"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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Warning 1: There is a Nazi theme at the end of this article related to the disabled community. Warning 2: This article could be boring!One day, last year, I excitedly opened up a Substack post that was about how to fight back, and the answer at the end was disappointing ...
This may be rhetorical but here goes: did any of you invest in the $Libra memecoin endorsed and backed by Argentine president and darling of the global Right Javier Milei (who admitted to being paid a fee for his promotion of the token)? You know, the one that soared above ...
Last week various of the great and good of New Zealand economics and public policy trooped off to Hamilton (of all places) for the annual Waikato Economics Forum, one of the successful marketing drives of university’s Vice-Chancellor. My interest was in the speeches delivered by the Minister of Finance and ...
The Prime Minister says the Government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached. The government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects, including $11m spent to improve popular visitor sites and further $19m towards biodiversity efforts. A New Zealand-born ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler “But what about when the sun doesn't shine?!” Ah yes, the energy debate’s equivalent of “The Earth is flat!” Every time someone mentions solar or wind power, some self-proclaimed energy expert emerges from the woodwork to drop this supposedly devastating truth bomb: ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Stone, Principal Research Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Having dense breasts is a clear risk factor for breast cancer. It can also make cancers hard to spot on mammograms. Yet you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The National Anti-Corruption Commission will finally investigate whether six people referred to it by the royal commission into Robodebt engaged in corrupt conduct. This follows an independent reconsideration by former High Court judge Geoffrey ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Last week in Europe, the United States sent some very strong messages it is prepared to upend the established global order. US Vice President JD Vance warned a stunned Munich ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank cut official interest rates on Tuesday, the first decrease in four years, saying inflationary pressures are easing “a little more quickly than expected”. However, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan Fels, Professor Allan Fels, Professor of Law, Economics and Business at the University of Melbourne and Monash University., The University of Melbourne Australia is creeping towards adding a divestiture power to its Competition and Consumer Act. Under such a law, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arjen Vaartjes, PhD Student, Quantum Physics, UNSW Sydney Dmitriy Rybin / Shutterstock What makes something quantum? This question has kept a small but dedicated fraction of the world’s population – most of them quantum physicists – up at night for decades. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University Australia’s minister for home affairs announced on Sunday that the federal government has struck a deal with Nauru to “resettle” three non-citizens from what’s come to be known as the “NZYQ cohort”. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Fitzpatrick, Professor in International History, Flinders University (From left to right): Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany.German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons Ukraine ...
The purpose was to establish the facts and provide an independent assessment of government agency activity in relation to allegations that personal data may have been misused during the 2023 General Election. ...
Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster said he is carefully reviewing the referrals raised in the two reports. That work will be done in the context the Privacy Act and the need to ensure individuals’ rights to privacy is protected and respected. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bhavna Middha, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The average Australian household size has decreased from 4.5 people per household in 1911 to 2.5 people in 2024. At the same time, the average house size has increased, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Page Jeffery, Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Sydney suriyachan/Shutterstock When the Australian government passed legislation in November last year banning young people under 16 from social media, it included exemptions for platforms “that are primarily for the purposes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leslie Roberson, Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland If you’ve ever been stopped by quarantine officers at the airport, you might think Australia’s international border is locked down like a fortress. But when it comes ...
Duncan Sarkies’ latest novel, Star Gazers, is about the collapse of democracy in a society of alpaca breeders. Here are some things his intensive research revealed. 1 How greed works, psychologicallyYes, I guess I already understood greed, but I could never understand why people who already have everything they ...
The proposed cuts would see only two full time Telehealth data and digital roles, and one Planning, Funding and Outcomes (PFO) role remain, reduced from 17 Telehealth support roles (including vacant roles). Roles proposed to be cut include Telehealth ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Ministers to end funding for Te Kurahuna programmes and workshop grifters that have received millions in taxpayer funding, despite the Government’s supposed focus on cutting costs. ...
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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.
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%
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..?
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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 !!