Is a temporary increase of numbers of pokies in one location a big deal? The number of locations throughout neighbourhoods must be a more critical factor in feeding addictions.
What’s temporary about it? Try harder PG otherwise it’s obvious you’re a shill for shonkey attempting to shroud it in that ‘ moderate ‘ influence you roll over for the baubles every time.
Timing is good with the comedy festival starting soon, you and James 111 could do a double act. You’re also diverting from the rather more serious issue of selling legislation, no due process, robust business case etc etc
It’s temporary because the number of gaming machines has been trending significantly downward for about the last decade, and even if there is a few hundred blip upwards the trend will continue downward.
Numbers peaked at over 25,000 about 2002, and have since fairly steadily declined to about 18,000 now, averaging about -700 per year.
Okay Pete, what does shrinking lid mean?
If the desire is for them to eventually be phased out (i.e no renewed licences) then the legislation will have had its desired affect..
Ultimately we have none out in the suburbs.
And, of course, the casino will begin to reduce theirs?
Don’t think so.
Maybe you could stop to wonder why they’re trending down. The pokies not at the casino are non-profit, sites such as pubs & clubs that host pokies can only charge rent and expenses. 37% of gross pokie revenue has to go to charity and 100% of nett profit also has to go to charity.
Pubs installed them because they brought in extra customers and helped pay a bit of the rent, maybe those customers now spend so much time in front of the pokie instead of buying booze it’s not worth it for the pub any more.
They’re likely trending down because they’re no longer profitable for certain types of pubs & clubs. Since they are very profitable for Sky City, who have a totally different payout arrangement, you can’t compare the two.
We are reading the suggestions of many of the Pub pokies proceeds being “donated” in very unusual ways, not in the ways anticipated.
This has been going on for many years and needs to be corrected again again.
Ther are deep smells in this.
As usual the link is to his Pete’s website but playing his game:
Some people like having sex with animals so should we ban bestiality
Some people like robbing other peoples homes so should we ban burglary
Some people like beating the shit out of their wives so should we ban assault
Some people like biking without a helmet so should be ban not wearing a helmet
Some people like starving and beating animals so should we ban animal abuse
Some people like signing off incorrect financial prospectuses so should we ban fraud
Some people like revealing peoples private details in public so should we ban privacy breaches
Some people like to speed so should we ban speeding
Some people like to discharge cow shit into rivers so should we ban polluting rivers
Some people like playing Grant Theft Auto at 8 years old should we ban them til they are 18
Some people like keeping chickens in town so should we ban roosters
Except that you are listing things that are deemed socially unacceptable, whereas most of what I listed are seen as safe and reasonable for most people.
Actually many of the things you have listed various people find socially unacceptable in some way or another.
Drugs – marijuana would be the classic example
Fat people – just read any rightwing blog – and actually NZ should enforce the original WHO guidelines (before they were edited by the sugar company who paid for the report) to have a maximum level of sugar in food. That would have the greatest impact on obesity of anything I have ever come across
Pokies and casinos – these were banned in NZ for many, many years without any difficulty. there’s no doubt in many peoples minds that they have made and created more gambling addicts and caused more problems than not having them. Socially unacceptable absolutely.
Music – there has been plenty of effort over the years to ban unacceptable music – my favourite punk included but feel free to go back as far as Elvis if you wish.
Social mores change as we have seen with the unbanning of pokies and casinos which is actually the point isn’t it. They were allowed with a stroke of the pen and can simply be un-allowed in the same way.
We wouldn’t suffer at all without them and given only people who can afford to lose money should game they can all afford to go to Aussie to the casinos there.
We make moral choices about what we allow and don’t allow all the time – btw you must know that if you find uranium on your land it’s unlawful not to tell the government.
Sky City is obviously immune to attrition. All it does is snap its fingers and the Government increases the numbers of machines that it is allowed to have.
Another question Petey. United Future actually supported the Gambling Act 2003 which capped the number of casinos and the machine/table combination in each casino.
I’ve got no idea what UF will do about that. And I have no idea what Peter Dunne’s thiking on the convention centre proposal is, apart from what I saw of him on TV3 last night, and other non-committal reports like:
I agree that he should wait to see whatever deal ends up on the table – if it gets that far. If it does it will be a difficult one for him, weighing the pros and cons. And regardless of which way he goes he’ll be criticised vehemently by some.
Greg, will Labour oppose any deal with Sky City to build a convention centre? How much would Labour spend (and borrow) to help build a convention centre? Or are Labour anti the whole idea?
Clearly Labour is opposed to the selling of legislation for money and the increasing of accessibility to poke machines. Labour and UF put the cap there in the first place and it is clear that this was the right thing to do.
Pete G: Your beloved leader is a liar, turncoat and hypocrite extraordinaire. He’s also a pathetic weakling living in the pockets of his corrupt boss, John Key. He will not be missed or even remembered by anyone when he finally is kicked off his undeserved political pedestal.
Dunne has made it clear – on TV3 and elsewhere – that until details of any convention centre deal are known he won’t make any decisions on it. That sounds sensible to me.
But fire ahead opposing things that aren’t known if that’s what you like to do.
Is it unreasonable to expect him to comment on what is already known?
After all he’s not just a passive observer in all of this. The expression of his opinions and views can actually have a material impact on the outcome.
In a very real sense it matters what he thinks. Not just after the fact as if he were some kind of parliamentary historian, but right now as an active participant in the process of decision making.
Of course if everything seems hunky dory by him, I guess he has no reason to speak up.
Do you know a lot more about the deal that hasn’t been announced yet than Dunne? On FB this morning he said:
James K Baxter’s famous line “teach other ignorant people what you in your ignorance think you know best” comes to mind when considering all the media and self appointed social watchdogs rushing to judgement on an Auckland convention centre deal before any such deal has actually materialised. Another reminder of the wisdom of taking things one step at a time.
The fact that some Labour MPs and some in the media chose a slow news week to try and comment on a lot of unknowns doesn’t mean all MPs have to follow suit in the conclusion jumping.
I’d expect someone in Dunne’s (and Bank’s and the Maori MPs) position to wait for actual facts and deals to be known and to then weigh them up carefully rather than give a running commentary on whatever pops into his head when someone on a blog wants to know.
Perhaps this is the sort of up front guidance you prefer.
Speaking to Radio New Zealand this morning he said there was a huge need for a convention centre in Auckland, but if the deal goes ahead controls should be put in place to minimise harm to gamblers.
“I’m not anti gambling at all. I think there is a place and time for it and people are entitled to make their choices and they do that.”
“What I would be looking at and what I looked at previously is harm minimisation, so if there is an extension as a part of any deal I would be very very concerned to ensure that we did everything we could to minimise harm from the extension of gambling outlets,” he said.
The thing is Pete, he’s a politician. It’s not like he just has to sit there, and express conditional concerns and whatnot. his vote could swing this, so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
This harm minimisation thing, sounds fine, except that he doesn’t flesh it out. If that’s what he wants, he should talk about what he means. Is he talking about an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff? Cause that won’t cut it.
And who is going to pay for whatever it is he is talking about? If it’s the government, or anyone other than skycity, then it just becomes more subsidy, doesn’t it?
1. A new transparent tendering process for a national convention centre.
2. For Sky City to pay 37% tax on every pokie machine.
3. For every pokie machine at Sky City to have a max bet of $2.50 per spin and not $100.
Really Pete George in no time a national convention centre would be paid for were Sky City to come into line paying what a pub has to pay.
40 pub pokie machines = one Sky City pokie machine when the bet is $100 on the Sky City machine.
so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
Because it’s not his project. It’s an Auckland and National driven project, it’s up to them to come up with something that they can get approved in the city and in parliament.
It would be more valid to ask John Banks what he thinks. It’s his city. But it’s ridiculous to expect a single MP to fully research and lobby on every project around the country.
lol. It’s pretty onbvious he is in ‘discussions’ with the Nats about his support. Why won’t he go public with what his support will be dependent on?
It looks to me like he will be happy with some fig leaf of ‘harm reduction’ probably paid for by the taxpayer, or by some insignificant levy.
I mean whatever happened to that guy who was asking for votes on the ground that he would stop the nats doing crazy shit? this one is sitting right over the plate, if he doesn’t smack this one, he won’t smack anything.
That press release on this was just a boring tired nasty attack on labour, as if they’ve got anything at all to do with this.
No, I’ve switched back to my normal life and my normal ambitions. The election campaign finished five months ago.
I have some minor communication with UF still but I’m not a part of the organisation and have nothing to do with decision making. I’m simply an occasional opinion they may or may not take any notice of, and I sometimes ask for clarifications and explanations.
Edit – what is a decent length of time between which you could distance yourself from U,F and subsequently not appear too unseemly joining another political party?
Some people are gambling addicts so we regulate pokies.
Alcohol causes a lot of damage to society so we regulate alcohol.
Speeding cars are more likely to kill people so we speed.
The problems are three fold, one big government intervention into the pokie market to select one winner SkyCity at the expense of all the small Pokie establishments – i.e. could they form a class action under the free trade agreement against the government for loss of customers to Sky City. Second, people only allowed these machines because money went to charity and so back into the community. Third, after the social slave addicts have been used to pay for the convention centre, they will be handed over to the private investor Sky City to profit off. In what world do we live in that allows profit from the addiction of others. Are we going to get drug addicts to break rocks up and keep the profits from the sale, are we going to have alcoholic addicts put in a ring and beat each other to a pulp for the viewer entertainment??
Its immoral and unethical to build a convention centre off the backs of addicts.
Use of the the word “wild” is the giveaway there….
“Mr Key said he “sensed” that ACT MP John Banks and UnitedFuture MP Peter Dunne would support the deal when it emerged.”
