"We are landless in our own land, Takaparawha means a tremendous amount to our people. The struggle for the retention of this land is the most important struggle which our people have faced for many years. To lose this last bit of ground would be a death blow to the mana, to the honour and to the dignity of the Ngāti Whātua people."
I think the comparison is apt. It is hard to downplay the significance of what Joe Hawke and Rosa Parks did. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white woman. Rosa Parks began a movement. The Montgomery bus boycott lasted 13 months.
When Joe Hawke raised his family's small holiday camping tent on Bastion Pt. he began a movement that is still continuing.
From Joe Hawke's simple act of defiance, a whole movement grew.
From Joe Hawke's example Eva Rickard led a successful occupation of the Raglan Golf course. More recently Pania Newton led a successful occupation of Ihuamatao.
Leaders with the courage and foresight of Joe Hawke or Rosa Parks or Eva Rickard or Pania Newton are rare. Almost once in a generation do they appear.
The thousands that turned up at Bastion Pt. Takaparawha yesterday the first day of his tangi are a testament to the greatness of his legacy.
Even a contingent of New Zealand police in full uniform came to pay their respects.
Of the 222 people arrested by police at Bastion Pt. half were Pakeha supporters.
What inspiring leaders like Joe Hawke and Rosa Parks had in common is that they both belonged to the whole world.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Bondarev said he had "not seen any alternative" than to resign: "I don't think it will change a lot, frankly, but I think it may be one little brick into the bigger wall which would eventually be built. I hope so."
This decision could not have been easy or comfortable, giving up his position would have required an enormous amount of self sacrifice. All credit to Morris Bondarev, for having the courage of his convictions and acting on them.
Unfortunately the Russian Federation representative to New Zealand is the complete opposite,
Totally lacking in principle or morals, guilty of knowingly spreading fake news and lies in support of the bloody invasion and occupation of Ukraine. He won't be resigning his diplomatic post on principle any time soon.
All Left anti-war activists need to demand the immediate expulsion of this immoral bloodthirsty toady scumbag from our country.
…Russia's Embassy in New Zealand has used its Facebook page to say that alleged war crimes uncovered in parts of Ukraine are a "hoax".
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned against "disinformation emanating from social media", after the posts were publicised.
New Zealand's Government and Opposition have both aligned with Ukrainian accounts of atrocities, with Ardern saying the reported crimes were "beyond reprehensible".
"Russia must answer to the world for what they've done," Ardern said. This week, Ardern faced renewed calls to expel Russia's ambassador…
…..Ardern has so far refused to expel Russia's ambassador to New Zealand. On Monday, she appeared open to the idea that she might do so in the future.
I’d imagine that not all Russians living in Aotearoa-New Zealand are necessarily strong supporters of the war in Ukraine. So, why deprive all of them from an Ambassador, which is obviously a bit more than a symbolic gesture and extreme virtue-signalling?
I guarantee incognito, that if it was your child that was killed or maimed, you would be calling for something, obviously a bit more than a symbolic gesture.
And I could also pretty much guarantee that genuine anti-war Russian expats here, would be prepared to make the sacrifice and undergo the inconvenience of not having their legation handy.
After all lots anti-war Russian citizens have sacrificed far more.
Cracking down on peace: How Russian anti-war protesters face persecution
Russian authorities are attempting to intimidate opponents of the war in Ukraine. Courageous activists in Kazan report what they have been doing and what consequences they face. A report from Tatarstan….
…..raids were carried out at the homes of journalists, activists and students. There were three different waves on March 6, 17, and 25. Many of those affected complain they were the victims of police violence.
….."During the raids there were dreadful insults, humiliation, threats and beatings to my head and back. I was put in handcuffs and forced to kneel for three or four hours. They threatened to strip my 69-year-old mother naked if I did not tell them where my cellphone was," wrote activist Andrei Boyarshinov, who also lives in Kazan. He passed his report to journalists; DW has attained a copy. Boyarshinov, who is now being held in custody in a prison, is accused by authorities of having publicly called for terrorist acts. He rejects the allegations.
Are you a genuine anti-war Russian expat or an anti-Putin one? How’s severing diplomatic ties, symbolic or otherwise, going to help the victims of war or help to end the war peacefully? If the Embassy is spreading falsehoods and propaganda here in Aotearoa-New, deliberately, to influence public opinion (or of expats only?), then they should be told STFU. Because that’s clearly in our control-sphere.
We don't have Consular representation in every country. One of my relatives died suddenly in Sweden and as we did not have a representative there at the time, everything had to be done through The Hague. The MFAT people here and in The Hague were very helpful and everything was sorted out very quickly.
That’s a fair point and things don’t necessarily become impossible or extremely cumbersome without an Ambassador. It won’t affect me personally because I’m not a Russian expat, but just another armchair warrior living in the comfort of a warm house in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
It's a tricky thing, expelling ambassadors – usually reserved for the outbreak of hostilities. The long term relationship with other states is in principle more at issue than the momentary vileness of their leadership.
But it wouldn't be a bad symbolic move – to close the embassy until Putin is gone, and Ukrainian territory is no longer occupied. We don't have the guns to push Putin around, but we are a soft power leader, as was shown with the apartheid protests.
The question is whether NZ chooses to lead. And – it might be a more progressive way to approach the problem than military aid. I expect it would prove electorally popular, and our allies would like it, without the drawbacks we suffered from supporting their ill-starred adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NZ's Russian ambassador refuses to attend 'futile' briefings
Mon, Apr 11 Source:
…..Zuev has twice been invited to appear. In a letter dated 14 March, he said he was honoured to receive an invitation to brief the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee but declined because it would be "obviously futile"….
….Golriz Ghahraman saying Zuev should be expelled if he still refused to appear before the committee.
"The job of a diplomat is to continue dialogue, so that's what we honour until he … honours the same," Ghahraman said.
Ardern has not ruled out removing the ambassador in future….
Here is a fascinating video from Peter Zeihan, geopolitical commentator, explaining a lot of the factors impacting on China at the moment that mean it is unlikely to be a reliable partner going forward.
I think the government primarily had in mind the potential of China invading Taiwan. However, as Zeihan points out, that is less likely now since China has likely been sobered up by the events in Ukraine. China likely realises that if the same degree of sanctions were applied to China as have been to Russia, China would quickly be totally destroyed economically as it is a net importer of most raw materials including energy.
Also, another devastating outcome for China would be the likelihood that western corporations would exit China in a similar way that they have from Russia.
More problematic for China is the issue of demographics. Due to their one child policy that was in place for decades, China has one of the fastest ageing populations in the world. According to Zeihan, recent censuses have been over-counting the Chinese population by 100 million or more. If correct, these factors could lead to the Chinese population halving by 2050.
Another huge factor at the moment is the Covid lockdowns in China. The Chinese vaccine is useless, and is ineffective against later strains of Covid. Hence, their only option is to lock their populations down. This is having a major impact on their ability to manufacture within China, and is likely to keep continuing to do so every time a Covid outbreak occurs.
Another factor that occurs to me is that many companies are seeing the effect on the likes of Germany on becoming too reliant on a potential future enemy. Hence, probably many organisations are reconsidering their reliance on China for similar reasons.
The takeaway from this and other reasons is the businesses need to reconsider their reliance on China both from the exporting and importing perspective. Companies that have shifted their manufacturing to China probably need to consider bringing their manufacturing back to NZ and automate to be competitive, or look for other low wage, more friendly economies such as India for their manufacturing.
