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:
More food oriented Izzard:
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?
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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Despite Christopher Luxon’s assurances to the contrary, there is no such thing as “settled law” in New Zealand. Apart from the six provisions that are constitutionally entrenched, legislation can always be amended or overturned by a simple majority vote within our single chamber of Parliament. Luxon’s repeated use of the ...
This is a re-post from the Thinking is Power website maintained by Melanie Trecek-King where she regularly writes about many aspects of critical thinking in an effort to provide accessible and engaging critical thinking information to the general public. Please see this overview to find links to other reposts from Thinking is Power. ...
What a week, month even of deplorable headlines and hysterics we’ve had as a country – and given 2023 is closing in on us (a mere 6 months until Parties shift some gears into election mode really, not that some of them haven’t started already of course), we need ...
Over the weekend, the US Supreme Court followed through on its threat, and overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively outlawing abortion in much of the United States. People were outraged, in America and around the world. And in Aotearoa, this meant a lot of sudden questions for the National Party, which ...
Nothing is evil in the beginning… #TheRingsOfPowerpic.twitter.com/XffZtqp8Yw— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) June 27, 2022 We have ourselves a new breadcrumb (not a leak!) out of The Rings of Power. It is a fifteen second collection of clips from the original teaser-trailer, together ...
The repeal of Roe vs Wade by the US Supreme Court is part of a broader “New Conservative” agenda financed by reactionary billionaires like Peter Thiel, Elon Mush, the Kochs and Murdochs (and others), organised by agitators like Steve Bannon and Rodger Stone and legally weaponised by Conservative (often Catholic) ...
A Dangerous Leap Backwards: A United States forced to live by the beliefs and values of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries cannot hope to go on leading the “Free World”, or compete economically with nations focused fearlessly on the future. The revocation of Roe v. Wade represents the American republic’s most ...
Now that the right of US women to abortion (formerly protected by Roe vWade) has been abolished, the important role of medication-induced abortion will come even more to the fore. Already, research by the Guttmacher Institute reproductive rights centre shows that over half of US abortions are obtained ...
The government is finally moving to improve transparency over party finances, lowering the donation disclosure threshold to $5,000. This is a good move, though it doesn't go as far as it should. And of course, there's a nasty twist: The rules for larger donations are also changing. Presently parties ...
A rare exposure in Western media of the fact that many residents of the Donbass prefer Russian rule to Ukrainian ultranationalist rule. I don’t know why anyone would take advice from UK’s lame duck Prime Minister and well-known buffoon Boris Johnson seriously, but he ...
Jacinda Ardern will need to deploy every aspect of her starpower if she is to have any hope of rescuing New Zealand’s faltering free trade negotiations with the European Union (EU). The Prime Minister has branded each of her four foreign trips so far this year as ‘trade missions’ – ...
It was sometime in the late 1990s that I first interviewed Alan Webster about New Zealand’s part in a global Values Study. It’s a fascinating snapshot of values in countries all over the world and I still remember seeing America grouped with many developing countries on a spectrum that had ...
Today marks Matariki, the first “new” New Zealand public holiday since Waitangi Day was added in 1974. Officially the start of the Maori New Year, this is one of those moveable beasties – much like Easter, the dates will vary from year to year, anywhere from mid-June to ...
The takeaways from the just released data are:1. Any estimate of GDP is subject to error.2. The 0.2 percent decrease in the March 2022 quarter is not precise and will be revised, with the mild likelihood that it will eventually be higher.3. New Zealand has no ‘official' definition of a ...
Guided By The Stars? This gift of Matariki, then, what will be made of it? Can a people spiritually unconnected to anything other than their digital devices truly appreciate the relentless progress of gods and heroes across the heavens? The elders of Maoridom must wonder. Can Te Ao Māori be ...
The internet is a wonderful thing sometimes. Yesterday, I ran across an AI program that generates images via prompt: https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini So I have been doing the logical thing with it. Getting it to generate Silmarillion characters in bizarre situations. Morgoth playing golf, and so forth. But one thing I ...
