Over last year the fuckwits at Lauda Finem have targeted me in a time wasting and long running legal farce that I really can’t talk about for the usual reason – court orders. However the mechanics of the case aren’t that interesting apart from the ironic entertainment value.
And I’ve also had their technically illiterate mate Cameron Slater trying to buy a crime – something that is in itself a crime under section 311 of the Crimes Act. Fortunately he was too technically and politically incompetent to know what to look for and got whistle blown and/or scammed.
Also that he was too incompetent to make it happen does not mean that Cameron didn’t commit a crime regardless of how many times he tries to spin that line. A failed attempt to procure a crime is still a crime.
And that is the case regardless of how many times Cameron tries to violate the precepts of the police diversion by proclaiming his lack of criminality. A repeated act of lying that directly violates the remorse for the crime that he is meant to have shown to even have a chance at police diversion.
But we all knew that Cameron Slater is a self-deluding hypocritical liar. Also from the light pats on his hands from the police in the way that they charge him for past offences that he appears to be extremely lucky. Or have some great friends in high places with influence on the police (which is my current working theory about how he got that diversion from them).
But it has similarly wasted my holiday time in court dealing with it. Not to mention the large and expensive waste of my evening and weekend time checking my computers for intrusions and to keep high paying technical illiterates from hiring people who were a bit more competent from actually achieving his criminal intent. Cameron Slater is, from his actions, just a simple lying hypocrite and a serial criminal.
But I guess both of these local sets of criminals just wanted me to join the fun – which I suspect is a mistake on their part. I’m sure that at some point in the future they will begin to understand that.
However there is a serious point to this comment that actually affects The Standard.
This is the first time I’ve had to get involved with legal even indirectly to The Standard (beyond writing a few response emails to upset people explaining the legal basis for the site and its posts) in over 8 years. It is probably time to start dealing with having to deal with similar legal idiots in the future. For a starter, next year we will have have whatever technical and legal incompetent agency that this even more technically illiterate government’s ministers tries to get to run the flawed and probably unworkable Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA)
Personally I’d prefer to concern myself with my role of being the system operator, the odd rant when I write a post or comment, and helping to enforce out moderation policies. About once or twice a year I get involved as one of the trustees of the site. And I have been known to get somewhat acerbic around the backend of the system.
But I’ve already been dealing with various people who have heard about the HDCA, but clearly haven’t bothered to deal with the actual legalities. Amongst other things I have been asked to pull down posts from 6 years ago – 5 years after the Act was passed. I have also been asked to prevent abuse attributed as coming from this site, which is in fact being published on a overseas site that has nothing to do with NZ politics. Similarly at least one politician who should have been at least vaguely aware of the limits of the Act appears to have been stated that she could use the Act if her feelings were hurt by criticism of her actions. FFS…
None of these are possible of standing up under the HDCA. But I am expecting that there will be a small flood of similarly deluded adults pouring such test cases into whatever unprepared and probably irresponsible agency gets made responsible for much of the regulation of the HDCA. I am sure we will be part of that and will need to go into court either preemptively or after having received a court order without being called in on a defending position. Then of course there will be actions to recover any costs incurred. That will take some immediately available money.
And while the legal targets to date have either been me or my computers. Eventually even these legal lunatics from the nutty and criminal right will get around to actually targeting The Standard itself. I suspect we as a community should start figuring out how to build a specific legal fund later in the year to deal with such threats in the future.
In the past 8 and a half years, we haven’t actually needed any money for legal matters for The Standard Trust. Back in 2010 -2012, we grew a fund out of advertising to handle such threats. When they never showed up, we used it to deal with the more immediate problem of our ever rising server costs as the site grew.
These days that particular problem has abated after we were able to get the site back to its technical roots. Some processes running on one of my servers on my living room floor, but with better offshore backups.
But the way these kinds of criminally vigilante right wing idiots have been fumbling around with legalities, I’m sure even they will eventually learn enough law to attempt the legal entity of The Standard Trust. Probably they will do so while they are still stupid enough to think that they can actually ‘win’ despite a distinct lack of the types of legal excesses similar to those that they have routinely perform on their sites.
Similarly, I’d expect that most blog sites, especially the political ones in election year, are going to be targets of the nutty fringe using the HDCA. Some of those are going to get through as tests of the HDCA. Probably including our rather deliberately legal site.
Better to plan for it rather than have to deal with it unprepared.
So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
Or whatever someone else pops up with that someone else hasn’t already been doing?
I personally won’t be particularly interested in taking money with strings attached beyond the straight commercial. That isn’t something we have done in the past and I can’t see it as being something that we should do in the future. The rather proud and oftimes extreme independence (albeit loosely moderated) of both The Standard 2.0’s author and commenter communities is something that I am rather happy to keep.
But I suspect anything else (that is legal) is up for debate.
One of the things that we have deliberately not done is to require real emails or logins.
In fact one of the things that I’m going to do as a response to the HDCA is to actually remove the ability of us on the backend to even have access or even any knowledge of real emails and IP numbers. They get replaced with a special MD5 like hash.
I wrote that code last year ago. About the same time that I shifted the autofill on comments from being server side read and filled to being client side filled.
If we had any such list, it’d have to be filled on a voluntary basis specifically for the purpose of being a donor, and probably held by a separate body.
It would be slightly less fine in terms of ’emails’ but not a lot different. We’d just have to make the IP exclusions coarser with a higher probability of picking up false positives.
However otherwise the HDCA process could force us to give the real world identities of commenters literally because some politician or other friend of a HDCA authorised agency agent had their feelings got hurt. The HDCA could do it in an uncontested hearing with no real evidence being offered in support of the application apart from that of the process being followed.
We are specifically prevented by the Act in pursuing the HDCA official for information. We can neither OIA the agency nor drag their agents into court to find out.
It is simpler to simply not have the information on who people really are, what their emails are, and what IPs they have been using.
I’m considering making an argument for it being mandatory not to have anything that looks like real names for any commenter for much the same reason. It reduces this sites risk of having to violate our privacy policies.
Good question. I envisaged it more as being to enable a rapid response than anything else. Basically something to get a lawyer in front of a judge as soon as possible.
In particular where the HDCA approved agency has applied for a court order and we know and get someone in to contest it, or where we immediately contest one after they got one in uncontested.
Those orders will be a complete pain. They require immediate compliance and can be gained literally without us knowing that they are being sought.
If they had any merit, then we would have already complied within the first 48 hours after being informed. If not sooner. We tend to be somewhat abrupt.
Probably we’d be able to get pro bono. But the costs of filing documents won’t be insignificant.
Costs are usually partial if you get them at all. I suspect that costs awarded against the HDCA authorised agency will be as hard to get as those against the police and crown after they drag you through 18 months of court to for the crown to finally lose in the high court. Virtually non-existent (I have done that before for rocky).
I suspect each case would be money sunk. So the best way to operate will be to cause the HDCA authorised agency to spend their budget in defending their decisions for as long as possible. Think of it as a way of educating the agency.
It’d probably have to be whoever was available. The time frames in the HDCA are likely to be tight.
In this case, as I remember the Act, I don’t think we could even try to claim from the complainant unless we want to bring a very expensive civil case against them.
That is pretty normal. Unless the complainant brings a private prosecution against you, the authority that brings the action is making the decision.
Think of how the police operate. Or WINZ. Or IRD, Or any of the quasi-legal authorities. The way the criminal system operates is that if an authority thinks that there may be a prima facie case that is winnable or where they think a point has to be made and they have a prima facie case, they will go for orders and/or charge.
But they have to be very very wrong in their estimation of the prima facie case before the law before the judge will order costs against them. They will instead get some words from the judge about why they were mistaken about their understanding of the law.