Very interesting stuff, and only part of the puzzle as to why the nature of trade in terms of globalisation is changing forever.
Successive NZ Governments, driven by the farming lobby, have killed any nascent possibilies of industries, other than exporting dairy to China, leaving us with few alternatives.
We will never recover the local skill base they destroyed, for one.
If anyone thinks our "friend" the USA, is going to spite their own local producers to look after NZ, I have a bridge to sell you,
Not so sure. We are moving into a world food crisis with events happening around the world. So, I think there will be plenty of takers for the food we produce.
We probably have an opportunity to move some of that towards grains given the world shortage and high prices.
The biggest downside for NZ is that our internal food prices are going to be very high. But at least we have access to food. Not so much for some countries going forward.
"We are moving into a world food crisis with events happening around the world."
This is true, but what goes up must come down. We seem currently at the whim of markets beyond our control – but that part of it is surely at least partially within our control. Some stability, locally, is doable, if not palatable.
We are not 'feeding the world' at such exorbitant prices, we are feeding the rich.
NZ needs to look after NZ, that should include companies operating in NZ. Tax is not everything a company should provide. Goods and services at reasonable rates is, I reckon, quite reasonable.
Yep, footwear, clothing, car assembly, much general manufacturing, textiles, and many others have been closed or gone offshore since traitor Douglas had his way.
What these delivered above all was full time employment for thousands, who were discarded in the 80s and 90s and never retrained or considered in a strategic way.
The State Sector is now a snake pit of competing interests–including private capital–rather than a public service.
With pandemics and climate disaster and imperialist power plays, this is the very time NZ could do with a basic pharmaceutical industry and many others.
Certainly interesting times. I was discussing with my wife's sister who was over from Auz recently. I commented that many firms were going to have to consider moving their manufacturing back to NZ. She said it is already happening in Australia. So, will be interesting to see what happens going forward.
It isn't just the manufacturing factories. Factories that do operate in NZ are likely sourcing components from China, and will likely have to start making those in-house, or find other sources.
Agreed – the large global vendor I work for has announced intentions to spend U$4b on new manufacturing capacity – and none of it will be in China.
Supply chain issues have been experienced as a traumatic speed bump at board levels all over the industrialised world and much of the rest of this decade will see organisations scrambling to re-shore and resource shorter, more reliable manufacturing.
Douglas continedthe process of killing local employment and industry, to pander to the farming lobby that still happens today.
Muldoon killed boat building and caravan manufacture for "social welfare for sheep". Douglas and co, and even the previous Labour Government sacrificed them for, often illusory, "Free trade benefits". Even this Government has other industries, and tax payers, paying for farmings free ride in the ERP.
It's cost us dearly, to the extent that decoupling from dairy exports to China will be almost impossible.
NZ has a thriving boat building sector – not quite sure what you mean here?
It's mostly directed towards the recreational (and for the big money) luxury end of the market – but all of those skills are very transferrable.
What tsmithfield seems to be referring to is a (possible) desire to bring back some manufacturing to NZ. I don't know why that seems to attract such negativity. Yes, it will require tooling up and training a workforce. And the bad part of that is….?
I agree that the Ukraine War has been a wakeup call for many companies about the dangers of strategic supply from one country.
NZ has a boat building sector, which is a pale shadow of what it could have been. Like most of our industry.
In Muldoons time for example. We were carrying a half dozen Farr 6000's to Oz every week. Shortly after the boat tax, we took the molds to Oz. Then Douglas and Co came along, and put the knife in even more. Now we import Benetau's from France. West Australia is building the Aluminum fast ferries that we first designed here.
"What part of that history, makes it impossible to reverse?"
Helping and developing our own industry breaches a whole bunch of "Free trade agreements" for one. Agreements that more successful countries were not stupid enough to make. Doesn't seem to stop billions in agriculture "assistance" however.
Lack of remaining trained people. May have to start paying us? However many of the skills are no longer available as continuity is lost. Very obvious in my industry. Over 45 years since the last big intake of trainees. Can't even replace with immigrants, as the agency employment model overseas, has destroyed continuity of skills training.
The mindset that nothing could, or should, replace farming. And that farming is the only industry that deserves subsidising/protecting. A harder "sacred cow" to overturn in NZ, than even housing speculation.
NZ companies mindset that investing in employee skills, wages, plant and capability building is a mugs game, when they can just cut wages, and investment for short term, “making the books look good” and flog it off, for untaxed capital gains. To many of our businesses are engaged in Capital gains farming, not production.
"That's the point that @tsmithfield is making – that there may very well be an incentive to repatriate some of those industries".
I've long advocated for training, industries and tooling to be kept local.
We have to restart from a very low base though.
No training for decades, has meant most skilled tradespeople are my age or older. Those that are still alive! Our machinery was sold to China nearly 40 years ago, and hasn't been replaced. NZ businesses ability to innovate, has been overtaken by generations of "Managers" whose only skill is screwing down wages. A disadvantage of relying on low wages to grow business profits. So much of our land and infrastructure has been sold offshore, even that room to manoeuvre is gone.
Clearly dominated by primary production. Contrast this to say Finland a nation of similar size that has successfully pivoted toward manufacturing – names like Nokia, Wartsillia, Valmet, Metso and Outotec being leading vendors globally in their industries. This being the direct result of a govt strategy first conceived around the same time as Muldoon to transition their economy away from pure primary production (most wood based) to higher value add.
NZ obviously suffered from the additional challenge of isolation. A quick glance a globe suggests that at least 95% of the human population literally lives on the other side of the planet from us. We are more remote than we think. Yet despite this we have still managed export huge quantities of high volume low value primary products such as logs. The problem may be more complex than mere geography.
Why could Finland do what NZ could not? The answers are not simple – cultural, educational and political factors all have played into this. KJT makes a fair point that the extremist politics of the 80's went about attempting such a process – but with all the wrong outcomes. And we never seem to have recovered the nerve to attempt such 'big idea' political reform ever again.
“KJT makes a fair point that the extremist politics of the 80’s went about attempting such a process – but with all the wrong outcomes.”
I think that our hand was forced in that respect in many ways. That is because we are a small player in a big market. Hence, we need to adapt to what the world is doing, or suffer the consequences.
One advantage of being small is that it is that small means that it is a lot easier to adapt more quickly to changing circumstances. For instance, it should be quite easy for us to change our emphasis away from dairy to some degree and focus more on grain production where the climate suits, as that is an immediate opportunity with grain shortages due to the Ukrainian conflict.
Think about a huge container ship trying to reverse course compared to a small jet boat.
If there is a lesson to be taken from the past few years is that supply chains can adapt well enough to shifts on a decadal scale. At any scale large or small. But fast moving events become impossible to respond to.
Converting say Canterbury from dairy to wheat is obviously doable, but I would hazard a guess it would take at least 3 – 5 years to see a substantial result. Is that going to be fast enough?
Probably one of the problems for NZ is that our climate can be a bit variable which can affect production. For instance, I imagine grain production would have been down in Canterbury this year due to the damp summer we had.
On the other hand, I image the central Otago area would be good for grain growing. It probably has a climate not that dissimilar to Ukraine I suspect.
Not saying it is a bad idea per se, but what is our competitive advantage with say Australia? Grain production works best when you have vast areas of open flat land where highly automated machinery can operate unimpeded at scale. And can harvest millions of tonnes with relatively low labour.
And then you need the transport and handling infrastructure to get it into ships. Again all doable – but it might take a decade to achieve. Again I am not saying it is a bad idea and transitioning some dairy to oats or even barley could well make a lot of sense.
