A more likely explanation is that he was shown the questions beforehand and didn’t like them.
Possibly, but the most likely answer is because the right-wing pollies think The Guardian is a left-wing commie newspaper and must be avoided. I doubt Simon has ever read it.
And from the Guardian article today, Prime Minister Ardern's response to one question is a good insight into the priorities of this government:
Q. What is one thing you want to accomplish in your second term if you get re-elected in 2020? Justin Lindsay
A. We haven’t set our policy agenda for the next election yet but the plan is to continue to build on the work we have done in the first term to deliver a better New Zealand for more people.
But as finance minister, Grant Robertson, said when releasing the budget policy statement foreshadowing the direction of travel for the government, we will continue our focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future proof the economy.
The Budget 2020 priorities – which would carry work over into the next term – are:
Just Transition: Supporting New Zealanders in the transition to a climate-resilient, sustainable, and low-emissions economy
Future of Work: Enabling all New Zealanders to benefit from new technologies and lift productivity through innovation
Māori and Pacific: Lifting Māori and Pacific incomes, skills, and opportunities
Child Wellbeing: Reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing
Physical and Mental Wellbeing: Supporting improved health outcomes for all New Zealanders
All power to you Prime Minister to achieve those goals.
Some benefits they (NZ1) have been able to increase by using a back door. The $50 energy payment to pensioners. If the pension was adequate then there was no need for this. If it wasn’t then increase it from 65% to 68% (my figures here maybe a little out)
Don’t use housing allowance to increase landlord wealth, provide adequate state housing and so those in need are provided directly by the state.
I hope/pray that those who I continually see each year are not there next year and this is due to their situation has improved, but with it being an election year promises will not solve what many face on a day to day basis.
Restoration of benefits to 1991 levels, adjusted for inflation, to take effect on July 1, 2021, would also motivate the poor to get out and vote Labour in 2020.
The great unwashed of South Auckland saved Labour back in 2005. They need to be given a reason to save Labour next year.
Guan said workers paying security for jobs was commonly practised by Chinese employers in New Zealand.
She denied the $45,000 payment was a bond, claiming it was basic living costs, and "security" for taking on the risk of employing three Chinese citizens.
"That amount was calculated to two years basic living costs. It's got nothing to do with the visa.
"In China it's not a bond, it is just a payment in advance to secure they will pay me. The law is different in China. Everything they signed was in China, the money they paid was in China."
Regulator says nope:
Labour Inspectorate national manager Stu Lumsden said since January 2018 the department had taken enforcement action against nine businesses for employment breaches that involved premiums being charged.
"The Wages Protection Act makes it illegal for employers to charge an employee a premium fee, or a bond for employment. This includes charging an employee money in exchange for giving them a job or keeping them in a job so they can work under a work visa," Lumsden said.
Good to know they're FINALLY taking the problem of exploitation/modern-day slavery/trafficking a little more seriously than they once did.
Not too long ago, Stuey was telling us there were enough Labour Inspectors. The sad thing is, they let it go on so long and they now expect victims to trust them enough to report instances .
It's going to take a while for people (like the victims of exploitation) to take them seriously – but they (LI) made their bed – let 'em lay in it.
Let's see if they actually manage to extract the money out of Guan
The only real problem I see with MMP as we have implemented it would be easily fixed by reducing the threshold to 0.83% (1/120 of the vote). Which would render that abominable coat-tailing provision moot.
The main fault I see with MMP is that the party that wins the most votes doesn't always get into power which just seems to be…wrong
Just seems that while FPP puts the most popular party in power it ignores everyones elses votes which isn't good, MMP is able to ignore the most popular party which isn't good so I'm wondering if theres a fairer way
But it's not like lining up before a battle (and more than one battle has had factions switch sides during the event).
A party can't commit if it doesn't know how much policy it's likely to win in a coalition. And that changes according to the electoral ratios. And as you say NZ1 can go either way, depending on what deal it gets – how could it possibly commit to a deal before an election?
Yes they did. Coalitions have been well-known features of MMP for decades. Sometimes the largest party is just the biggest loser.
