Shocking, doesn’t even know how many children he has! I guess that’s ok because NZ is there to support them and his other partners and pay their medical and social welfare costs and build more schools… but he build a retirement village (most of them rip people off) and is wealthy. No wonder a shortage of midwives when you have 3 women concurrently carrying your offspring and ‘good character’ being less important than government ideology – then they complain why the Natz have so many voters – just wait 18 years and there will be even more change!
As for the Guardianship visa, sounds like one of the women must be pretty young… time for the government to stop handing our citizenship and residency like lollies, our health care and social services can’t take much more – especially if we are getting into concubine type arrangements with multiple women having kids concurrently in NZ hospitals and going to NZ schools.
This is a classic extreme right wing rant. Immigrants coming in and taking all the medical budgets and living on social welfare, clogging up our school systems.
I think the right wing rant is, hopeless drugged Kiwis, let us get superior cheaper labour, build our retirement villages and luxury hotels (and fill them up, profits, profits) and the social system will provide. You’re behind the times there, Tuppence, your thinking the back 80 years before widespread cheap airlines and easy tax havens… world’s moved on on how to exploit labour and other people.
Another pressing problem for right wingers and luxury developers is that you have no idea how difficult it is to get $30 million for a home in Queenstown for example if you ban foreign buyers! The market is going to collapse overnight! Lucky the Queenstown Mayor is asking for an exception for Queenstown and there is plenty of lawyers ready for fight for their foreign buyer and richer interests.
Don’t forget the aged parents too. For every migrant couple 4 aged parents can come into NZ, and I guess if you have multiple partners and marriage split ups and can get new wives into NZ, the amount of parents eligible keeps going up!
Even the Natz had to eventually change the rules to 10 years before migrant parents got free everything, because so many migrants were ‘abandoned’ by their sponsors (aka kids) and had to go on welfare as well as being a quote Mr Woodhouse, “burden on the health services that are considerably higher than other people of that age who are eligible for New Zealand public health services.”
Even with the new rules 10 years is nothing when people can live to 100 years old and can get a pension, health care, Gold card with free travel, and it costs $1000 a week in a rest home, which might go on for years,, especially since we seem to be attracting National loving migrants that have few morals, abandon their parents, have multiple children to multiple partners concurrently, etc etc.
This is just from 2016 so the figures and costs will just be increasing and I think thats just the 10 million in costs before they get the free care as residents which will be millions if not billions over a lifetime more … no wonder there is no money to fix mouldy Middlemore for Kiwi kids who are going to grow up without a stable house, decent hospital to go to, high student debt and a low wage job, with higher taxes to pay for all the ‘aged folks’ that the government deliberately gave free care to while abandoning it’s own people and taxpayers and turning their backs on them when they are growing up, while milking the first student loan generation for more taxes!
The government needs to clean up their immigration act. Our government should not even allow aged parents in as residents with free care on the NZ taxpayer and remove the ability for kids to be used as a reason for residency.
Migrant family members should not get citizenship or residency – they could just get a visa to stay with family and the person has to have FULL insurance for all their health care and social service needs the entire time they are here, just like Kiwis have to, if they travel overseas.
Only those on refugee visa should be eligible for free care.
Saw a documentary about OZ quite a while ago, and their category for immigration was that the person has to employ 2 native Australian citizens and they had to have a profit on a business of over $50k per year for 5 years to qualify for residency.
In NZ we seem to want the complete opposite and to get as many people coming in and adding family members needing social welfare and health services, as possible. With creative accounting you can be as rich as crocus but not a profit in sight.
Probably the only reason they noticed this man’s activities was that the pregnant women went on benefits.
I guess that’s why they have 30% higher wages over in Australia!
“Belief in conspiracies can serve to set oneself apart from the ignorant masses—a self-serving boast about one’s exclusive knowledge. Adherence to conspiracy theory might not always be the result of some perceived lack of control, but rather a deep-seated need for uniqueness.”
Conspiracy theorists are kind of like modern-day Schrodinger’s cats. They exist in a weird state of quantum superposition where they are simultaneously the most skeptical of all people and the most gullible.
The Term “Conspiracy Theory” Was Invented by the CIA In Order To Prevent Disbelief of Official Government Stories.
And people who regurgitate the term help authoritarian governments.
Sacha, do you think that the invasion and destruction of Iraq in 2003 just happened? You don’t think that a small group of politicians and their fanatical advisers didn’t conspire to commit that crime?
Do you think that stating that these criminals conspired to commit this crime is just a paranoid fantasy?
Dude’s gone to the trouble of debunking the claptrap Robert’s dishes up to gullible fuckwits.
History of the Term “Conspiracy Theory”
The term “conspiracy theory” is used to describe any theory that attempts to characterize observed events as the result of some secret conspiracy. The term is often used dismissively, implying that the theory is implausible.
Although conspiracy theories (particularly aimed at Jews and Bankers) date back hundreds of years, the earliest usage of “conspiracy theory” do not always have this connotation, although the theories are quite often dismissed in other ways. Usually it’s simply a way of identifying the theory from other theories – as in “the theory that happens to have a conspiracy”
The theory of Dr. Sankey as to the manner in which these injuries to the chest occurred in asylums deserved our careful attention. It was at least more plausible that the conspiracy theory of Mr. Charles Beade, and the precautionary measure suggested by Dr. Sankey of using a padded waistcoat in recent cases of mania with general paralysis—in which mental condition nearly all these cases under discussion were—seemed to him of practical value.
You are right Ed. Pilger, Hager, Parry, Bartlett, Roberts – all conspiracy theorists because they don’t tow the company line. What a sad state of affairs.
Yep, those out on the fringes do real damage that way.
As do those who refuse to acknowledge the parts of the mainstream media that still function reasonably effectively. The likes of Matt Nippert come to mind.
Agree not all msm is stuffed up but the paucity of genuine both side non cut and paste party press releases makes it too easy to spot the ones doing a great job.
So conspiracy theorists should not have their ideas and possible reasons for holding those ideas critiqued? Is it only those with right wing views who deserve to be scrutinised?
Is the study part of the conspiracy about conspiracy theories?
could big academia really be running the show with big government the product of it’s out put from elite universities? But that would mean those selected would have to been malleable at high school to be susceptible for recruitment to these elite secret organisations.
It probably started all the way back with big academia. The kindergarten teachers control it all, we just think they’re on low pay. but really, they are pre selecting the global elites for the next generations.
What s the deal with these attacks on Gayford? See the Derp is having a go now. What a thoroughly unpleasant person she is. Obviously Jacinda is not giving them much to hammer her on . I was shocked to see another sad desparate attack on CG so soon after that distinctly odd one from Deborah whatshername. On their way out and they know it. Sounds like they are team tagging. Wish there was still the facility to COMMENT on these cowardly mutterings.
Deborah Hill Cone column criticising Clarke Gayford divides New Zealand
While many were opposed to the opinions expressed in the column, a SMALL PROPORTION threw their weight behind Hill Cone, suggesting he was “lapping up” the attention.
