Open Mike 24/05/2017

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 24th, 2017 - 78 comments
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78 comments on “Open Mike 24/05/2017 ”

  1. Carolyn_nth 1

    A Mark Jennings (formerly of Mediaworks & TV3) article on Newsroom, about the changes that have been made at RNZ.

    He makes a point that the changes at RNZ should result in ending RNZ’s funding freeze in this week’s budget. Myself, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

    I think it’s great that RNZ are moving away from a siloed approach and linking with other media organisations,a s well as using video to great effect. The danger in doing this, is in loss of editorial independence to the commercial imperatives of RNZ’s commercial media associations.

    This bit on the approach used by Guyon Espiner is interesting:

    The early days of the Espiner/Ferguson combo were rocky. Morning Report’s ratings were in the doldrums after RNZ misjudged its coverage of the 2014 Election campaign.

    Espiner concedes his tone was a problem: “I think too often I was too aggressive and that turned people off. I was striving for accountability but that turned into ugly exchanges.”

    “I got quite a lot of feedback that it was terrible to listen to. Paul [Thompson] and Martin [Gibson] spoke to us about it, there were conversations but they let us work this stuff out on our own.”

    The change in style hasn’t been dramatic but much of the bluntness and haranguing has gone. The show is a smooth and comprehensive three hours of news and current affairs, unrivalled by any competitor.

    Espiner says he and Ferguson have tried to use more “humour and humanity” when eliciting information.

    I agree that haranguing interviewees could be a turn off for many Kiwis. The concern is that, using humour and humanity” needs to be done carefully in order to hold those in power to account. Kim Hill can do it. Can Espiner?

    • ianmac 1.1

      But on important issues holding politicians to account is vital in a democracy. So does that mean that wriggly patronising ratbags like Joyce should be treated politely and with humour and with humanity? As it is Ministers fail to front up on RNZ but if they know that the interview will not be rigorous then they will smarm their way onto the airwaves.

    • Bearded Git 1.2

      @ Carolyn Agreed.

      To me it looks like the pro-National RNZ management leaned on Espiner to back-off because he was actually forcing the pollies, especially the Nats, to give answers. We can’t have that can we?

  2. bwaghorn 2

    hay Weka is there any truth to the rumour that the green s ”organic farmer ” candidate John Hart is really an it consultant with a 20 ha lifestyle block.?

    [1. why are you asking me? 2. This conversation has run long enough re Hart and unsubstantiated speculation. If you want to discuss John Hart and his farming, you now need to put up some links with evidence. Putting you in premed until you do. Otherwise withdraw the accusations, and then you can continue the conversation in the general about what is farming without reference to him – weka]

    • AsleepWhileWalking 2.1

      Can you not be both?

      • bwaghorn 2.1.1

        i wouldn’t call 20 ha a farm if its sheep and beef as it would be unviable[it’s a nice hobbie} .also you can’t prove organic farming is viable if you fund the farm from the outside , imo

        • weka 2.1.1.1

          It’s interesting to consider what farming is. For me it’s not how you are defining. It’s simply when someone grows on the land with primary purpose of providing food or other useful things for other people. As opposed to growing things on the land for one’s own use. Size has nothing to do with it. There are people urban farming on less than an acre.

          If you are objecting to him calling himself a farmer because he can’t get all his income off what he grows, then I’d suggest we take a look at how conventional farming gets subsidised in various ways. And how many subsidised inputs they need.

          Likewise organic viability. For me the test is whether one can grow actual food (etc) using organic principles and then market that. The model you are talking about is inherently unsustainable, so it’s hard to see why one would want to make organics (really, the lowest of sustainable ag) to that test. But of course there are plenty of large organic farms doing just fine and have been doing so for decades.

          • bwaghorn 2.1.1.1.1

            from me at 2.2.1
            ”,(though it doesn’t have to be all their income)”

    • 20 hectares isn’t a farm, bwaghorn?
      Really?
      How about 25? 30? 300? What hectarage is needed before your “farm” status is reached, I wonder? I’ve been surprised, over the years, to watch and hear “conventional” farmers belittle farmers who choose unconventional methods of farming; it amazes me that the industry would have infighting like that. I’m not saying you do this, just that it happens. I previously imagined that farmers would exhibit a strong “brother or sisterhood” and support all practitioners of the ancient art of farming, but no, divisions are rife. I wonder why that is? In any case, you sound as though you’ve got a sniff of something exciting up your nostrils – “really” an it consultant with a 20 ha lifestyle block? Pffttt! He’s no farmer and in any case, organic. That’s not real farming.