Stashing renewable energy Do a little internet sleuthing on renewable energy via your favorite search engine and you'll find some honest critique and much more dishonest misinformation (aka disinformation) to the effect that photovoltaic and wind generation are fickle energy supplies, over-abundant in some periods and absent in others. There's ...
The current New Zealand First Foundation trial in the High Court continues to show why reform is required when it comes to money in politics. The juicy details coming out each day show private wealth being funnelled into some peculiar schemes in an attempt to circumvent the Electoral Act. Yet ...
As in so many other areas of public policy, attitudes towards overseas investment in New Zealand – and anywhere, for that matter – boil down in the end to ideology. For proponents of the “free market”, there is really no issue. The market, in their view, must never be second-guessed; ...
Selwyn Manning and I discussed the upcoming NATO Leader’s summit (to which NZ Prime Minister Ardern is invited), the rival BRICS Leader’s summit and what they could mean for the Ruso-Ukrainian Wa and beyond. ...
New Zealand’s Most Profitable“Friend” Dangerous “Threat”: This country’s “Five Eyes” partners, heedless of the economic consequences for New Zealand, have cajoled and bullied its political class into becoming Sinophobes. They simply do not care that close to 40 percent of this country’s trade is with China. As far as Washington, London, ...
I have seen some natter around about how The Rings of Power represents the undue and unholy corporatisation of J.R.R. Tolkien. I won’t point out examples, but anyone who has seen YouTube commentary has a pretty good grasp of what I am talking about – the sentiment that ...
2017’s Queenmaker: Five years ago, Winston Peters’ choice ran counter to New Zealand’s informal, No. 8 wire, post-MMP constitution, which, up until 2017, had decreed that the party with the most votes got to supply the next prime minister. Had National not been in power for the previous 9 years, it ...
I've read some bad stuff about long covid recently, and Marc Daalder's recent Newsroom piece about what endemic covid means for Aotearoa got me wondering about whether the government was thinking about it. Mass-disability due to long covid has obvious implications for health and welfare spending, as well as for ...
Last year, a stranded kiwi criticised the MIQ system. Covid Minister Chris Hipkins responded by doxxing and defaming her. Now, he's been forced to apologise for that: Minister Chris Hipkins has admitted he released incorrect and personal information about journalist Charlotte Bellis, after she criticised the managed isolation system. ...
Gil-galad is an Elven Chad Gil-galad is an Elven Chad But Celebrimbor makes them mad Digesting leaks from Amazon Of Isildur and Pharazôn. The hair is short? The knives are keen. The beardless face of Dwarven Queen? With meteor and man-not-named The fandom temper is inflamed. Of Annatar ...
From the desk of Keir "Patriotic Duty" Starmer:“We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes to go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government have failed to engage in any negotiations.“However, we also must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded ...
Has swapping Scott Morrison for Anthony Albanese made any discernible difference to Australia’s relations with the US, China, the Pacific and New Zealand ? Not so far. For example: Albanese has asked for more time to “consider” his response to New Zealand’s long running complaints about the so called “501” ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The Biden administration in April 2021 dramatically ratcheted up the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledge under the Paris target, also known as its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The Obama administration in 2014 had announced a commitment to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels ...
Something I missed: the Central African Republic has abolished the death penalty: The National Assembly of the Central African Republic (CAR) passed a law abolishing the death penalty in the CAR on May 27, 2022. Once CAR President Touadéra promulgates the bill, the CAR will become the 24th abolitionist ...
Walking On Sunshine: National’s Sam Uffindell cantered home in the Tauranga By-Election, but the Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Sue Grey attracted an ominous level of support.THE RIGHT’S gadfly commentator, Matthew Hooton, summed up the Tauranga by-election in his usual pithy fashion. “Tonight’s result is poor for the National Party, catastrophic for ...