In the case of new law, then even this toleration gets extended. If you are the subject of those then you wind up paying the cost of establishing precedents.
The right and certain elements of the left in this country, don’t like democracy, which is silly really.
But, ideas for a legal fund.
Well ask some lawyers if they will help for free. You know civic duty and all that. I will ask one in the next few days. For free in the defence of civil liberties, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of expression.
Then we just need to get some funds to cover the things which are not free, like the photocopying, lodgements, and coffees. Sorry, being a wee bit glib.
Just a thought, I’ll be asking anyway, and will pass them onto Bill if they say yes.
I can’t see a problem with advertising that is ethical or ethically neutral
….if it keeps the site safe from right wing predators with deep pockets who want to use challenges by the legal system to close it down
…this site is an important vehicle for political analysis and a critical voice imo…it is important for a grassroots democracy
The Daily Blog has some advertising…and it isnt too intrusive
The problem with crowd funding is that the crowd often does not have much disposable income…they are too busy trying to keep ends meeting eg for paying for kids university debts, or housing , or health…or looking after the needy in their families
I also don’t see a problem with paying some of the regular workers/posters and Iprent for the upkeep of the site …in fact they deserve payment imo….if ethical advertising could do this then I am all for it
Maybe others. I already earn quite a lot in my real life work.
The biggest hassle with advertising isn’t particularly having it. The hassle is in exactly what you pointed out. The time involved in making sure it is ethical, appropriate, etc for the site. And that we are getting enough of it to sustain whatever we are doing.
That is a long-term need that requires time to dribble out in phone calls, emails etc. These usually within work hours.
The issue for us is that none of the current authors really have the time nor the inclination for that kind of work. Nor has anyone we have ever had as an author in the past. They come on to write, comment, and some moderate. Each requires small bits of time chopped out of other things we are doing. We don’t have to coordinate, manage, or waste any time.
Consequently, when this last came to a decision point at the start of 2014, I looked at the time required vs the revenue required to run the servers. I invested quite a lot of my free time in an effort to drop the effective cost well below requiring any advertising revenue. The reason wasn’t so much the money as it was the time I was spending scratching around making sure that we had sufficient money to pay for the servers.
It is a lot less work to tolerate a system that may throw up lousy ads (eg google adview) but which doesn’t cost much time over a year, or alternatively spend a moderate amount of time on one or two small campaigns per year to get large dobs of cash.
Rather that than trying to get something that requires moderate amounts of time all year AND which will get in the way of the available time for the site. In that case I’d prefer spending less site time and more time at work to just give me the option of doing simplier donations from making more income.
First of all Lynn, sorry for all the ongoing hassle with Slater and Co. You don’t deserve all that shit to deal with and no one has time for that anyway. It’s also really frustrating that Slater pretty much got away with it in court. He’s managed to not be held fully to account for his behaviour in general, and it’s not even that satisfying that he lost that boxing bout.
Raising fighting funds. It’s been great to read The Standard ad free but I don’t think too many people would have a problem with google ads. I certainly don’t, if it would be helpful.
If you were to look at paid advertising there may be a reader or commentor who has retired from the marketing or advertising sector who may like to help out on a voluntary small part time basis – as you say it’s a pain to organise so having a dedicated advertising admin person might be beneficial – if there was any one out there who could fill that role, and could commit to it long term.
Givealittle seems to be the way things goes these days. It would be a nice change to see a recipient of Givealittle funds who isn’t someone that missing out on what should be government funded, eg, cancer medicine or housing.
Personally I’m broke as and struggle to get through the week, even my party membership has lapsed because I never seem to be able to find the small donations for the unwaged! So I’m sorry I can’t help out.
However, I get the feeling that there are people in better circumstances than me who are users of the site and appreciate and value the site and all yours and the authors hard work as much as I do, who may be able to donate.
Good luck with the funding and all the best for keeping the site safe and free from interference from nutty rw pests.
After all this is why we aren’t interested in the lost sheep’s “user pays”. Cuts out way too many interesting people.
I get somewhat well paid. I found I was still a member of the NZLP last year after they triumphantly sent me the first membership card that I’d seen in a few years – plastic even.
After I hunted around for a while I found I was still leaking $25 per month in a old VFL payment from a bank account that I use for its debit visa for some internet payments. Still haven’t got around to doing anything about it – just like the unicef and a couple of other payments. I’m pretty slack like that.
Perhaps I should set up a “help people retain their membership” for political parties.
Or I could just forgo the the once a week coffee outing and clear up that membership payment once and for all……….. 🙂
Better still, a Labour coalition win in 2017 would mean, theoretically, a modest $ boost for Labour’s lowest paid members, who then would have a little more of the disposable $ to keep up with their membership and the middle bracket could shift from a one off payment to a VFL payment.
What Rosie said at 1.6. Is there someone retired, temporarily invalided, would like to get stuck into this worthwhile task of organising non-sickmaking adverts? No loose boobies please unless they are birds, blue boobies?
And lprent #1 your ideas all sound good. Is there someone in each of the main centres that could arrange film nights? So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
Incidentally r0b. Private + published, then back to draft and public, and finally schedule appears to work for adding early comments. I’ll see if I can find another easier way 🙂
Very pleased Austria has beaten back the far right and voted in a Green party-backed economist, an EU supporter and a child of refugees as the next president. Congratulations Alexander Van der Bellen and all who supported him. It was a very close call.
After forcing the resignation of the Chancellor, the Social Democrats have a lot more work to do before the parliamentary elections in 2018.
Look I’d be fine with a give-a-little campaign ( although I’ve always wondered whether a list of Nicky Hager’s supporters made it into other channels) it’s real easy to access, or a micro donations link staying permanently on the site. After all I used to pay for the stuff on stuff.
I would be happy if it was just a general donation – we trust you to spend it wisely
A fund raising evening would be great to socialise ( and guess who is who) but won’t take in the more far flung users.
If it includes something for you I’m good with that.
I tend to regard the legal and illegal attacks on me and my computers as interesting examples of the rightly insane trying to grow a brain. It is like educating small children how to be socially responsible.
You just keep unfolding the horrible consequences overhear actions in front off them and getting them to walk upon them in bare feet. It gives a outlet for some of my less socially acceptable tendencies in a good cause.
The HDCA authorised agency are likely to be more of a problem. I suspect that most of the time we’d find out from them when they deliver a order from the court saying to take something down. There appears to be little need for them to prove anything to get one apart from that they followed a rather rapid process. If we see signs of them taking part in that process, ideally we’d want to get in front of the court with them before orders are made.
I’m usually terrible as being social. It seems so slow as a communication device. I’m moderately good at it if I can get a heated discussion going 🙂
Lyn likes the small talk side. I usually can’t really be bothered.
Most of the time it covers or gets close to covering our operating expenses of about $260 per month.
We’d have to do something different for the next few years while the actual procedural rules for the HDCA get established in court.
So far all the indications are that the HDCA authorised agency will get inundated with largely spurious complaints from offended adults. Since they appear in the act to be established as being an advocacy mainly operating on behalf of the complainants and the Act is very vague on offences, I’d expect that a number of the less spurious complaints will be allowed through.
After the grounds for successful cases are established, then it will be easier.
I think solidarity with TS is needed now..
Yanis Varoufakis interview had this in it: If capitalism is training us to think of ourselves as competitive entrepreneurs then we become less and less inclined towards feeling that kind of solidarity—on which democracy depends—and giving up even the smallest element of our financial wellbeing for the sake of other people.
i like the idea of a give a little fundraiser and or social evenings with a fund raiser attached.
Blogs from the US that i have been following for years all have their 6 monthly fund raiser, give generously, give often, most accompanied with pictures of loose kittens or boobies cause you know ….i wuz told it helps collect funds.