      • bwaghorn 2.2.1

        Under the current settings a real farm is one that pays all its own costs plus provides the person running it a dividend,(though it doesn’t have to be all their income) if Mr Hart is not getting that from his block he is just arming the anti greens with ammo by billing himself as a organic farmer.
        And yes size matters
        20ha of fruit would be a different story

        • Robert Guyton 2.2.1.1

          “Under the current settings a real farm is one that…”
          Can you link me to those “current settings”, I don’t recall seeing them. Ditto for the size question; a link to that information would be most valuable. In my ignorance, I didn’t know that there was a minimum size for a farm, nor did I know that dividends were a measure, nor that unprofitibility mean’t disqualification from farm status. Cheers, bwaghorn.

        • Sacha 2.2.1.2

          When farms start paying the full costs of the pollution they impose on the environment, then you can try that equation.

          • bwaghorn 2.2.1.2.1

            I wonder if Mr Hart can fit enough trees on his 20 Hectares to mitigate his flying round the country consulting in it land? as well as the nasty farts his cows are emitting
            or does he buy some eastern european carbon credits

            • Robert Guyton 2.2.1.2.1.1

              So yours is an attack on Mr Hart, not a general questioning of what constitutes a farm. I too wonder if Mr Hart is as assiduous as the Green MPs with mitigating their flights. He’s only a candidate still, so we’d be expecting a lot from him in that regard. Still, good question, bwaghorn, I expect you’ll want to know whether Bill English, who knows full well the situation with aviation fuel and its role in accelerating climate change, mitigates his flying and requires his National Party MPs to act responsibly. Note on “it land” – most consulting would be done, I imagine, on line? Correct me if I’m wrong; “IT” is kind of a remote thing to most people, I’d have said. And “nasty farts”? – revealing some sort of Victorian prudishness there, or do you really find farts to be nasty. In any case, Mr Hart would surely steer you straight about belching, rather than farting, being the primary delivery vehicle of methane from ruminant animals; it’s the sort of stuff clued-up farmers know. Your reference to “eastern european carbon credits”, I’m guessing, must be intended as a slight on the National Party, given they’ve mired themselves in their purchase and are being slated for that in the news just now. Your arguments seem all over the show, bwaghorn, but it might be that I’m misreading you.

              • bwaghorn

                ”misreading you.”
                no your misleading me and others away from the very simple question i asked at the start.
                sasha was jumping in with horse shit so i thought i’d throw a bit back

                • Your “very simple question” was too vague to be answered simply, bwaghorn. I’m guessing you farm. I know you comment on blogs. Though it’s said you are a farmer, rumour has it you’re really a blog commenter! True or not?

                  • If you work on a farm you are a farm worker not a farmer? Farm workers know about working on a farm but not much about farming how could they they are just farm workers. A hobby/lifestyle farmer knows more than most farm workers because they have to think within tight confines and do it not just do what the farmer says to do. ☺

                    • weka

                      I would say each in their own field. Farm workers build up some impressive skills and varying levels of responsibility.

                    • Of course – I’m poking waggy to show how flawed his reasoning in his original post was.

                    • “poking waggy”

                      That made me laugh out loud. Gotta go; got a kid’s “nature club” to lead; we’re out on the sands of the estuary, feeding whelks today; that’s more gruesome than you can imagine, and they love it!

        • mpledger 2.2.1.3

          Many dairy farmers at the moment wouldn’t meet your definition of a farmer.

          I suspect a lot of farmers are in the red pretty nearly all the time.

      • Bearded Git 2.2.2

        Around 1000 ha is the minimum for a genuine farm in Central Otago

        • Robert Guyton 2.2.2.1

          That doesn’t sound like a very efficient use of the land, bearded, especially in light of Stuart Munroe’s comment about the size of some Asian farms. What are they “growing”

          • Bearded Git 2.2.2.1.1

            Sheep mostly, some cattle, some cropping.

            • Robert Guyton 2.2.2.1.1.1

              Anyone on a smaller block profitably producing something else?