Frankly, I figured we'd be down to the largest parties only being 20-30% by now. I suspect the main reason we still have monolith parties is because the media insist on portraying it as a two-horse race rather than a team sport.
I reckon the way the split between electorate and list mps has gone to 71 – 49 has a bit to do with keeping just two parties so dominant.
As I understand it, it was kinda envisaged the split would stay a bit closer to equal numbers of electorate and list mps, but that ball kinda got dropped and we ended up with the weird provisions that have made the situation what it is now.
@Andre: yeah, capping the House membership but increasing the electorate numbers with population was a bit of a booboo I reckon
@PR:
Act aren't a party. They should have died out ten years ago or more, but nats gift them epsom because they'd rather have supplicants than partners.
The Māori Party could have gone both ways, technically, as did United. Top and KDC seemed issues based: agree with them on one or two policies andthey'd be ok with that. So the number of non-monolith centrist parties is probably similar to the wing parties ("fringe" would imply trace-element support). ACT, cons, Alliance, Greens, maybe one or two others.
ISTR the Green line is that they would go with any party that had decent environmental policy, but sadly that doesn't include the current nats.
I reckon the way the split between electorate and list mps has gone to 71 – 49 has a bit to do with keeping just two parties so dominant
We're heading for a situation where a few high ranking list MPs miss out because too may plonker electorate MPs have been elected. At which point things will change.
With our population growth we should have 140 MPs anyway, or electorates go back to 60 and represent more people
I disagree, Act is a party and would,now, probably win Epsom in a proper election.
But the nats haven't risked it in ages, have they.
And even if Seymour can win the electorate, that just makes Act like the last days of United: not a "party", an electorate mp pretending nationwide support.
If it weren't for National throwing the epsom campaign in the last few elections, Act would be history.
Well they don’t need to risk it so why bother but 25 years for a political party isn't bad going by a NZ political party and Seymours visibility is only going to rise next year
As you say media do like to keep NZ politics as a two horse FPP type system, maybe smaller parties have been hamstrung by that lack of media exposure and now with a new generation of voters coming through things will change
ISTR the Green line is that they would go with any party that had decent environmental policy, but sadly that doesn't include the current nats.
Your recollection is correct. The Green Party is willing to work with any parties if there are gains in it for the environment or the lumpenproletariat. It's that "if" statement that tends to rule out joining a National-led coalition, rather than any inherent refusal of the Green Party to work with National.
The problem I see with "the most popular party" thing is if you've got a big monolith that's put together as a grouping of barely-holding-together factions, how do you sort out where to put the effort and priorities?
Take the current state of the National party. It looks like the religious nutter faction has the upper hand at the moment. But how many National voters really want a government headed up by religious nutters prioritising religious issues?
Whereas a coalition of parties with overlapping priorities and values have an obvious indication of what their voters think should be prioritised. A hypothetical government with say 18 Green MPs and 6 New Socialist MPs and 40 Labour MPs is going to govern very differently to one made up of 8 Green MPs, 9 WinstonFirst MPs and 46 Labour MPs.
I've been pondering bicameral, where one house is purely proportional party representation and the other is local MPs (because regional concerns matter as much as Auckland concerns).
Legislation goes through the, er, "party house", and gets ratified by the electorate house. If the electorate house rejects, kick it back to the party house and either majority larger than the total nay votes or a 2/3 majority (haven't decided which) overrules the veto and the legislation is passed.
Both houses should be roughly equal in size, with electorates being 1:10,000-20,000 eligible voters. So yeah, a lot more MPs, but if we knock down their salaries a bit (like, a premium to ditch a profession for three years is fine, but $200k?) I think it would be better.
Well the pressure is slowly mounting on ScoMo, especially after his run in with a little old lady manning the kitchen for the local firies yesterday and the various State Governments to give relief to us volunteers firies in particular to the poor buggers down, but is there is bugger all in it atm for those not the public service or us veterans who have to jump through the hoops IRT DVA. Anyway it’s a small step in the right direction.
young girl today told me she and her mum went to NZ for a week of holiday to get out of Sidney.