– Key must be reaching Jedi Master levels with his “sensing”, again attempting diversion, away from the obvious corrpution that has gone on around this deal.
It’s getting so transparent now, you could put a good case together for self sabotage!
Mexico is getting lots of foreign investment and is moving ahead of being a low wage economy so their representative says. I suppose that efforts to both invest in and control drug cartels can be regarded as major by free market enthusiasts measuring ‘foreign investment’.
David Shearer compared our Australian neighbour situation to that of Mexico and USA and based his comment on real facts. Radionz tried to conflate it with Jerry Brownlee’s flight of fancy about Finland. David stopped Geoff Robinson and put him right about the reality of the Mexican situation and our similarity to their problems with their wealthier neighbour. Good on him for bringing truth and facts to the news, and keeping Radionz on its sober path of reporting correctly when they do meet truth.
Parker should have done his research and some basic scenario modelling of how it was going to play. Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
It’s all very well wanting higher quality this and better paying that – I agree – but the fact is we need the jobs, we have a generally low-skilled workforce generating bulk agricultural products, we have high unemployment, and we don’t have enough of our own savings to continuously stop foreign investment set up here and provide those jobs.
And as for drug production, it would be interesting to compare as a proportion of the economy and population New Zealand has in generating drugs, compared to Mexico. I suspect the comparision would not be as stark as we want.
@ad When did Brownlee dig Shearer out? I am confused about this statement. Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
As for drugs in Mexico, I didn’t mention production as the trade and effects are very wide. People are being killed as they try to travel across Mexico and drugs are involved. We have some incidents here for sure but it seems their economy and wellbeing are in danger through this trade.
I am glad you would like better paying jobs. We already know the other points you made. Can you come up with some ideas as to how to circumvent them and achieve better conditions?
Shearer was getting slapped all over the park about his Finland comments in the first speech, until Brownlee whent over the top with the attack in Parliament and the tv news got to spank Brownlee with Finnish protest. A very lucky dig-out.
As for policy ideas, wait for Cunliffe’s set-piece speeches. He’s the one to watch.
I would still rather give Shearer a break right now rather than support Robertson and Ardern continue the internal takeover.
ad I had to refresh my memory about Shearer talking about Finland, found in Standard archives March 16th under David Shearer, also unzipped Google and finally found piece from Tapu Misa with an interesting book summary as well. For interested parties –
Perhaps it’s time we stopped trying to emulate others and remembered that we’ve been world leaders, too: think the women’s vote, ACC (whatever its current problems), the Waitangi Tribunal, and being nuclear-free. We’re apt to forget that we might have something to teach others.
We don’t come off too badly, in fact, when held up against the US, the theme of a new book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer, Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies, New Zealand and the United States.
Comparing our histories, Fischer suggests that our social and political choices have been driven by the dominance of different values: freedom and liberty in the US, and fairness and social justice in New Zealand. …
Fischer’s rich cultural analysis leaves little doubt that New Zealand’s achievements are largely rooted in its “highly developed vernacular ideas of fairness, a complex set of values that Kiwis prize and pursue earnestly. The result: by virtually every measure, New Zealand has a more just and decent society than ours – while resorting far less readily to legalistic and legislative remedies”.
Tapu Misa is wrong. We haven’t had anything to teach the world (other than as a textbook global lesson that accelerating neoliberalism leads to gradual poverty for almost everyone) since the first term of the Lange administration re nuclear powered ships. After that it’s thirty years of neoliberalism in softer or sharper guises. If the left had had something to get really excited about in between, the left would never have split in the first place.
Fischer’s book is a coarse, simplistic overstretch.
Tapu Misa speaks of a New Zealand that only those over 40 can remember. Utter nostalgia. She is scrabbling for a national virtue long lost, like Chris Trotter this morning mourning the loss of Norman Kirk in 1974. It’s not a critique, just elegaic prose.
Comparing New Zealand with the UNited States, about anything, is of no academic merit at all. One of the better paralles is John Ralston Saul’s Reflections of a Siamese Twin on Canada always the silent other to the US, similar to our statehood-in-all-but-name within Australia.
That was kind of my point – If we accept that our nations virtue is indeed lost then we will never regain it. Should we accept that?
I do appreciate where you are coming from, which is presumably that we should acknowledge that currently we do not exhibit much (if any) virtue on the international stage these days as a country, and that looking back and pining for days of yore (Trotter and Kirk) is not the same as doing something about it.
Re: Canada and the US Vs NZ/ Australia relations and the ‘silent Siamese’ relationship I totally agree – the boat people/ refugee issue is a perfect example of this – NZ has lost its independent voice – even the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan comes only after the Aussies pull theirs out…
Thanks for the book reference, sounds like an interesting read.
I think that is a bit unfair Fortran. Tapu appears to me to be the only columnist the Herald allows to tell it how it is about social issues, and she either has great experience of her community or is a superb observer.
Yes. An interesting comparison. Were there 2 items on this on morning report, or did you mean the other David (Parker) and not Shearer. The bit I heard included joint interviews with David Parker and the Mexican ambassador.
I couldn’t help thinking Cunliffe would have done a better job on it than Parker though.
No I was making the link to Shearer, although in Shearer’s April speech he also mentioned Mexico unhelpfully. Whaleoil also made the double Parker/Shearer/Mexico link.
There just needs to be a lot more thought given to how speeches and releases will play. National’s current glinting armour will simply ping these little arrows off. To me the gold standard of cold chutzpah opn making the deal was Key’s interview with Campbell last Friday night. That’s how good the progressive side has to be, and better, if the government is to be weakened.
Right now, the television media are saying “deals are good”, rather than “greed is bad”. The Herald is donig a doughty job on SkyCity, even better than on the Ports of Auckland. Television is still king when it comes to turning the polls.
My view would be for the most effective opposition and the most electable pairing as far as the Labour leadership goes, Cunliff/Robertson or Robertson/Cunliff,
Both when let loose have their own brand of ”presence” which in their different ways make Me stop and listen,within Robertson is a glimmer of what made Norm Kirk and David Lange so electable,
The difference now,especially when I think of the Lange Government is that the reliance upon the Greens should ensure that Labour keep LEFT…
No way – Cunliffe has been cut out of play by Robertson and his Wellington ilk.
He should leave and get a real job. There is no way he could be elected as a leader.candidate.
Remember ABC – it has not changed. Mahuta forget it.
Robertson and Maryann Street will be the next equation.
@Carol Yes got the wrong David. It’s a smorgasbord (is that Finnish) there in Labourland, with Shearer, Cunliffe and Parker.
Has anyone ever done a study on men’s names? So many from the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John etc. The Davids’s follow on, also Andrew, etc. Or else they are drawn from royalty or nobility from the past, William, Henry, George, Edward. A nice striking name might bring votes even. What about ‘Elect Thor, or Red the Viking for a a change in the lacklustre political culture.’
John Banks this morning said (isn’t it awful hearing his voice all the time) that he was on the Centre Right. Ha! What about 500 of us setting up a political party called the Centre Right.
This would be on the basis of adopting a name carrying strong meaning and taming it, sort of like the Sluts and Queers movement.
Are there sluts for the Centre Right, both male and female? Let’s give the description reality and upset the lie of the right wing hiding their extremism behind this political classification.
Why don’t educators think outside their coffin shaped boxes? They are dead in the head, little soldiers of entrenched conservatism.. They should know from their studies of sociology that children follow in parents footsteps, and parents attitudes are 80% or more in guiding students to achievement. Also I have read that there is a strong peer group amongst lower educated youngsters that acts against individual effort and enterprise to succeed beyond the rest.
In Moerewa there are parents eager and behind their youngsters education so why doesn’t the Department pilot a family educator program. Parents learning along with their children and able to help as tutors and trainers in guiding organisation and commitment to timetables and aiming to finish and succeed at projects in general. I’m also in favour of a small sum of money to parents who undertake a course in tutoring and who if successful with their own children, would continue working with other families. What a smart and helpful and far-seeing move that would be by educators.
Yes Prism. A bit strange since Charter Schools will be allowed to set their own programs. But not Moerewa. Surely if the kids and parents really want to be in that school it is a giant plus and whatever it is that the school does they should bottle it and sell it. So many schools are seen by kids as disconnected – truancy. Does Assessment get in the way of learning and involvement?
I watched Native Affairs last night and heard that the schools refusal to adopt National Standards may have been behind the initial Ministry attack on Moerewa.
While there may be some deficiencies to be remedied, the fact that these young people and their parents seem engaged and committed to education should be celebrated not punished. While they are at the school, they will be learning positive things rather than truanting and learning nothing.
The obsession that the Ministry, their political bosses and the public has with tests and examinations is to blame, at least in part, for the number of people leaving school after being labelled ‘failures’ instead of their positive attributes being drawn out and celebrated. The importance of self esteem in determining achievement in life is undervalued, I think
Fortran The whole rigid structure of National Standards and the box ticking obssession of NCEA and teacher competence being glued to that is a predictable moral hazard and has been observed as so in other countries that use it.
A two-week long hikoi protesting against asset sales, privatisation, overseas land sales and the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will begin today in Cape Reinga.
The ‘Aotearoa is Not For Sale’ hikoi aims to reach Wellington on Friday, May 4, after stopping in several North Island towns.
Its progress through Auckland on Saturday will coincide with a public demonstration at Britomart on Queen St, which organisers expect over 10,000 people to attend.
[…]
Saturday’s demonstration is a “family-friendly march” which will assemble outside Britomart in central Auckland at 3pm, then march up Queen St to Aotea Square. It will be followed by speakers and musical entertainment.
A one-week series of activities and demonstrations will take place after the hikoi arrives in Wellington.