I suppose technically a SMALL PROPORTION is divided!!! BUT hardly justifies the headline.
When was the last time a Prime Ministerial spouse was attacked for the sort of person they were?
Answer: Peter Davis
Very different personalities Gayford and Davis but the similarities are:
Labour PMs
Male spouses
Not conventional, conservative alpha males from business, finance, law etc. so in the minds of right wing commentators they are simply the ‘wrong sort’ of people to be associated with power.
We are likely to see more of it. If sex can be brought into it then watch out – remember the insinuations that Davis was gay?
It really is a fight to the death when you offend power and privilege.
Gayford is popular, likeable and extroverted though otherwise he wouldn’t have had numerous tv jobs, while Davis was easy to bully due to his quiet personality.
The Harold has gone down the track of attacking someone popular and likeable. I think they’ve totally lost it.
It was never about Peter Davis, it was about Helen Clark who was PM at the time.
Similarly, it is not about Clarke Gayford but about Jacinda Ardern, who’s the current PM.
It is not in the public interest and therefore some manufacture public interest and lo and behold the public is very interested. Good for some …
Every piece that gets written, every word that is uttered about this feeds it and gives it more oxygen. Defending it is in some ways the worst thing that one can do; it is catch 22.
If the Government were to propose major tax changes, for example, it would knock it out of the ring and out of the limelight (away from the public attention). However, this would be bad politics and a weak attempt to regain control of the news cycle and media narrative.
My partner and I very nearly disappeared down a rabbit hole a couple of weeks ago while in conversation with a seemingly fairly ‘normal’ Kiwi van dweller.
From general conversation about lack of enforcement of agrochemical regulations by territorial authorities the korero turned rapidly to assertions that our PM and her beloved are both ‘trannies, and the pregnancy a total fiction.
We have the occasional very odd conversation, being somewhat transient and part of a community that resides in the margins, but this raised our eyebrows.
And this person was truly sincere…and allowed to wander the world without the supervision they so clearly need.
We retired early, arose before dawn and folded our tent and fled.
No point whatsoever in engaging with these people.
Sadly we know that once a rumour hits mainstream, it s veracity is irrelevant.
I spent years listening to my brother refer to our then PM as Alan Clarke. About how close she was to “Heather”. About Peter’s sexuality. We think we live in an enlightened country but still some of the first things done to lessen someone in our eyes is to impune their sexuality.
I doubt this is where the Gayford rumour is going but this is SO dirty politics
I mean Eagleston (?)) seemingly would do anything for Key, at times way over the line but I never heard a single person suggrst the PM had a sham marriage to cover his relationship with him?
I’ve seen one of these rumours on the web -it includes TV-ism, man-whoring for jobs, hard drugs – and in a post that connects this somehow with some Russian-Jewish global conspiracy.
So OTT that it’s not really credible – but I guess some people, unfortunately, will buy into it.
From general conversation about lack of enforcement of agrochemical regulations by territorial authorities the korero turned rapidly to assertions that our PM and her beloved are both ‘trannies, and the pregnancy a total fiction.
Did they make any mention of the Anderson’s Bay Peninsula branch of the Labour Party too? 😉 lol sorry couldn’t resist.
Cheer up all. Incognito says give them the death stare. So watch Eddie Izzard, a trannie par excellence, do his death star canteen bit, it will give you a weak laugh and strengthen you enough to stagger away and face these smiling assassins so prevalent.
Lord Vader gives you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw
Gayford is much more dangerous to the Herald narrative than they had initially supposed – he’s a media presence with a degree of popularity. They recognize in him the kind of public connection for which Key had to confess pissing in the shower and endure prison rape jokes.
Gayford is also currently a writer for the Herald – a weekly column in the Travel section. So what the hell are the Herald* up to allowing one of their writers to diss another in this way?
Soper has quite a fixed view of the world. When he started as a political journo his world was predominantly white and male. Ardern might as well be from another planet from his accumulated experiences
I wonder how long it will be before they start bringing up Clarke’s exes. That’s what bottom feeders do. They rise to the top and become scum. All the whole hiding behind the ‘no comments ‘ position. Cowards as well.
And if any exes are being offered money for stories? Thing is we will never know thevtruth of any assertions but Dirty Politics and subsequent enactment by Joyce et al has surely taught us the truth is irrelevant, once it is out there as long as 50% believe it, Nats are winning.
Ffloyd
Clever – bottom feeders rise to the top and become scum.
Should be taught in schools – a great example of physics and political science all in one. Learning practical detail like this would be better for an alert informed citizenry.
Wondered too.
“1.used as a substitute for speech regarded as meaningless or stupid, or to comment on a foolish or stupid action.
“Lower tax rates and far lower job creation. Derp”
Yes Jilly Bee. Came out of my inability to ever remember her name properly. Hence Derp. Looked it up and got definition as shown above by ianmac. Also is a slang term for ‘stupid action or stupid person”. Both are a good fit for HEathER. GEDDIT? 2ES!
Just been having a chuckle over a passage in the book, ‘Reilly, Ace of Spies’ by Robin Bruce Lockhart. Russia, 1918.
“. . . and Boyce had spent a considerable sum for some correspondence which seemed to prove conclusively that the Bolsheviks were in secret liaison with the German High Command and that the British War Cabinet’s belief that Lenin and Trotsky were German agents was correct. When Reilly examined this correspondence with Hill, he discovered that although the letters purported to come from different parts of Russia, they were all typed on the same typewriter. As the whole correspondence was obviously faked, Reilly suggested to Boyce that he should re-sell it to the Americans. Boyce did so. Mr. Sissons of the U.S. mission in Petrograd paid a very large sum for the documents and Boyce made a profit on the deal.”
The American seem to have an affinity for ‘fake news’ even back at the beginning of last century! Or perhaps that they were fws then and still today?
That was pretty standard fare.
The New Zealand Government during WW 2 was conned into trying to investigate “sabotage” planned by the Germans in New Zealand. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/nazi-sabotage-hoax
HDPA and DHC(with an e – and how utterly feeble is a comment like that) show themselves up to be sour nasty types with little joy or humour in their lives.
The spouses photo would have been taken by an official photographer who saw the opportunity for something a bit different which most people would look at with a smile on their face rather than a scowl like these two sad commentators.
Sad they did not give it time to get more of an idea of the benefits, but also Finland already has a pretty good social welfare system so there is less equality there in the first place.
It’s monolithic all the way down
The uncritical acceptance of one methodology begins with undergraduate economics education. Rethinking Economics conducted a curriculum review of 174 modules at 7 Russell Group universities – rightly or wrongly considered the ‘top’ universities in the UK – and we found that the uncritical acceptance of one type of economics begins with education. Under 10% of modules even mentioned anything other than mainstream or ‘neoclassical’ economics; in econometrics, over 90% of modules devoted more than two-thirds of their lectures to linear regression. Only 24% of exam questions required critical or independent thinking (i.e. were open-ended); this dropped to 8% if you only counted the compulsory macro and micro modules that form the core of economics education.