              • Bearded Git

                Not much around here (Wanaka area). Wheat on one farm, several vineyards on not particularly large lots; some walnuts. Mostly sheep, cattle and one large dairy farm….and heaps of creeping residential subdivision gradually eating up the landscape but producing the same or less than when part of a larger farm.

                • It can be done though, profitability from a block smaller than 1000 ha?
                  Tough, admittedly, in a degraded landscape. Around Alexandra looks like a moonscape but perhaps there are crops; thyme, grapes, saffron that could return good profit from an arid farm. I agree that there are critical dimensions for a farm that’s running ruminants; perhaps they’re the problem?

                  • weka

                    lol, that was sneaky.

                    Do you know the Hobbs near Roxburgh? 25+ years of organic orcharding. Can’t remember how big their place is, but it’s small. They sell everything from the gate or via direct selling to customers. Large variety of fruits coming on over the season. Very cool model.

                    http://www.hobbsorchard.co.nz/

                    • Very cool, and living at Hercules Flat – great address! I’m growing apricots from that area, heritage ones collected by an elderly Roxburgh orchardist from trees that somehow remain. She sent the pits to me, all sucked clean, in a box 🙂

                    • weka

                      Nice.

                      While we’re on the subject of real farming, the Real Farmers are busy pulling out the mature orchards further down in the Teviot Valley and putting in dairy cows. Unreal.

                    • All that will change; shame about the trees though. I enjoy discussions around farming. I’ve been putting together a possible guest post that begins:
                      “The most pernicious, aggressive and destructive invasive plant in the history of New Zealand; the plant that has usurped, displaced, and rendered near-extinct our unique native flora, is ryegrass, the pasture species chosen by farmers in their ongoing battle to dominate the natural world.”
                      How do you think that might fly, weka, and will bwaghorn be freed from moderation in time to engage in meaningful discussion? 🙂

                    • weka

                      I look forward to that! (and yes I expect b will extricate himself in time).

                      The thing that bothers me about the orchards is that it takes a year to chop them down and put in cows, but much longer when we need to go back the other way (esp given we don’t know how climate change will affect farming). A mature orchard is not something to be killed lightly. Stop trying to grow money and grow food instead, grrr.

                      Not that I need to tell you any of that, but maybe someone else is reading 🙂

                  • Bearded Git

                    Much more profitable to chop it up unfortunately, and Nationals RMA reforms (backed by the Maori Party-may they rot in hell) mean that this is easier to do.

              • bwaghorn

                purchase price would be the defining point as to how economic a block is, and unfortunately the smaller they are usually the more costly they are.

    • bwaghorn 2.3

      you put him up as proof of the greens inclusiveness the other day so i thought you might know , if you don’t like my approach ban away .

    • greywarshark 2.4

      Having a go at tenants. And some smart female lawyer so cool that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, explains how tenants can now demand details of the landlord’s insurance blah blah… as if they were on an equal footing.

      I imagine the conversation between landlord and prospective tenant:
      “Tell me, my good man, have you reasonable insurance in case of our causing a mishap, and how much excess would there be for us to pay?”
      “Oh fuck off, I don’t want the likes of you causing trouble.”

      http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/you-break-it-you-bought-it
      The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill (No 2), introduced to Parliament yesterday, implements changes meaning tenants will have to pay their landlord’s insurance excess if they have caused damage due to carelessness….

      “The changes are needed to ensure tenants have an incentive to take good care of a property, and for the landlord to have appropriate insurance,” Building and Construction Minister Dr Nick Smith said.

      But Renters United spokeswoman Kate Day said the proposed law was unfair on tenants, who were already paying rent that factored in costs for the landlord such as rates and insurance.
      “We see insurance costs as part of the cost to the landlord of running the business of a rental property,” she said.
      “They pass those costs onto the renters, so the renters already pay the costs of the insurance. It’s not fair that the renter pay twice – through their rent, then through the excess as well.”

      The proposed law caps the amount charged for excess at four times the weekly rent.
      Tenants will still be liable for damage caused intentionally.

    • Bill 2.5

      Is there any truth to the rumour that seems a fair enough question, but no idea why you’d ask for clarification from a specific individual. What’s that about?

      you can’t prove (show?) organic farming is viable if you fund the farm from the outside , imo

      Yes and no. Within the current economic paradigm, it’s true that “viability” is measured in monetary terms. But there are plenty of meaningful ways to measure viability and there’s a cogent argument that current paradigms run counter to those other measures.