But that feels just like a shuffling of the old low value add primary industry export deck – and do little to get NZ out of the 'nice but a bit impoverished country cousin' trap we have been in for most of my adult life.
"Not saying it is a bad idea per se, but what is our competitive advantage with say Australia?''
I am not sure that competitive advantage is much of an issue when there is a world shortage of something. Countries will be accessing grain from anywhere it can be grown I suspect.
Also, perhaps we could be supplying a lot of our own needs. I imagine the cost of fuel and freight is going to make grain production for our own needs will be a lot more cost-competitive now.
Canterbury still is a large grain producer (along with otago and southland) the South Island produces all of its own milling wheat.
When we had the wheat board all of NZ was sufficient in milling wheat.NZ wheat yields per hecatare are around 14-16 tons,OZ around 3-4,difference is the low land cost in oz.
Frankly anyone on less than a median household income is living hand to mouth with no prospect of it ever getting better. Even those further up the income ladder can find themselves by high housing and living costs.
In my last role in NZ back before 2013 I was in the top 5% of taxpayers that year – yet despite an absurdly abstemious lifestyle I was doing well to save $5k pa. of cash. In Australia I can do that in a month.
The difference has two core reasons. One is that Australian labour productivity is about 15% higher than NZ – because so much of what they do is higher value add. The second reason is that their Wages Share of GDP is about 15% higher – and the root cause of that is a better political balance between employers and employees. They still have powerful unions in a way NZ does not for instance.
Combine those two numbers and there is your 30% higher incomes in Australia. And while inflation is changing the ground rapidly everywhere – it is still my view that the cost of living in Australia is a good 15% lower – especially housing. That adds up to a stark difference.
Now I agree NZ has been remarkably resilient, we are way short of experiencing a crisis like Sri Lanka. But I would still repeat my last para above – that the political trauma of the 80's holds NZ back from a truly bold restructuring that might allow us to look more like Finland than say Portugal.
Comparisons with Australia are natural but invidious. New Zealand has recovered slightly faster, spent slightly more per capita on recovery, but otherwise we are tracking remarkably close to Australia in no small part because we are about as integrated to Australia's larger economy as it is possible to be without being a state.
Australia's depth of public superannuation savings makes them one of the wealthiest countries in the world per capita. And yet there are several million living in poverty and a whole bunch of them are children, just like us.
We are not a counter-factual of Australia.
Plenty do of course make the choice you make and seek higher wages in Australia – principally because they have a depth of specialisation that we will never have and realistically won't ever have.
It's more remarkable to me that so many return and bring what they have earned back. The days of the brain drain are decades gone.
We are who we are with the resources we have.
We have the strength of government that we have.
Most of New Zealand's long term economic strengths won't change no matter which government is in power.
I agree the two nations are different – their geographies alone could not be more contrasting. But as you say we are still closely as integrated with them socially and economically as it is possible without being an actual state.
It is the political dimension that is missing and for this reason I think we do not reap the full benefits of this close relationship. Imagine for example a region of NZ like say the whole SI where no-one was allowed to vote, and had no political representatives in Wgtn – yet were tied to the NI economically and socially as NZ is to Australia. Would anyone think this a good idea?
That higher wage structure in Australia probably does have the benefit of allowing our own industries to be competitive with Australian ones when it comes to sourcing work from Australia.
This could start becoming more of a thing if Australian companies are repatriating more of their industry back to Australia from China.
Take out real estate inflation and the true growth figures are not impressive. Decades of economic pretention – but little to support the fiction of competent economic management.
Were that the case the narrowing of the property owner base, and the supplanting of them by speculators, ought to be ringing alarm bells even in the necrotic nerve tissue of Treasury.
The simple fact is that our economic advisors have been lying about their results. Far from being world leading economic operators, they are lazy, superstitious, and fundamentally dishonest.
And yet somehow these vermin get to opine on economic and social policy. No wonder life is hard, and getting harder.
“God send trials not to impair us but to improve us”
I see now as a time of opportunity for new business to develop in the gaps and cracks that are now appearing and making NZ vulnerable because so much production has gone offshore (the likes of F&P) or were largely closed down (the NZR and air NZ workshops). Even Thyroxine, which was made by Glaxo at Bunnythorpe near Fielding is now imported. Through the first Lock Down prescriptions were limited to no more than one month’s supply at a time. This is a pill one takes daily to stay well for the rest of one’s life usually.
Leave the farmers alone to get on with producing our food and exports and start making NZ as self-sufficient as possible again.
You think that's bad. I couldn't buy any darn garlic in the supermarket yesterday!
But seriously. Garlic's quite the dietary staple not some tropical fruit we can't grow. We certainly need to rethink what we're doing. Hoping it blows over is naive and lacking in foresight, hindsight and care.
Haha. I put many clumps about the place strategically, so as to make it a 'perennial' of sorts on the section. My chickens (and, I admit I was involved) ate all of it.
I hope you ate the garlic'd chickens quickly. My vege garden is ring fenced – no chickens, no ducks, no rabbits can enter. You could probably grow garlic as a pot plant.
DB if you are desperate. A tube of Gourmet Garlic (Australian grown) is 120gm for $6.00 odd and lasts 4 weeks in the tube once opened refreidgerated. I know!! Plastic!! However some dishes are not the same without garlic. This is crushed. Cheers.
Hey good thinking Patricia I'd not thought of value added products, even some granules would have helped. Am so accustomed to having it fresh aye.
@ Janet. My attempts at garlic in pots wasn't great. Yes the potting mix was a bit heavy, but they seem to prefer real dirt. Probably because of their mycorrhizal associations. I reckon if people were to attempt this mixing some real dirt in with potting mix should help.
Future garlic experiments will happen. I really do want them permanent in the landscape, wee plant cages may be required while the chooks still about.
Climate change has all but destroyed our ability to grow garlic. Here in the Waikato, warm, moist tropical air without a decent cold winter has brought in a brown rust that ruins most garlic. Once your plant sows signs of this you have to dig out your new bulbs. The rust will stop them developing any further anyway.
It's not unreasonable to focus on China since Fonterra in particular seems addicted to it, but it's not the full picture of how different sectors of our economy have changed over time.
NZStats has done the multi-decade animation by sector here:
It shows that also Gdp is more a measure of inflation and cost in the non productive sectors,as they do not compete efficiently,and only capture mostly wage inflation (which requires pay parity from the more efficient producers such as agriculture).
Fairly clear pattern of a difference between sustainable efficiency,and cost plus parts of the economy,a large part of the productivity paradox for the economy in general.
Well as you suggested previously of what we can make or replace domestic,the service sector is reliant on imported technology,of which whilst large parts of the domestic economy (gdp) they are limited in their ability for external trade.
"Another devastating outcome for China would be the likelihood that western corporations would exit China?" America had a President whose professed goal was to make America great and have American companies manufacturing stuff at home. By Americans.
While his daughter was extending her manufacturing businesses in China.
Currently, the US has a president who has made a commitment to intervene militarily in support of Taiwan. That was swiftly walked back by the White House….
Some officials were caught off-guard by the remarks and were not expecting Biden to be so unequivocal but how was it swiftly walked back by the White House….?
"The White House quickly downplayed the comments, saying they don't reflect a change in US policy. It's the third time in recent months — including during a CNN town hall in October — that Biden has said the US would protect Taiwan from a Chinese attack, only to have the White House walk back those remarks. "
I gather the formal mantra is “The White House policy on Taiwan has not changed” and this is rolled out in answer to all questions…..