Guess who would hang out against the right thing for a Rightie to do”
Two Right-wing bloggers who allegedly published defamatory comments about Labour earthquake recovery spokeswoman Lianne Dalziel may face legal action.
The Southern Asian and Little Saigon restaurants in Colombo St were forced to close with only 90 minutes’ notice last Thursday. Dalziel told The Press about the “tragic” situation from one of the restaurants that afternoon. ……….
…….Farrar obeyed the request but Slater refused to remove the comments or apologise. He did not care if it turned into a “legal war”.
Claire Trevett serves up today’s PR from the warmongers in two separate articles, both on the same topic: Leaders slam ‘thieving Digger’ slur
The first paragraph mentions ‘Transtasman political leaders’ but then goes on to quote Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith (not a leader):
“We have the highest regard for the contribution made by our New Zealand colleagues – as they do have for us. Anyone who has been to Gallipoli, who has been to the New Zealand monument at the top of the hill, who understands the contribution that our Kiwi brothers and sisters made in Gallipoli alone – let alone other conflicts, including and up to Afghanistan – would dismiss those comments with the disrespect they deserve.”
” I’ve seen the Australian Forces in a number of situations when they’ve been in places like Afghanistan, in Gallipoli and various other places. The spirit of the Anzac tradition is alive and well – it was a tradition forged on the battlegrounds of Gallipoli and to take away from their efforts I find quite offensive.”
Here it is again – Afghanistan – you would think that both Australia and NZ ‘political leaders’ would be better off not mentioning the shameful involvement in the US ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan but instead it is promoted as being an example of the ‘spirit of the Anzac tradition’
The Anzac tradition post Gallipoli is a tradition steeped in controversy. The unjust and brutal occupation of Vietnam by ‘Anzac’ forces is not something we ‘celebrate’ today, nor should we ‘celebrate’ the unjust and brutal occupation of Afghanistan.
Those soldiers that died in Gallipoli would be horrified to discover that their sacrifice was being used as an excuse to draw future generations into battle.
It is time that the ‘spirit of the Anzac’ tradition becomes one of peace. If we are to work together with our allies let it be not bound by blood and aggression, but united by respect – respect for each others sovereignty and that of all the peoples of the world. United by a commitment to humanitarian responses to conflict.
Anzac Day – A day to remember and grieve for the fallen. A day to remember the folly and brutality of war. A reminder that we must not make the same mistakes again.
@ Campbell Larsen – I heard the comment about Australian soldiers and World War 2 and the reasonable reply to such an unreasonable comment. I thought it was an uncalled for comment from a historian, who would like to repeat war history apparently after not having learned anything from the past.
Makes me think of the comment made this morning about some Perth team P.Glory I think who sound pretty physical and the NZ reply made me think more of an ultimate fight than a sport. Don’t start up extra aggravation with the Aussies thank you very much Jock Anderson.
(From article on Stuff.) A New Zealand journalist who called Australian World War I soldiers “bludgers”, “scavengers” and “thieves” says he has “nothing to apologise for” despite the backlash his comments have received.
Jock Anderson made the comments on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel last week.
“The Aussies have been reluctant soldiers at the best of times. They’ve been essentially lazy, bludgers, some of them, and excellent black marketeers, scavengers, poachers and thieves,” he said on the radio show…However, the National Business Review chief reporter has said he wouldn’t apologise.
I think NZs might like to think they could have matched the Aussies for thieving etc. It was a way of surviving and getting extras. There is some story about an officer and a chicken going missing in a barn and a nice chicken dinner later. There will be other stories in greater detail too.
No argument from me – the comments from Jock were unnecessary, rude and insensitive.
I am more interested in what came back in reply (thus the focus of my comment)
It is time that the ‘spirit of the Anzac’ tradition becomes one of peace. If we are to work together with our allies let it be not bound by blood and aggression, but united by respect – respect for each others sovereignty and that of all the peoples of the world. United by a commitment to humanitarian responses to conflict.
Absolutely agreed!
I generally have nowt to do with ANZAC Day, because it’s very problematic for me as a pacifist…
Some lovely phrasing from the NZHerald today as the great MED merger is confirmed:
“Hundreds of public service jobs are expected to be erased in the merger – though Mr Joyce said the jobs of the ministers overseeing the various sectors are safe.”
Rod Oram on Crafar Sale.
Shines a must hear focus on the absurdity of the Sale.
It is the first time that I have heard Rod being angry/upset.
He is very skeptical about the verdict and process of the approval.
He says that it is very like the 100 year old plan where Brits “screwed” NZ by owning Meat and meat processing in NZ (like Dairy), but the real wealth was exported.
And one major flaw is to show that National authorising the sale makes it OK for other foreigners to keep on buying up NZ land. Accumulative effect.
If Oram does not like the decision it must be right.
As a recent Pom arrival, from many lands in between, he must be right about the maurauding Poms, without whom this country would be even more backwards in the world.
…changes to the climate are happening faster than previously predicted.
Not really. There have been predictions made since the early 80’s that appear to be closely following what is actually happening that were less conservative than the IPCC reports. But Lovelock was always somewhat ‘enthusiastic’ compared to the climate scientists – it made for better books.
It was more that the predictions made by the IPCCS in the scientific report are on the available fully verified evidence at the time – which for IPCC 4 was released in 2007 based on data with a cutoff date of around 2004-2005. That means that the IPCC reports are really really conservative we are talking of a geological process that takes time to happen and therefore the evidence to be measured. While it is happening at an extraordinarily fast speed in geological terms, it is still glacial in terms of human observers.
So the data collection programs initiated in the early 2000’s, 1990’s and even the 1980’s took time to produce verifiable data across decades long climatic cycles. It is only in the past decade for instance that we’ve been able to look at the mass of ice in the Arctic across the whole area (and watch it diminish at about 10x the IPCC4 report predictions).
But everything is happening faster now as the process accelerates with feedback effects. The data collection is now in place to see it happening. Of course the political will is about robust as John Key’s understanding of anything to do with science.
So I’m pretty confident that the populations will get seriously concerned about the time that we get our first major deaths from agricultural failures and before we get serious sealevel rises. Of course by then, it will be too late to do much about changing the next few centuries of climatic turmoil.
Once started geological processes are pretty hard to stop. But Lovelock just didn’t appreciate how much buffering there is in the system – especially in the ability of the oceans to suck up vast amounts of heat, CO2 and CH4.
Newly released suicide and self-harm hospitalisation data for 2009, the most recent year available, shows New Zealand’s suicide rate is being reduced (there’s quite a lag for these statistics due to having to wait for cornoers reports).
2009 – 506 deaths
1998 – 15.5 per 100,000
2008 – 11.8 per 100,000
2009 – 11.2 per 100,000
Youth suicide:
1995 – 44.1 per 100,000
2009 – 29.0 per 100,000
Still far too high but an improving trend.
“We have a significant youth suicide issue, particularly among young men, and that is why the Government is investing $62 million over four years in the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project announced earlier this month.”
“We want every young person who needs help to receive it in a way that works for them – and that is why the package will be delivered through schools, health professionals, online and at home.
“We also want parents to know where to turn which is why we’ve developed a new fund to provide information to parents, families and friends.
“Alongside this package we will be developing a new Suicide Prevention Action Plan this year. This will be a cross-government agency initiative that I will be leading to further tackle the issue of suicide.”
The 10 year Suicide Prevention Strategy 2006–2016 and associated four-year Action Plan 2008–2012 form the backbone of Government-led suicide prevention.
The Government will this year develop the next stage four-year Action Plan covering 2013 to 2016.
There are concerns the statistics take so long to become available but this is being worked on. The 2010 figures will be available later this year.
Well said in that link thanks Dave. They have done us in but what to do about it. National Standards were just the beginning of dismantling schooling as we have known it. More trashing to come with the help of the Secretary of Education. Sad.
The PPTA are congratulating the minsityr for what they have done.
PPTA president Robin Duff congratulates education minister Hekia Parata for taking a firm stand against the board of Northland’s Moerewa School .
The board was sacked yesterday after extending classes to years 11 and 13 without the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) permission, with seriously questionable results.
“Primary schools may have the best of intentions, but it is wrong for them to believe they can adequately provide specialist subject delivery to students over year 9,” Duff said.
“They may provide a warm and nurturing environment, but PPTA has warned for years that primary schools retaining students after year 9 denies them the specialised support they need.”
Wasn’t it Robin Duff who said that most schools supported Nationals’ Standards and then had most schools turn around and tell her and the nation that they didn’t?
Oh dear, thanks for this link, Pete, I hadn’t read this link related to PPTA’s position. I hadn’t picked up the fact that the school hadn’t asked permission for extending the classes. Whether this is fact or not doesn’t change my stance. It does appear that the school was responding to the needs of their community in good faith and the aggressive nature of the Ministry’s response was unhelpful.
Lets hope the AG concludes that the PM did nothing wrong, I’d hate to see her denigrated as having made a bad call. I mean in this instance there wasn’t even a written warning that was acknowledged prior to claiming “The AG changed the rules”. So it would seem a lot easier for National to be self serving and attack the AG rather than be accountable than it was for Labour.
One more thing about the possible SkyCity probe. Is anyone who comments here regularly likely to be in agreement with the PM if he says the business of government is whatever government say it is ?
The Productivity Commission released its International freight transport services report (PDF) today. I’ve highlighted a few extracts, and the one that really stood out for me was about the additional cost New Zealand faces because of the distance to our offshore markets…
The actual difference in costs to the shipping companies is a few dollars per container.
500 extra miles does not make that much difference.
Overseas shipping companies in NZ, unlike most countries, Australia included, are allowed to carry coastal cargo which increases their profits and should cut shipping rates. Not that shipping companies have passed any of it on.
