not simply mimic the parliamentary parties’ increasingly metropolitan, socially agenda. Instead, the primary focus would be on material wellbeing, economics and class politics.”
Ministry of Health publicly admits the P testing of Housing NZ properties is wrong. Someone has been making money. Many of us knew it was a bogus scam, this better not get swept under the carpet by media. Thanks Labour for your attention to this matter.
Personally, I wouldn’t put civil defence in to the armed defence forces as a primary goal. I’d ramp up civil defence and get better coordination between the two going.
I’d ramp up our defence forces so that they’re capable of actually defending us. That $20 billion over the next 10+ years is chump change. I’d be ramping it up to around $5 billion per year – most of which would be R&D. As I don’t believe weapons of war should give a profit that would be all government department spending.
Partially back your comments on a much stronger and better resourced NZDF but we have no need to do our own weapons research. Just license weapons and munitions manufacture here in NZ.
No, we really actually need to do our own research. It’s what develops our economy.
Much of what’s developed for military use crosses into civilian use as well. Manufacturing techniques are an essential area of research as well as looking into better resource extraction and processing.
And then there’s the simple fact that, as far as military tech goes, we should not be dependent upon other nations. Being so dependent decreases both our ability to defend ourselves and our resilience economically and socially.
In terms of pure weapons research into high tech weapons NZ is an advanced first world economy which has already developed what is effectively a lightweight ICBM in the rocket labs satellite launch project. We could, if the funding was available, probably develop our own high tech missiles and precision guided munitions in a matter of several years. Such armament development though should only be undertaken if we identify a potential direct military threat to us within a decade. Otherwise, to develop such an industry would require we export the weapons to pay for them and I do not ever want NZ to become that sort of country.
When I say direct threat to us I mean exactly that – someone who is hostile to our freedoms, and/or attempts unwelcome interventions in our internal affairs and/or violates our sovereignty and is a credible invasion threat. Which means, realistically, a future aggressive China in the absence of us having an alliance with a probably fascist United States – I can’t imagine any other situation that would lead us to end our US alliance.
This is still a long way away, although both China and the United States seemed determined to push us along the road to becoming a well armed ocean fortress.
This is still a long way away, although both China and the United States seemed determined to push us along the road to becoming a well armed ocean fortress.
Well John Key said he wanted NZ to become the Switzerland of the Pacific, perhaps he meant neutrality and armed to the teeth?
Such armament development though should only be undertaken if we identify a potential direct military threat to us within a decade.
Wrong. Such weapons development is needed at all times.
We may be peaceful – not everyone else is and they could attack at any time.
Otherwise, to develop such an industry would require we export the weapons to pay for them and I do not ever want NZ to become that sort of country.
Nope. Paid for through taxation and possible sales of civilian tech that has been developed through/from the military research.
Weapons of war should never have a profit motive to them.
Which means, realistically, a future aggressive China in the absence of us having an alliance with a probably fascist United States – I can’t imagine any other situation that would lead us to end our US alliance.
Things change and, despite the wars of the last century, humanity still hasn’t learned that war is nothing more than a waste.
This is still a long way away, although both China and the United States seemed determined to push us along the road to becoming a well armed ocean fortress.
And it’s still better to prepare now than finding ourselves being invaded and not being prepared at all which is where your logic will inevitably lead us.
And a lot of those profits come from what are, essentially, massive subsidies. Just think what the government could do without all those profits sucking out the money that they have available for things like healthcare.
Profits are an additional expense that’s simply not needed.
Quite apart from the risk of being electrocuted whenever you walk down the street in Dunedin, the Delta maintenance scandal has highlighted some failings of management culture. PR is seen as the solution to public perception problems, rather than actually fixing what is wrong in reality :
yet another staff member has come forward to slam management at Delta, which is tasked with maintaining Aurora’s network, saying staff were sick of the company’s “spin” downplaying the extent of the issues with the network.
An Aurora spokesman said the $15,926.35 spent on consultants in the second half of October went towards legal firm Chapman Tripp and public relations company SenateSHJ, which specialises in “crisis communication”…
Staff “knew damn well” the network was unsafe and in a badly damaged state and hearing the company say otherwise made them “furious”.
He was so concerned about the safety of the network and the risk of downed lines – as happened in Tainui last week – he was considering taking out an advertisement in the Otago Daily Times telling people how to avoid being electrocuted.
The short exchange on October 21 came only days after former Delta worker Richard Healey went public with his concerns, setting off a chain of events which culminated in multiple investigations and an accelerated plan to replace ageing poles…
”Give me a call if you need to talk it through or if you want info on the crisis PR people I have come to know very well.”…
34% of staff thought senior management were honest and straightforward in their dealings with staff. (Which is 19 percentage points below average)
That DCC holding company seems to be shielding Aurora from the worst of public backlash. It should get out of the way, and allow the Dunedin democratic leaders to give the full force of public pressure to bear on them.
The DCC has been milking its lines company cash cow for decades to pay for the stadium and other such cash-holes. It didn’t start under the current mayor, but with the incentives to look the other way hasn’t stopped either. As for the likelihood of Aurora’s CEO getting out of the way of an investigation that might end badly for Delta’s CEO:
Aurora Energy chief executive Grady Cameron was told to keep his head up and ”not get too stressed” as accusations mounted over rotten power poles… ”I rejected the claim that shareholder [Dunedin City Council] demands were impacting safety outcomes.”