      So what if by non-monetary measures something is viable, but not viable in terms of the measures provided by current contexts? Should we throw away the context or the otherwise viable project/enterprise/hobby?

      Purchasing off-sets. Best I don’t get started on that front, eh? 😉

  3. The decrypter 3

    Is Mr Fnglish a farmer? What’s a Queen street farmer?

    • bwaghorn 3.1

      if he has input into the running of the property then yes , if not then he’s a queen street farmer ie an investor , queen street farmer is a term of ridicule .

      • greywarshark 3.1.1

        Queen Street farmer was a term for men who had a lot of spare money to invest who were city professionals and put that money into the new gold rush which at that time was deer farming. They drove in the city in Landrovers etc which everyone thought they had bought and written off as a tax deductible farm vehicle. So there is a lot of background to that term. (The Queen Street would be the main street in Auckland’s CBD.)

    • There will certainly be a measure, a cut-off point connected with time spent on farm, where a person, Mr Fnglish in this case, fails the “farmer” test and becomes something else. bwaghorn will know.

  4. Stuart Munro 4

    Many of the farms I saw in Asia were not 20 hectares – we could learn a thing or two from many of them.

    • bwaghorn 4.1

      did the owners live in a comfortable house with good health etc or were they subsistence farmers that you enjoyed gawking at from the comfort of your intrepid journey

      • greywarshark 4.1.1

        bwaghorn
        I think you have unknowingly hit on the point of this argument bwaghorn.
        In Asia they were probably subsistence farmers, and living according to their means. The farmers here are getting to the point where they have leveraged themselves into poverty, living and investing beyond their means and believing that they will be able to pay it all off out of continuing profits as in the present buoyant market. They may yet end up as subsistence farmers too, and it will be their own fault, foolishness, and lack of financial discipline.

        I believe that some clear-headed financial studies find that many are farming in an extraordinarily profligate manner, and are practically insolvent, ie their farming methods and cost basis and receipts make their enterprise on present earnings, a failure. The reason could be that they have bought paid too much for land, or spent too much converting to dairy, to actually make a decent buck. Have you heard the term “He was hoist on his own petard” bwaghorn.

        Townies can feel sorry for struggling farmers, but some of us need to think and understand what their actual problem is. Perhaps my comment will encourage some informed person to come on to the post and give some background to this skewed theme, of poor, honest, hardworking farmers being unreasonably, unfairly criticised by ignorant townies living a life of ease, warmth and comfort sitting on their bums in the cities. That is partly fair criticism from farmers who actually work their own farms, but only on an 80/20 basis with 20 referring to the farmers.

      • Stuart Munro 4.1.2

        They had hanoks for the most part – low ceilinged earth walled houses with tin roofs instead of the traditional tile or thatch. The ones who had 20 hectares would also have a large two-storied house, outbuildings, multiple vehicles, and typically several sources of income – rice, table grapes, mushrooms, dogs, hand reared beef, chillis, soybeans, ginseng, baichu. These ones also often supplied customers directly to improve prices, or sold through the massive markets that are a feature of the successful Asian regional development initiatives.

        • greywarshark 4.1.2.1

          Interesting info Stuart Munro. We are going to have to learn from other countries experience as ours are so set in the ruts of the past, and are determined to learn nothing new that is applicable to our present, and forecast future. We have a government that is there on the votes of people who consider themselves learned and intelligent, but measure everything in money.

          A couple I know of are dying, but have a number of attractive houses, and are building another for something to do in the meantime. After a lifetime they end up with the same stunted ideas they grew up with and can’t see how damaging it has been for this country and the world.

          • Stuart Munro 4.1.2.1.1

            NZ is unfortunately a very poor learner. Our economists for example, think they are rockstars, and the balance of payments confirms that whatever they may be, they are certainly not economists.

            Our dairy is stuck in the production mentality – 1960s thinking – our fisheries are 1% of Japans. We have little or no land-based aquaculture, and virtually no intensive sustainable operations.

            It’s as if they have ignored everything written in my lifetime. We should be a model country – but we are a nation of sheep led by goats and monkeys.

            • Robert Guyton 4.1.2.1.1.1

              ” we are a nation of sheep led by goats and monkeys.”