Te reo Māori is Dr. Anaha Hiini’s life purpose. Raised by his grandparents, Kepa and Maata Hiini, Anaha of Ngāti Tarāwhai, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue descent made a promise at the age of six to his late grandmother, Maata Hiini. “I’ve always had a passion for Māori culture. My first inspiration ...
Dr Carwyn Jones’ vision is to see Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the law given equal mana. Carwyn who holds a PhD in law and society and currently teaches Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa after 15 years at Victoria University of Wellington has devoted ...
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to attend the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Spain – but to skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda – symbolises the changes she is making to New Zealand foreign policy. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) starts today in ...
The outlook does not look that promising. Forecasting an economy is a mug’s game. The database on which the forecasts are founded is incomplete, out-of-date, and subject to errors, some of which will be revised after the forecasts are published. (No wonder weather-forecasting is easier.) One often has to adopt ...
by Don Franks It seems that almost each day now another ram raid shatters someone’s shop front and loots the premises. Prestigious Queen street is not immune, while attacks on small dairies have long stopped being headline news. Those of us not directly affected are becoming numbed to this form ...
It’s hard to believe that when we created Sciblogs in 2009, the iPhone was only two years old, being a ‘Youtuber’ wasn’t really a thing and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok didn’t exist. But Science blogging was a big thing, particularly in the United States, where a number of scientists had ...
For 13 years, Sciblogs has been a staple in New Zealand’s science-writing landscape. Our bloggers have written about a vast variety of topics from climate change to covid, and from nanotechnology to household gadgets.But sadly, it’s time to close shop. Sciblogs will be shutting down on 30 June.When ...
Radical Options: By allocating the Broadcasting portfolio to the irrepressible, occasionally truculent, leader of Labour’s Māori caucus, Willie Jackson, the Prime Minister has, at the very least, confirmed that her appointment of Kiri Allan was no one-off. There are many words that could be used to describe Ardern’s placement of ...
A Delicate Juggler? The new Chief Censor, Ms Caroline Flora, owes New Zealand a comprehensive explanation of how she sees, and how she proposes to carry out, her role. Where, for example, is her duty to respect and protect the citizen’s right to freedom of expression positioned in relation to ...
Good grief. Has foreign policy commentary really devolved to the point where our diplomatic effort is being measured by how many overseas trips have been taken by our Foreign Minister? Weird, but apparently so. All this week, a series of media policy wonks have been invidiously comparing how many trips ...
Where we've been Time flies. This coming summer will mark 15 years of Skeptical Science focusing its effort on "traditional" climate science denial. Leaving aside frivolities, we've devoted most of our effort to combatting "serious" denial falling into a handful of broad categories of fairly crisp misconceptions: "radiative physics is wrong,""geophysics is ...
Mercenary army of bogus skeptics on parade Because they're both squarely centered in the Skeptical Science wheelhouse, this week we're highlighting two articles from our government and NGO section, where we collect high-quality articles not originating in academic research but featuring many of the important attributes of journal publications. Our mission ...
In the latest episode of AVFA Selwyn Manning and I discuss the evolution of Latin American politics and macroeconomic policy since the 1970s as well as US-Latin American relations during that time period. We use recent elections and the 2022 Summit of the Americas as anchor points. ...
The Scottish government has announced plans for another independence referendum: Nicola Sturgeon plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence in October next year if her government secures the legal approval to stage it. Angus Robertson, the Scottish government’s constitution secretary, said that provided ample time to pass ...
So far, the closer military relationship envisaged by Jacinda Ardern and Joseph Biden at their recent White House meeting has been analysed mainly in terms of what this means for our supposedly “independent” foreign policy. Not much attention has been paid to what having more interoperable defence forces might mean ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters For those puzzling over the various hurricane computer forecast models to figure out which one to believe, the best answer is: Don’t believe any of them. Put your trust in the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, forecast. Although an individual ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Scott Denning The excellent Julia Steinberger essay posted at this site in May provides a disturbing window into the psychology of teaching climate change to young people. It’s critically important to talk with youth about hard topics: love and sex, deadly contagion, school shootings, vicious ...