Delta, which manages Aurora’s network and which Mr Cameron is also chief executive of…
But but this is a community owned business that is almost by definition good and pure and the model all businesses should emulate, not an evil corporate just bent on fleecing consumers. How can this be?
Why should my rates fund a power network that is much more efficiently run almost everywhere else since the introduction of electricity on a user pays model? Would ratepayers have to fund the 50k it would take to connect my distant country house?
It should be wholly nationalised therefore funded by tax. Except it wouldn’t cost taxpayers because the cost of power would be set according to the cost of production and the millions in profits currently going to the rich is simply transferred into much lower electricity charges. That’s what should bloody well happen.
Because you claim of efficiency is based on religious catechism and is not testable in reality.
Because for every jumped-up sociopath living in an isolated country mansion, there are thousands of normal people struggling to pay power bills that are set to provide a return to shareholders rather than simply deliver electricity.
It’s very testable. You can see it in nz. The overall cost of Power today is similar to the nationalised 70s yet reliability is up overall. Maybe not the neoliberal nightmare you think.
In Japan, women are finally finding that it is easier to deal with digital men on smartphone programmes than real ones. They email you on your birthday, set up chats at night, and wonder of wonders they remember every name and every anniversary and every friend you have and make sure they are all connected in as well.
It’s a fairly intensive article that delves deep into the world of women choosing apps that focus on their romantic needs and ideals – and also the clubs that really focus on those needs as well:
I can’t yet figure if this is a useful resistance against a kind of patriarchy, or against loneliness in general. Do not bother calling it porn – it’s far too nuanced for that smear. From the market share indicated, it sure ain’t unique to Japan, and growing quickly in the US.
Guaranteed it’s going to put Tinder in its place good and smart once it hits our shores.
An interesting article about how different electricity markets in the US deal with distributed generation and storage. A bit of a contrast to New Zealand’s situation, where the retailers do whatever they feel like.
Thanks Andre. Back here of course Lines Companies are looking to penalise home units like solar energy, rather than investigate cooperative units as described in your link.
And spare a thought for those unfortunate enough to fully insulate their house and install many other energy savers. You will be penalised! How dare you reduce your usage . Go on leave your windows open. Have 20 minute showers on 25 litre a minute shower heads. And so on. Companies must pay the Shareholders!
The USA is at least a decade behind nz on this. I’m not sure why you think this is in any way special.
Aggregation is a long established part of Nz’s energy market. Plenty do it on the load side. I suspect few do it on the home solar/wind supply side because there’s no reliable supply, volumes are tiny and so no money in it.
How can it be that the Union and workers can sign an agreement in good faith, while the third party, the employer, can sit there knowing full well that the agreement is meaningless.
Great (sarc.) to see that for every 10,500 cheap migrant worker visas bought in to pick fruit, 500 unemployed Kiwis will be trained to do the work….
source Granny Herald
“The cap on foreigners who can work seasonally in horticulture and viticulture will increase from 9500 to 10,500 for the 2016/17 season.
Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said the horticulture and viticulture industries had estimated they needed an additional 2500 workers for the upcoming season.
“The increase of 1000 recognised seasonal employer (RSE) workers shows the Government is committed to enabling the industry to continue to grow and maximise export returns, while ensuring jobs aren’t being taken from New Zealanders.”
He said the increase was agreed to on the understanding the industry “continues to maximise opportunities for New Zealanders, particularly in regions with relatively high unemployment”.
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said about 500 beneficiaries were taking part in a seasonal work scheme, and further initiatives were being developed.”
“The concrete company contracted to undertake the sealing of the Pike River mine shaft has pulled out of the job.
Allied Concrete decided not to supply the concrete required to seal the mine at the request of families of the victims, who are fighting to get a mines rescue team into the drift to find any evidence and bodies.”
Good on Allied. we need to encourage this kind of ethical behaviour. lets all send Allied a short email congratulating them and saying next time you need concrete youll use them.
Good on Allied. we need to encourage this kind of ethical behaviour. lets all send Allied a short email congratulating them and saying next time you need concrete youll use them. the CEO is scott.odonnel@hwr.co.nz .. all underscored.
Good on Allied. we need to encourage this kind of ethical behaviour. lets all send Allied a short email congratulating them and saying next time you need concrete youll use them. the CEO is scott.odonnel@hwr.co.nz .. all underscored.
I see that we are already being softened up for the mass importation of labourers from overseas due to not having the expertise in NZ for the fixing of SH1 from Picton southward.
If only this short sighted government had put in place proper training and apprenticeship programs after the Christchurch earthquakes to enable young New Zealanders to develop much needed roading and engineering skills, we probably wouldn’t be in this position.
Why can’t the MSM put 2 + 2 together and ask these critical questions?
Ooops!
Just 55,000 votes could swing the election – and where else would you hack a voting system with a few votes for your best mate in those swing states using online voting!
The time lines for appeals finishes in the next few days. Will the Democrats lift a finger?
Maybe the Clinton campaign shouldn’t have taken all those voters for granted. They never even bothered to turn up in Wisconsin during the entire campaign.
I have to laugh because before the election, it was the Clinton camp accusing the Trump camp of being reluctant to accept election results. Democratic Party hypocrisy at its best.
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You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – According to the respected Pew Research Centre, “In seven of eight [European] countries surveyed, the most trusted news outlet asked about is the public news organization in each country”. For example, “in Sweden, an overwhelming majority (90%) say they trust the public broadcaster SVT”. ...
David Farrar writes – Kata MacNamara reports: Details of Tony Blakely’s involvement in the New Zealand Government’s response to the pandemic raise serious questions about the work of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry over which he presides. It has long been clear that Blakely, a ...