Even though, what Biden has said on at least 3 occasions is not what the previous policy has been.
The “Indo Pacific Economic Alliance” seems more elbows out stuff from US Imperialism. NZ should not touch this kind of manoeuvring with a 40 foot proverbial–but the Govt. will–with an NZ Labour caucus dedicated to 5 Eyes, and a PM whose commitment to an independent foreign policy in favour of sucking up to the US becomes more obvious by the day.
Anyone and everyone–but on a mutually beneficial bilateral basis–not blocs that lock this country into taking sides in imperialist machinations.
The non aligned movement of nations still exists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Aligned_Movement
and Aotearoa NZ should join it, abandon 5 Eyes and the Anglosphere generally. Look at our geographic position, “The Empire” is long gone, this is a Pacific country.
Also, many of those countries may claim to have free trade, but the reality is very, very different. You try taking a case over non-delivery of goods to a Saudi court!
My thoughts about trade going forward are that there are going to be a lot more regional trading blocks due to less problematic logistical routes. Even if we don't trade as much with China due to their issues, there are still plenty of other countries in Asia to trade with, and Australia as well, obviously.
The other thing I would like to see is a democracy trading block. That is, democratic countries choosing to trade with each other ahead of trading with oppressive regimes. That should have the effect of driving change in some of those countries, and hopefully make the world a more peaceful, co-operative place, which I think is essential to solve the major world issues going forward.
Yes I think the democratic world made a mistake in the aftermath of WW2 when after we so successfully shifted prior enemies like Germany and Japan into solid and reliable democratic allies – that we imagined that just by trade alone we could also achieve the same result with Russia and China.
Turns out this kind of unidimensional thinking has fallen badly short.
I think there is a continuum on that issue of stationing US troops (certainly in Germany).
During the Cold War (roughly 1945-70s) – Germany very much did want to have the Americans stationed there – the threat of invasion from the Soviet Union was a very clear and present danger.
From the 70s through to the 90s – there was much less perceived danger of a Soviet invasion, and a consequent waning in the desire to have US troops stationed there – accompanied by the anti-war zeitgeist of the Vietnam era and beyond.
Following German reunification, and throughout the EU formation, there was much belief in fear of Russia as a thing of the past – and therefore no need for American troops.
With the rise of Putin and the increasing bellicosity of Russa, accompanied by internal and fringe 'wars' and an apparent desire to reconstitute the historical boundaries of Mother Russia, Germany once again is very keen on US troops being stationed there.
The US policy was to establish big, powerful capitalist economies on both sides of the new communist threat. West Germany and Japan profited accrdingly.
Small countries. Countries like Korea and Malaysia aren't going to strongarm NZ the way the US tried to when it screwed up the TPPA, nor will they insist we reflect their dodgy politics by denying Tibet/Uyghur oppression or take their party line on special military operations, be they in Iraq or Ukraine.
More than a thousand Palestinians evicted by Israel.
Purportedly to make way for a fucking firing range.
Less than a week after the high court ruling, the Najjars’ house was demolished, marking the start of what activists say will probably be the biggest mass expulsion of Palestiniansin the occupied West Bank since the 1967 war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from territories captured by Israel.
The court was unswayed by historical documents presented by advocates for the Palestinians, showing what they said was evidence that the proposal to establish a firing range, decades ago, was meant to prevent Palestinians from claiming the land.
“We had 30 minutes to get out what we could,” said Yusara al-Najjar, who was born in a hand-hewn cave on this same slope in the Negev desert 60 years ago. She looked over the pile of broken blocks and twisted metal that had been her family home and wiped her hands with a slap. “It took no time and our house was gone, again.”
To be a Nazi in Russia, you have to be an actual Nazi. Outside Russia the definition becomes pretty loose to the Russians, everything from wearing frilly knickers to not wanting to be conquered by Russia makes you a Nazi to the Putin fanbois – which may explain why the Kremlin's useful idiots keep seeing Nazis everywhere in the Ukraine. You don't have to be the Azov regiment – anyone will do.
Good thing Germans aren't destroying towns and cities, raping and murdering civilians and looting their homes and businesses on the pretext of denazifying it's sovereign neighbour. Eh.
So have the Russians – look up some of the accounts of the taking of Berlin.
However, they seem to have maintained this 'policy' throughout the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st. AFAIK there hasn't been a single war or police action in which Soviet/Russian troops have been involved which hasn't had documented accounts of mass rapes, assaults, deportations, etc.
Most Germans I have known still have still have deep shame over that part of their history. It is not something that most of them are proud of. Quite the opposite, actually. Though I am aware there are far-right nutters there as well.
I lived in West Germany for nearly 2 years. When I visited Dachau near Munich, the car park was mostly filled with buses bringing school students there. I was horrified not by the gas chamber (a tiny one which was never actually used – victims were taken to a castle in the vicinity which had a bigger gas chamber..) but by reading the documentation on the boards.
I read that they kept records of the numbers of Jews killed (hung and fed into cremation unit, or sent to castle gas chamber) but no record of Russian POWs killed. They machine-gunned them in pits and bulldozed the pits over, keeping no records of numbers.
That is horrifying for me.
But I think all West German schoolchildren were being fully educated about this. Nie wieder. (Never again.)
I don't believe that Germans will allow right-wing extremists to take over their country again. It will happen somewhere else, where people have always thought, "Only the Germans could do this – it could never happen here."
The Hunter Biden Laptop story seems like its continuing to suppurate in the background of the Democrat's already gangrenous political reality .It crossed my mind , what if the reason Joe Biden's obsession with the Ukraine and funneling money and weapons to the militants fighting there , had less to do with white guilt ridden liberalism , and was about dirt the Zelensky group had on him and his son? Pure speculation of course but you do have to wonder why America would be so keen to immerse itself in yet another pointless war even given the voracious appetite of American Arms industries and especially since they hav'nt even finished prosecuting the many wars they've already started !!
Anyway Jimmy Dore and Glen Greenwald tackle the laptop story :
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The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
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Joe Hawke is the Rosa Parks of New Zealand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks
She sat on a bus for an hour. Joe Hawke stood on his land for 507 days.
Joe Hawke is the Joe Hawke of New Zealand and doesn't need comparing to anything.
I think the comparison is apt. It is hard to downplay the significance of what Joe Hawke and Rosa Parks did. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white woman. Rosa Parks began a movement. The Montgomery bus boycott lasted 13 months.
When Joe Hawke raised his family's small holiday camping tent on Bastion Pt. he began a movement that is still continuing.
From Joe Hawke's simple act of defiance, a whole movement grew.
From Joe Hawke's example Eva Rickard led a successful occupation of the Raglan Golf course. More recently Pania Newton led a successful occupation of Ihuamatao.
Leaders with the courage and foresight of Joe Hawke or Rosa Parks or Eva Rickard or Pania Newton are rare. Almost once in a generation do they appear.
The thousands that turned up at Bastion Pt. Takaparawha yesterday the first day of his tangi are a testament to the greatness of his legacy.
Even a contingent of New Zealand police in full uniform came to pay their respects.
Of the 222 people arrested by police at Bastion Pt. half were Pakeha supporters.
What inspiring leaders like Joe Hawke and Rosa Parks had in common is that they both belonged to the whole world.
Truth to power.
bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy
https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1528668629482541057
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Bondarev said he had "not seen any alternative" than to resign: "I don't think it will change a lot, frankly, but I think it may be one little brick into the bigger wall which would eventually be built. I hope so."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61555390
This decision could not have been easy or comfortable, giving up his position would have required an enormous amount of self sacrifice. All credit to Morris Bondarev, for having the courage of his convictions and acting on them.