The extra charges are shipping cartels, which NZ allows, price gouging.
I note that they believe Unions are holding up port productivity. Not really surprised as the benefits to the Tauranga wharfies from being more productive than other ports in the Pacific is less pay, casualisation and reduced conditions.
Having minimum wage slaves would , of course, increase productivity??
You just make this stuff up don’t you. 500 miles is not even a factor in the position of NZ relative to the rest of our markets. 500 miles is relevant when talking about Auckland to Wellington but inconsequential when talking about European markets.
As for shipping/freight cartels… remind me again who’s making all the demands for “their share” in POA ?
Extremely relevant when they are discussing competitiveness with Australia.
Around 500 NM is the difference in distance between Sydney and Auckland to USA/Europe.
(Reference. Ocean passages of the world)
Sydney’s port, administration, safety regulation requirements and wharf costs are a lot higher than Auckland’s . There is actually no reason, apart from rorting, that our freight charges are higher.
What about Europe’s distance from Chinese markets?
Distance from markets is just another excuse from the RWNJ’s for the Neo-lib fuckup.
And all the more reason for supporting local manufacturing to add value instead of relying on commodity exports.
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
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 climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
New Zealand’s housing crisis is a sad indictment on the failures of right wing neoliberalism, and the National Party, under Chris Luxon’s shaky leadership, is trying to simply ignore it. The numbers don’t lie: Census data from 2023 revealed 112,496 Kiwis were severely housing deprived...couch-surfing, car-sleeping, or roughing it on ...
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: on a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ...
Simeon Brown, the National Party’s poster child for hubris, consistently over-promises and under-delivers. His track record...marked by policy flip-flops and a dismissive attitude toward expert advice, reveals a politician driven by personal ambition rather than evidence. From transport to health, Brown’s focus seems fixed on protecting National's image, not addressing ...
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications:Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...
Once a venomous thorn in New Zealand’s blogosphere, Cathy Odgers, aka Cactus Kate, has slunk into the shadows, her once-sharp quills dulled by the fallout of Dirty Politics.The dishonest attack-blogger, alongside her vile accomplices such as Cameron Slater, were key players in the National Party’s sordid smear campaigns, exposed by Nicky ...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned for low-income workers given new data released by Stats NZ that shows inflation was 2.5% for the year to March 2025, rising from 2.2% in December last year. “The prices of things that people can’t avoid are rising – meaning inflation is rising ...
Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...
In yesterday’s post I tried to present the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement for 2025-30, as approved by the Minister of Finance and the Bank’s Board, in the context of the previous agreement, and the variation to that agreement signed up to by Grant Robertson a few weeks before the last ...
Australia’s bid to co-host the 31st international climate negotiations (COP31) with Pacific island countries in late 2026 is directly in our national interest. But success will require consultation with the Pacific. For that reason, no ...
Old and outdated buildings being demolished at Wellington Hospital in 2018. The new infrastructure being funded today will not be sufficient for future population size and some will not be built by 2035. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Thursday, April 17:Simeon Brown has unveiled ...
The introduction of AI in workplaces can create significant health and safety risks for workers (such as intensification of work, and extreme surveillance) which can significantly impact workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. It is critical that unions and workers are involved in any decision to introduce AI so that ...
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role ...
Sunday marks three months since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. What a ride: the style rude, language raucous, and the results rogue. Beyond manners, rudeness matters because tone signals intent as well as personality. ...
There are any number of reasons why anyone thinking of heading to the United States for a holiday should think twice. They would be giving their money to a totalitarian state where political dissenters are being rounded up and imprisoned here and here, where universities are having their funds for ...
Taiwan has an inadvertent, rarely acknowledged role in global affairs: it’s a kind of sponge, soaking up much of China’s political, military and diplomatic efforts. Taiwan soaks up Chinese power of persuasion and coercion that ...
The Ukraine war has been called the bloodiest conflict since World War II. As of July 2024, 10,000 women were serving in frontline combat roles. Try telling them—from the safety of an Australian lounge room—they ...
Following Canadian authorities’ discovery of a Chinese information operation targeting their country’s election, Australians, too, should beware such risks. In fact, there are already signs that Beijing is interfering in campaigning for the Australian election ...
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). From "founder" of Tesla and the OG rocket man with SpaceX, and rebranding twitter as X, Musk has ...
Back in February 2024, a rat infestation attracted a fair few headlines in the South Dunedin Countdown supermarket. Today, the rats struck again. They took out the Otago-Southland region’s internet connection. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360656230/internet-outage-hits-otago-and-southland Strictly, it was just a coincidence – rats decided to gnaw through one fibre cable, while some hapless ...
I came in this morning after doing some chores and looked quickly at Twitter before unpacking the groceries. Someone was retweeting a Radio NZ story with the headline “Reserve Bank’s budget to be slashed by 25%”. Wow, I thought, the Minister of Finance has really delivered this time. And then ...
So, having teased it last week, Andrew Little has announced he will run for mayor of Wellington. On RNZ, he's saying its all about services - "fixing the pipes, making public transport cheaper, investing in parks, swimming pools and libraries, and developing more housing". Meanwhile, to the readers of the ...
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1921ALL OVER THE WORLD, devout Christians will be reaching for their bibles, reading and re-reading Revelation 13:16-17. For the benefit of all you non-Christians out there, these are the verses describing ...
Give me what I want, what I really, really want: And what India really wants from New Zealand isn’t butter or cheese, but a radical relaxation of the rules controlling Indian immigration.WHAT DOES INDIA WANT from New Zealand? Not our dairy products, that’s for sure, it’s got plenty of those. ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Yesterday, 5,500 senior doctors across Aotearoa New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to strike for a day.This is the first time in New Zealand ASMS members have taken strike action for 24 hours.They are asking the government tofund them and account for resource shortfalls.Vacancies are critical - 45-50% in some regions.The ...
For years and years and years, David Seymour and his posse of deluded neoliberals have been preaching their “tough on crime” gospel to voters. Harsher sentences! More police! Lock ‘em up! Throw away the key. But when it comes to their own, namely former Act Party president Tim Jago, a ...
Judith Collins is a seasoned master at political hypocrisy. As New Zealand’s Defence Minister, she's recently been banging the war drum, announcing a jaw-dropping $12 billion boost to the defence budget over the next four years, all while the coalition of chaos cries poor over housing, health, and education.Apparently, there’s ...
I’m on the London Overground watching what the phones people are holding are doing to their faces: The man-bun guy who could not be less impressed by what he's seeing but cannot stop reading; the woman who's impatient for a response; the one who’s frowning; the one who’s puzzled; the ...
You don't have no prescriptionYou don't have to take no pillsYou don't have no prescriptionAnd baby don't have to take no pillsIf you come to see meDoctor Brown will cure your ills.Songwriters: Waymon Glasco.Dr Luxon. Image: David and Grok.First, they came for the Bottom FeedersAnd I did not speak outBecause ...
The Health Minister says the striking doctors already “well remunerated,” and are “walking away from” and “hurting” their patients. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Wednesday, April 16:Simeon Brown has attacked1 doctors striking for more than a 1.5% pay rise as already “well remunerated,” even ...
The time is ripe for Australia and South Korea to strengthen cooperation in space, through embarking on joint projects and initiatives that offer practical outcomes for both countries. This is the finding of a new ...
Hi,When Trump raised tariffs against China to 145%, he destined many small businesses to annihilation. The Daily podcast captured the mass chaos by zooming in and talking to one person, Beth Benike, a small-business owner who will likely lose her home very soon.She pointed out that no, she wasn’t surprised ...
National’s handling of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis is an utter shambles and a gutless betrayal of every Kiwi scraping by. The Coalition of Chaos Ministers strut around preaching about how effective their policies are, but really all they're doing is perpetuating a cruel and sick joke of undelivered promises, ...
Most people wouldn't have heard of a little worm like Rhys Williams, a so-called businessman and former NZ First member, who has recently been unmasked as the venomous troll behind a relentless online campaign targeting Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle.According to reports, Williams has been slinging mud at Doyle under ...
Illustration credit: Jonathan McHugh (New Statesman)The other day, a subscriber said they were unsubscribing because they needed “some good news”.I empathised. Don’t we all.I skimmed a NZME article about the impacts of tariffs this morning with analysis from Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr. Kerr, their Chief Economist, suggested another recession is the ...
Let’s assume, as prudence demands we assume, that the United States will not at any predictable time go back to being its old, reliable self. This means its allies must be prepared indefinitely to lean ...
Over the last three rather tumultuous US trade policy weeks, I’ve read these four books. I started with Irwin (whose book had sat on my pile for years, consulted from time to time but not read) in a week of lots of flights and hanging around airports/hotels, and then one ...
Indonesia could do without an increase in military spending that the Ministry of Defence is proposing. The country has more pressing issues, including public welfare and human rights. Moreover, the transparency and accountability to justify ...
Former Hutt City councillor Chris Milne has slithered back into the spotlight, not as a principled dissenter, but as a vindictive puppeteer of digital venom. The revelations from a recent court case paint a damning portrait of a man whose departure from Hutt City Council in 2022 was merely the ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
The economy is not doing what it was supposed to when PM Christopher Luxon said in January it was ‘going for growth.’ Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short from our political economy on Tuesday, April 15:New Zealand’s economic recovery is stalling, according to business surveys, retail spending and ...
This is a guest post by Lewis Creed, managing editor of the University of Auckland student publication Craccum, which is currently running a campaign for a safer Symonds Street in the wake of a horrific recent crash.The post has two parts: 1) Craccum’s original call for safety (6 ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff has published an opinion piece which makes the case for a different approach to economic development, as proposed in the CTU’s Aotearoa Reimagined programme. The number of people studying to become teachers has jumped after several years of low enrolment. The coalition has directed Health New ...