My thought would be a Give a Little fundraiser to get a basic fighting fund in place and then one of the other options to provide ongoing income – maybe a 6 monthly fundraiser as suggested by Sabine.
Have you seen the NZ play “Trees Beneath the Lake”, Puckish Rogue? It’s set in Cromwell, about sociopathic Ponzi swindlers and their endearing ways. I wouldn’t go there.
“Small natural health businesses say new regulations which will regulate the natural health industry are heavy handed and will hurt them the most.
The Natural Health and Supplementary Products bill will allow the Ministry of Health to regulate the sector, so ingredients in supplements are permitted or prohibited and manufacturers are licensed.
It will also restrict the claims that can be made about products so potential health benefits could only be made if there is proven scientific evidence, or traditional evidence that it works. Dr Guy Hatchard represents a group of 10 Natural Health companies and practitioners who are worried about the changes.
Kathryn also speaks with Alison Quesnell the executive director of Natural Products NZ.”
( It is not as if BIG PHARMA products are properly regulated or tested…all too often one finds later that particular products have been withdrawn because of life threatening side effects)
What this actually does is just help protect the public from bogus frauds where people claim some extract from some Amazonian fungus ‘supports joint health’ or ‘assists in managing symptoms of aging’.
Now of course, we should also be trying to protect the public from bogus frauds in the medicines industry like ‘mycoxafaline cures erectile dysfunction’ or ‘you need brand new bogustatin to stop you dying of evil cholesterol’ but that doesn’t mean we should be giving ‘natural’ products a free pass.
…actually the public needs protection from BIG PHARMA( big business ,big profits in pharmaceuticals ) and all those narrow minded in the medical profession)….who want to cut out smaller competition and people taking charge of their own health with natural remedies
…a bit like marijuana…the natural stuff used for thousands of years in places like India is made illegal and is deemed supposedly BAD for you …but the politically legalised synthetic stuff sold by Western businessmen intent on a profit has far worse side- effects
yes lets “protect the public from bogus frauds” made by monopoly capitalism and BIG PHARMA
….let the people decide for themselves what medications they want to use…especially the indigenous people
Controlling ‘scientific evidence’ is a primary function in monopoly
Legislation, regulations (pretending to be beneficial) influenced by lobbyist representatives of the corporations who manufacture ‘scientific evidence’, enshrines the monopoly
Natural products and living organisms are both nemisis & prey item of petro chemical pharaceutical corporations and toxic poison peddlers
Not precise enough for you? Ok. Wikipedia also calls you a liar. Subject chemotherapy, section efficacy.
If you want to get any more specific, which particular chemotherapy are you calling completely ineffective? Or is that not your position?
links please…where does wiki call me a “liar”?…no it is you who are personally calling me a “liar” ( which is a reflection on you actually, but it doesn’t surprise me coming from you)
…and btw all the people i have known who have received chemo have died in short order
this is a link not for you, but for others with an open mind, who may be interested in this issue…even doctors admit chemo rarely works
…”It’s a business of mammoth proportions and must be treated as such. The most powerful anti-carcinogenic plants in the world such as cannabis must be demonized and be made illegal because they are so effective at killing cancer cells without side effects. Cannabinoids are so efficient at treating disease, that the U.S. Government patented them in 2003…”
I think you are all confusing a few things. The legislation is aimed at a number of things, including medical claims. I don’t have a problem with products not being allowed to make claims on the labels unless the company can back that up. But I think in Europe there was an exemption for traditional usage of herbal remedies. So if someone was selling traditional Māori medicines and they could demonstrate historical use, then that’s exempt. Otherwise no medical claims. They could still make general wellbeing claims (this is also used overseas). But if you make small companies do research costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to manufacture something that can be made at home, that’s daft.
Then there are the issues of safe manufacturing practices, making sure that there are good processes in place. This is where small manufacturers will get screwed and the whole thing would get handed to the big companies (many of whom are multinational chemical companies). Not good for NZ businesses nor consumers. I’m guessing this is similar to the Food Bill of recent years where the govt designed a pretty stupid bill based around what the big manufacturers were doing and didn’t think to consult with the small ones. So we were going to end up in the ridiculous situation where people couldn’t sell the produce from their garden at a Farmers Market or save seeds without having to comply with extensive regulation. Public outcry and the Minister when oh, right, and changed it. There is no reason that we can’t have varying levels of regulation around supplements depending on the product and the size of the business. It’s what we should be doing.
The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
I don’t believe that small businesses should be held to lower standards just because they’re small, though. If you’re in business, your customers have the right to expect a safe product that does what you claim it does.
There’s a difference between what I am suggesting and no standards. A school group selling jam at the fair shouldn’t have to have the same practices as Craigs selling jam to Countdown. What they did in the US was have a separate legislation for cottage industry foods, and the label had to state that that’s what they were. But they still had standards regarding safety.
“The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
Oh good. I just skimmed it. Variations of the Therapeutic Goods Act have been around for many years (probably decades by now), my eyes tend to glaze over. A lot of the problem is trying to tie NZ in with Australia, and in trying to standardise things across an industry that is hugely variable (as per the examples above). There are some serious problems with some products (eg contamination of some over the counter traditional chinese medicines), but if you are making small scale garlic pills, all you really need is good, safe practices not huge industrial scale practices.
People do have the right to safety in products. People also have the right to make choices about their health. With something like garlic that I can buy at the supermarket to treat a bacterial infection, why should I not be able to buy it in pill form assuming that the company had safe manufacturing processes? Maybe you’re not clear that across food and supplements, small scale producers are getting hammered because systems are being designed for the big players and for expediency. That’s not about extra safety, it’s just poor design and injustice.
In the supermarket loose garlic is sold as a food, with no medicinal promises as far as I can recall.
in pill form it’s got a different implicit or explicit function. There should be evidence to back up those claims, and it should contain what it claims.
My brother in aus had a story from the flipside, where it was a news scandal exposed that a herbal erection capsule brand had been found to have been dosed with viagra. He couldn’t understand why people were outraged that the product actually contained a demonstrably active ingredient.
Andrew Little pitching to the centre is a good move (imho), that’s where more of the votes are and that’s where the election will be won and lost, if Labour/Greens are too far behind National then Winston will most likely go National but if its close…well anything can happen
Labour banging on about housing in Auckland is another good move as that’s where National is most vulnerable however that will need to be careful as theres a lot of homeowners out there that will definitely not be pleased if their house values drop dramatically but aside from that attacking National on housing is working well
the interesting:
Grant Robertson signalling an increase in taxes marks a clear difference between National so that’s a good thing (in my book anyway) however he’d better have had his calculator working overtime because if the numbers don’t match up or he can’t answer well…show me the money will get a refrain
the dumb:
“That meant the average family had lost out on more than $13,000 under the Government, and would miss out on an average of $50 a week this year.”
I mean bringing something up that no ones ever heard of before just looks like making stuff up
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
I’m sure it must have happened before but I can’t recall “vote for us and we’ll work the details out later” ever working before
Which is a shame because they’re dealing to National over homes in Auckland and then Robertson pulls this out…
Like National won’t have a field day with this, if Labour can’t provide numbers then National certainly will (like that hasn’t happened the last couple of months)
I find conspiracy theories as entertaining as anyone but surely Labour would have run their ideas through a group of people to see if there were any holes in their plans?
But this isn’t a case of what works for National will work for Labour. National are the incumbents and Labour want to replace them.
National are a known quantity and Labour aren’t which means Labour has to prove they can govern and that means its not a good idea to just say we’ll work out the details later.
You think that and it may well be true but do the general voting public agree with you?