By Imogen Foote (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) A lack of consensus among international conservation regimes regarding albatross taxonomy makes management of these ocean roaming birds tricky. My PhD research aims to generate whole genome data for some of our most threatened albatrosses in a first attempt ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to scrap the Acceptable Standards of Health policy that discriminates against disabled migrants after former Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni acknowledged the policy “disadvantages” disabled migrants on TVNZ’s Q&A this morning. ...
We’ve secured a major free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) – a move that’s set to boost exports by $1.8 billion per annum, enhance our economic security, and enable New Zealand businesses to grow, by unlocking one of the world’s biggest and high value markets. The new ...
Our Government is committed to making sure that our health system works for all New Zealanders, no matter who you are or where you live. Transformation of our health system will take time, and the step we’re taking today – establishing Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority – ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to announce its support urgently for a moratorium on deep sea mining under the high seas, after Pacific nations joined forces this week to demand change. ...
We’re committed to ensuring that there is every opportunity for women and girls to succeed in Aotearoa New Zealand, with fewer barriers. Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to support women and girls, by improving services like healthcare and tackling issues like the gender pay gap. Here are just ...
Political pressure from the Green Party has pushed the Government to supply free masks to kids and teachers in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the European Greens have published a joint statement calling for the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement to support climate action, phase out fossil fuel subsidies, cut agriculture emissions, protect human rights, and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to guarantee that it will complete light rail and improve walking, cycling, and bus journeys across Wellington before digging new high-carbon tunnels. ...
The Green Party is urging Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker to commit to stronger ocean protection around Aotearoa and on the high seas while at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Portugal this week. ...
A strong Green voice in Parliament has helped reduce the influence large secret money will have in future elections and finally ensured overseas New Zealanders will retain the right to vote even while stranded by the Pandemic. But, the Government needs to go further to ensure our democracy works for ...
A new poll shows that the majority of people back the Greens’ call on the Government to overhaul the country’s criminally punitive, anti-evidence drug law. ...
The US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion is a reminder that we must take nothing for granted in Aotearoa, the Green Party says. “Aotearoa should be a place where everyone, no matter where they are from, or who they love, can choose what is right for their body and their ...
We’re proud to have delivered on our election commitment to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki. For the first time this year, New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own. ...
Proposed new legislation to reduce the risk that timber imported into Aotearoa New Zealand is sourced from illegal logging is a positive first step but it should go further, the Green Party says. ...
On World Refugee Day, the Green Party is calling on the new Minister for Immigration, Michael Wood to make up for the support that was not provided to people forced to leave their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This week, we’ve marked a major milestone in our school upgrade programme. We've supported 4,500 projects across the country for schools to upgrade classrooms, sports facilities, playgrounds and more, so Kiwi kids have the best possible environments to learn in. ...
We’ve delivered on our election commitment to make Matariki a public holiday. For the first time this year, all New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own with family and friends. Try our quiz below, then challenge your whānau! To celebrate, we’ve ...
The Green Party says the removal of pre-departure testing for arrivals into New Zealand means the Government must step up domestic measures to protect communities most at risk. ...
The long overdue resumption of the Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota must be followed by an overhaul of the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme, says the Green Party. ...
Lessons must be learned from the Government's response to the Delta outbreak, which the Ministry of Health confirmed today left Māori, Pacific, and disabled communities at greater risk. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to withdraw the proposed Oranga Tamariki oversight legislation which strips away independence and fails to put children at the heart. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London overnight, and together took a number of steps to strengthen the already close ties between our two countries, and promote our common interests in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. “The UK is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s oldest and closest friends and ...
Building a more secure, sustainable and prosperous future together: Joint Statement – Prime Ministers Jacinda Ardern and Boris Johnson 1. New Zealand and the United Kingdom are old friends and close partners. Our relationship rests on a bedrock of history, shared values, and deep people-to-people links, extending across almost all ...