The growth of China’s AI industry gives it great influence over emerging technologies. That creates security risks for countries using those technologies. So, Australia must foster its own domestic AI industry to protect its interests. ...
Unfortunately we have another National Party government in power at the moment, and as a consequence, another economic dumpster fire taking hold. Inflation’s hurting Kiwis, and instead of providing relief, National is fiddling while wallets burn.Prime Minister Chris Luxon's response is a tired remix of tax cuts for the rich ...
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girlsWho do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveSongwriters: Damon Albarn / Graham Leslie Coxon / Alexander Rowntree David / Alexander James Steven.Last month, I wrote about the Birds and Bees being ...
Australia needs to reevaluate its security priorities and establish a more dynamic regulatory framework for cybersecurity. To advance in this area, it can learn from Britain’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which presents a compelling ...
Deputy PM Winston Peters likes nothing more than to portray himself as the only wise old head while everyone else is losing theirs. Yet this time, his “old master” routine isn’t working. What global trade is experiencing is more than the usual swings and roundabouts of market sentiment. President Donald ...
President Trump’s hopes of ending the war in Ukraine seemed more driven by ego than realistic analysis. Professor Vladimir Brovkin’s latest video above highlights the internal conflicts within the USA, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine, which are currently hindering peace talks and clarity. Brovkin pointed out major contradictions within ...
In the cesspool that is often New Zealand’s online political discourse, few figures wield their influence as destructively as Ani O’Brien. Masquerading as a champion of free speech and women’s rights, O’Brien’s campaigns are a masterclass in bad faith, built on a foundation of lies, selective outrage, and a knack ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
This Easter Sunday harassment of the victim’s family is part of a deliberate tactic to silence the victims, who were wrongfully duped of their money, efforts and hopes for a better future. ...
Māori own huge areas of land in Aotearoa but as climate change accelerates and carbon markets take hold, many are being backed into a corner.Māori connections to the whenua and ngahere run deep, rooted in whakapapa and sustained through generations. Today, that whenua is at a crossroads – squeezed ...
Comment: Two decades ago, I drove from Germany to Southern Belgium to visit the Commonwealth Memorial at Tyne Cot. The remains of my great grandmother’s brother, Private Robert Macalister, lay there. I didn’t know what to expect.Even in early summer, nine decades later, Passchendaele was blanketed in a thick, low ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As it seeks to gain some momentum for its campaign, the Coalition on Monday will focus on law and order, announcing $355 million for a National Drug Enforcement and Organised Crime Strike Team to fight ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne With less than two weeks to go now until the federal election, the polls continue to favour the government being returned. ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone Israel assassinated a photojournalist in Gaza in an airstrike targeting her family’s home on Wednesday, the day after it was announced that a documentary she appears in would premier in Cannes next month. Her name was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University Darryl Fonseka/Shutterstocl What do you think of when it comes to extra terrestrial life? Most popular sci-fi books and TV shows suggest humanoid beings could live on other planets. But when astronomers ...
By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatchpresenter In 1979, Sam Neill appeared in an Australian comedy movie about hacks on a Sydney newspaper. The Journalist was billed as “a saucy, sexy, funny look at a man with a nose for scandal and a weakness for women”. That would probably not fly ...
The governments blueprint of how it will invest $12 billion over the next four years into the New Zealand Defence Force mentions climate change twice. ...
Protesters are occupying the site of a proposed fast-tracked coal mine on the Denniston Plateau, near Westport. The 70-strong group, organised by climate activism group 350Aotearoa, says this is just the first of a series of protest actions they are prepared to take against the mining company, Bathurst Resources Ltd., if ...
In an art world context, photography has evolved significantly over the years pushing boundaries in both technique and concept. No longer the poor cousin of painting, but still much more affordable thanks to photographs being sold in numbered editions, an art photograph doesn’t merely capture a moment—artists use the medium ...
Last year, 20,000 observations of Christchurch species were made during the annual City Nature Challenge, a way for anyone to get involved in biodiversity. It’s back again this month. Even in suburbia, even on grey autumn weekends, there is biodiversity. You just need the time to look for it: to ...
Asia Pacific Report Peaceful protesters in Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest city Auckland held an Easter prayer vigil honouring Palestinian political prisoners and the sacrifice of thousands of innocent lives as relentless Israeli bombing of displaced Gazans in tents killed at least 92 people in two days. Organisers of the rally ...
ANALYSIS:By Ben Bohane This week Cambodia marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the murderous Khmer Rouge, and Vietnam celebrates the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces in April 1975. They are being commemorated very differently; after all, there’s nothing to celebrate in Cambodia. ...
By Gujari Singh in Washington The Trump administration has issued a new executive order opening up vast swathes of protected ocean to commercial exploitation, including areas within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. It allows commercial fishing in areas long considered off-limits due to their ecological significance — despite ...
New Zealand commemoration lead John McLeod said a small team, including members of the NZDF and the NZ Embassy, assisted in the covering up of remains that were exposed. ...
This Bill is a great opportunity to improve our system of government across all levels. Let’s make sure we get it right and give the public a say on a simple and enduring solution. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney Tech giant Google has just suffered another legal blow in the United States, losing a landmark antitrust case. This follows on from the company’s loss in a similar case last ...
Paddy GowerAmanda Luxon. I mean what can you say. Easter is a good time to publish my latest reckons at Stuff because without exaggeration or making too much of things, Amanda Luxon walks among us like Jesus but probably with better shoes.Jesus healed. How good is that? It’s really good, ...
How can an afternoon be long when it starts at one o’clock and finishes at half past three? Beauden thought about that as he stood at the back of the classroom and looked through the large window to the upper grounds where his colleague Monty Spiers was taking a phys ed ...
Alex Casey delves into the enduring success of The Artist’s Way, a self-help book beloved by everyone from retirees to famous rappers. On the video call, my mum is gesticulating so wildly while recounting all her recent creative endeavours that she knocks her cup of tea over a work-in-progress jigsaw ...
Feijoa scholar Kate Evans reviews the dish everybody raves about at Metro’s 2024 restaurant of the year, Forest. People have been telling me I need to try the deep-fried feijoa dessert at Forest for about three years now. I’m embarrassed it took me this long, but it takes a lot ...
Chef, author and reality television judge Colin Fassnidge takes us through his life in television. Colin Fassnidge is a huge television fan. He watches every blockbuster TV series the moment it drops and scores every single show on his Instagram account. It’s a habit that recently caught the attention of ...
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Some people are gambling addicts so we should ban pokies.
And what else?
Is a temporary increase of numbers of pokies in one location a big deal? The number of locations throughout neighbourhoods must be a more critical factor in feeding addictions.
What’s temporary about it? Try harder PG otherwise it’s obvious you’re a shill for shonkey attempting to shroud it in that ‘ moderate ‘ influence you roll over for the baubles every time.
Timing is good with the comedy festival starting soon, you and James 111 could do a double act. You’re also diverting from the rather more serious issue of selling legislation, no due process, robust business case etc etc
It’s temporary because the number of gaming machines has been trending significantly downward for about the last decade, and even if there is a few hundred blip upwards the trend will continue downward.
Numbers peaked at over 25,000 about 2002, and have since fairly steadily declined to about 18,000 now, averaging about -700 per year.
http://www.dia.govt.nz/Pubforms.nsf/URL/LineGraph_31%20March%202012.pdf/$file/LineGraph_31%20March%202012.pdf
Okay Pete, what does shrinking lid mean?
If the desire is for them to eventually be phased out (i.e no renewed licences) then the legislation will have had its desired affect..
Ultimately we have none out in the suburbs.
And, of course, the casino will begin to reduce theirs?
Don’t think so.
Pete has never played monopoly I guess, can’t understand trickle up, or consolidation…
Pete are you alright mate, I think you might have forgotten to take your meds again.
Maybe you could stop to wonder why they’re trending down. The pokies not at the casino are non-profit, sites such as pubs & clubs that host pokies can only charge rent and expenses. 37% of gross pokie revenue has to go to charity and 100% of nett profit also has to go to charity.
Pubs installed them because they brought in extra customers and helped pay a bit of the rent, maybe those customers now spend so much time in front of the pokie instead of buying booze it’s not worth it for the pub any more.
They’re likely trending down because they’re no longer profitable for certain types of pubs & clubs. Since they are very profitable for Sky City, who have a totally different payout arrangement, you can’t compare the two.
We are reading the suggestions of many of the Pub pokies proceeds being “donated” in very unusual ways, not in the ways anticipated.
This has been going on for many years and needs to be corrected again again.
Ther are deep smells in this.
As usual the link is to his Pete’s website but playing his game:
Some people like having sex with animals so should we ban bestiality
Some people like robbing other peoples homes so should we ban burglary
Some people like beating the shit out of their wives so should we ban assault
Some people like biking without a helmet so should be ban not wearing a helmet
Some people like starving and beating animals so should we ban animal abuse
Some people like signing off incorrect financial prospectuses so should we ban fraud
Some people like revealing peoples private details in public so should we ban privacy breaches
Some people like to speed so should we ban speeding
Some people like to discharge cow shit into rivers so should we ban polluting rivers
Some people like playing Grant Theft Auto at 8 years old should we ban them til they are 18
Some people like keeping chickens in town so should we ban roosters
Except that you are listing things that are deemed socially unacceptable, whereas most of what I listed are seen as safe and reasonable for most people.
Actually many of the things you have listed various people find socially unacceptable in some way or another.
Drugs – marijuana would be the classic example
Fat people – just read any rightwing blog – and actually NZ should enforce the original WHO guidelines (before they were edited by the sugar company who paid for the report) to have a maximum level of sugar in food. That would have the greatest impact on obesity of anything I have ever come across
Pokies and casinos – these were banned in NZ for many, many years without any difficulty. there’s no doubt in many peoples minds that they have made and created more gambling addicts and caused more problems than not having them. Socially unacceptable absolutely.