The more Robertson continues with “we’ll work out the details later” the harder it will be for Little to try to convince NZ voters that Labour are a safe pair of hands
I’m still going to type what I think is right, I’m not going to type what I think people want to hear
I mean Labour has done some good things recently but what Robertson is doing is really bad for Labours chances
Plus I also think that what you, I or anyone else on here thinks (or can prove) is largely irrelevant, its what the voting public thinks and I think that this:
“Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.”
will hurt Labour.
I also think that since Labour is the challenger it has to show more than National because the voters can judge National on what they’ve done but the voters can only judge Labour on its words.
[insert something neither Labour nor Robertson actually said]
will hurt Labour.
I agree entirely.
In fact, that stuff report is a good example of why Labour and the Left have to campaign against both the government and the corporate media.
What Robertson was actually quoted as saying was
“While we want a comprehensive review there will be some interim steps that we will announce before the election … to ensure that we have the revenue to address pressing issues, particularly in health, education and housing,” he said.
and
He said an “enormous… multi-billion dollar” surplus would be needed for $3b of tax cuts given all the other cost pressures in the economy. He called on the Government to “come clean” about its tax cuts plans.
He said an extra $600m needed to be allocated to health in Thursday’s Budget just to stand still.
So while they might increase taxes overall, all Robertson really did was rule out /reverse the $3billion in tax cuts that key made up on the fly.
But Puck, you’ve always known National will win in 2017 and generously shared that certainty with Labour supporters on TS. Now that you’re so reasonable about everything discussed here, we were beginning to think that you’d somehow come to realise that prescience is as rare as hens’ teeth and that perhaps your certainty was a little…presumptuous. But as I say, you’re slipping back into your ol’ trolly ways, with your wee knocks to resident confidence, making me think of that old maxim, about the leopard and his indelible spots. I’m picking you have a plan and that’s of the white ant variety. Closer to the election, you’ll be back into full undermine-confidence mode. I reckon.
Well that’s your opinion and of course you’re entitled to it however while I do think Robertson is being dumb (and I won’t shy away from calling it as see it), if you look at what I wrote you’ll see two positives, one interesting (may be good but may also be bad) and one negative
So ? Labour have also won 3 elections on the trot. Why are you making out election wins are unique ? because they are not Puckish Rogue. Its called politics, and NZ politics is largely cyclic.
In response to your other comment. If you think the voters can only judge Labour on its words, remembering that Labour has a far better track record than National to back themselves up, don’t you think voters will now judge National on the litany of lies, corruption and deception and the debt ridden shambles and its disastrous social and economic consequences that they have created, that can no longer be denied?
Extend this graph to its max range and you will see National get voted in once Labour have finished tanking the economy, Labour get voted in once National have things flying again: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/gdp-growth
That’s nice dear. Homelessness, unemployment and falling median wage value. Define flying however you like.
The graph shows nothing of the sort. The average is clearly higher throughout the 00’s, not to mention public debt.
That’s why English and Key both praised Cullen’s handling of the economy in 2008. Only to very selective audiences, mind: you fuckwits wolfed the red meat as usual
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
Not a good sale point,lets rephrase it.
A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors such as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
Poission
That would be a better thing for Labour to do than raise super to 67 or 70. A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors ch as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
The Uriah Heepish-style pose you’ve adopted of late to appear oh so reasonable doesn’t fool all of us, Puckish.
The economy is unbalanced to the point it’s threatening social stability and the old economic levers only exacerbate the problem even when deployed to ease the situation.
Labour will do the planning work on what’s needed tax-wise when it has the resources of Govt. And Robertson’s also found a neat way round the wee strategic blunder that was dumping the CGT. That’s good politics.
And they’ll give more detail closer to the election about what the thinking is.
What’s your problem?
Auckland and Queenstown are notorious for their housing inaffordability, but the problem is spreading to places like Tauranga and Wellington. Here in Wellington we’ve been reading about it for a few months now.
Things might be starting to get a bit silly though. Got one of those real estate flyers in the mail where they have a little brag about the sales in “your area”. Down the road from us was a 90 square metre very basic 3bdr house on a tiny section on the back of another property. Late 80’s, early 90’s flimsy construction.
RV of $350K. Went for “mid 400’s” the flyer said, approximately $100K over the RV. That’s just nuts. There is no way that house was worth $450K.
In the meantime, on the development, on a street north east from us 24 lots have sold within 18 months. The cheapest is a 3bdr townhouse in a row of 12 MDH setting, no section for $574K. The remaining 12 lots are all 4bdr, 2bth ranging from $700 – $800K depending on section size and specs. Over on the other side of the development they are selling 5bdr places for $890K. All lots except for a few have sold in recent months around the $700 – $800 K zone as well.
Some people have the money honey and some developers are doing verrrry well. These developers have an SHA area BTW, they just don’t have any plans for it yet. Selling the pricey homes suits them far better. These kinds of people must think Nick Smith is a huge joke.
“Sir John Chilcot’s Iraq war inquiry report will not let former Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other officials involved in the ill-fated 2003 invasion “off the hook,” a source close to the inquiry says.
Chilcot is due to release his long-delayed report on the legality of the war on July 6, seven years after the inquiry was commissioned…
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Over last year the fuckwits at Lauda Finem have targeted me in a time wasting and long running legal farce that I really can’t talk about for the usual reason – court orders. However the mechanics of the case aren’t that interesting apart from the ironic entertainment value.
And I’ve also had their technically illiterate mate Cameron Slater trying to buy a crime – something that is in itself a crime under section 311 of the Crimes Act. Fortunately he was too technically and politically incompetent to know what to look for and got whistle blown and/or scammed.
Also that he was too incompetent to make it happen does not mean that Cameron didn’t commit a crime regardless of how many times he tries to spin that line. A failed attempt to procure a crime is still a crime.
And that is the case regardless of how many times Cameron tries to violate the precepts of the police diversion by proclaiming his lack of criminality. A repeated act of lying that directly violates the remorse for the crime that he is meant to have shown to even have a chance at police diversion.
But we all knew that Cameron Slater is a self-deluding hypocritical liar. Also from the light pats on his hands from the police in the way that they charge him for past offences that he appears to be extremely lucky. Or have some great friends in high places with influence on the police (which is my current working theory about how he got that diversion from them).
But it has similarly wasted my holiday time in court dealing with it. Not to mention the large and expensive waste of my evening and weekend time checking my computers for intrusions and to keep high paying technical illiterates from hiring people who were a bit more competent from actually achieving his criminal intent. Cameron Slater is, from his actions, just a simple lying hypocrite and a serial criminal.
But I guess both of these local sets of criminals just wanted me to join the fun – which I suspect is a mistake on their part. I’m sure that at some point in the future they will begin to understand that.
However there is a serious point to this comment that actually affects The Standard.
This is the first time I’ve had to get involved with legal even indirectly to The Standard (beyond writing a few response emails to upset people explaining the legal basis for the site and its posts) in over 8 years. It is probably time to start dealing with having to deal with similar legal idiots in the future. For a starter, next year we will have have whatever technical and legal incompetent agency that this even more technically illiterate government’s ministers tries to get to run the flawed and probably unworkable Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA)
Personally I’d prefer to concern myself with my role of being the system operator, the odd rant when I write a post or comment, and helping to enforce out moderation policies. About once or twice a year I get involved as one of the trustees of the site. And I have been known to get somewhat acerbic around the backend of the system.