We have previously called this ‘indoctrination’, and while this may seem dramatic the dictionary definition of indoctrination is to “teach a person or set of people to accept a set of beliefs uncritically”, which we think adequately characterises the results of the review, as well as our own experience and many widely used economics textbooks. Given this education, it is no wonder that economists remain wedded to the fundamental precepts of choice models and linear regression no matter where they turn their attention. By putting the method first, the implicit assumption becomes that answering a question using this framework is prima facie interesting, and critical evaluation of these tools against others is made unthinkable.
Which actually tells me that the problem is economists getting economics wrong.
No wonder the whole worlds fucked after listening to them for the last 200+ years.
At the moment, I’m reading “Growth Delusion” by David Pilling. We clearly follow the wrong path only considering GDP without seriously questioning the methodology and numbers behind GDP. You can completely destroy life, society, environment and everything… on short term it’s all fantastic for the GDP growth.
Economists would be fine – if they were actually studying the economy rather than trying to predict human behaviour. The economy is physical, the actual reality within which we live and human behaviour needs to exist within that reality and so our nature should not become an excuse to try to exist outside of it.
Nature bats last, doesn’t negotiate and doesn’t take prisoners.
Nothing DP about it – they circulated reports instead of fixing things – it’s an old trick for staying within budget, but not calculated to endear one to a new employer.
Let me see if I can explain. Its dirty politics if the right do it but if the left do it…well the left don’t it so its not dirty politics and even if the left did do it (which of course they don’t) its only because the right do it and thus the left are forced to doing it to level the playing field but as already mentioned they don’t do it, ever
What exaclty is “dirty” here – is a pretend-independent blogger feeding outright lies to a quietly partisan but less rabid blogger who feeds the lies to partisan reporters for partisan media to duly report as the lies are being discussed?
Or are ministers and officials merely disagreeing publicly about how dilapidated hospital buildings are, and when they were told?
In NZ, dirty politics has spawned one popular book: “Dirty Politics – How attack politics is poisoning New Zealand’s political environment” (2014).
National, painted and tainted ‘dirty’, still trying to whitewash themselves by (more) muck-racking – good luck!
Maybe the absence of a well-researched book summarising dirty politics originating from left-leaning NZ governments is due to the lack of enough real dirt to make a good story. Or maybe it’s just a matter of time until the left ‘catch up’ – hope not.
National didn’t give a rats about a hospital with shit all over the shop because, surplus….
Timeline
• 2012 – Large cladding panel falls off the Scott Building. Checks reveal weathertightness problems and leaking. Leaks also fund at Manukau SuperClinic
• 2013 – Leaks found at Kidz First
• 2014 – Leaks found at McIndoe Building
• 2016 – Leaking issues outlined to Ministry of Health, according to DHB
• Mid-2016 Auditor-General’s report shows Counties Manukau reporting it had 89 per cent life left in its buildings
• 2017 – Sewage and sanitation problems are again raised with the board
• Feb 2017 – Treasury rates Counties Manukau among top half of DHBs for repairs and maintenance
• Mid-2017 – DHB commissions first overall expert appraisal of buildings
• Nov 2017 – Independent surveyor Alexander and Co report for DHB outlines problems with buildings
• November 22 – DHB Strategic Assessment Case sets out $123m worth of work across multiple buildings. That amount is now known to be an underestimate.
• Feb 21, 2018 – Counties Manukau DHB appears before health select committee. No mention of specific problems are raised.
• March 13 – David Clark visits Middlemore, where he says he was told about rot, mould and sewage in Scott Building but no other buildings.
• March 20 (circa) – Government approves additional $11.5m towards repairs in Scott Building
• March 22 – RNZ reports based on OIA that four hospital buildings are full of rot and mould. Health Minister David Clark says he knew about only one, the Scott
• March 23 – Former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says he was not briefed about extent of problems at Middlemore. Clark says he expects DHB to outline plan for managing the issues. Email from Gloria Johnson to board members say documents handed to Clark and his adviser “spells out succinctly the scale and nature of the facilities issues”
• March 27 – DHB says it did not do repairs because Coleman wanted it to stay in surplus
• March 28 – DHB confirms report of sewage leaks in Scott Building
For those of you who, like me, want to hear an alternative narrative to that presented by the western corporate media, here is George Galloway’s most recent radio show.
It is worth listening alone for the interview with Peter Hitchens, which starts right at the start of the show ( after 30 seconds.)
And if you don’t want to hear what independent journalists like Hitchens say, scroll by.
I hear on tonight’s Checkpoint, RNZ are following up on the issue.
Once again though, ‘officials’ appear to have given a bullshit response in defense of their continued use of T&C – I’d thought the government had made their position pretty bloody clear.
My position is that there is evidence of a degree of ‘pushback’ by senior public servants against the coalition government’s policies.
I’m waiting a bit longer to see what happens.
Naturally enough, some senior public servants are eagre to preserve the status quo = going completely against the coalition governments intentions to make change – as they’re entitled to do.
Hopefully the SSC is also watching very closely.
As far as I know, Iain Lees-Galloway, Carmel Sepuloni and couple of others have made it pretty bloody clear what their expectations of Ministry ‘officials’ are. Some of the officials appear to be a bit slow in getting the message.
If there’s a way of contacting you in confidence @ Tracy, I’ll definitely do so.
“Naturally enough, some senior public servants are eagre to preserve the status quo = going completely against the coalition governments intentions to make change – as they’re entitled to do.”
Of course I mean the government is entitled to make change – they have the mandate. Senior PS ‘officials’ (supposedly being as ‘impartial’ as @ Wayne has suggested), are obliged to implement the change
For consistency’s sake, this would see an immediate meeting with Donald, then a strike on Israel.
Their navy and air force is ready.
But somehow I sense double standards will prevail.
PETITION:
Remove Ian Smith from Sky Rugby commentary team.
Ian Smith should be removed from the commentary box because he has no idea what he’s talking about. I can’t handle his stupidity anymore. There must be thousands of people more qualified to commentate test rugby than him.
I have been granted the interim injunction, and stopped the sale of my home.
In the Minute of Woodhouse J
“[6] In consequence, there are the following orders:
(a) Pending further order of the Court, the respondent shall take no steps, or no further steps, to effect sale of the applicant’s property at 86A School Road, Kingsland.
Although I was thinking if worse comes to worse a little tent outside Auckland council or Mr Town’s residence, might make them think twice about selling rate payers houses in the future. So pleased it does not come to that.
We have enough homeless and disempowered people, already.
Oh, just read Sacha’s post, 3 days is not long, hoping for a longer term outcome for you to keep your house. Good luck!
When are Auckland Council going to disclose their spending details, the books should be open to all ratepayers as we are stakeholders in Auckland Council ?
Yep, I think the entire budget each year including payments to all the contractors/third parties should be made public each year. I’m sure that will throw up some interesting information.
Rates used to be quite a small bill for home owners. Now it’s more likely to be in your top 4 most expensive bills you have to pay each month.