Music – there has been plenty of effort over the years to ban unacceptable music – my favourite punk included but feel free to go back as far as Elvis if you wish.
Social mores change as we have seen with the unbanning of pokies and casinos which is actually the point isn’t it. They were allowed with a stroke of the pen and can simply be un-allowed in the same way.
We wouldn’t suffer at all without them and given only people who can afford to lose money should game they can all afford to go to Aussie to the casinos there.
We make moral choices about what we allow and don’t allow all the time – btw you must know that if you find uranium on your land it’s unlawful not to tell the government.
Gunna answer my points about the issues you’re diverting from or just play the opinion game like your masters.
The only thing you asked was “What’s temporary about it?” I showed that after about six months the proposed increase would be negated by attrition.
I wasn’t diverting, I raised one of a number of relevant issues – which you could be accused of diverting from.
Sky City is obviously immune to attrition. All it does is snap its fingers and the Government increases the numbers of machines that it is allowed to have.
Another question Petey. United Future actually supported the Gambling Act 2003 which capped the number of casinos and the machine/table combination in each casino.
Will it continue to do this?
I’ve got no idea what UF will do about that. And I have no idea what Peter Dunne’s thiking on the convention centre proposal is, apart from what I saw of him on TV3 last night, and other non-committal reports like:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6795179/Dunne-mulls-Casino-deal-support
I agree that he should wait to see whatever deal ends up on the table – if it gets that far. If it does it will be a difficult one for him, weighing the pros and cons. And regardless of which way he goes he’ll be criticised vehemently by some.
Greg, will Labour oppose any deal with Sky City to build a convention centre? How much would Labour spend (and borrow) to help build a convention centre? Or are Labour anti the whole idea?
Clearly Labour is opposed to the selling of legislation for money and the increasing of accessibility to poke machines. Labour and UF put the cap there in the first place and it is clear that this was the right thing to do.
Pete G: Your beloved leader is a liar, turncoat and hypocrite extraordinaire. He’s also a pathetic weakling living in the pockets of his corrupt boss, John Key. He will not be missed or even remembered by anyone when he finally is kicked off his undeserved political pedestal.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Peter-Dunne-likely-to-back-Key-on-casino-deal/tabid/1607/articleID/251543/Default.aspx
Dunne has made it clear – on TV3 and elsewhere – that until details of any convention centre deal are known he won’t make any decisions on it. That sounds sensible to me.
But fire ahead opposing things that aren’t known if that’s what you like to do.
Is it unreasonable to expect him to comment on what is already known?
After all he’s not just a passive observer in all of this. The expression of his opinions and views can actually have a material impact on the outcome.
In a very real sense it matters what he thinks. Not just after the fact as if he were some kind of parliamentary historian, but right now as an active participant in the process of decision making.
Of course if everything seems hunky dory by him, I guess he has no reason to speak up.
Do you know a lot more about the deal that hasn’t been announced yet than Dunne? On FB this morning he said:
The fact that some Labour MPs and some in the media chose a slow news week to try and comment on a lot of unknowns doesn’t mean all MPs have to follow suit in the conclusion jumping.
I’d expect someone in Dunne’s (and Bank’s and the Maori MPs) position to wait for actual facts and deals to be known and to then weigh them up carefully rather than give a running commentary on whatever pops into his head when someone on a blog wants to know.
Perhaps this is the sort of up front guidance you prefer.
That sounds fair enough too.
The thing is Pete, he’s a politician. It’s not like he just has to sit there, and express conditional concerns and whatnot. his vote could swing this, so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
This harm minimisation thing, sounds fine, except that he doesn’t flesh it out. If that’s what he wants, he should talk about what he means. Is he talking about an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff? Cause that won’t cut it.
And who is going to pay for whatever it is he is talking about? If it’s the government, or anyone other than skycity, then it just becomes more subsidy, doesn’t it?
The man’s a coward.
“That sounds fair enough too.”
Do you know what I think sounds fair enough to.
1. A new transparent tendering process for a national convention centre.
2. For Sky City to pay 37% tax on every pokie machine.
3. For every pokie machine at Sky City to have a max bet of $2.50 per spin and not $100.
Really Pete George in no time a national convention centre would be paid for were Sky City to come into line paying what a pub has to pay.
40 pub pokie machines = one Sky City pokie machine when the bet is $100 on the Sky City machine.
so why dopesn’t he put some bloody effort in and come up with some actual proposals?
Because it’s not his project. It’s an Auckland and National driven project, it’s up to them to come up with something that they can get approved in the city and in parliament.
It would be more valid to ask John Banks what he thinks. It’s his city. But it’s ridiculous to expect a single MP to fully research and lobby on every project around the country.
PG, selling the law, which is what the John Key/SkyCity deal is, is immoral and PD and UF would be coming against it if they had any sort of ethics.
Rhetorical question?
lol. It’s pretty onbvious he is in ‘discussions’ with the Nats about his support. Why won’t he go public with what his support will be dependent on?
It looks to me like he will be happy with some fig leaf of ‘harm reduction’ probably paid for by the taxpayer, or by some insignificant levy.
I mean whatever happened to that guy who was asking for votes on the ground that he would stop the nats doing crazy shit? this one is sitting right over the plate, if he doesn’t smack this one, he won’t smack anything.
That press release on this was just a boring tired nasty attack on labour, as if they’ve got anything at all to do with this.
Wow, and here’s me thinking you were a member of the party even a possible candidate. Have you now switched over fully to National?
No, he should be opposed to selling the law.
No, I’ve switched back to my normal life and my normal ambitions. The election campaign finished five months ago.
I have some minor communication with UF still but I’m not a part of the organisation and have nothing to do with decision making. I’m simply an occasional opinion they may or may not take any notice of, and I sometimes ask for clarifications and explanations.
have you resigned from the list then?
For parties without any list MPs (Act, Maori, Mana and UF) their list becomes redundant after the election.
The next list probably won’t be put together until about August 2014.
You need to find a political party with a future (haha) if you want to further your ambitions.
Depends on what those ambitions are. There’s a lot that can be tried without needing a party.
Are you in a party?
Do you need a party to pursue your ambitions?
Yeah mate Labour.
And as always, I am ambitous for New Zealand.
Edit – what is a decent length of time between which you could distance yourself from U,F and subsequently not appear too unseemly joining another political party?
6 months? 12 months?
You need to find a political party with a future (haha) if you want to further your ambitions.
So United Future didn’t have a policy manifesto for 2011?
Ban political parties that don’t have a manifesto 30 days out from the election from having their votes counted.
Whats that you say?
UF did have a manifesto?
Well good on them. Then they should go and ask their voters in the single electorate they hold, what the voters think.
We should really have local referendums in the decider seats on burning issues. Democracy speaks then.
Some people are gambling addicts so we regulate pokies.
Alcohol causes a lot of damage to society so we regulate alcohol.
Speeding cars are more likely to kill people so we speed.
etc.
edit
opps DoS beat me to it
aj
I hate being dragged into a casino to gamble. Same with smoking.
The problems are three fold, one big government intervention into the pokie market to select one winner SkyCity at the expense of all the small Pokie establishments – i.e. could they form a class action under the free trade agreement against the government for loss of customers to Sky City. Second, people only allowed these machines because money went to charity and so back into the community. Third, after the social slave addicts have been used to pay for the convention centre, they will be handed over to the private investor Sky City to profit off. In what world do we live in that allows profit from the addiction of others. Are we going to get drug addicts to break rocks up and keep the profits from the sale, are we going to have alcoholic addicts put in a ring and beat each other to a pulp for the viewer entertainment??
Its immoral and unethical to build a convention centre off the backs of addicts.
There you go, it’s all just a wild conspiracy theory according to John Key. I wonder where he learned that one!
Use of the the word “wild” is the giveaway there….
“Mr Key said he “sensed” that ACT MP John Banks and UnitedFuture MP Peter Dunne would support the deal when it emerged.”
– Key must be reaching Jedi Master levels with his “sensing”, again attempting diversion, away from the obvious corrpution that has gone on around this deal.
It’s getting so transparent now, you could put a good case together for self sabotage!
[holds two fingers up in front of interviewer] “These are not the rorts you are looking for”
😆
Getting married should be an equal opportunity. Here’s marriage rights made simple.
Mexico is getting lots of foreign investment and is moving ahead of being a low wage economy so their representative says. I suppose that efforts to both invest in and control drug cartels can be regarded as major by free market enthusiasts measuring ‘foreign investment’.
David Shearer compared our Australian neighbour situation to that of Mexico and USA and based his comment on real facts. Radionz tried to conflate it with Jerry Brownlee’s flight of fancy about Finland. David stopped Geoff Robinson and put him right about the reality of the Mexican situation and our similarity to their problems with their wealthier neighbour. Good on him for bringing truth and facts to the news, and keeping Radionz on its sober path of reporting correctly when they do meet truth.
I presume you meant David Parker.
Thanks Pete George – I heard ‘David’ as I dashed around and as I would expect to be hearing more from Shearer I just assumed it was him.
I think a lot of people assumed they would be hearing more from him….
Parker should have done his research and some basic scenario modelling of how it was going to play. Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
It’s all very well wanting higher quality this and better paying that – I agree – but the fact is we need the jobs, we have a generally low-skilled workforce generating bulk agricultural products, we have high unemployment, and we don’t have enough of our own savings to continuously stop foreign investment set up here and provide those jobs.
And as for drug production, it would be interesting to compare as a proportion of the economy and population New Zealand has in generating drugs, compared to Mexico. I suspect the comparision would not be as stark as we want.