Had not seen a blue sky for weeks and had a really bad, very throaty cough. Girl : Everyone is coughing, the air is really bad, that is why we came here so we had some clean air to breathe.
to those that believe we can adjust to this, no we can't.
Merry Christmas. Travel safely so that the volunteer fire fighters don't have to scrape bodies of the road. Be careful with the bbq so that they don't have to try and save the house. Don't do stupid shit so that they don't have to look for a cut hand in the grass. (all these things happened today)
Take your time, you will get there. Rejoice that you have shelter, food, blue skys and still some decent air to breathe. Eat, laugh be merry. Don't abuse the alcohol or drugs.
It was always the 0700 sign-in that nuked me when I was on rotating rosters. Night shift I could handle easily. But 16hrs is hard no matter when it's done.
I switched over to 2degrees from Spark for my broadband because of extremely hideous service (wasn't like that when I was there!) and I didn't get the modem (because 15 bucks is 15 bucks) so the switch over happens yesterday and try as I might I can't get the damn information needed to get the modem working (excuse the technical jargon)
I ring up the help desk and funnily enough still no joy (because I was using the modem Spark had provided) so I bite the bullet and order the modem and was told it would take up to 5 working days and given the time of the year I was resigned to getting the modem next Monday (a week without the internet!)
When lo and behold this morning, yes this very morning, a courier dropped off the modem from 2degrees and Christmas, and the internet was saved…sure not a very Christmassy miracle but a miracle nevertheless
“Windmills, which are so widespread in many European countries seem to be an environmentally friendly kind (of energy), but in fact they kill birds,” Putin told a conference of his United Russia party in the Far East.
“Vibration there is such that worms come out of the ground, not to mention moles. This is a real environmental problem,” he said, adding that solar energy was the only alternative source that was entirely harmless.
"You know we have a world, right?" Uh, yes, I had noticed that. Goddam staffers dropping acid into his cuppa tea again, eh?
Putin the environmentalist. Will he allow an ngo to form, to speak on behalf of the homeless worms & moles? In little old Aotearoa, there's only homeless people to worry about (as yet). Homeless creatures may be the next big thing…
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
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Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
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Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
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Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
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Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
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Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
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Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
In a recent Guardian article, our prime minister answered a series of questions posed by readers.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/23/jacinda-ardern-on-culture-wars-her-plan-for-2020-and-how-to-cook-snapper
More ominously, at the end of the article this cryptic note:
“Simon Bridges, the leader of the opposition, was invited to answer readers’ questions but declined.”
Now it’s not like Soimun to avoid publicity, so why didn’t he front?
There could, of course, be a simple explanation: for instance, he may be on holiday in Hawaii with his family and couldn’t be bothered.
A more likely explanation is that he was shown the questions beforehand and didn’t like them.
While Jacinda is happy to answer questions (and no doubt be accused to seeking the limelight) the right will attempt to control the narrative.
Possibly, but the most likely answer is because the right-wing pollies think The Guardian is a left-wing commie newspaper and must be avoided. I doubt Simon has ever read it.
Or his comms team advised there are no votes in it for their party, given the publication's reach.
The whole comms team is on holiday (although rust never sleeps) and Simon cannot unlock his Twitter account.
Needs help to tie his shoelaces.
The Guardian has, as far as I know, only ever done two stories on Bridges..
"New Zealand opposition leader criticised for 'alarming' stance on China"
"NZ opposition leader accused of concealing $100,000 political donation"
both by Eleanor Ainge Roy
I think not agreeing to answering questions from Guardian readers was one of the few..possibly only..smart thing Bridges has ever done.
And from the Guardian article today, Prime Minister Ardern's response to one question is a good insight into the priorities of this government:
Q. What is one thing you want to accomplish in your second term if you get re-elected in 2020? Justin Lindsay
A. We haven’t set our policy agenda for the next election yet but the plan is to continue to build on the work we have done in the first term to deliver a better New Zealand for more people.
But as finance minister, Grant Robertson, said when releasing the budget policy statement foreshadowing the direction of travel for the government, we will continue our focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future proof the economy.