I hope that the new government looks into whether it is better to abandon the COO structures. We have Auckland Transport that seems to be a basket case which take up 53% from rates of their $1.345 billion dollar annual budget. Not only does it not work very well, we now have a to pay fuel tax on top of that. What’s next, poll tax to prop them up? Ports of Auckland are terrible employers with employment rulings against them and apparently ok to steal the harbour. Wastewater is still not separated, but wait, more money is the problem, not their lack of planning between resource consenting and wastewater.
If we can see where all the money goes in fine detail, it can shed some light on what’s going wrong, such as why the dig up the roads and footpaths continually, and is it a good idea to speculate on Westgate malls? How do people get around with zero public transport in parts of the supercity? Is charging $10 for a HOP card and the ridiculous way to get a child HOP a good idea? Why is it taking over $200,000 in legal fees to defend CEO Steven Town’s alleged defamation of Penny Bright? Is it price gouging from the lawyers?
No doubt nobody in power would be keen for full transparency, but then if there is full transparency, won’t that shut the critics up if it’s all above board as well as make people trust Labour more.
There are too many scandals with public figures on the trough.
I don’t agree with Phil Goff’s ideology, but I do think he is an honest man in terms of money and maybe he could lead the councillors to actually properly open up the books in minute detail so that the stakeholders aka rate payers have full access. We all know the CEO and executives will not be for it.
This would also keep out the more dishonest contractors and suppliers from dealing with council, and that would be a good thing.
Any public contracts and services should be totally transparent at all times. Not just three yearly.
Firms undertaking contracts for public entities, us, have no right to cower behind “commercial sensitivity”, to hide from those paying the bills.
Good morning people the moko is taking her first steps and the sun is shining .
The trolls can not take a chink out of Jacinda so the target Clarke well they are wasting there time I can see he is a good man he could be like that Other famous Clarke and they won’t be able to take a chink out of him.
Lets get this strait I treat all people with respect if they treat me the same and just because one person makes a statement about me doesn’t mean it is true I respect the police I don’t respect these sandflies that are exclusive brethren who think they have the right to cast there judgement on US Maori cultured tangata .They use there money and influence to distort the course of justice there members avoid jail and they justify this by implying that the members whom have had the course justice distorted for there mistakes are shunned from there church what a load of———being ostracized is nothing compeared to going to jail for one they have no record of jail time they are not locked in jail caged like an animal . It is accepted right in frount of OUR eyes that this behavior is OK for the few WTF this makes a mockery of the whole system there is more bad things that these people get up to Eco Maori will reveal this in good time .
So I don’t hate all police .Every move the sandflies make reveals that my hunches are right Ana to kai Ka kite ano
I can not pronounce Te reo properly my self my wife laughs at my attemts I can pronounce words that I used when I was young but with my spelling problem my attempts a pronouncing Te reo are not very good .So Eco Maori says lay off the coach if he knows he mite pronounce the name wrong well so be it let him use what he wants to get what he means across to the audience Ana to kai ka kite ano.
Newshub well you already know my view on ANZAC it mite not be the popular view but I care about te tangata and Ngati Porou both had big losses in World War 1 and 2 the 1 percent start War while the Tommy fight and die in these wars and in New Zealand the Tommy were mostly Maori enough said.
Amazon is the future of retail everyone better change or get left in its wake they cut out the middle man this is going to happen in all industrys .
Come on you don’t trip up the mokopunas .
It will be a good game of League tonight .
Ka kite ano P.S you can not see me through the camera lol
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Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
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Man with 3 pregnant partners – fails to inform immigration of this (but he is wealthy so apparently that’s OK)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12037904
He has done a few multi-million dollar developments in New Zealand, including retirement villages,” Delamere said.
Delamere said the man had “many” children but could not say how many.
Of the two other women, who the Herald understands are also from China, one holds a residence visa and the other is on a guardianship visa.
Shocking, doesn’t even know how many children he has! I guess that’s ok because NZ is there to support them and his other partners and pay their medical and social welfare costs and build more schools… but he build a retirement village (most of them rip people off) and is wealthy. No wonder a shortage of midwives when you have 3 women concurrently carrying your offspring and ‘good character’ being less important than government ideology – then they complain why the Natz have so many voters – just wait 18 years and there will be even more change!
As for the Guardianship visa, sounds like one of the women must be pretty young… time for the government to stop handing our citizenship and residency like lollies, our health care and social services can’t take much more – especially if we are getting into concubine type arrangements with multiple women having kids concurrently in NZ hospitals and going to NZ schools.
On, unsafe sex with multiple partners..
‘When, not if’: New Zealand warned super-gonorrhoea on its way
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2018/04/when-not-if-new-zealand-warned-super-gonorrhoea-on-its-way.html
Dirty immigrants bringing their filthy diseases right?
It’s more likely some randy kiwi will pick something up on a trip overseas and bring it home
More a ‘safe sex’ message for all, if you want to have multiple partners at least use a condom.
Preferably one for each partner 🙂
This is a classic extreme right wing rant. Immigrants coming in and taking all the medical budgets and living on social welfare, clogging up our school systems.
I think the right wing rant is, hopeless drugged Kiwis, let us get superior cheaper labour, build our retirement villages and luxury hotels (and fill them up, profits, profits) and the social system will provide. You’re behind the times there, Tuppence, your thinking the back 80 years before widespread cheap airlines and easy tax havens… world’s moved on on how to exploit labour and other people.
Another pressing problem for right wingers and luxury developers is that you have no idea how difficult it is to get $30 million for a home in Queenstown for example if you ban foreign buyers! The market is going to collapse overnight! Lucky the Queenstown Mayor is asking for an exception for Queenstown and there is plenty of lawyers ready for fight for their foreign buyer and richer interests.
…. so where supporting Chinese immigrants with multiple partners and children also, we really are a soft touch ?
Thank God we have a “Rockstar Economy” to hand out all this welfare ?
Don’t forget the aged parents too. For every migrant couple 4 aged parents can come into NZ, and I guess if you have multiple partners and marriage split ups and can get new wives into NZ, the amount of parents eligible keeps going up!
Even the Natz had to eventually change the rules to 10 years before migrant parents got free everything, because so many migrants were ‘abandoned’ by their sponsors (aka kids) and had to go on welfare as well as being a quote Mr Woodhouse, “burden on the health services that are considerably higher than other people of that age who are eligible for New Zealand public health services.”
Even with the new rules 10 years is nothing when people can live to 100 years old and can get a pension, health care, Gold card with free travel, and it costs $1000 a week in a rest home, which might go on for years,, especially since we seem to be attracting National loving migrants that have few morals, abandon their parents, have multiple children to multiple partners concurrently, etc etc.
This is just from 2016 so the figures and costs will just be increasing and I think thats just the 10 million in costs before they get the free care as residents which will be millions if not billions over a lifetime more … no wonder there is no money to fix mouldy Middlemore for Kiwi kids who are going to grow up without a stable house, decent hospital to go to, high student debt and a low wage job, with higher taxes to pay for all the ‘aged folks’ that the government deliberately gave free care to while abandoning it’s own people and taxpayers and turning their backs on them when they are growing up, while milking the first student loan generation for more taxes!