Director Sir Robin Niblett, distinguished guests. What an honour it is to be back in London, and to be here at Chatham house. This visit represents much for me. The reopening of borders and resumption of travel after a difficult few years. The chance to bring life to the UK ...
Manawa maiea te pūtanga o Matariki Manawa maiea te ariki o te rangi Manawa maiea te mātahi o te tau! Introduction I’m pleased to join you for my second address at the 56th Annual Otago Foreign Policy School. The topic for this year is Space. Given that we are in ...
New Ministry will officially be called Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People Public Service Commission have appointed Geraldine Woods as Interim Chief Executive Office for Disability Issues to be folded into the new Ministry In what is a milestone day, the Government has launched Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Whaikaha ...
Nine new He Poutama Rangatahi programmes have been approved funding. These programmes will provide work-readiness, training and employment initiatives for over 820 rangatahi NEETS (not in education, employment or training), across Aotearoa New Zealand. "He Poutama Rangatahi has proven to be a very successful initiative which supports rangatahi to overcome ...
Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson today announced the appointment of Crown representatives, Dr Charlotte Severne and Mr Bernie O’Donnell, to the Steering Committee that will determine the future of the Ihumātao land. “I’m pleased to have made the Crown appointments. Both Dr Severne and Mr O’Donnell have extensive ...
I begin by thanking each of you for accepting appointment to these boards. You’ve each been on the Ministerial committee that established Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and Te Aka Whai Ora - the Māori Health Authority and I express my appreciation for the enormous task you collectively ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has reiterated its concerns over the continued erosion of rights, freedom and autonomy in Hong Kong. On the second anniversary of the introduction of the Hong Kong National Security Law, the Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta says developments in Hong Kong remain a cause for worry. “Two years ...
The Europol Agreement signed is a significant milestone for New Zealand and the European Union’s relationship, and reflects our shared principles of democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Prime Minister attended a signature ceremony in Brussels, as part of ...
· New nationwide public health system · 20 district health boards disestablished and deficits wiped · 82,000 health employees directly employed by Health New Zealand · $24 billion health budget this year – up 43% since Labour took office in 2017 – in addition to separate funding for the new ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has announced appointments to the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Board of Trustees of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura). “Robyn Baker ONZM has been appointed as the chair of the Teaching Council. She has considerable governance experience and is a ...
European Commission President von der Leyen and Prime Minister of New Zealand Ardern met in Brussels on 30 June 2022. The encounter provided an opportunity to reaffirm that the European Union and Aotearoa New Zealand are longstanding partners with shared democratic values and interests, aligned positions on key international and ...
Export revenue to the EU to grow by up to $1.8 billion annually on full implementation. Duty-free access on 97% of New Zealand’s current exports to the EU; with over 91% being removed the day the FTA comes into force. NZ exporters set to save approx. $110 million per annum ...
57,000 EVs and Hybrid registered in first year of clean car scheme, 56% increase on previous year EVs and Non Plug-in Hybrids made up 20% of new passenger car sales in March/April 2022 The Government’s Clean Car Discount Scheme has been a success, with more than 57,000 light-electric and ...
Police Minister Chris Hipkins congratulates the newest Police wing – wing 355 – which graduated today in Porirua. “These 70 new constables heading for the frontline bring the total number of new officers since Labour took office to 3,303 and is the latest mark of our commitment to the Police ...
Members with a range of governance, financial and technical skills have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Board as part of the shift to strengthen the Bank’s decision-making and accountability arrangements. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 comes into force on 1 July 2022, with the establishment of ...
New Zealand to remain at Orange as case numbers start to creep up 50 child-size masks made available to every year 4-7 student in New Zealand 20,000-30,000 masks provided a week to all other students and school staff Extra funding to schools and early childhood services to supports better ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will join Ukraine’s case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which challenges Russia’s spurious attempt to justify its invasion under international law. Ukraine filed a case at the ICJ in February arguing Russia has falsely claimed genocide had occurred in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as ...