The Budget 2020 priorities – which would carry work over into the next term – are:
All power to you Prime Minister to achieve those goals.
You mean continual labour’s over arching policy of Roger Douglas.
After helping out distribute food packages at Christmas, it was for me so sad to see the same families struggle year after year return.
In a country like ours there will always be families in need, just not the large numbers that we continually have.
If you volunteered this Christmas you are a saint of the first order.
The failure to raise benefits at least in step with minimum wage rises – or indeed at all – amount to a social crime by this government.
Some benefits they (NZ1) have been able to increase by using a back door. The $50 energy payment to pensioners. If the pension was adequate then there was no need for this. If it wasn’t then increase it from 65% to 68% (my figures here maybe a little out)
Don’t use housing allowance to increase landlord wealth, provide adequate state housing and so those in need are provided directly by the state.
I hope/pray that those who I continually see each year are not there next year and this is due to their situation has improved, but with it being an election year promises will not solve what many face on a day to day basis.
Restoration of benefits to 1991 levels, adjusted for inflation, to take effect on July 1, 2021, would also motivate the poor to get out and vote Labour in 2020.
The great unwashed of South Auckland saved Labour back in 2005. They need to be given a reason to save Labour next year.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/406104/safe-as-houses-new-zealand-s-first-climate-safe-house-almost-finished
will be worth seeing how this performs over the next wee while.
Wage thief penalised $680k by Employment Court claims different customs apply: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118400906/nightmare-holiday-park-owner-refuses-to-pay-back-full-bond-to-workers
Regulator says nope:
This isn't China. You want to do business here, abide by the rules, you grasping vulture. Guan should be nailed to the wall.
You mean like Kiwi rail?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/71462127/rmtu-case-against-kiwirails-use-of-chinese-workers-heads-to-era
Good to know they're FINALLY taking the problem of exploitation/modern-day slavery/trafficking a little more seriously than they once did.
Not too long ago, Stuey was telling us there were enough Labour Inspectors. The sad thing is, they let it go on so long and they now expect victims to trust them enough to report instances .
It's going to take a while for people (like the victims of exploitation) to take them seriously – but they (LI) made their bed – let 'em lay in it.
Let's see if they actually manage to extract the money out of Guan
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/118432266/no-date-fixed-for-return-of-whaktane-fishing-charter-after-whakaari–white-island-eruption
Surely two weeks is long enough to appease tangaroa and any other deities.
Let the man go back to work
There appears to be a complete disconnect between the Australian govt and "Firies".
Happy holidays.
Allāhu akbar. As-salāmu ʿalaykum.
So FPP and MMP both have issues in the way it deals with votes , would STV be a better option or is there an even better option?
What do you think the faults are with MMP?
The only real problem I see with MMP as we have implemented it would be easily fixed by reducing the threshold to 0.83% (1/120 of the vote). Which would render that abominable coat-tailing provision moot.
The main fault I see with MMP is that the party that wins the most votes doesn't always get into power which just seems to be…wrong
Just seems that while FPP puts the most popular party in power it ignores everyones elses votes which isn't good, MMP is able to ignore the most popular party which isn't good so I'm wondering if theres a fairer way
If the most popular party doesn't get into power under MMP, then more people voted against it than for it.
Yet it was Winston on 7% that decided who runs the country, that doesn't seem right either
Spot on Janice, People like Pucky just don't understand MMP. He is just a sore loser. Merry Christmas to you all.Yes that includes you Pucky.
I understand MMP well enough. I just don't think MMP is the be all and end all of voting options.
Maybe an option would be for all parties to disclose who they would go into before the election.
Winston had it both ways but how many of his voters wanted to go with Labour ie Keeping National honest and all that
But it's not like lining up before a battle (and more than one battle has had factions switch sides during the event).
A party can't commit if it doesn't know how much policy it's likely to win in a coalition. And that changes according to the electoral ratios. And as you say NZ1 can go either way, depending on what deal it gets – how could it possibly commit to a deal before an election?
I just wonder if the people that developed MMP had in mind a party of 7% deciding which coalition gets to govern
Yes they did. Coalitions have been well-known features of MMP for decades. Sometimes the largest party is just the biggest loser.