Migrants’ parents cost NZ ‘tens of millions’
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/315435/migrants'-parents-cost-nz-'tens-of-millions‘
The government needs to clean up their immigration act. Our government should not even allow aged parents in as residents with free care on the NZ taxpayer and remove the ability for kids to be used as a reason for residency.
Migrant family members should not get citizenship or residency – they could just get a visa to stay with family and the person has to have FULL insurance for all their health care and social service needs the entire time they are here, just like Kiwis have to, if they travel overseas.
Only those on refugee visa should be eligible for free care.
Now there’s a fellow who knows how to colonise.
Saw a documentary about OZ quite a while ago, and their category for immigration was that the person has to employ 2 native Australian citizens and they had to have a profit on a business of over $50k per year for 5 years to qualify for residency.
In NZ we seem to want the complete opposite and to get as many people coming in and adding family members needing social welfare and health services, as possible. With creative accounting you can be as rich as crocus but not a profit in sight.
Probably the only reason they noticed this man’s activities was that the pregnant women went on benefits.
I guess that’s why they have 30% higher wages over in Australia!
A study in conspiracy belief, which some have noted connects many recent US shooters:
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9kg8j3/conspiracy-theorists-just-want-to-feel-special
“Belief in conspiracies can serve to set oneself apart from the ignorant masses—a self-serving boast about one’s exclusive knowledge. Adherence to conspiracy theory might not always be the result of some perceived lack of control, but rather a deep-seated need for uniqueness.”
Conspiracy theorists are kind of like modern-day Schrodinger’s cats. They exist in a weird state of quantum superposition where they are simultaneously the most skeptical of all people and the most gullible.
The Term “Conspiracy Theory” Was Invented by the CIA In Order To Prevent Disbelief of Official Government Stories.
And people who regurgitate the term help authoritarian governments.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/08/24/the-term-conspiracy-theory-was-invented-by-the-cia-in-order-to-prevent-disbelief-of-official-government-stories/
It’s a conspiracy!
‘The act of two or more persons, called conspirators, working secretly to obtain some goal, usually understood with negative connotations.’
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/conspiracy
And the word “theory” would be in the sense of “unproven conjecture”, no?
Sacha, do you think that the invasion and destruction of Iraq in 2003 just happened? You don’t think that a small group of politicians and their fanatical advisers didn’t conspire to commit that crime?
Do you think that stating that these criminals conspired to commit this crime is just a paranoid fantasy?
PNAC is a legit conspiracy, for sure. It’s not always a false thing.
“The Term “Conspiracy Theory” Was Invented by the CIA ”
Oh Ed
The irony in your post is simply the funniest thing I have read all week.
True but that doesn’t make the term false.
You’ve reached peak crazy. Conspiracy theories about the CIA et al are actually just a conspiracy theory.
As if you would even know.
What? you get crazier?
Let it all out man. Give me every single one of your theories. My brother loves the stuff i repeat to him you say.
Are you stalking me?
Tuppence, you’re out of your depth.
Tuppence’s familiarity with world geopolitics is not renowned.
He sounds like our friend Wayne.
Amazing you can be
DefenceWar Minister and know so little.There are no longer any barriers of competence for anything. Look at who the U.S. president is.
Yes that is very true…..
Dude’s gone to the trouble of debunking the claptrap Robert’s dishes up to gullible fuckwits.
History of the Term “Conspiracy Theory”
The term “conspiracy theory” is used to describe any theory that attempts to characterize observed events as the result of some secret conspiracy. The term is often used dismissively, implying that the theory is implausible.
Although conspiracy theories (particularly aimed at Jews and Bankers) date back hundreds of years, the earliest usage of “conspiracy theory” do not always have this connotation, although the theories are quite often dismissed in other ways. Usually it’s simply a way of identifying the theory from other theories – as in “the theory that happens to have a conspiracy”
The first usage I could find was from 1870, The Journal of mental science: Volume 16 – Page 14
https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-the-cia-invented-the-term-conspiracy-theory-in-1967-in-use-for-70-years-prior.t960/
I know you despise Russia.
Pointing out the absurdity of the nonsense you lap up has something to do with Russia?. Do tell…..
Can’t be bothered
Face it Ed, you’re a know-nothing repeater, with the intellect and self awareness of a boiled cabbage.
Oh go on Ed, lay it out. I’m curious too. Please?
yup, and the OED has an example from 1909.
As well as a 1964 New statesman article using the term “conspiracy theorists”:
How times fail to change lol
You are right Ed. Pilger, Hager, Parry, Bartlett, Roberts – all conspiracy theorists because they don’t tow the company line. What a sad state of affairs.
Most skeptical…most gullible…
Black White
Yes No
On Off
1 0
Spectrums, Andre…
You comment seems to have missed that…
“Wholeness is at the heart of pure phenomena”
Spectra.
And they enable people with evidence based coverup assertions to be dismissed. We see this every time Hager releases a book.
I watched The Post over the weekend and was minded how far the 4th Estate has moved from its purpose.
Key and others have successfully shut peoples eyes to the evidence Hager produces to back his assertions with a simple ” looney conspiracy theorist”.
Yep, those out on the fringes do real damage that way.
As do those who refuse to acknowledge the parts of the mainstream media that still function reasonably effectively. The likes of Matt Nippert come to mind.
Agree not all msm is stuffed up but the paucity of genuine both side non cut and paste party press releases makes it too easy to spot the ones doing a great job.
Still running others down, Sacha…
You’re special too…just like everyone else…
Shooting the messenger is another way to shut down debate and dissent.
So conspiracy theorists should not have their ideas and possible reasons for holding those ideas critiqued? Is it only those with right wing views who deserve to be scrutinised?
Who’s suggesting that?
Sacha posted a link about a conspiracy belief study and you responded with an accusation of “running others down”.
Sacha is essentially taking aim at a group of people, by dismissing them with a link to a [whatever] study…
In recent times Sacha has applauded bans, asked for bans and requested others withhold sympathy for Penny Bright…
The link and insinuation is to run others down down…
Bitterness…
get another hobby phil.
My lovely vegan dogs !
Is the study part of the conspiracy about conspiracy theories?
could big academia really be running the show with big government the product of it’s out put from elite universities? But that would mean those selected would have to been malleable at high school to be susceptible for recruitment to these elite secret organisations.
It probably started all the way back with big academia. The kindergarten teachers control it all, we just think they’re on low pay. but really, they are pre selecting the global elites for the next generations.
The context I encountered it in, as mentioned, was about what connects the right-wing white men who go on shooting rampages in the US.
It’s like observing that children who torture animals tend to commit violence against people as adults. Useful if acted upon.
What s the deal with these attacks on Gayford? See the Derp is having a go now. What a thoroughly unpleasant person she is. Obviously Jacinda is not giving them much to hammer her on . I was shocked to see another sad desparate attack on CG so soon after that distinctly odd one from Deborah whatshername. On their way out and they know it. Sounds like they are team tagging. Wish there was still the facility to COMMENT on these cowardly mutterings.