Chris Trotter writes – Are you a Brahmin or a Merchant? Or, are you merely one of those whose lives are profoundly influenced by the decisions of Brahmins and Merchants? Those are the questions that are currently shaping the politics of New Zealand and the entire West. ...
RNZ reports – It’s supposed to be a haven of healing and spiritual awakening but residents of the Kawai Purapura community say they’ve been hurt and deceived. It’s the successor to the former Centrepoint commune, and has been on the bush block opposite Albany shopping centre since 2008. It ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. Usually we have a video chat to go with this wrap, but were unable to do one this week. We’ll be back next week.Several reports ...
The Transport Minister has set a hard 'fiscal envelope' of $6.54 billion for transport capital spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy is settling into a state of suspended animation as the Government’s funding freezes and job cuts chill confidence and combine with stubbornly high interest rates to ...
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land of Israel, and to (b)the subjugation of Palestinians by the Israeli state. By contrast, the term “anti-Semitism” means bigotry and racism directed at Jewish people, ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Because hurricanes are one of the big-ticket weather disasters that humanity has to face, climate misinformers spend a lot of effort muddying the waters on whether climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. With the official start to the hurricane ...
Yesterday the Mayor released what he calls his “plan to save public transport” which is part of his final proposal for the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP). This comes following consultation on the draft version that occurred in March which showed, once again, that people want more done on transport, especially ...
And it's a pleasure that I have knownAnd it's a treasure that I have gainedAotearoa’s coalition government is fragile. It’s held together by the obsequious sycophancy of Christopher Luxon, who willingly contorts his party into the fringe positions of his junior coalition partners and is unwilling to contradict them. The ...
The Select Committee hearing submissions on the fast-track consenting legislation is starting to become a beat-up of regional councils. The inflexibility and slow workings of the Councils were prominent in two submissions yesterday. One, from the Coromandel Marine Farmers Association, simply said that the Waikato Regional Council’s planning decisions were ...
Back in April, the High Court surprised everyone by ruling that Ministers are above the law, at least as far as the Waitangi Tribunal is concerned. The reason for this ruling was "comity" - the idea that the different branches of government shouldn't interfere with each other's functions. Which makes ...
Buzz from the BeehiveTolling was mentioned when Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the government was re-introducing the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) programme, with 15 “crucial” projects to support economic growth and regional development across New Zealand. All RoNS would be four-laned, grade-separated highways, and all funding, financing, and ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
Uncertainty is an overwhelming theme for two seabed mining projects aiming to use the Government’s controversial fast-track regime The post Seabed miners: What we know and what we don’t appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s the 38th birthday present Jo Aleh never expected to receive. Last Monday, Aleh and her sailing partner, Molly Meech, flew home to Auckland from Marseille, where they’d been training for their Paris Olympics campaign in the 49erFX. Within a couple of hours of touching down, they were out on ...
“It might feel like the country is slogging it up the hill at the moment,” Finance Minister Nicola Willis tells party faithful in Palmerston North on Sunday, “But we’re gonna get to the top of the hill, and it’s downhill on the other side. And the reason it’s downhill is ...
One issue that all the leaders of the coalition Government have agreed on is the expansion of the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme. Established in 2007, the scheme allows workers from participating Pacific countries to come to New Zealand to take up roles on a short-term basis. For the government, it’s ...
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The last person anyone expected to see at last week’s Ockham national book awards was Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He was made to feel as welcome as a plague. He was mocked, and challenged. But good on him for coming. His presence gave the awards an edge, a tension, which ...
NC La Première television reports on the clearing of barricades after a week of protests and rioting in the capital Nouméa. Video: NC 1ère TVBy Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk With New Caledonia about to enter its second week of deadly riots, French authorities have mounted ...
Asia Pacific Report Pacific civil society and solidarity groups today stepped up their pressure on the French government, accusing it of a “heavy-handed” crackdown on indigenous Kanak protest in New Caledonia, comparing it to Indonesian security forces crushing West Papuan dissent. A state of emergency was declared last week, at ...
On May 18, the Taiwanese community in Christchurch came together for the "Health for All, Taiwan Can Help" march, urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to grant Taiwan participation. ...
The instability comes as the party tries to refresh its brand after six years of being part of a right-wing, pro-imperialist government with both the Labour Party and, from 2017-2020, the far-right NZ First Party. ...
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Poor wee Audrey and her hero John are upset the TPP is dead in the water.
Diddums.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11752970
Actually, they can. They certainly have the resources and capabilities to keep their living standards high without trade.
Of course, without trade their rich people won’t get any richer. In fact, they’ll probably become very poor quite rapidly.
There will be trade. It’s just there won’t be a leader of the free world to bomb the fuck out of poor farming communities who don’t trade in US dollars
Real nice of the government to let quake stricken people use up their own retirement savings. This is transferring hardship from the present to the future.
I’m not sure this government even gets what Kiwisaver is about.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/government-announces-kiwisaver-quake-withdrawal-scheme-2016112221
They understand exactly what KS is about. Even better when folks use their own rather than any govt assistance so you can promise more vapour tax trimming.
Wasn’t that another broken election promise that they wouldn’t touch it yet have several times making it less attractive to the punter and better for the ticket clipping fund managers and govt.
Yep, no wonder Mary Holm loves the idea of people using Kiwisaver as an emergency fund. More invoice opportunities for her.
Making victims pay.
And then asking people to support charities so the government doesn’t have to pay.