Frankly, I figured we'd be down to the largest parties only being 20-30% by now. I suspect the main reason we still have monolith parties is because the media insist on portraying it as a two-horse race rather than a team sport.
I reckon the way the split between electorate and list mps has gone to 71 – 49 has a bit to do with keeping just two parties so dominant.
As I understand it, it was kinda envisaged the split would stay a bit closer to equal numbers of electorate and list mps, but that ball kinda got dropped and we ended up with the weird provisions that have made the situation what it is now.
I don't think Act and the Greens are helping this regard, in that its not likely Act will go with Labour and the Greens have ruled out National
@Andre: yeah, capping the House membership but increasing the electorate numbers with population was a bit of a booboo I reckon
@PR:
Act aren't a party. They should have died out ten years ago or more, but nats gift them epsom because they'd rather have supplicants than partners.
The Māori Party could have gone both ways, technically, as did United. Top and KDC seemed issues based: agree with them on one or two policies andthey'd be ok with that. So the number of non-monolith centrist parties is probably similar to the wing parties ("fringe" would imply trace-element support). ACT, cons, Alliance, Greens, maybe one or two others.
ISTR the Green line is that they would go with any party that had decent environmental policy, but sadly that doesn't include the current nats.
We're heading for a situation where a few high ranking list MPs miss out because too may plonker electorate MPs have been elected. At which point things will change.
With our population growth we should have 140 MPs anyway, or electorates go back to 60 and represent more people
I disagree, Act is a party and would,now, probably win Epsom in a proper election.
David Seymour has shown to be a capable MP (certainly more effective than most MPs) and I'm predicting a2, possibly 3 MPs for Act at the next election
But the nats haven't risked it in ages, have they.
And even if Seymour can win the electorate, that just makes Act like the last days of United: not a "party", an electorate mp pretending nationwide support.
If it weren't for National throwing the epsom campaign in the last few elections, Act would be history.
Well they don’t need to risk it so why bother but 25 years for a political party isn't bad going by a NZ political party and Seymours visibility is only going to rise next year
If it was a real party, it wouldn't be a risk.
And nobody says "they were on life support for half their life, but they had a good innings".
As you say media do like to keep NZ politics as a two horse FPP type system, maybe smaller parties have been hamstrung by that lack of media exposure and now with a new generation of voters coming through things will change
Media present it as a binary (two horse race) because they need a winner and a looser to fulfil the sales / advertising model, ie sell the soap.
ISTR the Green line is that they would go with any party that had decent environmental policy, but sadly that doesn't include the current nats.
Your recollection is correct. The Green Party is willing to work with any parties if there are gains in it for the environment or the lumpenproletariat. It's that "if" statement that tends to rule out joining a National-led coalition, rather than any inherent refusal of the Green Party to work with National.
The problem I see with "the most popular party" thing is if you've got a big monolith that's put together as a grouping of barely-holding-together factions, how do you sort out where to put the effort and priorities?
Take the current state of the National party. It looks like the religious nutter faction has the upper hand at the moment. But how many National voters really want a government headed up by religious nutters prioritising religious issues?
Whereas a coalition of parties with overlapping priorities and values have an obvious indication of what their voters think should be prioritised. A hypothetical government with say 18 Green MPs and 6 New Socialist MPs and 40 Labour MPs is going to govern very differently to one made up of 8 Green MPs, 9 WinstonFirst MPs and 46 Labour MPs.
Indeed so MMP beats FPP, does anything beat MMP?
I've been pondering bicameral, where one house is purely proportional party representation and the other is local MPs (because regional concerns matter as much as Auckland concerns).
Legislation goes through the, er, "party house", and gets ratified by the electorate house. If the electorate house rejects, kick it back to the party house and either majority larger than the total nay votes or a 2/3 majority (haven't decided which) overrules the veto and the legislation is passed.
Both houses should be roughly equal in size, with electorates being 1:10,000-20,000 eligible voters. So yeah, a lot more MPs, but if we knock down their salaries a bit (like, a premium to ditch a profession for three years is fine, but $200k?) I think it would be better.