Headline in Herald
When was the last time a Prime Ministerial spouse was attacked for the sort of person they were?
Answer: Peter Davis
Very different personalities Gayford and Davis but the similarities are:
Labour PMs
Male spouses
Not conventional, conservative alpha males from business, finance, law etc. so in the minds of right wing commentators they are simply the ‘wrong sort’ of people to be associated with power.
We are likely to see more of it. If sex can be brought into it then watch out – remember the insinuations that Davis was gay?
It really is a fight to the death when you offend power and privilege.
Gayford is popular, likeable and extroverted though otherwise he wouldn’t have had numerous tv jobs, while Davis was easy to bully due to his quiet personality.
The Harold has gone down the track of attacking someone popular and likeable. I think they’ve totally lost it.
It was never about Peter Davis, it was about Helen Clark who was PM at the time.
Similarly, it is not about Clarke Gayford but about Jacinda Ardern, who’s the current PM.
It is not in the public interest and therefore some manufacture public interest and lo and behold the public is very interested. Good for some …
Every piece that gets written, every word that is uttered about this feeds it and gives it more oxygen. Defending it is in some ways the worst thing that one can do; it is catch 22.
If the Government were to propose major tax changes, for example, it would knock it out of the ring and out of the limelight (away from the public attention). However, this would be bad politics and a weak attempt to regain control of the news cycle and media narrative.
Give them the death stare!
My partner and I very nearly disappeared down a rabbit hole a couple of weeks ago while in conversation with a seemingly fairly ‘normal’ Kiwi van dweller.
From general conversation about lack of enforcement of agrochemical regulations by territorial authorities the korero turned rapidly to assertions that our PM and her beloved are both ‘trannies, and the pregnancy a total fiction.
We have the occasional very odd conversation, being somewhat transient and part of a community that resides in the margins, but this raised our eyebrows.
And this person was truly sincere…and allowed to wander the world without the supervision they so clearly need.
We retired early, arose before dawn and folded our tent and fled.
No point whatsoever in engaging with these people.
Sadly we know that once a rumour hits mainstream, it s veracity is irrelevant.
I spent years listening to my brother refer to our then PM as Alan Clarke. About how close she was to “Heather”. About Peter’s sexuality. We think we live in an enlightened country but still some of the first things done to lessen someone in our eyes is to impune their sexuality.
I doubt this is where the Gayford rumour is going but this is SO dirty politics
A neighbour used to rant interminably about Aunty Helen and her beloved…along similar lines.
What is it with that?
Concentrate on what matters….their performance as an elected representative.
All else is irrelevant.
Having said that…it behooves our elected representatives to assiduously avoid all engagement with the media that is not work related.
Agree with your last comment. 100%
I mean Eagleston (?)) seemingly would do anything for Key, at times way over the line but I never heard a single person suggrst the PM had a sham marriage to cover his relationship with him?
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Unless they’re Left-wing MPs in which case it’s all over the MSM as a distraction from what’s actually important.
So Key and Eagleston were having a relationship ?
I’ve seen one of these rumours on the web -it includes TV-ism, man-whoring for jobs, hard drugs – and in a post that connects this somehow with some Russian-Jewish global conspiracy.
So OTT that it’s not really credible – but I guess some people, unfortunately, will buy into it.
It’s not credible and so it must be true seems to be such people’s thinking.
Did they make any mention of the Anderson’s Bay Peninsula branch of the Labour Party too? 😉 lol sorry couldn’t resist.
We very adroitly terminated the conversation before it moved on to this person’s experience as an alien abductee…probably amounts to the same thing?
Cheer up all. Incognito says give them the death stare. So watch Eddie Izzard, a trannie par excellence, do his death star canteen bit, it will give you a weak laugh and strengthen you enough to stagger away and face these smiling assassins so prevalent.
Lord Vader gives you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw
More food oriented Izzard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg
Followed by 6 minutes of populist historical political
comment!
Gayford is much more dangerous to the Herald narrative than they had initially supposed – he’s a media presence with a degree of popularity. They recognize in him the kind of public connection for which Key had to confess pissing in the shower and endure prison rape jokes.
Gayford is also currently a writer for the Herald – a weekly column in the Travel section. So what the hell are the Herald* up to allowing one of their writers to diss another in this way?
More detail in my comment here – https://thestandard.org.nz/bottom-feeding-fish/#comment-1478090
* Or is it a case of one being a writer for the Herald and the other for the Herald on Sunday; or both for the Herald on Sunday?
Will check that detail …
It’s nothing so sinister, it’s simply clickbait and it seems to be working. It is all the Herald has to offer. Don’t even read it. Nonsensical rag.
Similar to the relationship Key had with Ritchie McCaw and the All Blacks ?
The Herald have gone on full attack this week.
duplicity said Jacinda was like Trump.
Hill Con(e) attacks Clarke.
Soper says Jacinda ’s unusual.
All are tools and paid puppets writing dirt to keep their beastly jobs.
Soper has quite a fixed view of the world. When he started as a political journo his world was predominantly white and male. Ardern might as well be from another planet from his accumulated experiences
‘It’s unusual to be loved”!
The tyrranosauri must have been watching Tom Jones gyrate.
Now that’s unusual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGRZBa4cKWA
Dirty Politics 101
I wonder how long it will be before they start bringing up Clarke’s exes. That’s what bottom feeders do. They rise to the top and become scum. All the whole hiding behind the ‘no comments ‘ position. Cowards as well.
And if any exes are being offered money for stories? Thing is we will never know thevtruth of any assertions but Dirty Politics and subsequent enactment by Joyce et al has surely taught us the truth is irrelevant, once it is out there as long as 50% believe it, Nats are winning.
Ffloyd
Clever – bottom feeders rise to the top and become scum.
Should be taught in schools – a great example of physics and political science all in one. Learning practical detail like this would be better for an alert informed citizenry.
Yes, there have been hints of “Tradeau and Ardern” in a few small minds.
“Tradeau”
A tough negotiatior of agreements.
Right they can’t deliver the hits on Jacaranda so they are going to attack her family “Dirty Politics 101”.
Derp?
Wondered too.
“1.used as a substitute for speech regarded as meaningless or stupid, or to comment on a foolish or stupid action.
“Lower tax rates and far lower job creation. Derp”
Ed, I’m fairly sure it’s a play on Heather du Plessis Allan’s name – eminently suitable I reckon.
Yes Jilly Bee. Came out of my inability to ever remember her name properly. Hence Derp. Looked it up and got definition as shown above by ianmac. Also is a slang term for ‘stupid action or stupid person”. Both are a good fit for HEathER. GEDDIT? 2ES!
Just been having a chuckle over a passage in the book, ‘Reilly, Ace of Spies’ by Robin Bruce Lockhart. Russia, 1918.