But I’ve already been dealing with various people who have heard about the HDCA, but clearly haven’t bothered to deal with the actual legalities. Amongst other things I have been asked to pull down posts from 6 years ago – 5 years after the Act was passed. I have also been asked to prevent abuse attributed as coming from this site, which is in fact being published on a overseas site that has nothing to do with NZ politics. Similarly at least one politician who should have been at least vaguely aware of the limits of the Act appears to have been stated that she could use the Act if her feelings were hurt by criticism of her actions. FFS…
None of these are possible of standing up under the HDCA. But I am expecting that there will be a small flood of similarly deluded adults pouring such test cases into whatever unprepared and probably irresponsible agency gets made responsible for much of the regulation of the HDCA. I am sure we will be part of that and will need to go into court either preemptively or after having received a court order without being called in on a defending position. Then of course there will be actions to recover any costs incurred. That will take some immediately available money.
And while the legal targets to date have either been me or my computers. Eventually even these legal lunatics from the nutty and criminal right will get around to actually targeting The Standard itself. I suspect we as a community should start figuring out how to build a specific legal fund later in the year to deal with such threats in the future.
In the past 8 and a half years, we haven’t actually needed any money for legal matters for The Standard Trust. Back in 2010 -2012, we grew a fund out of advertising to handle such threats. When they never showed up, we used it to deal with the more immediate problem of our ever rising server costs as the site grew.
These days that particular problem has abated after we were able to get the site back to its technical roots. Some processes running on one of my servers on my living room floor, but with better offshore backups.
But the way these kinds of criminally vigilante right wing idiots have been fumbling around with legalities, I’m sure even they will eventually learn enough law to attempt the legal entity of The Standard Trust. Probably they will do so while they are still stupid enough to think that they can actually ‘win’ despite a distinct lack of the types of legal excesses similar to those that they have routinely perform on their sites.
Similarly, I’d expect that most blog sites, especially the political ones in election year, are going to be targets of the nutty fringe using the HDCA. Some of those are going to get through as tests of the HDCA. Probably including our rather deliberately legal site.
Better to plan for it rather than have to deal with it unprepared.
So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
Or whatever someone else pops up with that someone else hasn’t already been doing?
I personally won’t be particularly interested in taking money with strings attached beyond the straight commercial. That isn’t something we have done in the past and I can’t see it as being something that we should do in the future. The rather proud and oftimes extreme independence (albeit loosely moderated) of both The Standard 2.0’s author and commenter communities is something that I am rather happy to keep.
But I suspect anything else (that is legal) is up for debate.
How big does the fund need to be $ wise?
User pays?
Allow 30k per annum for 1-2 legal cases.
500 comments per day average? = 176,000
/ 30k = 17c per comment.
Run like Trade Me. You pre-load x amount into your account, and when it is gone you get the auto email requesting the top up.
One of the things that we have deliberately not done is to require real emails or logins.
In fact one of the things that I’m going to do as a response to the HDCA is to actually remove the ability of us on the backend to even have access or even any knowledge of real emails and IP numbers. They get replaced with a special MD5 like hash.
I wrote that code last year ago. About the same time that I shifted the autofill on comments from being server side read and filled to being client side filled.
If we had any such list, it’d have to be filled on a voluntary basis specifically for the purpose of being a donor, and probably held by a separate body.
Will that make it harder to manage trolls, banned people, and sock puppets?
It would be slightly less fine in terms of ’emails’ but not a lot different. We’d just have to make the IP exclusions coarser with a higher probability of picking up false positives.
However otherwise the HDCA process could force us to give the real world identities of commenters literally because some politician or other friend of a HDCA authorised agency agent had their feelings got hurt. The HDCA could do it in an uncontested hearing with no real evidence being offered in support of the application apart from that of the process being followed.
We are specifically prevented by the Act in pursuing the HDCA official for information. We can neither OIA the agency nor drag their agents into court to find out.
It is simpler to simply not have the information on who people really are, what their emails are, and what IPs they have been using.
I’m considering making an argument for it being mandatory not to have anything that looks like real names for any commenter for much the same reason. It reduces this sites risk of having to violate our privacy policies.
Good question. I envisaged it more as being to enable a rapid response than anything else. Basically something to get a lawyer in front of a judge as soon as possible.
In particular where the HDCA approved agency has applied for a court order and we know and get someone in to contest it, or where we immediately contest one after they got one in uncontested.
Those orders will be a complete pain. They require immediate compliance and can be gained literally without us knowing that they are being sought.
If they had any merit, then we would have already complied within the first 48 hours after being informed. If not sooner. We tend to be somewhat abrupt.
More than $5k. Probably not more than $15k.
Where costs are awarded later, is that likely to be all costs or partial?
Will you be looking at having continuity with a specific lawyer or using whoever is available?
Any chance of some pro bono work?
Probably we’d be able to get pro bono. But the costs of filing documents won’t be insignificant.
Costs are usually partial if you get them at all. I suspect that costs awarded against the HDCA authorised agency will be as hard to get as those against the police and crown after they drag you through 18 months of court to for the crown to finally lose in the high court. Virtually non-existent (I have done that before for rocky).
I suspect each case would be money sunk. So the best way to operate will be to cause the HDCA authorised agency to spend their budget in defending their decisions for as long as possible. Think of it as a way of educating the agency.
It’d probably have to be whoever was available. The time frames in the HDCA are likely to be tight.
So no costs from the complainant? Because if the authority accepts the complaint in the first place it’s considered reasonably legitimate?
In this case, as I remember the Act, I don’t think we could even try to claim from the complainant unless we want to bring a very expensive civil case against them.
That is pretty normal. Unless the complainant brings a private prosecution against you, the authority that brings the action is making the decision.
Think of how the police operate. Or WINZ. Or IRD, Or any of the quasi-legal authorities. The way the criminal system operates is that if an authority thinks that there may be a prima facie case that is winnable or where they think a point has to be made and they have a prima facie case, they will go for orders and/or charge.
But they have to be very very wrong in their estimation of the prima facie case before the law before the judge will order costs against them. They will instead get some words from the judge about why they were mistaken about their understanding of the law.
In the case of new law, then even this toleration gets extended. If you are the subject of those then you wind up paying the cost of establishing precedents.
I think we raise $15K to $20K just sitting there, earning a return. Then we get pledges for another $15K to $20K for the if and when necessary event.
Having a fighting fund on hand is one way to deter the morans from going ahead with action as well as actually deal with the inevitable cases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceS_jkKjIgo
The above is to show how ridiculous it all is.
The right and certain elements of the left in this country, don’t like democracy, which is silly really.
But, ideas for a legal fund.
Well ask some lawyers if they will help for free. You know civic duty and all that. I will ask one in the next few days. For free in the defence of civil liberties, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of expression.
Then we just need to get some funds to cover the things which are not free, like the photocopying, lodgements, and coffees. Sorry, being a wee bit glib.
Just a thought, I’ll be asking anyway, and will pass them onto Bill if they say yes.
I can’t see a problem with advertising that is ethical or ethically neutral
….if it keeps the site safe from right wing predators with deep pockets who want to use challenges by the legal system to close it down
…this site is an important vehicle for political analysis and a critical voice imo…it is important for a grassroots democracy
The Daily Blog has some advertising…and it isnt too intrusive
The problem with crowd funding is that the crowd often does not have much disposable income…they are too busy trying to keep ends meeting eg for paying for kids university debts, or housing , or health…or looking after the needy in their families
I also don’t see a problem with paying some of the regular workers/posters and Iprent for the upkeep of the site …in fact they deserve payment imo….if ethical advertising could do this then I am all for it
Maybe others. I already earn quite a lot in my real life work.
The biggest hassle with advertising isn’t particularly having it. The hassle is in exactly what you pointed out. The time involved in making sure it is ethical, appropriate, etc for the site. And that we are getting enough of it to sustain whatever we are doing.