Unfortunately the Russian Federation representative to New Zealand is the complete opposite,
Totally lacking in principle or morals, guilty of knowingly spreading fake news and lies in support of the bloody invasion and occupation of Ukraine. He won't be resigning his diplomatic post on principle any time soon.
All Left anti-war activists need to demand the immediate expulsion of this immoral bloodthirsty toady scumbag from our country.
Poots' boys will be brewing tea, sharpening, umbrellas and booking their cathedral tours.
https://twitter.com/BBCSteveR/status/1528805745738801152
I’d imagine that not all Russians living in Aotearoa-New Zealand are necessarily strong supporters of the war in Ukraine. So, why deprive all of them from an Ambassador, which is obviously a bit more than a symbolic gesture and extreme virtue-signalling?
"All Left anti-war activists need to demand the immediate expulsion of this immoral bloodthirsty toady scumbag from our country." JHTG
"…obviously a bit more than a symbolic gesture…" Incognito.
You got that right.
Compared to at least 231 children killed and 470 children children maimed, a bit more than a symbolic gesture is the least we could do.
I guarantee incognito, that if it was your child that was killed or maimed, you would be calling for something, obviously a bit more than a symbolic gesture.
And I could also pretty much guarantee that genuine anti-war Russian expats here, would be prepared to make the sacrifice and undergo the inconvenience of not having their legation handy.
After all lots anti-war Russian citizens have sacrificed far more.
Are you a genuine anti-war Russian expat or an anti-Putin one? How’s severing diplomatic ties, symbolic or otherwise, going to help the victims of war or help to end the war peacefully? If the Embassy is spreading falsehoods and propaganda here in Aotearoa-New, deliberately, to influence public opinion (or of expats only?), then they should be told STFU. Because that’s clearly in our control-sphere.
Not to mention the NZ citizens in Russia and nearby Baltic states who will be left without help when the NZ ambassador to Russia is booted.
We don't have Consular representation in every country. One of my relatives died suddenly in Sweden and as we did not have a representative there at the time, everything had to be done through The Hague. The MFAT people here and in The Hague were very helpful and everything was sorted out very quickly.
That’s a fair point and things don’t necessarily become impossible or extremely cumbersome without an Ambassador. It won’t affect me personally because I’m not a Russian expat, but just another armchair warrior living in the comfort of a warm house in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
"extreme virtue-signalling"…you've come to the right place.
Kick him out, you say?
If only… Oh, you mean the Ambassador. Yes, him too.
It's a tricky thing, expelling ambassadors – usually reserved for the outbreak of hostilities. The long term relationship with other states is in principle more at issue than the momentary vileness of their leadership.
But it wouldn't be a bad symbolic move – to close the embassy until Putin is gone, and Ukrainian territory is no longer occupied. We don't have the guns to push Putin around, but we are a soft power leader, as was shown with the apartheid protests.
The question is whether NZ chooses to lead. And – it might be a more progressive way to approach the problem than military aid. I expect it would prove electorally popular, and our allies would like it, without the drawbacks we suffered from supporting their ill-starred adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jenny, in the immortal words of The Amazing Rhythm Aces
” That Russian would tell a lie even if the truth was working better”
(slightly amended)
Expel the Russian Ambassador
One thing I very much agree with our government on is the need to diversify from China.
Here is a fascinating video from Peter Zeihan, geopolitical commentator, explaining a lot of the factors impacting on China at the moment that mean it is unlikely to be a reliable partner going forward.
I think the government primarily had in mind the potential of China invading Taiwan. However, as Zeihan points out, that is less likely now since China has likely been sobered up by the events in Ukraine. China likely realises that if the same degree of sanctions were applied to China as have been to Russia, China would quickly be totally destroyed economically as it is a net importer of most raw materials including energy.
Also, another devastating outcome for China would be the likelihood that western corporations would exit China in a similar way that they have from Russia.
More problematic for China is the issue of demographics. Due to their one child policy that was in place for decades, China has one of the fastest ageing populations in the world. According to Zeihan, recent censuses have been over-counting the Chinese population by 100 million or more. If correct, these factors could lead to the Chinese population halving by 2050.
Another huge factor at the moment is the Covid lockdowns in China. The Chinese vaccine is useless, and is ineffective against later strains of Covid. Hence, their only option is to lock their populations down. This is having a major impact on their ability to manufacture within China, and is likely to keep continuing to do so every time a Covid outbreak occurs.
Another factor that occurs to me is that many companies are seeing the effect on the likes of Germany on becoming too reliant on a potential future enemy. Hence, probably many organisations are reconsidering their reliance on China for similar reasons.
The takeaway from this and other reasons is the businesses need to reconsider their reliance on China both from the exporting and importing perspective. Companies that have shifted their manufacturing to China probably need to consider bringing their manufacturing back to NZ and automate to be competitive, or look for other low wage, more friendly economies such as India for their manufacturing.
Very interesting stuff, and only part of the puzzle as to why the nature of trade in terms of globalisation is changing forever.
“low wage” economies–that's the spirit Smithfield!
Not saying I agree with that strategy. Just saying that is one of the options many corporations would consider.
Laughable.
Successive NZ Governments, driven by the farming lobby, have killed any nascent possibilies of industries, other than exporting dairy to China, leaving us with few alternatives.
We will never recover the local skill base they destroyed, for one.
If anyone thinks our "friend" the USA, is going to spite their own local producers to look after NZ, I have a bridge to sell you,
Not so sure. We are moving into a world food crisis with events happening around the world. So, I think there will be plenty of takers for the food we produce.
We probably have an opportunity to move some of that towards grains given the world shortage and high prices.
The biggest downside for NZ is that our internal food prices are going to be very high. But at least we have access to food. Not so much for some countries going forward.
"We are moving into a world food crisis with events happening around the world."
This is true, but what goes up must come down. We seem currently at the whim of markets beyond our control – but that part of it is surely at least partially within our control. Some stability, locally, is doable, if not palatable.
We are not 'feeding the world' at such exorbitant prices, we are feeding the rich.
NZ needs to look after NZ, that should include companies operating in NZ. Tax is not everything a company should provide. Goods and services at reasonable rates is, I reckon, quite reasonable.
Yep, footwear, clothing, car assembly, much general manufacturing, textiles, and many others have been closed or gone offshore since traitor Douglas had his way.
What these delivered above all was full time employment for thousands, who were discarded in the 80s and 90s and never retrained or considered in a strategic way.
The State Sector is now a snake pit of competing interests–including private capital–rather than a public service.
With pandemics and climate disaster and imperialist power plays, this is the very time NZ could do with a basic pharmaceutical industry and many others.
Certainly interesting times. I was discussing with my wife's sister who was over from Auz recently. I commented that many firms were going to have to consider moving their manufacturing back to NZ. She said it is already happening in Australia. So, will be interesting to see what happens going forward.
It isn't just the manufacturing factories. Factories that do operate in NZ are likely sourcing components from China, and will likely have to start making those in-house, or find other sources.
Agreed – the large global vendor I work for has announced intentions to spend U$4b on new manufacturing capacity – and none of it will be in China.
Supply chain issues have been experienced as a traumatic speed bump at board levels all over the industrialised world and much of the rest of this decade will see organisations scrambling to re-shore and resource shorter, more reliable manufacturing.
Douglas continedthe process of killing local employment and industry, to pander to the farming lobby that still happens today.