Of course the simple way is to make corporations and the rich pay more tax, but it’s better, isn’t it Mr Key, to put the begging bowls out and rely on the generosity of the poor?
The rich need that money for their 15th property. larger boat, extension on the luxury beach house, third international holiday, school fees for King’s……
As db says, we can’t afford the rich.
Yep – I thought that was on the nose, too. This bloddy govt will do anything it can to stop it having to help ordinary people in times of crisis ……. just shitty.
I do hope those ordinary people will wake up in time for the election – but these disasters are displacing so many people, disrupting so many of their lives, that they might not even be able to vote – if they don’t have a permanent address.
Has the Electoral Commission said anything about that, yet ?
Oh, they’re doing more than that with this move. They’re undercutting peoples retirement funds meaning that some people will have to keep working longer.
No surprises about the Nasty Nats and this latest cruel attack on innocent bystanders.
Its always the same when they are in government and yet kiwis must be masochists because they keep voting for the same abuse every three years.
They are a business party and act accordingly and have never had most New Zealanders welfare and long term security as a priority.
It makes John Key and his compassionate conservative (brighter future) routine just that much more absurd.
Good point raised there Jenny (2.3). Well said. Hope opposition parties jump pn this one and keep it alive.
They can try Mary but the media monster wont let them.
Killing trees to enhance the view and the $$$ – yuck.
“Thames-Coromandel District Council has reported a spike in native trees being vandalised and destroyed recently, including pohutukawa.
TCDC parks and reserves manager Derek Thompson believes people were poisoning the trees for better beach views from their holiday homes, and called it “selfish and disappointing”.
He believed the poisoning would only increase during the warmer months.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/86679898/surge-in-trees-poisoned-and-damaged-in-coromandel
30 years of neoliberalism’s poison and you get that mentLity from some Randist cult members.
About 30 odd years ago, Takapuna Beach (North Shore, Auckland) had a magnificent beach frontage lined with huge spreading pohutukawa. In the intervening years, non-notified resource consent has been given time after time to the rich dudes who have bought up the beachside properties, and those magnificent pohutukawas have dwindled down to a few skinny limbs per tree, and even entire trees have disappeared. Oh, and some of the trees were “accidentally damaged” during property re-build and were “too dangerous” to retain.
The selfish wealthy have no idea what they’re doing to the environment.
If they were granted resource consents then it’s perfectly legal for them to do the work on their own property.
As they were non- notified then it means that others were not impacted (of if they were it was less than minor).
So what’s the issue – places change – everywhere. Pokeneo used to be countryside – now it’s housing.
Don’t be a hater just because its takapuna beach front.
Yeah, but your standards are quite low James. Do people really enjoy being in the environment of big box stores and subdivisions like botany. They aren’t made for people to be outside, they’re made for you to be in your car as much as possible. Someone described our new subdivisions as a fenced in herd of grazing turtles. We could do far far better if we actually tried.
Our hero the unitary plan! Helping the rich do whatever the fuck they like as long as they pay some hefty fees to private planners and ‘environmental lawyers’ to produce 70 page reports that bury the effects. The council love giving out ratepayers money to private environmental lawyers to steal the harbour and take away people’s amenity and the council love to control all the separate COO’s to say all the same things in environmental court so it looks like they all agree.
Hey there were a lot of cheerleaders for the unitary plan – the fake news is alive and well in NZ. Environmental degradation and the average homeowners rights are gonna get a lot worse.
Still waiting to see the ‘affordable’ housing to spring up with the SHA and Unitary plan that were pushed through.
Trees hold the ground together against erosion. With sea level rise, the poisoners will be at high risk for losing land … and their neighbours will too.
+1
Not in the unitary plan mpledger. Trees have near zero protection. Erosion is not an issue under the Natz.
Nats probably think that erosion doesn’t need to be a “thing” anymore because if one 7.8M quake can lift the seabed by 6+ metre in places, then no need to worry about erosion.
Just sit tight and wait for a few more quakes to keep lifting the seabed. Erosion problem sorted.
Such is the perspicacity of thought in those quarters.
Thanks James! Great to see into the mind of a Nat supporter. (sarc). So we need not worry about erosion because at the end of the day an earthquake could lift the seabed and correct it! What logic!
Actually James is correct. However he has a problem with his time scales. There is a pretty good probability that the current human species would be naturally extinct before geological uplift fixes the erosion.
I probably should have appended the /sarc tag to my comment in hindsight.
How ever sharing concerns trump research degrees
If that’s the case, the “poisoners” will get their just desserts then, won’t they?
Just because it was legal doesn’t mean to say that it was right.
Destroying the environment is a serious issue.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/86696197/chris-trotter-bring-back-the-ministry-of-works
Makes sense to me , jobs and no profit margin required.
And it would be fairly easy to do. Just buy Downer,Fulton Hogan, Fletchers, etc.
Nah – nationalise them. The parasites have already done well out of the taxpayers – probably without paying much in tax themselves.
I agree with this, Labour and the Greens should announce this as one of their shared key policies
Yes bring back the good old days when you’d drive SH1 and see dozens of men brastfeeding shovels on the side of the road. Those were real jobs, with dignity.
http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/312/563/05d.jpg
It’s so much better today when we have armies of consultants nourishing chairs with their gin-scented farts.
Ever noticed how many vehicles and workers are required to mow a strip of road verge now (have seen 10 men and five vehicles supporting one ride-on mower operator on the Johnsonville to Porirua stretch of SH1). Instead of paying to keep notional ‘shovel leaning’ labourers off the UB, the taxpayers/ratepayers are charged over the odds for private sector workers to lean on steering wheels. Guess who takes the cream off the contracts – isn’t likely to be the workers.