That is a long-term need that requires time to dribble out in phone calls, emails etc. These usually within work hours.
The issue for us is that none of the current authors really have the time nor the inclination for that kind of work. Nor has anyone we have ever had as an author in the past. They come on to write, comment, and some moderate. Each requires small bits of time chopped out of other things we are doing. We don’t have to coordinate, manage, or waste any time.
Consequently, when this last came to a decision point at the start of 2014, I looked at the time required vs the revenue required to run the servers. I invested quite a lot of my free time in an effort to drop the effective cost well below requiring any advertising revenue. The reason wasn’t so much the money as it was the time I was spending scratching around making sure that we had sufficient money to pay for the servers.
It is a lot less work to tolerate a system that may throw up lousy ads (eg google adview) but which doesn’t cost much time over a year, or alternatively spend a moderate amount of time on one or two small campaigns per year to get large dobs of cash.
Rather that than trying to get something that requires moderate amounts of time all year AND which will get in the way of the available time for the site. In that case I’d prefer spending less site time and more time at work to just give me the option of doing simplier donations from making more income.
First of all Lynn, sorry for all the ongoing hassle with Slater and Co. You don’t deserve all that shit to deal with and no one has time for that anyway. It’s also really frustrating that Slater pretty much got away with it in court. He’s managed to not be held fully to account for his behaviour in general, and it’s not even that satisfying that he lost that boxing bout.
Raising fighting funds. It’s been great to read The Standard ad free but I don’t think too many people would have a problem with google ads. I certainly don’t, if it would be helpful.
If you were to look at paid advertising there may be a reader or commentor who has retired from the marketing or advertising sector who may like to help out on a voluntary small part time basis – as you say it’s a pain to organise so having a dedicated advertising admin person might be beneficial – if there was any one out there who could fill that role, and could commit to it long term.
Givealittle seems to be the way things goes these days. It would be a nice change to see a recipient of Givealittle funds who isn’t someone that missing out on what should be government funded, eg, cancer medicine or housing.
Personally I’m broke as and struggle to get through the week, even my party membership has lapsed because I never seem to be able to find the small donations for the unwaged! So I’m sorry I can’t help out.
However, I get the feeling that there are people in better circumstances than me who are users of the site and appreciate and value the site and all yours and the authors hard work as much as I do, who may be able to donate.
Good luck with the funding and all the best for keeping the site safe and free from interference from nutty rw pests.
Love your work 🙂
No problem.
After all this is why we aren’t interested in the lost sheep’s “user pays”. Cuts out way too many interesting people.
I get somewhat well paid. I found I was still a member of the NZLP last year after they triumphantly sent me the first membership card that I’d seen in a few years – plastic even.
After I hunted around for a while I found I was still leaking $25 per month in a old VFL payment from a bank account that I use for its debit visa for some internet payments. Still haven’t got around to doing anything about it – just like the unicef and a couple of other payments. I’m pretty slack like that.
Perhaps I should set up a “help people retain their membership” for political parties.
Or I could just forgo the the once a week coffee outing and clear up that membership payment once and for all……….. 🙂
Better still, a Labour coalition win in 2017 would mean, theoretically, a modest $ boost for Labour’s lowest paid members, who then would have a little more of the disposable $ to keep up with their membership and the middle bracket could shift from a one off payment to a VFL payment.
What Rosie said at 1.6. Is there someone retired, temporarily invalided, would like to get stuck into this worthwhile task of organising non-sickmaking adverts? No loose boobies please unless they are birds, blue boobies?
And lprent #1 your ideas all sound good. Is there someone in each of the main centres that could arrange film nights?
So if anyone has got any ideas (good, bad or indifferent) about ways to build such a legal fund then they should start raising them here.
Personally I’d be reluctant to put paid advertising back on the site, mainly because it is such a time wasting pain in the arse to organise. It also messes up the site in terms of blocking out content in the most visible locations. But that is an option.
The easiest would be something like google ads. They already know a great deal about the site because we use them for most of our data collection.
We could do a straight donation drive like a GiveALittle campaign. Or to follow the path of something like the Transport Blog and do a social fundraiser like a film evening. Or look at some kind of micro subscriber model like Scoop has been doing.
And CV on fund practice at 1.3.2
edited
Blue booby’s. They sure are adorable:
http://cdn.earthporm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/booby-bird.jpg
And OMG! Look at this one:
https://i.onthe.io/vllkytaHR0cDovL2Nkbi0wMS5uYWlqLmNvbS9vL1Y5VUNmckdjRGJBbjN3bVJzWGhyNnc2ay5qcGc=.prx.r800x600.aa5def85.jpg
Rosie
Very fascinating. I can see that they were thinking the same about the photographer. I had forgotten why I thought they were so memorable.
Incidentally r0b. Private + published, then back to draft and public, and finally schedule appears to work for adding early comments. I’ll see if I can find another easier way 🙂
Very pleased Austria has beaten back the far right and voted in a Green party-backed economist, an EU supporter and a child of refugees as the next president. Congratulations Alexander Van der Bellen and all who supported him. It was a very close call.
After forcing the resignation of the Chancellor, the Social Democrats have a lot more work to do before the parliamentary elections in 2018.
Congratulations Austria! Am pleased to hear that the scary sounding Norbet Hoffer missed out. What a relief.
Look I’d be fine with a give-a-little campaign ( although I’ve always wondered whether a list of Nicky Hager’s supporters made it into other channels) it’s real easy to access, or a micro donations link staying permanently on the site. After all I used to pay for the stuff on stuff.
I would be happy if it was just a general donation – we trust you to spend it wisely
A fund raising evening would be great to socialise ( and guess who is who) but won’t take in the more far flung users.
If it includes something for you I’m good with that.
Oh I don’t need money myself particularly.
I tend to regard the legal and illegal attacks on me and my computers as interesting examples of the rightly insane trying to grow a brain. It is like educating small children how to be socially responsible.
You just keep unfolding the horrible consequences overhear actions in front off them and getting them to walk upon them in bare feet. It gives a outlet for some of my less socially acceptable tendencies in a good cause.
The HDCA authorised agency are likely to be more of a problem. I suspect that most of the time we’d find out from them when they deliver a order from the court saying to take something down. There appears to be little need for them to prove anything to get one apart from that they followed a rather rapid process. If we see signs of them taking part in that process, ideally we’d want to get in front of the court with them before orders are made.
I’m usually terrible as being social. It seems so slow as a communication device. I’m moderately good at it if I can get a heated discussion going 🙂
Lyn likes the small talk side. I usually can’t really be bothered.
Does the standard get much via the donation page in general?
Most of the time it covers or gets close to covering our operating expenses of about $260 per month.
We’d have to do something different for the next few years while the actual procedural rules for the HDCA get established in court.
So far all the indications are that the HDCA authorised agency will get inundated with largely spurious complaints from offended adults. Since they appear in the act to be established as being an advocacy mainly operating on behalf of the complainants and the Act is very vague on offences, I’d expect that a number of the less spurious complaints will be allowed through.
After the grounds for successful cases are established, then it will be easier.
I think solidarity with TS is needed now..
Yanis Varoufakis interview had this in it:
If capitalism is training us to think of ourselves as competitive entrepreneurs then we become less and less inclined towards feeling that kind of solidarity—on which democracy depends—and giving up even the smallest element of our financial wellbeing for the sake of other people.
Yet democracy cannot survive without solidarity, because it requires us to give rights to one another, to people that we may not like. We have to have solidarity to each other and to some grander social and political system in order for it to work.
https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/05/21/has-consumerism-milked-democracy-dry-on-abc-radio-national/#more-13808
i like the idea of a give a little fundraiser and or social evenings with a fund raiser attached.