@ad When did Brownlee dig Shearer out? I am confused about this statement.
Same as Shearer and Finland. Shearer was luckier only because Brownlee chose to dig him out of it. If you have to defend that much, you’ve already lost.
As for drugs in Mexico, I didn’t mention production as the trade and effects are very wide. People are being killed as they try to travel across Mexico and drugs are involved. We have some incidents here for sure but it seems their economy and wellbeing are in danger through this trade.
I am glad you would like better paying jobs. We already know the other points you made. Can you come up with some ideas as to how to circumvent them and achieve better conditions?
Shearer was getting slapped all over the park about his Finland comments in the first speech, until Brownlee whent over the top with the attack in Parliament and the tv news got to spank Brownlee with Finnish protest. A very lucky dig-out.
As for policy ideas, wait for Cunliffe’s set-piece speeches. He’s the one to watch.
I would still rather give Shearer a break right now rather than support Robertson and Ardern continue the internal takeover.
ad I had to refresh my memory about Shearer talking about Finland, found in Standard archives March 16th under David Shearer, also unzipped Google and finally found piece from Tapu Misa with an interesting book summary as well. For interested parties –
Perhaps it’s time we stopped trying to emulate others and remembered that we’ve been world leaders, too: think the women’s vote, ACC (whatever its current problems), the Waitangi Tribunal, and being nuclear-free. We’re apt to forget that we might have something to teach others.
We don’t come off too badly, in fact, when held up against the US, the theme of a new book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer, Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies, New Zealand and the United States.
Comparing our histories, Fischer suggests that our social and political choices have been driven by the dominance of different values: freedom and liberty in the US, and fairness and social justice in New Zealand. …
Fischer’s rich cultural analysis leaves little doubt that New Zealand’s achievements are largely rooted in its “highly developed vernacular ideas of fairness, a complex set of values that Kiwis prize and pursue earnestly. The result: by virtually every measure, New Zealand has a more just and decent society than ours – while resorting far less readily to legalistic and legislative remedies”.
Tapu Misa is wrong. We haven’t had anything to teach the world (other than as a textbook global lesson that accelerating neoliberalism leads to gradual poverty for almost everyone) since the first term of the Lange administration re nuclear powered ships. After that it’s thirty years of neoliberalism in softer or sharper guises. If the left had had something to get really excited about in between, the left would never have split in the first place.
Fischer’s book is a coarse, simplistic overstretch.
ad – It seems to me that both writers are expressing a hope and desire that our respective countries actually strive to be better than they are.
I think they both deserve better than your offhand dismissals.
Tapu Misa speaks of a New Zealand that only those over 40 can remember. Utter nostalgia. She is scrabbling for a national virtue long lost, like Chris Trotter this morning mourning the loss of Norman Kirk in 1974. It’s not a critique, just elegaic prose.
Comparing New Zealand with the UNited States, about anything, is of no academic merit at all. One of the better paralles is John Ralston Saul’s Reflections of a Siamese Twin on Canada always the silent other to the US, similar to our statehood-in-all-but-name within Australia.
That was kind of my point – If we accept that our nations virtue is indeed lost then we will never regain it. Should we accept that?
I do appreciate where you are coming from, which is presumably that we should acknowledge that currently we do not exhibit much (if any) virtue on the international stage these days as a country, and that looking back and pining for days of yore (Trotter and Kirk) is not the same as doing something about it.
Re: Canada and the US Vs NZ/ Australia relations and the ‘silent Siamese’ relationship I totally agree – the boat people/ refugee issue is a perfect example of this – NZ has lost its independent voice – even the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan comes only after the Aussies pull theirs out…
Thanks for the book reference, sounds like an interesting read.
Tapu Misa should come into 2012.
She lives in her own dream world of pacific plunder, pakeha wrong.
She shoul dget really real.
I think that is a bit unfair Fortran. Tapu appears to me to be the only columnist the Herald allows to tell it how it is about social issues, and she either has great experience of her community or is a superb observer.
Yes. An interesting comparison. Were there 2 items on this on morning report, or did you mean the other David (Parker) and not Shearer. The bit I heard included joint interviews with David Parker and the Mexican ambassador.
I couldn’t help thinking Cunliffe would have done a better job on it than Parker though.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/20120424
No I was making the link to Shearer, although in Shearer’s April speech he also mentioned Mexico unhelpfully. Whaleoil also made the double Parker/Shearer/Mexico link.
There just needs to be a lot more thought given to how speeches and releases will play. National’s current glinting armour will simply ping these little arrows off. To me the gold standard of cold chutzpah opn making the deal was Key’s interview with Campbell last Friday night. That’s how good the progressive side has to be, and better, if the government is to be weakened.
Right now, the television media are saying “deals are good”, rather than “greed is bad”. The Herald is donig a doughty job on SkyCity, even better than on the Ports of Auckland. Television is still king when it comes to turning the polls.
ad, my comment above was a response to prism, but your comment @9am came in seconds before mine.
I agree with the opposition needing to bring their A game. Parker is just not up to it. Bring on Cunliffe, Little and Mahuta.
+1.
My view would be for the most effective opposition and the most electable pairing as far as the Labour leadership goes, Cunliff/Robertson or Robertson/Cunliff,
Both when let loose have their own brand of ”presence” which in their different ways make Me stop and listen,within Robertson is a glimmer of what made Norm Kirk and David Lange so electable,
The difference now,especially when I think of the Lange Government is that the reliance upon the Greens should ensure that Labour keep LEFT…
No way – Cunliffe has been cut out of play by Robertson and his Wellington ilk.
He should leave and get a real job. There is no way he could be elected as a leader.candidate.
Remember ABC – it has not changed. Mahuta forget it.
Robertson and Maryann Street will be the next equation.
Fortran is scared of Cunliffe!!! I wonder why lol
@Carol Yes got the wrong David. It’s a smorgasbord (is that Finnish) there in Labourland, with Shearer, Cunliffe and Parker.
Has anyone ever done a study on men’s names? So many from the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John etc. The Davids’s follow on, also Andrew, etc. Or else they are drawn from royalty or nobility from the past, William, Henry, George, Edward. A nice striking name might bring votes even. What about ‘Elect Thor, or Red the Viking for a a change in the lacklustre political culture.’
+1
That +1 was meant as an agreement with Carol’s initial post.
What – does that mean you don’t like the idea of Thor the dynamic?
John Banks this morning said (isn’t it awful hearing his voice all the time) that he was on the Centre Right. Ha! What about 500 of us setting up a political party called the Centre Right.
This would be on the basis of adopting a name carrying strong meaning and taming it, sort of like the Sluts and Queers movement.
Are there sluts for the Centre Right, both male and female? Let’s give the description reality and upset the lie of the right wing hiding their extremism behind this political classification.
I’m just enjoying the damage Banks must be doing to the centre right by his association with them.
Why don’t educators think outside their coffin shaped boxes? They are dead in the head, little soldiers of entrenched conservatism.. They should know from their studies of sociology that children follow in parents footsteps, and parents attitudes are 80% or more in guiding students to achievement. Also I have read that there is a strong peer group amongst lower educated youngsters that acts against individual effort and enterprise to succeed beyond the rest.
In Moerewa there are parents eager and behind their youngsters education so why doesn’t the Department pilot a family educator program. Parents learning along with their children and able to help as tutors and trainers in guiding organisation and commitment to timetables and aiming to finish and succeed at projects in general. I’m also in favour of a small sum of money to parents who undertake a course in tutoring and who if successful with their own children, would continue working with other families. What a smart and helpful and far-seeing move that would be by educators.
Yes Prism. A bit strange since Charter Schools will be allowed to set their own programs. But not Moerewa. Surely if the kids and parents really want to be in that school it is a giant plus and whatever it is that the school does they should bottle it and sell it. So many schools are seen by kids as disconnected – truancy. Does Assessment get in the way of learning and involvement?
Good question ianmac. You get a Well Done today!
I watched Native Affairs last night and heard that the schools refusal to adopt National Standards may have been behind the initial Ministry attack on Moerewa.
While there may be some deficiencies to be remedied, the fact that these young people and their parents seem engaged and committed to education should be celebrated not punished. While they are at the school, they will be learning positive things rather than truanting and learning nothing.
The obsession that the Ministry, their political bosses and the public has with tests and examinations is to blame, at least in part, for the number of people leaving school after being labelled ‘failures’ instead of their positive attributes being drawn out and celebrated. The importance of self esteem in determining achievement in life is undervalued, I think
It would appear also that they fiddled their NCEA results by using Google answers.
Showed up as a number did the same thing – of their own volition ?
Fortran The whole rigid structure of National Standards and the box ticking obssession of NCEA and teacher competence being glued to that is a predictable moral hazard and has been observed as so in other countries that use it.
Hateatea
+1
I have arranged my affairs so I can be at Britomart at 3pm this coming Saturday. Bodies on the ground will be important:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Aotearoa-is-Not-For-Sale-hikoi-begins-today/tabid/423/articleID/251506/Default.aspx
Just how many affairs are you running concurrently?
Why? Are you interested in joining in?
😈
Carol: I haven’t seen any detail. Is there a organizing site?
But I will head that way on Saturday.
Guess who would hang out against the right thing for a Rightie to do”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/6795038/Blogger-defiant-at-defamation-claim
No honour in Afghanistan
Claire Trevett serves up today’s PR from the warmongers in two separate articles, both on the same topic:
Leaders slam ‘thieving Digger’ slur
The first paragraph mentions ‘Transtasman political leaders’ but then goes on to quote Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith (not a leader):
“We have the highest regard for the contribution made by our New Zealand colleagues – as they do have for us. Anyone who has been to Gallipoli, who has been to the New Zealand monument at the top of the hill, who understands the contribution that our Kiwi brothers and sisters made in Gallipoli alone – let alone other conflicts, including and up to Afghanistan – would dismiss those comments with the disrespect they deserve.”