^ +1 PR. Love to see Labour coming out and saying that.
So you’re saying seize private assets without compensation? What would be the appropriate response if after a nationalisation was announced Fulton Hogan et al destroyed all their equipment, leaving nothing to seize?
Come on Richard, argue that for Maori, I’m sure they would appreciate you standing up for the good fight. No wait you in Aussie right. Stand up for our aboriginal brothers and sister, and work out what they should get for all the private assets that were taken from them without compensation.
Agree, better training and promotes a long term investment in what is good for New Zealand. Instead of maximum private profit and zero investment in the temporary and insecure staff from the local labour company.
I am putting this link up because I was listening to it without watching and I was amazed how much simon bridges sounds like john key – same smashing up of words and syntax and timing imo. He is obviously going all the way with these mimicry skills.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11753009
meanwhile kia kaha to all those affected by the quakes
Yes you are right mm. It also appears that Bellamys has been ‘agreeing’ with him too!
There’s no need for personal attacks on a persons weight.
Bollocks. It is the duty of every citizen to stand up and shout, “Enough is enough!” thereby decrying the forces of decadence and self-indulgence.
The thing is about investing, is you can repeat buzz words, but unless you have a proven track record implementing professional strategy, and make money, you will end up very untalented in very important positions.
Sounds good – I wish I could do that!
I had to teach myself. I came from a fatherless background which forced me to learn in double quick time. I also experienced a life before the mother of all budgets so replicating my success has moved on like opening and closing doors and passing ships
“He is obviously going all the way with these mimicry skills.”
Him, Key and Coleman….virtually indistinguishable. Bridges does a better job of mangling Maori though.
yep, Kaikōura was particularly shocking – it is not that hard…
It could very well be that he had recently undergone some dental procedure.
I have sounded like that with the residue of xylocaine and a socket packed with cotton wool impeding enunciation.
Extrapolating….their teeth may well be as rotten as their politics.
Exactly marty, especially as Simon Bridges has Maori heritage on his father’s side. https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj-rKPY6b3QAhXDp5QKHS7oAQIQFggZMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSimon_Bridges&usg=AFQjCNE7jBea99WQS9Z9QpE2tXmUhe8d-g&sig2=bGQtd5BaukqeKx87xvbcbg&bvm=bv.139782543,d.dGo
Agree. He sounds like a 10 yr old trying hard to make it in the annual speech competition.
Nah, more sixteen year old.
https://www.facebook.com/sydneymorningherald/videos/10154906262231264/
Colonial Vipers fellow travellers and fast new friends introduce themselves to the world.
yeah saw that – amazing how both likers and dislikers see trump as a hit1er type
““Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!”
That’s how Richard B. Spencer saluted more than 200 attendees on Saturday, gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., for the annual conference of the National Policy Institute, which describes itself as “an independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.”
Spencer has popularized the term “alt-right” to describe the movement he leads. Spencer has said his dream is “a new society, an ethno-state that would be a gathering point for all Europeans,” and has called for “peaceful ethnic cleansing.””
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/?utm_source=atlfbcomment
also good to have alt-right out too.
I suppose “peaceful” in this context means that the dead are very quiet.
Awesome how lefty media are giving groups like this and the KKK and David Duke prime time exposure.
MOrans.
well yes we gave the biggest MORAN trump (as did you minimoran) itself massive exposure as all his misogynist, racist hit1erish tendencies emerged during the campaign – don’t thank us we did it out of fairness cos that is the left.
The left fancies itself as being fair, but with regards to Trump that’s nothing but a conceit.
Millions of Trump voters decided that they had enough of left wing bullyshaming and intimidation, and decided to keep their preferred choice of candidate to themselves.
So y’all got a nice election surprise.
“Millions of Trump voters decided that they had enough of left wing bullyshaming and intimidation, and decided to keep their preferred choice of candidate to themselves.”
methodology, assumptions and all of the rest contributed to the trump election – one thing that didn’t is a nobody from dunners. You are yesterdays news nobby.
No idea what you are on about, but I think it’s more bullyshaming, at a guess.
When did a the left become a lumpen grouping? There is no left as a homogeneous group. Least of all on this site, so it’s getting tiresome bro. Especially when it the same line trolls use!
And some of us critise trump for the 1%er he is, carries on being, and always has been. I know your under some delusion he is not, but then again you don’t want to admit his alt-right connection either. Nor the fact his appointments so far, have been very much in favour of the corporate elects.
We are talking about the country that produced capitalism. Taking capitalism out of the White House would be like Hollywood trying to make a movie whit out white people.
Said another way, you couldn’t make a movie in North Korea with out a glorious leader uniting country against hordes of white salesmen.
On the other hand we are seeing a dangerous move to unwind what ever hard work was left over from Martin Luther Kings days, if we are to have any shot at halting total fascist I think Bernie Sanders Has to win in 2020
Bernie Sanders is too old to run again.
Ride or die bro, ride or die
Very true dat
Trump is a 0.1%’er thanks. Just like Hillary Clinton.
It’s the American system. It’s the only way you can win the White House. No one earning $100K per year has a chance.
1) Trump isn’t “alt-right”. He is the new radical working class focussed centre. And it is going to gut the Democratic Party.