“. . . and Boyce had spent a considerable sum for some correspondence which seemed to prove conclusively that the Bolsheviks were in secret liaison with the German High Command and that the British War Cabinet’s belief that Lenin and Trotsky were German agents was correct. When Reilly examined this correspondence with Hill, he discovered that although the letters purported to come from different parts of Russia, they were all typed on the same typewriter. As the whole correspondence was obviously faked, Reilly suggested to Boyce that he should re-sell it to the Americans. Boyce did so. Mr. Sissons of the U.S. mission in Petrograd paid a very large sum for the documents and Boyce made a profit on the deal.”
The American seem to have an affinity for ‘fake news’ even back at the beginning of last century! Or perhaps that they were fws then and still today?
Evidently a lot of US Industrialists were behind the Nazi War Effort ?
Read “IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation,” by Edwin Black.
Not only behind the Nazi war effort, but making big profits as well.
Ford?
Well, they did try to overthrow the US government in implement Fascism in the US.
That was pretty standard fare.
The New Zealand Government during WW 2 was conned into trying to investigate “sabotage” planned by the Germans in New Zealand.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/nazi-sabotage-hoax
Gerard Hindmarsh’s podcast featuring Mr Ross and his scam.
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/home/audio/special-feature-archives/2016/06/outsiders-with-gerard-hindmarsh-the-great-nazi-hoax.html
HDPA and DHC(with an e – and how utterly feeble is a comment like that) show themselves up to be sour nasty types with little joy or humour in their lives.
The spouses photo would have been taken by an official photographer who saw the opportunity for something a bit different which most people would look at with a smile on their face rather than a scowl like these two sad commentators.
They are scum.
Come on Ed calling some one scum is a very dehumanising and beneath you, disagree with them but scum they are not
Well Ed sometimes people like these two contemptible women who attack with such glee, deserve an angry response.
“Bottom feeders”…. guess who lost most face? LOL LOL
Finland cans its guaranteed income trial, reverts to previous welfare system: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/23/finland-to-end-basic-income-trial-after-two-years
Sad they did not give it time to get more of an idea of the benefits, but also Finland already has a pretty good social welfare system so there is less equality there in the first place.
https://thecorrespondent.com/541/why-we-should-give-free-money-to-everyone/20798745-cb9fbb39
That was a given. From what I could make out it was designed to fail while giving the excuse for not implementing one that it had been tried.
Notice how they just made getting welfare even harder?
Why the problem is economics, not economists
Which actually tells me that the problem is economists getting economics wrong.
No wonder the whole worlds fucked after listening to them for the last 200+ years.
At the moment, I’m reading “Growth Delusion” by David Pilling. We clearly follow the wrong path only considering GDP without seriously questioning the methodology and numbers behind GDP. You can completely destroy life, society, environment and everything… on short term it’s all fantastic for the GDP growth.
Economists. Todays version of chicken entrials.
Economists would be fine – if they were actually studying the economy rather than trying to predict human behaviour. The economy is physical, the actual reality within which we live and human behaviour needs to exist within that reality and so our nature should not become an excuse to try to exist outside of it.
Nature bats last, doesn’t negotiate and doesn’t take prisoners.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/103249836/middlemore-hospital-what-really-went-down-between-health-minister-and-counties-manukau-dhb
Looks like middlemore isn’t the crises the national party was supposed to have left it as. Quelle Horreur! dirty politcs from the left on this issue
So if the board member thinks it’s a beat up, what was clark told about? 123 million unicorn farts?
Nothing DP about it – they circulated reports instead of fixing things – it’s an old trick for staying within budget, but not calculated to endear one to a new employer.
Let me see if I can explain. Its dirty politics if the right do it but if the left do it…well the left don’t it so its not dirty politics and even if the left did do it (which of course they don’t) its only because the right do it and thus the left are forced to doing it to level the playing field but as already mentioned they don’t do it, ever
What exaclty is “dirty” here – is a pretend-independent blogger feeding outright lies to a quietly partisan but less rabid blogger who feeds the lies to partisan reporters for partisan media to duly report as the lies are being discussed?
Or are ministers and officials merely disagreeing publicly about how dilapidated hospital buildings are, and when they were told?
Your moral compass is showing…
In NZ, dirty politics has spawned one popular book: “Dirty Politics – How attack politics is poisoning New Zealand’s political environment” (2014).
National, painted and tainted ‘dirty’, still trying to whitewash themselves by (more) muck-racking – good luck!
Maybe the absence of a well-researched book summarising dirty politics originating from left-leaning NZ governments is due to the lack of enough real dirt to make a good story. Or maybe it’s just a matter of time until the left ‘catch up’ – hope not.
National didn’t give a rats about a hospital with shit all over the shop because, surplus….
Timeline
• 2012 – Large cladding panel falls off the Scott Building. Checks reveal weathertightness problems and leaking. Leaks also fund at Manukau SuperClinic
• 2013 – Leaks found at Kidz First
• 2014 – Leaks found at McIndoe Building
• 2016 – Leaking issues outlined to Ministry of Health, according to DHB
• Mid-2016 Auditor-General’s report shows Counties Manukau reporting it had 89 per cent life left in its buildings
• 2017 – Sewage and sanitation problems are again raised with the board
• Feb 2017 – Treasury rates Counties Manukau among top half of DHBs for repairs and maintenance
• Mid-2017 – DHB commissions first overall expert appraisal of buildings
• Nov 2017 – Independent surveyor Alexander and Co report for DHB outlines problems with buildings
• November 22 – DHB Strategic Assessment Case sets out $123m worth of work across multiple buildings. That amount is now known to be an underestimate.
• Feb 21, 2018 – Counties Manukau DHB appears before health select committee. No mention of specific problems are raised.
• March 13 – David Clark visits Middlemore, where he says he was told about rot, mould and sewage in Scott Building but no other buildings.
• March 20 (circa) – Government approves additional $11.5m towards repairs in Scott Building
• March 22 – RNZ reports based on OIA that four hospital buildings are full of rot and mould. Health Minister David Clark says he knew about only one, the Scott
• March 23 – Former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says he was not briefed about extent of problems at Middlemore. Clark says he expects DHB to outline plan for managing the issues. Email from Gloria Johnson to board members say documents handed to Clark and his adviser “spells out succinctly the scale and nature of the facilities issues”
• March 27 – DHB says it did not do repairs because Coleman wanted it to stay in surplus
• March 28 – DHB confirms report of sewage leaks in Scott Building
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12036681
For those of you who, like me, want to hear an alternative narrative to that presented by the western corporate media, here is George Galloway’s most recent radio show.
It is worth listening alone for the interview with Peter Hitchens, which starts right at the start of the show ( after 30 seconds.)
And if you don’t want to hear what independent journalists like Hitchens say, scroll by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuyYlCq7Oro
Malcolm Evans – brilliant as ever.
He was fired by the Herald for challenging Israel.
http://tvnz.co.nz/content/213087/2591764.xhtml
@ Anne, Tracey, Spikyboy and Patricia Bremner
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23-04-2018/#comment-1477869
(Yesterday’s Open Mike)
I hear on tonight’s Checkpoint, RNZ are following up on the issue.