Including and up to Afghanistan – Hmmmm…
Claire isn’t done there- she has another article to say pretty much the same thing:
Aussie soldier comments ‘offensive and inappropriate’ – PM
This time quoting ole Shonkey:
” I’ve seen the Australian Forces in a number of situations when they’ve been in places like Afghanistan, in Gallipoli and various other places. The spirit of the Anzac tradition is alive and well – it was a tradition forged on the battlegrounds of Gallipoli and to take away from their efforts I find quite offensive.”
Here it is again – Afghanistan – you would think that both Australia and NZ ‘political leaders’ would be better off not mentioning the shameful involvement in the US ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan but instead it is promoted as being an example of the ‘spirit of the Anzac tradition’
The Anzac tradition post Gallipoli is a tradition steeped in controversy. The unjust and brutal occupation of Vietnam by ‘Anzac’ forces is not something we ‘celebrate’ today, nor should we ‘celebrate’ the unjust and brutal occupation of Afghanistan.
Those soldiers that died in Gallipoli would be horrified to discover that their sacrifice was being used as an excuse to draw future generations into battle.
It is time that the ‘spirit of the Anzac’ tradition becomes one of peace. If we are to work together with our allies let it be not bound by blood and aggression, but united by respect – respect for each others sovereignty and that of all the peoples of the world. United by a commitment to humanitarian responses to conflict.
Anzac Day – A day to remember and grieve for the fallen. A day to remember the folly and brutality of war. A reminder that we must not make the same mistakes again.
@ Campbell Larsen – I heard the comment about Australian soldiers and World War 2 and the reasonable reply to such an unreasonable comment. I thought it was an uncalled for comment from a historian, who would like to repeat war history apparently after not having learned anything from the past.
Makes me think of the comment made this morning about some Perth team P.Glory I think who sound pretty physical and the NZ reply made me think more of an ultimate fight than a sport. Don’t start up extra aggravation with the Aussies thank you very much Jock Anderson.
(From article on Stuff.) A New Zealand journalist who called Australian World War I soldiers “bludgers”, “scavengers” and “thieves” says he has “nothing to apologise for” despite the backlash his comments have received.
Jock Anderson made the comments on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel last week.
“The Aussies have been reluctant soldiers at the best of times. They’ve been essentially lazy, bludgers, some of them, and excellent black marketeers, scavengers, poachers and thieves,” he said on the radio show…However, the National Business Review chief reporter has said he wouldn’t apologise.
I think NZs might like to think they could have matched the Aussies for thieving etc. It was a way of surviving and getting extras. There is some story about an officer and a chicken going missing in a barn and a nice chicken dinner later. There will be other stories in greater detail too.
@Prism
No argument from me – the comments from Jock were unnecessary, rude and insensitive.
I am more interested in what came back in reply (thus the focus of my comment)
I think NZs might like to think they could have matched the Aussies for thieving etc. It was a way of surviving and getting extras.
Actually, the brave and heroic ANZAC troops were doing things far worse than “surviving and getting extras”….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surafend_affair
Absolutely agreed!
I generally have nowt to do with ANZAC Day, because it’s very problematic for me as a pacifist…
Some lovely phrasing from the NZHerald today as the great MED merger is confirmed:
“Hundreds of public service jobs are expected to be erased in the merger – though Mr Joyce said the jobs of the ministers overseeing the various sectors are safe.”
Remember John Trickey’s bullshit brighter future?
Darker future for NZ:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10801118
Rod Oram on Crafar Sale.
Shines a must hear focus on the absurdity of the Sale.
It is the first time that I have heard Rod being angry/upset.
He is very skeptical about the verdict and process of the approval.
He says that it is very like the 100 year old plan where Brits “screwed” NZ by owning Meat and meat processing in NZ (like Dairy), but the real wealth was exported.
And one major flaw is to show that National authorising the sale makes it OK for other foreigners to keep on buying up NZ land. Accumulative effect.
And much more. A high priority listen by you folks who are economy/business wise.
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20120424-1107-business_with_rod_oram-048.mp3
If Oram does not like the decision it must be right.
As a recent Pom arrival, from many lands in between, he must be right about the maurauding Poms, without whom this country would be even more backwards in the world.
You’re a fucking dishonest liar, and a poor one at that. Oram has been around for years, loser, and actually cares about the future of this country.
He mentions one English family “investment” in NZ that actually held back NZ and shows that the Chinese buy up of the Crafar farms is identical to it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134092/Gaia-scientist-James-Lovelock-I-alarmist-climate-change.html
Interesting considering that all indications are that changes to the climate are happening faster than previously predicted.
…changes to the climate are happening faster than previously predicted.
Not really. There have been predictions made since the early 80’s that appear to be closely following what is actually happening that were less conservative than the IPCC reports. But Lovelock was always somewhat ‘enthusiastic’ compared to the climate scientists – it made for better books.
It was more that the predictions made by the IPCCS in the scientific report are on the available fully verified evidence at the time – which for IPCC 4 was released in 2007 based on data with a cutoff date of around 2004-2005. That means that the IPCC reports are really really conservative we are talking of a geological process that takes time to happen and therefore the evidence to be measured. While it is happening at an extraordinarily fast speed in geological terms, it is still glacial in terms of human observers.
So the data collection programs initiated in the early 2000’s, 1990’s and even the 1980’s took time to produce verifiable data across decades long climatic cycles. It is only in the past decade for instance that we’ve been able to look at the mass of ice in the Arctic across the whole area (and watch it diminish at about 10x the IPCC4 report predictions).
But everything is happening faster now as the process accelerates with feedback effects. The data collection is now in place to see it happening. Of course the political will is about robust as John Key’s understanding of anything to do with science.
So I’m pretty confident that the populations will get seriously concerned about the time that we get our first major deaths from agricultural failures and before we get serious sealevel rises. Of course by then, it will be too late to do much about changing the next few centuries of climatic turmoil.
Once started geological processes are pretty hard to stop. But Lovelock just didn’t appreciate how much buffering there is in the system – especially in the ability of the oceans to suck up vast amounts of heat, CO2 and CH4.
Latest stats show suicide being reduced:
Still far too high but an improving trend.
There are concerns the statistics take so long to become available but this is being worked on. The 2010 figures will be available later this year.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1204/S00296/dunne-latest-stats-show-suicide-being-reduced.htm
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/suicide-facts-deaths-and-intentional-self-harm-hospitalisations-2009
My despair with what is happening in education has changed to horror after witnessing the treatment of Moerewa school and its community.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/lesley-longstone-management-style.html
Well said in that link thanks Dave. They have done us in but what to do about it. National Standards were just the beginning of dismantling schooling as we have known it. More trashing to come with the help of the Secretary of Education. Sad.
The PPTA are congratulating the minsityr for what they have done.
Is that just a turf dispute?
Wasn’t it Robin Duff who said that most schools supported Nationals’ Standards and then had most schools turn around and tell her and the nation that they didn’t?
Don’t know, except that Robin Duff is a he.
http://www.ppta.org.nz/index.php/communities/president-page
Oh dear, thanks for this link, Pete, I hadn’t read this link related to PPTA’s position. I hadn’t picked up the fact that the school hadn’t asked permission for extending the classes. Whether this is fact or not doesn’t change my stance. It does appear that the school was responding to the needs of their community in good faith and the aggressive nature of the Ministry’s response was unhelpful.
Well…
Stuff: SkyCity deal: Call for Auditor General investigation
Lets hope the AG concludes that the PM did nothing wrong, I’d hate to see her denigrated as having made a bad call. I mean in this instance there wasn’t even a written warning that was acknowledged prior to claiming “The AG changed the rules”. So it would seem a lot easier for National to be self serving and attack the AG rather than be accountable than it was for Labour.
One more thing about the possible SkyCity probe. Is anyone who comments here regularly likely to be in agreement with the PM if he says the business of government is whatever government say it is ?
Low value exports fail
The Productivity Commission released its International freight transport services report (PDF) today. I’ve highlighted a few extracts, and the one that really stood out for me was about the additional cost New Zealand faces because of the distance to our offshore markets…
The actual difference in costs to the shipping companies is a few dollars per container.
500 extra miles does not make that much difference.
Overseas shipping companies in NZ, unlike most countries, Australia included, are allowed to carry coastal cargo which increases their profits and should cut shipping rates. Not that shipping companies have passed any of it on.
The extra charges are shipping cartels, which NZ allows, price gouging.
I note that they believe Unions are holding up port productivity. Not really surprised as the benefits to the Tauranga wharfies from being more productive than other ports in the Pacific is less pay, casualisation and reduced conditions.
Having minimum wage slaves would , of course, increase productivity??
You just make this stuff up don’t you. 500 miles is not even a factor in the position of NZ relative to the rest of our markets. 500 miles is relevant when talking about Auckland to Wellington but inconsequential when talking about European markets.
As for shipping/freight cartels… remind me again who’s making all the demands for “their share” in POA ?
Extremely relevant when they are discussing competitiveness with Australia.
Around 500 NM is the difference in distance between Sydney and Auckland to USA/Europe.
(Reference. Ocean passages of the world)
Sydney’s port, administration, safety regulation requirements and wharf costs are a lot higher than Auckland’s . There is actually no reason, apart from rorting, that our freight charges are higher.
What about Europe’s distance from Chinese markets?
Distance from markets is just another excuse from the RWNJ’s for the Neo-lib fuckup.
And all the more reason for supporting local manufacturing to add value instead of relying on commodity exports.