2) Trump doesn’t owe a single thing to the corporates, the corporate media or to Wall St. Reince Priebus is not a corporate lackey. Bannon is former Goldman Sachs but as far as I can tell he despises his old Wall St/Investment banking set. Ben Carson who is likely to be the new HHS head is a neurosurgeon. Lt Gen Flynn is a career military intelligence guy as NSA. Probable SecDef Marine Corp Gen Mattis is a career military leader. SecState could be Giuliani or Romney. Both are entrepreneurs with their own successful businesses.
Further Trump is implementing rules which say that no executive in his Administration will be able to work as a corporate lobbyist for 5 years after leaving his White House, or EVER work lobbying for a foreign govt.
That’s totally paradigm changing.
When have I said h.r.c was not? You know it’s the lies, that hurt.
Just one, Lt Gen Flynn thinks Islam is a cancer, I know he spins it to say Islamism, but he thinks Islam is a cancer. If that not the voice of the 1% then someone hand me a cottontail.
Do I need to remind you that the nazi party put socialist into their title to be the ” new radical working class focussed centre” Following the example of the Italian fascists.
Flynn is right – Islam is a cancer, a death cult, a blight on the civilised world, a barbaric misogynistic relic from the Dark Ages
Good to see you have not given up your fawning over the 1% Richard. But lets go through your juvenile response line by line shall we.
How can a religion be a cancer, unless you are some sort of unreconstructed Marxist still in the throws of “opium of the people” argument.
“A death cult”, you what, never heard of the Sufi revival, nor I’m guessing the 5 pillars.
“A blight on the civilised world” OK now just don’t use any maths which uses the symbols 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, ok as you seem to think your better than that. Actually I could go on for hours what scientific contributions Muslims have given the world. But I’ll leave it at one more , Richard don’t bother going to a hospital ever again, as it was a pesky idea from Islam.
“a barbaric misogynistic relic” So the right to own property, get an education, and rights in relation to children. Rights for widows. Yeah we have slowly adopted those ides in the west, took a while though.
“Dark Ages”, That term just sums you up there Richard.
You could say exactly the same about Christians – leaving aside the vast majority of them who aren’t in killing and maiming for their religious beliefs. Just like you could with Muslims like the guy who sits next to me in prayer everyday – right opposite the fundie christian that does in the same way. We respect each other right to be wrong. Ity makes for interesting discussions.
Of course I’d be hard put to say the same about the misogynist bigots known as the type of “liberals” who take a set of economic principles and make it a religous experience. Where were they when compassion and intelligence were being handed out. People who really couldn’t understand the word ethics because they think it means that they can’t screw others without consequence in the way that they prefer.
You appear to be one of those semi-intelligent animals.. Buts that’s ok. We understand you are evil and fuck yourself up the belly button each day (to get back at your mother) like all good conservatives whilst praying to Mammon to release your from your torment. Provided you don’t preach to us, we can tolerate you being a fuckwit…
Political science lecturer and commentator Bryce Edwards has put forward a 10-point manifesto for change in New Zealand.
Its content is worth a thread on this site.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11749955
That is a very good manifesto, but in our current political climate it has two chances of getting off the ground…. fat chance or no chance.
I would love to see it get some traction . But how?
Yes. 10 out of 10 for Bryce’s Manifesto. If only…
Thanks Paul, very interesting, much better than I was expecting – especially the rise of the careerist and the cartel mentality.
“Since the first MMP election 20 years ago, not a single new party has broken into Parliament. From New Zealand First to the Maori Party every group was either already in Parliament, or created by a party-hopping MP”
Good article, I think he may have hit on one of the main reasons for Labour’s recent poor showing at the elections too:
“All political parties focus more these days on the easier answers of posing as bicultural, more politically correct, or culturally sensitive. This usually has minimal impact on improving life for those in poverty and hardship, but makes the coterie of liberal politicians feel superior.
There is a place for this cultural approach – highlighting sexism, racism, or transphobia – but an overwhelming focus on this can lead to a larger disconnect between politicians and the public. An anti-establishment movement would not simply mimic the parliamentary parties’ increasingly metropolitan, socially agenda. Instead, the primary focus would be on material wellbeing, economics and class politics.”
Ministry of Health publicly admits the P testing of Housing NZ properties is wrong. Someone has been making money. Many of us knew it was a bogus scam, this better not get swept under the carpet by media. Thanks Labour for your attention to this matter.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/86233216/phil-twyford-housing-new-zealand-breaking-bad
Found this on the FYI website – the left and right hand do not know what they’re doing at all.
https://fyi.org.nz/request/4859/response/15916/attach/html/3/Letter%2025%20November%202016%20Alec%20The%20Lawyer.pdf.html
O.O thanks for the link James will have a good read later, much appreciated.
Rudman highlights how woefully under-prepared for an increase in disaster threats this government is.
What had just two operational NH90s assisting last week – this is an effort praised by Ad on this very forum, remember.
It’s worrying that six years after Christchurch, reference to natural disasters in defence planning had to be added at the last minute.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11752831
Personally, I wouldn’t put civil defence in to the armed defence forces as a primary goal. I’d ramp up civil defence and get better coordination between the two going.
I’d ramp up our defence forces so that they’re capable of actually defending us. That $20 billion over the next 10+ years is chump change. I’d be ramping it up to around $5 billion per year – most of which would be R&D. As I don’t believe weapons of war should give a profit that would be all government department spending.
Partially back your comments on a much stronger and better resourced NZDF but we have no need to do our own weapons research. Just license weapons and munitions manufacture here in NZ.
No, we really actually need to do our own research. It’s what develops our economy.