Muldoon killed boat building and caravan manufacture for "social welfare for sheep". Douglas and co, and even the previous Labour Government sacrificed them for, often illusory, "Free trade benefits". Even this Government has other industries, and tax payers, paying for farmings free ride in the ERP.
It's cost us dearly, to the extent that decoupling from dairy exports to China will be almost impossible.
NZ has a thriving boat building sector – not quite sure what you mean here?
It's mostly directed towards the recreational (and for the big money) luxury end of the market – but all of those skills are very transferrable.
What tsmithfield seems to be referring to is a (possible) desire to bring back some manufacturing to NZ. I don't know why that seems to attract such negativity. Yes, it will require tooling up and training a workforce. And the bad part of that is….?
I agree that the Ukraine War has been a wakeup call for many companies about the dangers of strategic supply from one country.
"NZ has a thriving boat building sector". No.
NZ has a boat building sector, which is a pale shadow of what it could have been. Like most of our industry.
In Muldoons time for example. We were carrying a half dozen Farr 6000's to Oz every week. Shortly after the boat tax, we took the molds to Oz. Then Douglas and Co came along, and put the knife in even more. Now we import Benetau's from France. West Australia is building the Aluminum fast ferries that we first designed here.
Well, we have a different definition of 'thriving'.
What part of that history, makes it impossible to reverse?
That's the point that @tsmithfield is making – that there may very well be an incentive to repatriate some of those industries.
Is that not a good thing?
"What part of that history, makes it impossible to reverse?"
"That's the point that @tsmithfield is making – that there may very well be an incentive to repatriate some of those industries".
I wish.
Those are very, very tough lessons KJT and I sure won't dare knock the degree of human suffering they imply.
I've long advocated for training, industries and tooling to be kept local.
We have to restart from a very low base though.
No training for decades, has meant most skilled tradespeople are my age or older. Those that are still alive! Our machinery was sold to China nearly 40 years ago, and hasn't been replaced. NZ businesses ability to innovate, has been overtaken by generations of "Managers" whose only skill is screwing down wages. A disadvantage of relying on low wages to grow business profits. So much of our land and infrastructure has been sold offshore, even that room to manoeuvre is gone.
NZ top 10 exports by value 2021.
Clearly dominated by primary production. Contrast this to say Finland a nation of similar size that has successfully pivoted toward manufacturing – names like Nokia, Wartsillia, Valmet, Metso and Outotec being leading vendors globally in their industries. This being the direct result of a govt strategy first conceived around the same time as Muldoon to transition their economy away from pure primary production (most wood based) to higher value add.
NZ obviously suffered from the additional challenge of isolation. A quick glance a globe suggests that at least 95% of the human population literally lives on the other side of the planet from us. We are more remote than we think. Yet despite this we have still managed export huge quantities of high volume low value primary products such as logs. The problem may be more complex than mere geography.
Why could Finland do what NZ could not? The answers are not simple – cultural, educational and political factors all have played into this. KJT makes a fair point that the extremist politics of the 80's went about attempting such a process – but with all the wrong outcomes. And we never seem to have recovered the nerve to attempt such 'big idea' political reform ever again.
“KJT makes a fair point that the extremist politics of the 80’s went about attempting such a process – but with all the wrong outcomes.”
I think that our hand was forced in that respect in many ways. That is because we are a small player in a big market. Hence, we need to adapt to what the world is doing, or suffer the consequences.
One advantage of being small is that it is that small means that it is a lot easier to adapt more quickly to changing circumstances. For instance, it should be quite easy for us to change our emphasis away from dairy to some degree and focus more on grain production where the climate suits, as that is an immediate opportunity with grain shortages due to the Ukrainian conflict.
Think about a huge container ship trying to reverse course compared to a small jet boat.
If there is a lesson to be taken from the past few years is that supply chains can adapt well enough to shifts on a decadal scale. At any scale large or small. But fast moving events become impossible to respond to.
Converting say Canterbury from dairy to wheat is obviously doable, but I would hazard a guess it would take at least 3 – 5 years to see a substantial result. Is that going to be fast enough?
Oats.
The rise and rise of oat milk in Australia – hospitality | Magazine (hospitalitymagazine.com.au)
We do produce grain here now, and our production seems to be increasing.
Probably one of the problems for NZ is that our climate can be a bit variable which can affect production. For instance, I imagine grain production would have been down in Canterbury this year due to the damp summer we had.
On the other hand, I image the central Otago area would be good for grain growing. It probably has a climate not that dissimilar to Ukraine I suspect.
Not saying it is a bad idea per se, but what is our competitive advantage with say Australia? Grain production works best when you have vast areas of open flat land where highly automated machinery can operate unimpeded at scale. And can harvest millions of tonnes with relatively low labour.
And then you need the transport and handling infrastructure to get it into ships. Again all doable – but it might take a decade to achieve. Again I am not saying it is a bad idea and transitioning some dairy to oats or even barley could well make a lot of sense.
But that feels just like a shuffling of the old low value add primary industry export deck – and do little to get NZ out of the 'nice but a bit impoverished country cousin' trap we have been in for most of my adult life.
Canterbury used to produce a large amount of grain for stock feed.
Now largely replaced with imported palm kernal. With the loss of overseas exchange that implies. And water and soil depleting dairy on the plains.
Loaded Canterbury wheat for NRM, then paper for Oz and return with Aussie wheat for bread making.
Competitive advantage can apply. However import substition is also an underrated benefit.
"Not saying it is a bad idea per se, but what is our competitive advantage with say Australia?''
I am not sure that competitive advantage is much of an issue when there is a world shortage of something. Countries will be accessing grain from anywhere it can be grown I suspect.
Also, perhaps we could be supplying a lot of our own needs. I imagine the cost of fuel and freight is going to make grain production for our own needs will be a lot more cost-competitive now.
Canterbury still is a large grain producer (along with otago and southland) the South Island produces all of its own milling wheat.
When we had the wheat board all of NZ was sufficient in milling wheat.NZ wheat yields per hecatare are around 14-16 tons,OZ around 3-4,difference is the low land cost in oz.
The more interesting question then is why does New Zealand have such a thriving and resilient economy?
The 1980s structural adjustment was 35 years ago.
There is now little that is answered analysing it further.
Thriving for who?
Frankly anyone on less than a median household income is living hand to mouth with no prospect of it ever getting better. Even those further up the income ladder can find themselves by high housing and living costs.
In my last role in NZ back before 2013 I was in the top 5% of taxpayers that year – yet despite an absurdly abstemious lifestyle I was doing well to save $5k pa. of cash. In Australia I can do that in a month.
The difference has two core reasons. One is that Australian labour productivity is about 15% higher than NZ – because so much of what they do is higher value add. The second reason is that their Wages Share of GDP is about 15% higher – and the root cause of that is a better political balance between employers and employees. They still have powerful unions in a way NZ does not for instance.
Combine those two numbers and there is your 30% higher incomes in Australia. And while inflation is changing the ground rapidly everywhere – it is still my view that the cost of living in Australia is a good 15% lower – especially housing. That adds up to a stark difference.
Now I agree NZ has been remarkably resilient, we are way short of experiencing a crisis like Sri Lanka. But I would still repeat my last para above – that the political trauma of the 80's holds NZ back from a truly bold restructuring that might allow us to look more like Finland than say Portugal.
Comparisons with Australia are natural but invidious. New Zealand has recovered slightly faster, spent slightly more per capita on recovery, but otherwise we are tracking remarkably close to Australia in no small part because we are about as integrated to Australia's larger economy as it is possible to be without being a state.