Blogs from the US that i have been following for years all have their 6 monthly fund raiser, give generously, give often, most accompanied with pictures of loose kittens or boobies cause you know ….i wuz told it helps collect funds.
My thought would be a Give a Little fundraiser to get a basic fighting fund in place and then one of the other options to provide ongoing income – maybe a 6 monthly fundraiser as suggested by Sabine.
Sausage sizzle seems to be the main source of income for Labour so have you considered trying that?
A stall could be run at the Avondale markets 🙂
Kidding, kidding I jest, givealittle page sounds the way to go
you don’t like sausage sizzlers? Dang what sort o Kiwi are you?
I do like sausage sizzles but not enough to travel up to Auckland to have one 🙂
That will only make the city a better place. 🙂
Are you suggesting me leaving Christchurch to go to Auckland would improve both cities? 😉
i suggest that neither city deserves you 🙂
You are too good for both of them. You should move to Clutha 🙂
i suggest that neither city deserves you 🙂
You are too good for both of them. You should move to Clutha 🙂
Interestingly enough you’re quite close, I’ve got plans to eventually move/retire to Cromwell…
Have you seen the NZ play “Trees Beneath the Lake”, Puckish Rogue? It’s set in Cromwell, about sociopathic Ponzi swindlers and their endearing ways. I wouldn’t go there.
This HIT on cheap alternative medicines by the multi billion dollar business USA BIG PHARMA makes me absolutely furious:
‘Are new regulations too tough on
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201801840/are-new-regulations-too-tough-on
“Small natural health businesses say new regulations which will regulate the natural health industry are heavy handed and will hurt them the most.
The Natural Health and Supplementary Products bill will allow the Ministry of Health to regulate the sector, so ingredients in supplements are permitted or prohibited and manufacturers are licensed.
It will also restrict the claims that can be made about products so potential health benefits could only be made if there is proven scientific evidence, or traditional evidence that it works. Dr Guy Hatchard represents a group of 10 Natural Health companies and practitioners who are worried about the changes.
Kathryn also speaks with Alison Quesnell the executive director of Natural Products NZ.”
( It is not as if BIG PHARMA products are properly regulated or tested…all too often one finds later that particular products have been withdrawn because of life threatening side effects)
What this actually does is just help protect the public from bogus frauds where people claim some extract from some Amazonian fungus ‘supports joint health’ or ‘assists in managing symptoms of aging’.
Now of course, we should also be trying to protect the public from bogus frauds in the medicines industry like ‘mycoxafaline cures erectile dysfunction’ or ‘you need brand new bogustatin to stop you dying of evil cholesterol’ but that doesn’t mean we should be giving ‘natural’ products a free pass.
+1
…actually the public needs protection from BIG PHARMA( big business ,big profits in pharmaceuticals ) and all those narrow minded in the medical profession)….who want to cut out smaller competition and people taking charge of their own health with natural remedies
…a bit like marijuana…the natural stuff used for thousands of years in places like India is made illegal and is deemed supposedly BAD for you …but the politically legalised synthetic stuff sold by Western businessmen intent on a profit has far worse side- effects
yes lets “protect the public from bogus frauds” made by monopoly capitalism and BIG PHARMA
….let the people decide for themselves what medications they want to use…especially the indigenous people
Controlling ‘scientific evidence’ is a primary function in monopoly
Legislation, regulations (pretending to be beneficial) influenced by lobbyist representatives of the corporations who manufacture ‘scientific evidence’, enshrines the monopoly
Natural products and living organisms are both nemisis & prey item of petro chemical pharaceutical corporations and toxic poison peddlers
Still better than relying on placebos and bullshit to treat cancer.
“placebos and bullshit to treat cancer”…that would be chemotherapy.
The improving cancer survival rates call you a damned liar.
not through chemotherapy..which is what I said ( you are the liar)
Not precise enough for you? Ok. Wikipedia also calls you a liar. Subject chemotherapy, section efficacy.
If you want to get any more specific, which particular chemotherapy are you calling completely ineffective? Or is that not your position?
links please…where does wiki call me a “liar”?…no it is you who are personally calling me a “liar” ( which is a reflection on you actually, but it doesn’t surprise me coming from you)
…and btw all the people i have known who have received chemo have died in short order
this is a link not for you, but for others with an open mind, who may be interested in this issue…even doctors admit chemo rarely works
…http://preventdisease.com/news/14/033114_97-Percent-of-The-Time-Chemotherapy-Does-Not-Work.shtml
…”It’s a business of mammoth proportions and must be treated as such. The most powerful anti-carcinogenic plants in the world such as cannabis must be demonized and be made illegal because they are so effective at killing cancer cells without side effects. Cannabinoids are so efficient at treating disease, that the U.S. Government patented them in 2003…”
lol, you seriously need a link for wikipedia?
Minds so “open” there’s a whistling sound in a gentle breeze…
I think you are all confusing a few things. The legislation is aimed at a number of things, including medical claims. I don’t have a problem with products not being allowed to make claims on the labels unless the company can back that up. But I think in Europe there was an exemption for traditional usage of herbal remedies. So if someone was selling traditional Māori medicines and they could demonstrate historical use, then that’s exempt. Otherwise no medical claims. They could still make general wellbeing claims (this is also used overseas). But if you make small companies do research costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to manufacture something that can be made at home, that’s daft.
Then there are the issues of safe manufacturing practices, making sure that there are good processes in place. This is where small manufacturers will get screwed and the whole thing would get handed to the big companies (many of whom are multinational chemical companies). Not good for NZ businesses nor consumers. I’m guessing this is similar to the Food Bill of recent years where the govt designed a pretty stupid bill based around what the big manufacturers were doing and didn’t think to consult with the small ones. So we were going to end up in the ridiculous situation where people couldn’t sell the produce from their garden at a Farmers Market or save seeds without having to comply with extensive regulation. Public outcry and the Minister when oh, right, and changed it. There is no reason that we can’t have varying levels of regulation around supplements depending on the product and the size of the business. It’s what we should be doing.
+100 weka…well said
The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
I don’t believe that small businesses should be held to lower standards just because they’re small, though. If you’re in business, your customers have the right to expect a safe product that does what you claim it does.
There’s a difference between what I am suggesting and no standards. A school group selling jam at the fair shouldn’t have to have the same practices as Craigs selling jam to Countdown. What they did in the US was have a separate legislation for cottage industry foods, and the label had to state that that’s what they were. But they still had standards regarding safety.
“The article said there was already an allowance for “traditional evidence”.
Oh good. I just skimmed it. Variations of the Therapeutic Goods Act have been around for many years (probably decades by now), my eyes tend to glaze over. A lot of the problem is trying to tie NZ in with Australia, and in trying to standardise things across an industry that is hugely variable (as per the examples above). There are some serious problems with some products (eg contamination of some over the counter traditional chinese medicines), but if you are making small scale garlic pills, all you really need is good, safe practices not huge industrial scale practices.
People do have the right to safety in products. People also have the right to make choices about their health. With something like garlic that I can buy at the supermarket to treat a bacterial infection, why should I not be able to buy it in pill form assuming that the company had safe manufacturing processes? Maybe you’re not clear that across food and supplements, small scale producers are getting hammered because systems are being designed for the big players and for expediency. That’s not about extra safety, it’s just poor design and injustice.
In the supermarket loose garlic is sold as a food, with no medicinal promises as far as I can recall.
in pill form it’s got a different implicit or explicit function. There should be evidence to back up those claims, and it should contain what it claims.
My brother in aus had a story from the flipside, where it was a news scandal exposed that a herbal erection capsule brand had been found to have been dosed with viagra. He couldn’t understand why people were outraged that the product actually contained a demonstrably active ingredient.