Much of what’s developed for military use crosses into civilian use as well. Manufacturing techniques are an essential area of research as well as looking into better resource extraction and processing.
And then there’s the simple fact that, as far as military tech goes, we should not be dependent upon other nations. Being so dependent decreases both our ability to defend ourselves and our resilience economically and socially.
In terms of pure weapons research into high tech weapons NZ is an advanced first world economy which has already developed what is effectively a lightweight ICBM in the rocket labs satellite launch project. We could, if the funding was available, probably develop our own high tech missiles and precision guided munitions in a matter of several years. Such armament development though should only be undertaken if we identify a potential direct military threat to us within a decade. Otherwise, to develop such an industry would require we export the weapons to pay for them and I do not ever want NZ to become that sort of country.
When I say direct threat to us I mean exactly that – someone who is hostile to our freedoms, and/or attempts unwelcome interventions in our internal affairs and/or violates our sovereignty and is a credible invasion threat. Which means, realistically, a future aggressive China in the absence of us having an alliance with a probably fascist United States – I can’t imagine any other situation that would lead us to end our US alliance.
This is still a long way away, although both China and the United States seemed determined to push us along the road to becoming a well armed ocean fortress.
Well John Key said he wanted NZ to become the Switzerland of the Pacific, perhaps he meant neutrality and armed to the teeth?
IMO, that is actually where we should be.
Wrong. Such weapons development is needed at all times.
We may be peaceful – not everyone else is and they could attack at any time.
Nope. Paid for through taxation and possible sales of civilian tech that has been developed through/from the military research.
Weapons of war should never have a profit motive to them.
Things change and, despite the wars of the last century, humanity still hasn’t learned that war is nothing more than a waste.
And it’s still better to prepare now than finding ourselves being invaded and not being prepared at all which is where your logic will inevitably lead us.
Why not? All the largest and most successful arms exporters and manufacturers in the world run on the profit motive.
That doesn’t make it right.
And a lot of those profits come from what are, essentially, massive subsidies. Just think what the government could do without all those profits sucking out the money that they have available for things like healthcare.
Profits are an additional expense that’s simply not needed.
Quite apart from the risk of being electrocuted whenever you walk down the street in Dunedin, the Delta maintenance scandal has highlighted some failings of management culture. PR is seen as the solution to public perception problems, rather than actually fixing what is wrong in reality :
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/16000-spent-consultants
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/deltaaurora-good-hands-advisers
That DCC holding company seems to be shielding Aurora from the worst of public backlash. It should get out of the way, and allow the Dunedin democratic leaders to give the full force of public pressure to bear on them.
The DCC has been milking its lines company cash cow for decades to pay for the stadium and other such cash-holes. It didn’t start under the current mayor, but with the incentives to look the other way hasn’t stopped either. As for the likelihood of Aurora’s CEO getting out of the way of an investigation that might end badly for Delta’s CEO:
But but this is a community owned business that is almost by definition good and pure and the model all businesses should emulate, not an evil corporate just bent on fleecing consumers. How can this be?
Because as a natural monopoly it shouldn’t be a “business” at all, but a council department funded by rates.
Why should my rates fund a power network that is much more efficiently run almost everywhere else since the introduction of electricity on a user pays model? Would ratepayers have to fund the 50k it would take to connect my distant country house?
It should be wholly nationalised therefore funded by tax. Except it wouldn’t cost taxpayers because the cost of power would be set according to the cost of production and the millions in profits currently going to the rich is simply transferred into much lower electricity charges. That’s what should bloody well happen.
Because you claim of efficiency is based on religious catechism and is not testable in reality.
Because for every jumped-up sociopath living in an isolated country mansion, there are thousands of normal people struggling to pay power bills that are set to provide a return to shareholders rather than simply deliver electricity.
It’s very testable. You can see it in nz. The overall cost of Power today is similar to the nationalised 70s yet reliability is up overall. Maybe not the neoliberal nightmare you think.
Okay I will bite.
Give me a link to show that is so.
What was the kwhr price in the 70s
Average price of power was about 20ckwh and is about the same today http://tinyurl.com/h3w8swr
Figure ten was very interesting, thanks.
So, the average price for domestic electricity in 1974 wasn’t 1.141c/kwh and didn’t rise to 15.545c/kwh in 2003.
To be fair, Joe, those are nominal prices – inflation-adjusted it went from 9c to 15c
Justify that assertion against the median wage, thanks.
Except now retail customers pay through the nose, to subsidise discounts to large corporate users.
Another tax swap if you like.
And power prices are double what they were, in real terms, before the Bradford “reforms”/privatisation.
Yeah, no doubt the cost of producing it is the same, that’s about it. There’s the neo-liberal nightmare.
In Japan, women are finally finding that it is easier to deal with digital men on smartphone programmes than real ones. They email you on your birthday, set up chats at night, and wonder of wonders they remember every name and every anniversary and every friend you have and make sure they are all connected in as well.
It’s a fairly intensive article that delves deep into the world of women choosing apps that focus on their romantic needs and ideals – and also the clubs that really focus on those needs as well:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/21/asia/romance-gaming-japan/index.html
I can’t yet figure if this is a useful resistance against a kind of patriarchy, or against loneliness in general. Do not bother calling it porn – it’s far too nuanced for that smear. From the market share indicated, it sure ain’t unique to Japan, and growing quickly in the US.
Guaranteed it’s going to put Tinder in its place good and smart once it hits our shores.
Population structure in Japan is collapsing nice and fast.