Australia's depth of public superannuation savings makes them one of the wealthiest countries in the world per capita. And yet there are several million living in poverty and a whole bunch of them are children, just like us.
We are not a counter-factual of Australia.
Plenty do of course make the choice you make and seek higher wages in Australia – principally because they have a depth of specialisation that we will never have and realistically won't ever have.
It's more remarkable to me that so many return and bring what they have earned back. The days of the brain drain are decades gone.
We are who we are with the resources we have.
We have the strength of government that we have.
Most of New Zealand's long term economic strengths won't change no matter which government is in power.
I agree the two nations are different – their geographies alone could not be more contrasting. But as you say we are still closely as integrated with them socially and economically as it is possible without being an actual state.
It is the political dimension that is missing and for this reason I think we do not reap the full benefits of this close relationship. Imagine for example a region of NZ like say the whole SI where no-one was allowed to vote, and had no political representatives in Wgtn – yet were tied to the NI economically and socially as NZ is to Australia. Would anyone think this a good idea?
Australia's depth of public superannuation savings makes them one of the wealthiest countries in the world per capita.
Australia means tests its superannuitants, but we don't. Our esteemed PM said she would resign before making any changes to Super.
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/income-test-for-pensions?context=22526
That higher wage structure in Australia probably does have the benefit of allowing our own industries to be competitive with Australian ones when it comes to sourcing work from Australia.
This could start becoming more of a thing if Australian companies are repatriating more of their industry back to Australia from China.
Another one on "Planet Key"?
Take out real estate inflation and the true growth figures are not impressive. Decades of economic pretention – but little to support the fiction of competent economic management.
How do you think small business is funded in this country? Banks?
Nope. It's funded on real estate loans from the houses people own.
Taking out real estate increases from GDP is as meaningless as EBIDTA.
Were that the case the narrowing of the property owner base, and the supplanting of them by speculators, ought to be ringing alarm bells even in the necrotic nerve tissue of Treasury.
The simple fact is that our economic advisors have been lying about their results. Far from being world leading economic operators, they are lazy, superstitious, and fundamentally dishonest.
And yet somehow these vermin get to opine on economic and social policy. No wonder life is hard, and getting harder.
“God send trials not to impair us but to improve us”
I see now as a time of opportunity for new business to develop in the gaps and cracks that are now appearing and making NZ vulnerable because so much production has gone offshore (the likes of F&P) or were largely closed down (the NZR and air NZ workshops). Even Thyroxine, which was made by Glaxo at Bunnythorpe near Fielding is now imported. Through the first Lock Down prescriptions were limited to no more than one month’s supply at a time. This is a pill one takes daily to stay well for the rest of one’s life usually.
Leave the farmers alone to get on with producing our food and exports and start making NZ as self-sufficient as possible again.
You think that's bad. I couldn't buy any darn garlic in the supermarket yesterday!
But seriously. Garlic's quite the dietary staple not some tropical fruit we can't grow. We certainly need to rethink what we're doing. Hoping it blows over is naive and lacking in foresight, hindsight and care.
What I am doing about garlic is growing my own …. Its very easy to grow but of course you need a bit of dirt to grow it and not everyone has that.
I read once that garlic uptakes toxic elements very readily – thats why I grow my own and not buy the cheap Chinese stuff.
Haha. I put many clumps about the place strategically, so as to make it a 'perennial' of sorts on the section. My chickens (and, I admit I was involved) ate all of it.
I hope you ate the garlic'd chickens quickly. My vege garden is ring fenced – no chickens, no ducks, no rabbits can enter. You could probably grow garlic as a pot plant.
DB if you are desperate. A tube of Gourmet Garlic (Australian grown) is 120gm for $6.00 odd and lasts 4 weeks in the tube once opened refreidgerated. I know!! Plastic!! However some dishes are not the same without garlic. This is crushed. Cheers.
Hey good thinking Patricia I'd not thought of value added products, even some granules would have helped. Am so accustomed to having it fresh aye.
@ Janet. My attempts at garlic in pots wasn't great. Yes the potting mix was a bit heavy, but they seem to prefer real dirt. Probably because of their mycorrhizal associations. I reckon if people were to attempt this mixing some real dirt in with potting mix should help.
Future garlic experiments will happen. I really do want them permanent in the landscape, wee plant cages may be required while the chooks still about.
little bit of effort and yeah it dont like weeds….grow your own,,,,very rewarding
Climate change has all but destroyed our ability to grow garlic. Here in the Waikato, warm, moist tropical air without a decent cold winter has brought in a brown rust that ruins most garlic. Once your plant sows signs of this you have to dig out your new bulbs. The rust will stop them developing any further anyway.
All part of the 6th great extinction, I fear.
It's not unreasonable to focus on China since Fonterra in particular seems addicted to it, but it's not the full picture of how different sectors of our economy have changed over time.
NZStats has done the multi-decade animation by sector here:
Which industries contributed to New Zealand's GDP? | Flourish
Interesting how very dynamic some sectors like agriculture and construction have been. Way more than I would have guessed.
It shows that also Gdp is more a measure of inflation and cost in the non productive sectors,as they do not compete efficiently,and only capture mostly wage inflation (which requires pay parity from the more efficient producers such as agriculture).
Baumols cost disease fuels inequality.
https://twitter.com/BaldwinRE/status/1380768814661525505
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol%27s_cost_disease
Crikey I'd live to see that chart done for New Zealand.
Agree. My cellphone services certainly aren't down.
And no utilities on the chart (electricity, gas & water, etc. are all up significantly)
Fairly clear pattern where services are up and goods are down.
Fairly clear pattern of a difference between sustainable efficiency,and cost plus parts of the economy,a large part of the productivity paradox for the economy in general.
Fairly clear pattern of services v manufacturing…tradable v non tradable.
We are kidding ourselves.
Well as you suggested previously of what we can make or replace domestic,the service sector is reliant on imported technology,of which whilst large parts of the domestic economy (gdp) they are limited in their ability for external trade.
Sadly that is true and not likely to change anytime soon….unless we have no option, which may well be possible.
"Another devastating outcome for China would be the likelihood that western corporations would exit China?" America had a President whose professed goal was to make America great and have American companies manufacturing stuff at home. By Americans.
While his daughter was extending her manufacturing businesses in China.
Currently, the US has a president who has made a commitment to intervene militarily in support of Taiwan. That was swiftly walked back by the White House….
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/23/politics/biden-taiwan-china-japan-intl-hnk/index.html
Meaning the silly old demented duffer did not follow their instructions..
Some officials were caught off-guard by the remarks and were not expecting Biden to be so unequivocal but how was it swiftly walked back by the White House….?
Quote from the linked article:
More in-depth coverage here
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10846245/Analysis-White-House-walked-Biden-claim-Taiwan-time-NINE-months.html
I gather the formal mantra is “The White House policy on Taiwan has not changed” and this is rolled out in answer to all questions…..
Even though, what Biden has said on at least 3 occasions is not what the previous policy has been.
The “Indo Pacific Economic Alliance” seems more elbows out stuff from US Imperialism. NZ should not touch this kind of manoeuvring with a 40 foot proverbial–but the Govt. will–with an NZ Labour caucus dedicated to 5 Eyes, and a PM whose commitment to an independent foreign policy in favour of sucking up to the US becomes more obvious by the day.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealand-joins-world-powers-in-indo-pacific-economic-alliance/6F5JWPSN5A2PRZRNJHEH6ZDUIM/
Just out of curiosity, who do you think we should trade and form alliances with?