+100 One Two
So my view thus far, the positive
Andrew Little pitching to the centre is a good move (imho), that’s where more of the votes are and that’s where the election will be won and lost, if Labour/Greens are too far behind National then Winston will most likely go National but if its close…well anything can happen
Labour banging on about housing in Auckland is another good move as that’s where National is most vulnerable however that will need to be careful as theres a lot of homeowners out there that will definitely not be pleased if their house values drop dramatically but aside from that attacking National on housing is working well
the interesting:
Grant Robertson signalling an increase in taxes marks a clear difference between National so that’s a good thing (in my book anyway) however he’d better have had his calculator working overtime because if the numbers don’t match up or he can’t answer well…show me the money will get a refrain
the dumb:
“That meant the average family had lost out on more than $13,000 under the Government, and would miss out on an average of $50 a week this year.”
I mean bringing something up that no ones ever heard of before just looks like making stuff up
The dumb:
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/80272365/tax-increases-on-the-table-for-labour-for-2017-campaign
Election lost right there.
I’m sure it must have happened before but I can’t recall “vote for us and we’ll work the details out later” ever working before
Which is a shame because they’re dealing to National over homes in Auckland and then Robertson pulls this out…
Like National won’t have a field day with this, if Labour can’t provide numbers then National certainly will (like that hasn’t happened the last couple of months)
You have to wonder if this wasn’t Grant Robertson purposely trying to sink any chance of a Labour win in 2017.
I find conspiracy theories as entertaining as anyone but surely Labour would have run their ideas through a group of people to see if there were any holes in their plans?
Works for National
But this isn’t a case of what works for National will work for Labour. National are the incumbents and Labour want to replace them.
National are a known quantity and Labour aren’t which means Labour has to prove they can govern and that means its not a good idea to just say we’ll work out the details later.
Labour are a known quantity: they always run the economy better than National. Always. Not that it’s difficult.
You think that and it may well be true but do the general voting public agree with you?
The more Robertson continues with “we’ll work out the details later” the harder it will be for Little to try to convince NZ voters that Labour are a safe pair of hands
Whereas National have left no doubt that they have stumps where hands should be.
And yet National have won three elections on the trot
“National have one 3 election on the trot”
Not in OAB alternative universe
Reverting to type, Puckish Rogue. Try harder to assimilate or they’ll start to notice.
I’m still going to type what I think is right, I’m not going to type what I think people want to hear
I mean Labour has done some good things recently but what Robertson is doing is really bad for Labours chances
Plus I also think that what you, I or anyone else on here thinks (or can prove) is largely irrelevant, its what the voting public thinks and I think that this:
“Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.”
will hurt Labour.
I also think that since Labour is the challenger it has to show more than National because the voters can judge National on what they’ve done but the voters can only judge Labour on its words.
It’s as though you are utterly ignorant of the election promises in 1999*. You think if you don’t look at it no-one else can see it either?
*either that or it’s deliberate dishonesty.
I agree entirely.
In fact, that stuff report is a good example of why Labour and the Left have to campaign against both the government and the corporate media.
What Robertson was actually quoted as saying was
and
So while they might increase taxes overall, all Robertson really did was rule out /reverse the $3billion in tax cuts that key made up on the fly.
But Puck, you’ve always known National will win in 2017 and generously shared that certainty with Labour supporters on TS. Now that you’re so reasonable about everything discussed here, we were beginning to think that you’d somehow come to realise that prescience is as rare as hens’ teeth and that perhaps your certainty was a little…presumptuous. But as I say, you’re slipping back into your ol’ trolly ways, with your wee knocks to resident confidence, making me think of that old maxim, about the leopard and his indelible spots. I’m picking you have a plan and that’s of the white ant variety. Closer to the election, you’ll be back into full undermine-confidence mode. I reckon.
Well that’s your opinion and of course you’re entitled to it however while I do think Robertson is being dumb (and I won’t shy away from calling it as see it), if you look at what I wrote you’ll see two positives, one interesting (may be good but may also be bad) and one negative
So I’d say that’s being even-handed
So ? Labour have also won 3 elections on the trot. Why are you making out election wins are unique ? because they are not Puckish Rogue. Its called politics, and NZ politics is largely cyclic.
In response to your other comment. If you think the voters can only judge Labour on its words, remembering that Labour has a far better track record than National to back themselves up, don’t you think voters will now judge National on the litany of lies, corruption and deception and the debt ridden shambles and its disastrous social and economic consequences that they have created, that can no longer be denied?
Extend this graph to its max range and you will see National get voted in once Labour have finished tanking the economy, Labour get voted in once National have things flying again: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/gdp-growth
let’s see: tanked in 1991 (admittedly after continuing lab4 policies), 1998, 2008.
Yeah, you’re on drugs if you think that correlates to national flying and labour tanking.
That’s nice dear. Homelessness, unemployment and falling median wage value. Define flying however you like.
The graph shows nothing of the sort. The average is clearly higher throughout the 00’s, not to mention public debt.
That’s why English and Key both praised Cullen’s handling of the economy in 2008. Only to very selective audiences, mind: you fuckwits wolfed the red meat as usual
Labour is planning to announce tax increases before the next election to help fund its spending plans but will leave the detailed work until it is in government.
Not a good sale point,lets rephrase it.
A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors such as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
Poission
That would be a better thing for Labour to do than raise super to 67 or 70.
A future labour government will look to remove tax payer subsidies from boat shoe wearing, real estate investors ch as the offsetting of loss making housing speculation against income by ringfencing housing investment losses.
The Uriah Heepish-style pose you’ve adopted of late to appear oh so reasonable doesn’t fool all of us, Puckish.
The economy is unbalanced to the point it’s threatening social stability and the old economic levers only exacerbate the problem even when deployed to ease the situation.
Labour will do the planning work on what’s needed tax-wise when it has the resources of Govt. And Robertson’s also found a neat way round the wee strategic blunder that was dumping the CGT. That’s good politics.
And they’ll give more detail closer to the election about what the thinking is.
What’s your problem?
Auckland and Queenstown are notorious for their housing inaffordability, but the problem is spreading to places like Tauranga and Wellington. Here in Wellington we’ve been reading about it for a few months now.
Things might be starting to get a bit silly though. Got one of those real estate flyers in the mail where they have a little brag about the sales in “your area”. Down the road from us was a 90 square metre very basic 3bdr house on a tiny section on the back of another property. Late 80’s, early 90’s flimsy construction.
RV of $350K. Went for “mid 400’s” the flyer said, approximately $100K over the RV. That’s just nuts. There is no way that house was worth $450K.
In the meantime, on the development, on a street north east from us 24 lots have sold within 18 months. The cheapest is a 3bdr townhouse in a row of 12 MDH setting, no section for $574K. The remaining 12 lots are all 4bdr, 2bth ranging from $700 – $800K depending on section size and specs. Over on the other side of the development they are selling 5bdr places for $890K. All lots except for a few have sold in recent months around the $700 – $800 K zone as well.
Some people have the money honey and some developers are doing verrrry well. These developers have an SHA area BTW, they just don’t have any plans for it yet. Selling the pricey homes suits them far better. These kinds of people must think Nick Smith is a huge joke.
‘Absolutely brutal’ Chilcot Iraq war report will not let Tony Blair & Jack Straw ‘off the hook’ ( lets hope so!)
https://www.rt.com/uk/344066-chilcot-iraq-blair-brutal/
“Sir John Chilcot’s Iraq war inquiry report will not let former Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other officials involved in the ill-fated 2003 invasion “off the hook,” a source close to the inquiry says.
Chilcot is due to release his long-delayed report on the legality of the war on July 6, seven years after the inquiry was commissioned…