Looks like a pretty good model for the rest of the world to follow.
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/japan-population-pyramid
An interesting article about how different electricity markets in the US deal with distributed generation and storage. A bit of a contrast to New Zealand’s situation, where the retailers do whatever they feel like.
http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/11/22/13703348/ferc-distributed-energy-wholesale-power-markets
Thanks Andre. Back here of course Lines Companies are looking to penalise home units like solar energy, rather than investigate cooperative units as described in your link.
We all know companies have a higher level of need that people ianmac.
I mean, think of the profit loss from solar.
Think of the Shareholders!!
And spare a thought for those unfortunate enough to fully insulate their house and install many other energy savers. You will be penalised! How dare you reduce your usage . Go on leave your windows open. Have 20 minute showers on 25 litre a minute shower heads. And so on. Companies must pay the Shareholders!
The USA is at least a decade behind nz on this. I’m not sure why you think this is in any way special.
Aggregation is a long established part of Nz’s energy market. Plenty do it on the load side. I suspect few do it on the home solar/wind supply side because there’s no reliable supply, volumes are tiny and so no money in it.
testing
Pumpkin Patch….http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/316612/pumpkin-patch-staff-to-miss-out-on-redundancy-pay
How can it be that the Union and workers can sign an agreement in good faith, while the third party, the employer, can sit there knowing full well that the agreement is meaningless.
Where is Labour in all this??
OH, THAT’S RIGHT…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/83656652/Chris-Trotter-Do-unions-have-a-place-in-the-future-of-work
Great (sarc.) to see that for every 10,500 cheap migrant worker visas bought in to pick fruit, 500 unemployed Kiwis will be trained to do the work….
source Granny Herald
“The cap on foreigners who can work seasonally in horticulture and viticulture will increase from 9500 to 10,500 for the 2016/17 season.
Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said the horticulture and viticulture industries had estimated they needed an additional 2500 workers for the upcoming season.
“The increase of 1000 recognised seasonal employer (RSE) workers shows the Government is committed to enabling the industry to continue to grow and maximise export returns, while ensuring jobs aren’t being taken from New Zealanders.”
He said the increase was agreed to on the understanding the industry “continues to maximise opportunities for New Zealanders, particularly in regions with relatively high unemployment”.
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said about 500 beneficiaries were taking part in a seasonal work scheme, and further initiatives were being developed.”
Good news for families and justice!
“The concrete company contracted to undertake the sealing of the Pike River mine shaft has pulled out of the job.
Allied Concrete decided not to supply the concrete required to seal the mine at the request of families of the victims, who are fighting to get a mines rescue team into the drift to find any evidence and bodies.”
good
That’s a relief. Thank you Allied Concrete.
Morality in a private company? I’m shocked. People before Profit?
Quick review of their website indicates they’re 100% kiwi owned company? If this is correct, well done Allied.
Yes by one nz’s richest men/ families – the Richardsons.
If there’s one part of NZ you don’t want to take on, its probably the coast. Good news.
Great News, Hopefully this will buy some time for Nigel Hampton’s application for review of “WorkSafe” closure plans…
Just sent a thank you to Allied CEO Brent Esler
http://alliedconcrete.co.nz/contact-us/our-team
What a relief. Thank you Allied Concrete for showing such decency.
*I made a similar comment on few hours ago, on a different computer than the one I normally use, and it disappeared into the ether.
Good on Allied. we need to encourage this kind of ethical behaviour. lets all send Allied a short email congratulating them and saying next time you need concrete youll use them.
Good on Allied. we need to encourage this kind of ethical behaviour. lets all send Allied a short email congratulating them and saying next time you need concrete youll use them. the CEO is scott.odonnel@hwr.co.nz .. all underscored.
Good on Allied. we need to encourage this kind of ethical behaviour. lets all send Allied a short email congratulating them and saying next time you need concrete youll use them. the CEO is scott.odonnel@hwr.co.nz .. all underscored.
I see that we are already being softened up for the mass importation of labourers from overseas due to not having the expertise in NZ for the fixing of SH1 from Picton southward.
If only this short sighted government had put in place proper training and apprenticeship programs after the Christchurch earthquakes to enable young New Zealanders to develop much needed roading and engineering skills, we probably wouldn’t be in this position.
Why can’t the MSM put 2 + 2 together and ask these critical questions?
National: Short changing NZ since 1990.
Build a wall and keep these low wage immigrants out.
Ooops!
Just 55,000 votes could swing the election – and where else would you hack a voting system with a few votes for your best mate in those swing states using online voting!
Seems unlikely.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/11/22/claims_of_vote_manipulation_in_swing_states_could_prompt_recount_or_be_totally.html
The latest vote counts I’ve seen have Trump ahead by 68k in PA, 27k in WI, and 11k in MI. So over 100k votes ahead in those three states.
This fleshes out a little bit more why it’s unlikely.
http://www.vox.com/2016/11/22/13721426/election-hacked-stolen-trump-russia
Well at least 102 Academics are concerned enough with the voting discrepancies to sign an Open Letter to Congress and Jill Stein is also considering seeking a recount
thats around 110,000 votes – so 55,000 of those votes going the other way…
The time lines for appeals finishes in the next few days. Will the Democrats lift a finger?
Maybe the Clinton campaign shouldn’t have taken all those voters for granted. They never even bothered to turn up in Wisconsin during the entire campaign.
I have to laugh because before the election, it was the Clinton camp accusing the Trump camp of being reluctant to accept election results. Democratic Party hypocrisy at its best.