My guess would be the very industrious Leninist-Marxist pixies who live in a secret cavern under the Antarctic Ice Sheet.![devil devil](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/devil_smile.png?x42494)
To quote old Fraser from Dad's Army; "We're doomed, we're doomed.."
Anyone and everyone–but on a mutually beneficial bilateral basis–not blocs that lock this country into taking sides in imperialist machinations.
The non aligned movement of nations still exists
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Aligned_Movement
and Aotearoa NZ should join it, abandon 5 Eyes and the Anglosphere generally. Look at our geographic position, “The Empire” is long gone, this is a Pacific country.
So only trade with the Third World, then….
Also, many of those countries may claim to have free trade, but the reality is very, very different. You try taking a case over non-delivery of goods to a Saudi court!
“Just out of curiosity, who do you think we should trade and form alliances with?”
I am obviously a fan-boy of Peter Zeihan. But no apologies there. His stuff is excellent and highly insightful.
He says a lot of interesting stuff about how globalisation is starting to collapse. And it looks like NZ is quite well positioned compared to other countries. (Notice NZ is coloured "blue"on that map, and we get a good mention in that video).
My thoughts about trade going forward are that there are going to be a lot more regional trading blocks due to less problematic logistical routes. Even if we don't trade as much with China due to their issues, there are still plenty of other countries in Asia to trade with, and Australia as well, obviously.
The other thing I would like to see is a democracy trading block. That is, democratic countries choosing to trade with each other ahead of trading with oppressive regimes. That should have the effect of driving change in some of those countries, and hopefully make the world a more peaceful, co-operative place, which I think is essential to solve the major world issues going forward.
Yes I think the democratic world made a mistake in the aftermath of WW2 when after we so successfully shifted prior enemies like Germany and Japan into solid and reliable democratic allies – that we imagined that just by trade alone we could also achieve the same result with Russia and China.
Turns out this kind of unidimensional thinking has fallen badly short.
The US retained tens of thousands of troops in both Japan and Germany, whether they wanted them or not
I don't think they would be asking them to go home at the moment!! But I might be completely wrong about that…
I think there is a continuum on that issue of stationing US troops (certainly in Germany).
During the Cold War (roughly 1945-70s) – Germany very much did want to have the Americans stationed there – the threat of invasion from the Soviet Union was a very clear and present danger.
From the 70s through to the 90s – there was much less perceived danger of a Soviet invasion, and a consequent waning in the desire to have US troops stationed there – accompanied by the anti-war zeitgeist of the Vietnam era and beyond.
Following German reunification, and throughout the EU formation, there was much belief in fear of Russia as a thing of the past – and therefore no need for American troops.
With the rise of Putin and the increasing bellicosity of Russa, accompanied by internal and fringe 'wars' and an apparent desire to reconstitute the historical boundaries of Mother Russia, Germany once again is very keen on US troops being stationed there.
Losers don't get choices.
The US policy was to establish big, powerful capitalist economies on both sides of the new communist threat. West Germany and Japan profited accrdingly.
Small countries. Countries like Korea and Malaysia aren't going to strongarm NZ the way the US tried to when it screwed up the TPPA, nor will they insist we reflect their dodgy politics by denying Tibet/Uyghur oppression or take their party line on special military operations, be they in Iraq or Ukraine.
More than a thousand Palestinians evicted by Israel.
Purportedly to make way for a fucking firing range.
Less than a week after the high court ruling, the Najjars’ house was demolished, marking the start of what activists say will probably be the biggest mass expulsion of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the 1967 war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from territories captured by Israel.
The court was unswayed by historical documents presented by advocates for the Palestinians, showing what they said was evidence that the proposal to establish a firing range, decades ago, was meant to prevent Palestinians from claiming the land.
“We had 30 minutes to get out what we could,” said Yusara al-Najjar, who was born in a hand-hewn cave on this same slope in the Negev desert 60 years ago. She looked over the pile of broken blocks and twisted metal that had been her family home and wiped her hands with a slap. “It took no time and our house was gone, again.”
https://archive.ph/7Q1Tg (wapo)
Israel and America rogue states together creating misery and mayhem around the globe !!
@ weston (5.1) Agree 100%![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
The Israeli establishment appears to be made up of complete bastards…oops now I will be attacked as anti-semitic Corbyn style.
Netanyahu is now likely to re-take the Prime Ministership as well, since the Coalition can't get its shit together.
Next up, Russia denazifies Russia..?
//
https://twitter.com/LtTimMcMillan/status/1528686718718726144
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528686718718726144.html
To be a Nazi in Russia, you have to be an actual Nazi. Outside Russia the definition becomes pretty loose to the Russians, everything from wearing frilly knickers to not wanting to be conquered by Russia makes you a Nazi to the Putin fanbois – which may explain why the Kremlin's useful idiots keep seeing Nazis everywhere in the Ukraine. You don't have to be the Azov regiment – anyone will do.
Your saying the Azov Regiment are just boys in frilly knickers?
Well the Germans would certainly know all about that!
Seems like a problem within the Nato ranks as well
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/world/europe/germany-military-neo-nazis-ksk.html
Good thing Germans aren't destroying towns and cities, raping and murdering civilians and looting their homes and businesses on the pretext of denazifying it's sovereign neighbour. Eh.
/
been there done that got the T shirt of course , 70 years ago
So have the Russians – look up some of the accounts of the taking of Berlin.
However, they seem to have maintained this 'policy' throughout the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st. AFAIK there hasn't been a single war or police action in which Soviet/Russian troops have been involved which hasn't had documented accounts of mass rapes, assaults, deportations, etc.
Whereas Germany has not…..
Most Germans I have known still have still have deep shame over that part of their history. It is not something that most of them are proud of. Quite the opposite, actually. Though I am aware there are far-right nutters there as well.
I lived in West Germany for nearly 2 years. When I visited Dachau near Munich, the car park was mostly filled with buses bringing school students there. I was horrified not by the gas chamber (a tiny one which was never actually used – victims were taken to a castle in the vicinity which had a bigger gas chamber..) but by reading the documentation on the boards.
I read that they kept records of the numbers of Jews killed (hung and fed into cremation unit, or sent to castle gas chamber) but no record of Russian POWs killed. They machine-gunned them in pits and bulldozed the pits over, keeping no records of numbers.
That is horrifying for me.
But I think all West German schoolchildren were being fully educated about this. Nie wieder. (Never again.)
I don't believe that Germans will allow right-wing extremists to take over their country again. It will happen somewhere else, where people have always thought, "Only the Germans could do this – it could never happen here."
That is just where it is likely to happen.
The Hunter Biden Laptop story seems like its continuing to suppurate in the background of the Democrat's already gangrenous political reality .It crossed my mind , what if the reason Joe Biden's obsession with the Ukraine and funneling money and weapons to the militants fighting there , had less to do with white guilt ridden liberalism , and was about dirt the Zelensky group had on him and his son? Pure speculation of course but you do have to wonder why America would be so keen to immerse itself in yet another pointless war even given the voracious appetite of American Arms industries and especially since they hav'nt even finished prosecuting the many wars they've already started !!
Anyway Jimmy Dore and Glen Greenwald tackle the laptop story :
Yes, pure speculation but put it out there and those who need to read the most sinister things possible into it will do so.
Putting Hunter Biden's laptop and the speculation into perspective:
Look at the first 1:45 on here and speculate what is more real, known and prospectively more dangerous.
I dont watch TYT got sick of them years ago too hysterical fml this just reminds me how deranged America is Imo they deserve Donald Trump !!