              Have you ever wondered, Stuart, why some animals consented to domestication, where others rejected the offer? Sheep, it seems, were easy.

          • Robert Guyton 4.1.2.1.2

            We’re all a bit like your dying couple, Grey; finding it difficult to grasp the reality of the situation and even more difficult to change our ways to accommodate what we sense is happening; our responses are a matter of degree. The “mythical” Asian subsistence farmer would shake his or her head at our behaviour, perhaps, and wonder at our stunted ideas. Un-stunting those is the first thing we have to do. This sort of discussion helps, imo, but individuals have to do the real, background work if they are to even approach becoming grandfathers (the use of that term will puzzle you, probably, but here’s the link if you’ve the time and inclination to read the article that provided it for me 🙂

            https://books.google.ca/books?id=tUnu_oCaVBQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=animism&source=bl&ots=hlOpRxivxM&sig=qmDiBwfQKLuEQx-sAu2NY1DA_PQ&hl=en&ei=T-UUTci1AYv6sAPPjuSvAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=false

        • bwaghorn 4.1.2.2

          thanks ignoring my intrepid grumpyness, would you drink the water from the creeks in these intensive small block ares?

          [you’re in premoderatimon b, please have a look at yesterday’s moderation and respond. Thanks – weka]

          • Robert Guyton 4.1.2.2.1

            Can we loose him from his bounds, weka? He’s owned his surlyness and the topic is a great one 🙂

            • weka 4.1.2.2.1.1

              He’s only in premod, which means his comments will still appear, there’s just a delay until he deals with the issue I raised in moderation (or if it ignores it there will be long delays).

              Grumpyness isn’t a moderation offence 😉

              • weka

                I agree the topic is a great one and I hope he comes back soon.

              • bwaghorn

                Can you point to what accusations i made , i only see as yet unanswered questions , i would have stopped at the one first question but all the utopian dreamers leap in boots and all so i reacted..
                If people can’t see that the greens are setting themselves up for ridicule by
                billing Mr Hart as organic farmer when all he has is 20ha then they aren’t very bright.
                I’d also like to see proof of these subsidies that farming gets , i’d prefer proof of real subsidies rather than rekons from people who know fuck all.

                [the whole subthread is based on the premise that Hart runs 20 ha and is a consultant and doesn’t make a living from his farm. That is an idea that you brought into the conversation and have continued to use as the basis of your argument, even now. I have no idea if that is true or where you even got that idea from. You can either put up some evidence or acknowledge you made it up. It’s not ok to run lines about public figures that are factually incorrect, especially about candidates in election year. What is happening now is there is an ongoing conversation based on rumour. Again not ok in election year. Plenty of other ways to make your point or it should be pretty easy to provide evidence for if it is true. – weka]

                • greywarshark

                  I’m afraid that you are mired in cowpates bwaghorn. and we are thinking of beyond today, our shrinking other industries besides dairy ie they can’t get round how to make money from sheep and many farmers are putting all their eggs in the dairy basket for commodity prices, and adding to the poollution from stock. The cities have to keep their own under control with so many eyes watching them, but the red-neck country guy, the worst he has to worry about is his friendly neighbours pinching his stock.

                  The problem is not the farms being broken down into smaller less economic units as far as scale is concerned. It is farmers who are farming for a quick buck, instead of a lifestyle and business combined. It’s not for everybody but the rural population don’t need to think of themselves as bold business initiators, they are just finding ways to squeeze more money out of farms that many have paid too much for.

                  Turning your nose up at 20ha ‘farms’ is a mistake, small patches like that being intensively managed, with organic well established, with spelling and fallowing and haymaking, will be the backbone of the country when dairy goes belly up when it can’t get fertiliser and someone blows up the pipelines for the irrigation. Which will probably happen.

                • weka

                  You may very well have a point about the Greens b, and I’ll be happy to continue the conversation about that and subsidies, but not until we establish that there is actually an issue.