Knocking down MPs salaries sounds pretty good to me
Your beloved might need to get a side job at the Papakura yacht club to get by.
I'm sure the minister for oravida affairs has plenty of little kick backs coming in.
Just dances for tips.
Why should geography get a veto over other dimensions of representation?
Because otherwise the government only serves the interests of the largest population concentrations.
And it's not a full veto – it's just a requirement that if the regions oppose it, the party house needs to look at it again.
What is so important about 'the regions' as opposed to other groupings like 'young people' or low-paid workers?
Well the pressure is slowly mounting on ScoMo, especially after his run in with a little old lady manning the kitchen for the local firies yesterday and the various State Governments to give relief to us volunteers firies in particular to the poor buggers down, but is there is bugger all in it atm for those not the public service or us veterans who have to jump through the hoops IRT DVA. Anyway it’s a small step in the right direction.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-24/firefighters-public-service-leave/11825416
young girl today told me she and her mum went to NZ for a week of holiday to get out of Sidney.
Had not seen a blue sky for weeks and had a really bad, very throaty cough. Girl : Everyone is coughing, the air is really bad, that is why we came here so we had some clean air to breathe.
to those that believe we can adjust to this, no we can't.
Merry Christmas. Travel safely so that the volunteer fire fighters don't have to scrape bodies of the road. Be careful with the bbq so that they don't have to try and save the house. Don't do stupid shit so that they don't have to look for a cut hand in the grass. (all these things happened today)
Take your time, you will get there. Rejoice that you have shelter, food, blue skys and still some decent air to breathe. Eat, laugh be merry. Don't abuse the alcohol or drugs.
Yeah, its been a day today.
Sure has, mine started at 1400hrs and will finish at 0600hrs tomorrow and then I have to face a family breakfast followed by family lunch
Red Bull for the win!
It was always the 0700 sign-in that nuked me when I was on rotating rosters. Night shift I could handle easily. But 16hrs is hard no matter when it's done.
Being completely honest its the overtime and the day in leiu I'm doing it for, not the sense of duty 🙂
So Christmas miracle time
I switched over to 2degrees from Spark for my broadband because of extremely hideous service (wasn't like that when I was there!) and I didn't get the modem (because 15 bucks is 15 bucks) so the switch over happens yesterday and try as I might I can't get the damn information needed to get the modem working (excuse the technical jargon)
I ring up the help desk and funnily enough still no joy (because I was using the modem Spark had provided) so I bite the bullet and order the modem and was told it would take up to 5 working days and given the time of the year I was resigned to getting the modem next Monday (a week without the internet!)
When lo and behold this morning, yes this very morning, a courier dropped off the modem from 2degrees and Christmas, and the internet was saved…sure not a very Christmassy miracle but a miracle nevertheless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg
Happy for your win, Mr Rogue.
Its the little things that count 🙂
And there I was wondering where TF tRump got his windmills kill birds/destroy the environment claptrap.
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1208916201205833728
“Windmills, which are so widespread in many European countries seem to be an environmentally friendly kind (of energy), but in fact they kill birds,” Putin told a conference of his United Russia party in the Far East.
“Vibration there is such that worms come out of the ground, not to mention moles. This is a real environmental problem,” he said, adding that solar energy was the only alternative source that was entirely harmless.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-wind-idUSTRE6B52SV20101206
"You know we have a world, right?" Uh, yes, I had noticed that. Goddam staffers dropping acid into his cuppa tea again, eh?
Putin the environmentalist. Will he allow an ngo to form, to speak on behalf of the homeless worms & moles? In little old Aotearoa, there's only homeless people to worry about (as yet). Homeless creatures may be the next big thing…
Cannot be unseen.
https://twitter.com/AlphaSkar/status/1208855044373782530
Bad news: 2020 will be worse than 2019.
Good news: 2020 will be better than 2021.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all at The Standard, both posters and lurkers.
Who thinks Ad needs his own blog?
United we stand.
Divided we recline on a comfortable chaise.
"Who thinks Ad needs his own blog?"
Ad is one of a few honest lefties on this blog