The Government has taken another step forward in its work to eliminate family violence and sexual violence with the announcement today of a new Tangata Whenua Ministerial Advisory Group. A team of 11 experts in whānau Māori wellbeing will provide the Government independent advice on shaping family violence and sexual ...
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women’s Employment Action Plan was launched today by Minister for Women Jan Tinetti – with the goal of ensuring New Zealand is a great place for women to work. “This Government is committed to improving women’s working lives. The current reality is that women have ...
The food and fibre sector acknowledged its people and leadership at last night’s 2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards, a time to celebrate their passion towards supporting employees by putting their health, welfare and wellbeing first,” Acting Minister of Agriculture Meka Whairiti said. “Award winners were selected from an extraordinary ...
Kia ora koutou katoa. It is a rare thing to have New Zealand represented at a NATO Summit. While we have worked together in theatres such as Afghanistan, and have been partners for just on a decade, today represents an important moment for our Pacific nation. New Zealand is ...
Te Arataki mō te Hauora Ngākau mō ngā Mōrehu a Tū me ō rātou Whānau, The Veteran, Family and Whānau Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy Framework “We ask a lot of those who serve in the military – and we ask a lot of the families and whānau who support ...
Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio has been appointed by the United Nations and Commonwealth as Aotearoa New Zealand’s advocacy champion for Small Island States. “Aotearoa New Zealand as a Pacific country is particularly focused on the interests of Pacific Small Island Developing States in our region. “This is a ...
An estimated 100,000 low income households will be eligible for increased support to pay their council rates, with changes to the rates rebate scheme taking effect from 1 July. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced increases to both the maximum value of the rates rebate, and the income threshold ...
A long-standing physical activity programme that focuses on outcomes for Maori has been expanded to four new regions with Government investment almost doubled to increase its reach. He Oranga Poutama is managed by a combination of hapū, iwi, hauora and regional providers. An increase in funding from $1.8 million ...
The Government is progressing a preferred option for LGWM which will see Wellington’s transport links strengthened with light rail from Wellington Station to Island Bay, a new tunnel through Mt Victoria for public transport, and walking and cycling, and upgrades to improve traffic flow at the Basin Reserve. “Where previous ...
To Provost Muniz, to the Organisers at the Instituto de Empresa buenas tardes and as we would say in New Zealand, kia ora kotou katoa. To colleagues from the State Department, from Academia, and Civil Society Groups, to all our distinguished guests - kia ora tatou katoa. It’s a pleasure ...
On June 28, 2022, a meeting took place in Madrid between the President of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting Spain to participate in the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as one ...
A six-fold increase in the Aotearoa New Zealand-Spain working holiday scheme gives a huge boost to the number of young people who can live and work in each other’s countries, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. Jacinda Ardern and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón made the Working Holiday/Youth Mobility Scheme announcement ...
A significant barrier has been removed for people who want to stand in local government elections, with a change to the requirement to publish personal details in election advertising. The Associate Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has taken the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Bill through its final stages in Parliament ...
New financial conduct scheme will ensure customers are treated fairly Banks, insurers and non-bank deposit takers to be licensed by the FMA in relation to their general conduct Sales incentives based on volume or value targets like bonuses for selling a certain number of financial products banned The Government ...
Legislation that bans major supermarkets from blocking their competitors’ access to land to set up new stores paves the way for greater competition in the sector, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The new law is the first in a suite of measures the Government is ...
The Government has announced an end to the requirement for border workers and corrections staff to be fully vaccinated. This will come into place from 2 July 2022. 100 per cent of corrections staff in prisons, and as of 23 June 2022 97 per cent of active border workers were ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has concluded a visit to Rwanda reaffirming Aotearoa New Zealand’s engagement in the Commonwealth and meeting with key counterparts. “I would like to thank President Kagame and the people of Rwanda for their manaakitanga and expert hosting of this important meeting,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “CHOGM ...