Once again though, ‘officials’ appear to have given a bullshit response in defense of their continued use of T&C – I’d thought the government had made their position pretty bloody clear.
My position is that there is evidence of a degree of ‘pushback’ by senior public servants against the coalition government’s policies.
I’m waiting a bit longer to see what happens.
Naturally enough, some senior public servants are eagre to preserve the status quo = going completely against the coalition governments intentions to make change – as they’re entitled to do.
Hopefully the SSC is also watching very closely.
As far as I know, Iain Lees-Galloway, Carmel Sepuloni and couple of others have made it pretty bloody clear what their expectations of Ministry ‘officials’ are. Some of the officials appear to be a bit slow in getting the message.
If there’s a way of contacting you in confidence @ Tracy, I’ll definitely do so.
“Naturally enough, some senior public servants are eagre to preserve the status quo = going completely against the coalition governments intentions to make change – as they’re entitled to do.”
Of course I mean the government is entitled to make change – they have the mandate. Senior PS ‘officials’ (supposedly being as ‘impartial’ as @ Wayne has suggested), are obliged to implement the change
Israel shoots to kill as the Gaza ghetto resists its destruction
Yet to hear a statement from Boris Johnson or Theresa May, those great moralists, about this….
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/04/23/israel-shoots-to-kill-as-the-the-gaza-ghetto-resists-its-destruction/
For consistency’s sake, this would see an immediate meeting with Donald, then a strike on Israel.
Their navy and air force is ready.
But somehow I sense double standards will prevail.
The Saudis have been using chemical weapons against the civilians of Yemen.
Will these mean cruise missiles fired on Riyadh?
PETITION:
Remove Ian Smith from Sky Rugby commentary team.
Ian Smith should be removed from the commentary box because he has no idea what he’s talking about. I can’t handle his stupidity anymore. There must be thousands of people more qualified to commentate test rugby than him.
Please provide an excerpt….
I have been granted the interim injunction, and stopped the sale of my home.
In the Minute of Woodhouse J
“[6] In consequence, there are the following orders:
(a) Pending further order of the Court, the respondent shall take no steps, or no further steps, to effect sale of the applicant’s property at 86A School Road, Kingsland.
…”
Penny Bright
Really pleased for you Penny, big hugs.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/355857/penny-bright-given-brief-reprieve-over-forced-home-sale
“A High Court judge has granted a short term interim injuction, giving Ms Bright three more days to prepare her case seeking a halt to the sale.”
🙄
Good news Penny.
Although I was thinking if worse comes to worse a little tent outside Auckland council or Mr Town’s residence, might make them think twice about selling rate payers houses in the future. So pleased it does not come to that.
We have enough homeless and disempowered people, already.
Oh, just read Sacha’s post, 3 days is not long, hoping for a longer term outcome for you to keep your house. Good luck!
Sacha should focus on what the JUDGE said – not what Radio NZ said?
Happy to read a link to the full judgement. I’ve provided one for RNZ’s reading of it.
Did the judge not indicate any timescale for the interim injunction,Penny?
Really pleased for you, by the way.
When are Auckland Council going to disclose their spending details, the books should be open to all ratepayers as we are stakeholders in Auckland Council ?
Yep, I think the entire budget each year including payments to all the contractors/third parties should be made public each year. I’m sure that will throw up some interesting information.
Rates used to be quite a small bill for home owners. Now it’s more likely to be in your top 4 most expensive bills you have to pay each month.
I hope that the new government looks into whether it is better to abandon the COO structures. We have Auckland Transport that seems to be a basket case which take up 53% from rates of their $1.345 billion dollar annual budget. Not only does it not work very well, we now have a to pay fuel tax on top of that. What’s next, poll tax to prop them up? Ports of Auckland are terrible employers with employment rulings against them and apparently ok to steal the harbour. Wastewater is still not separated, but wait, more money is the problem, not their lack of planning between resource consenting and wastewater.
If we can see where all the money goes in fine detail, it can shed some light on what’s going wrong, such as why the dig up the roads and footpaths continually, and is it a good idea to speculate on Westgate malls? How do people get around with zero public transport in parts of the supercity? Is charging $10 for a HOP card and the ridiculous way to get a child HOP a good idea? Why is it taking over $200,000 in legal fees to defend CEO Steven Town’s alleged defamation of Penny Bright? Is it price gouging from the lawyers?
No doubt nobody in power would be keen for full transparency, but then if there is full transparency, won’t that shut the critics up if it’s all above board as well as make people trust Labour more.
There are too many scandals with public figures on the trough.
I don’t agree with Phil Goff’s ideology, but I do think he is an honest man in terms of money and maybe he could lead the councillors to actually properly open up the books in minute detail so that the stakeholders aka rate payers have full access. We all know the CEO and executives will not be for it.
This would also keep out the more dishonest contractors and suppliers from dealing with council, and that would be a good thing.
Any public contracts and services should be totally transparent at all times. Not just three yearly.
Firms undertaking contracts for public entities, us, have no right to cower behind “commercial sensitivity”, to hide from those paying the bills.
Why are rate payers paying Town’s court costs?
Good morning people the moko is taking her first steps and the sun is shining .
The trolls can not take a chink out of Jacinda so the target Clarke well they are wasting there time I can see he is a good man he could be like that Other famous Clarke and they won’t be able to take a chink out of him.
Lets get this strait I treat all people with respect if they treat me the same and just because one person makes a statement about me doesn’t mean it is true I respect the police I don’t respect these sandflies that are exclusive brethren who think they have the right to cast there judgement on US Maori cultured tangata .They use there money and influence to distort the course of justice there members avoid jail and they justify this by implying that the members whom have had the course justice distorted for there mistakes are shunned from there church what a load of———being ostracized is nothing compeared to going to jail for one they have no record of jail time they are not locked in jail caged like an animal . It is accepted right in frount of OUR eyes that this behavior is OK for the few WTF this makes a mockery of the whole system there is more bad things that these people get up to Eco Maori will reveal this in good time .
So I don’t hate all police .Every move the sandflies make reveals that my hunches are right Ana to kai Ka kite ano
I can not pronounce Te reo properly my self my wife laughs at my attemts I can pronounce words that I used when I was young but with my spelling problem my attempts a pronouncing Te reo are not very good .So Eco Maori says lay off the coach if he knows he mite pronounce the name wrong well so be it let him use what he wants to get what he means across to the audience Ana to kai ka kite ano.
Newshub well you already know my view on ANZAC it mite not be the popular view but I care about te tangata and Ngati Porou both had big losses in World War 1 and 2 the 1 percent start War while the Tommy fight and die in these wars and in New Zealand the Tommy were mostly Maori enough said.
Amazon is the future of retail everyone better change or get left in its wake they cut out the middle man this is going to happen in all industrys .
Come on you don’t trip up the mokopunas .
It will be a good game of League tonight .
Ka kite ano P.S you can not see me through the camera lol