                • Jeeze, bwaghorn, suffering another bout of grumpyness, so soon?
                  Subsidies for farming…let’s see. How about total exemption from paying for the greenhouse gas emissions their animals produce which equal 47% of New Zealand’s total, an amount that has to be paid for with tax payer money. How is that not a subsidy, I wonder?
                  How about irrigation schemes, Ruataniwha et al. where farmers are the beneficiaries of public money through a very generous loan arrangement, not available to non-farmers? How about the exemption for all farms from the rules around contaminated land? A blanket exemption from rules that affect non-farm land? Subsidised? You bet. These are just my introductory examples. There are more that show how polluter doesn’t pay.
                  Oh, and tax. Kettle of fish.

                  • weka

                    Drought bail outs too. I’m actually in favour of people being helped by the govt during hardship, but it irks to have farmers creating drought with their farming methods and then getting help and then dissing smaller farmers who farm moderately more sustainably but apparently aren’t real farmers because they subsidise their farms themselves.

  5. Bearded Git 5

    This is what I’d like to see in Joyce’s budget. From Bernard Hickey’s May 9th article on the Newsroom:

    “..Australia’s banks have had a tough 24 hours at home with the surprise announcement in the Australian Budget of a A$6.2 billion tax on liabilities…

    Don’t hold your breath. But the Labour/Green bloc should be penciling in a similar tax in its manifesto.

  6. greywarshark 6

    Of importance on Radionz today.

    business rural
    9:28 am today
    What is the future for the sheep industry?
    From Nine To Noon, 9:28 am today
    Listen duration 19′ :28″
    Falling sheep numbers, meat works closures, low wool prices and a ban on fresh NZ lamb in some UK supermarkets – we look at the future for the sheep industry with Federated Farmers’ meat and fibre chairman Rick Powdrell and to sheep farmer, and former chair of the now defunct Meat Industry Excellence farmer group, John McCarthy.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201844949/what-is-the-future-for-the-sheep-industry

    and

    business environment
    9:47 am today
    What’s the deal with “trading” water?
    From Nine To Noon, 9:47 am today
    Listen duration 6′ :54

    Last night a story broke about a Christchurch wool scourer with a consent to extract 1.5 billion litres of water being sold to a foreign company – which is likely to become New Zealand’s second largest water bottler. Kathryn Ryan discusses the issue with Guy Salmon, executive director of the Ecologic Foundation.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201844952/what-s-the-deal-with-trading-water

  7. The United States and Britain are funding and arming Saudi Arabia despite knowing full well that the war it is waging in Yemen involves war crimes whereby hospitals, schools and homes are being bombed.

    How do they possibly expect to win the “War on Terrorism” when they fund and arm a despotic regime that has no time at all for human rights and bombs its smaller neighbour with flagrant disregard for civilian welfare?

    Why do we have anything to do with a despotic regime that commits the aforementioned war crimes? The Government of New Zealand is like “so what? We need to do business with them”.

  8. Ad 8

    OMG I think the US has just found a better international diplomat than Obama; killed it in Saudi, rocked it like a mensch in Jerusalem:

    http://www.politico.com/gallery/2017/05/22/photos-donald-trump-israel-visit-002438?slide=26

  9. ianmac 9

    Well well well:
    “Auditor-General Martin Matthews to stand down pending independent inquiry.
    The Offices of Parliament Committee decided unanimously to undertake an independent inquiry into Auditor-General Martin Matthews’ suitability for the position.

    He will stand down in the meantime. Review is expected to take a fortnight and will be done by Sir Martin Weevers. ”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/92941401/auditorgeneral-martin-matthews-to-stand-down-pending-independent-inquiry

    • Muttonbird 9.1

      Nice to see opposition pressure doing the trick again when the government wanted to sweep this under the carpet as usual.

      I expect this investigation to be another whitewash with very narrow terms of reference, though, and for Matthews to be reinstated.

    • Ad 9.2

      Great work.
      Good practise for what senior public servants should expect from a fresh government.

  10. Muttonbird 10

    Lol. Tolley backs down from yet another incredible poorly thought out idea. This pressuring of NGOs and charities aligns with Ngaro’s bullying of the same organisations at the Nats conference the other day.

    No wonder Tolley has backed down because the media have been very vocal in their criticisms of the Nats’ arrogance on this issue.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/331467/govt-backtracks-on-data-for-funding-proposal

    • ianmac 10.1

      I suspect that the pressure on some of their unscrupulous activities is beginning to tell Tolley and others to back off. They have an ends justifying the means mentality.

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    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    8 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    8 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    8 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    9 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    10 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    13 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    16 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    18 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
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