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty officially launched the new Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting (MAR) Centre at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) today. The Government has stood up the centre in response to recommendations from the 2018 Ministerial Review following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and 2017 Port Hills fire, ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has welcomed the announcement that a 110km/hr speed limit has been set for the SH1 Waikato Expressway, between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. “The Waikato Expressway is a key transport route for the Waikato region, connecting Auckland to the agricultural and business centres of the central North ...
Following feedback from the sector, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti, today confirmed that new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me te pāngarau standards will be aligned with wider NCEA changes. “The education sector has asked for more time to put the literacy and numeracy | te reo ...
$4.5 million to provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal equipment and supplies such as medical kit for the Ukrainian Army Deployments extended for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) intelligence, logistics and liaison officers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium Secondment of a senior New Zealand military officer to support International ...
Power Play - The Prime Minister travelled to Brussels with two speeches prepared - one detailed a historic trade deal, the other why she would leave Brussels without one. ...
Green Party candidate for Wellington's Motukairangi-Eastern Ward Luana Scowcroft is launching her campaign at Hataitai Centre (the former Hataitai Bowling Club) at 7pm tonight, Saturday July 2nd. Luana says that council's short-term thinking, and ...
The government has just announced the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the European Union. One Māori entity operating in the trade space, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga, is not celebrating. “We are aware that New Zealand negotiators genuinely sought ...
Buzz from the Beehive Down here on Earth – more particularly, in Ihumātao – progress on doing whatever is going to be done to that disputed patch of land has been glacial. Newsroom drew attention to the dawdling in an article in April which noted that Māori Development Minister Willie ...
PNG Post-Courier Today is officially the last day of campaigning in Papua New Guinea’s 2022 National General Election. Count tomorrow until Monday as rest days, but in politically charged PNG, anything is possible, including illegal last-minute clandestine campaigning. Polling is set to begin Tuesday, July 4, when millions will exercise ...
Asia Pacific Report newsdesk Greenpeace Aotearoa has condemned New Zealand for “standing by” while “deep wounds are inflicted on its Pacific neighbours” by silence over deep sea mining. Greenpeace’s seabed mining campaigner James Hita made the critical statement today after a dramatic shift at the UN Oceans conference in Lisbon ...
Buzz from the Beehive Numbers, quotas and ratios have been high in ministerial considerations over the past 24 hours or so. Export revenue to the EU will grow by up to $1.8 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Harris Rimmer, Professor and Director of the Policy Innovation Hub, Griffith Business School, Griffith University Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Public Forum that some Australians may not understand why he’s at a NATO meeting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jared Mondschein, Senior Research Fellow, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney When colonial Americans declared their independence on July 4 1776, they rejected more than British rule. They explicitly denounced the British form of government and the unlegislated norms, traditions and conventions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and Emma Larouche, from the University of Canberra’s Media and Communications team discuss the week in politics. They canvass the crossbenchers’ stoush with the Prime Minister over ...
"Aotearoa New Zealand remains concerned by the steady erosion of rights, freedoms, and autonomy that has occurred in Hong Kong as a result," the foreign minister said. ...
With one month to go until the closure of the 2021 Resident Visa, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) encourages those who are eligible for the 2021 Resident Visa to submit their applications before the category closes at 11:59pm on 31 July 2022. INZ has ...
Analysis - National's Christopher Luxon moves to defuse a potentially vote-losing disaster, the Health Minister's problems keep piling up and the PM speaks at a NATO summit and unveils an historic free trade agreement with the EU. ...
The government's signing of an Europol Agreement significant reflects shared principles of democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Tolbert, Associate Professor of Science and Environmental Education, University of Canterbury GettyImagesPlastic Free July has rolled around again and we’ll all be hearing about reducing plastic use in our daily lives. Much of the messaging is targeted toward young ...
Cost, sexism and racism are barriers to ethnic women entering Aotearoa New Zealand politics, a University of Auckland researcher says A University of Auckland researcher shedding light on the unseen and unheard stories of ethnic women in New Zealand politics ...
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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:
More food oriented Izzard:
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.
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
(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