Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Uncaring.
New Zealand’s housing.
‘Baby gets sick in crowded house
A baby has contracted potentially deadly meningococcal meningitis – and a senior hospital doctor says overcrowded housing is a factor in the development of his condition.
The 3-month-old boy lives at a Tauranga property with 10 other people sharing two bedrooms, a lounge and a caravan. He is one of eight people – including a 16-month toddler and three teenagers – living in the two-bedroom state house in Gate Pa. Another three people, including two children aged 5 and 13, live in a caravan outside.
Doctors confirmed on Sunday that the baby had meningococcal meningitis. Tauranga Hospital specialist paediatrician Dr Hugh Lees this week wrote to Housing New Zealand (HNZ) on behalf of the family, stating that baby Hamish’s diagnosis was “meningococcal meningitis”, which he said was “known to be associated with overcrowding”.
Dr Lees asked the case be given urgent attention and he supported an application for “appropriate housing”. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11662280
One of the people living at the house is a manager & cannot afford a rental, must be in retail or a McJob or something because their wages are utter shite. But it’s OK, the state will will top up employers pathetic pay & the state will top up your wage for the greedy landlords, she will be alllllllllll right in godzone.
We peons have had a visitation from our glorious leader whereupon he delivered these words unto my child…”Nothing lifts people out of poverty faster if they can work and earn money”.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Cruel
Housing New Zealand
‘Queenstown social housing questioned
A memo from Housing New Zealand details an exit strategy for its presence in Queenstown.
The memo, released under the Official Information Act, relates to the sale last month of one of the agency’s 10 homes in the resort town.
It said the town was a “high profile resort/lifestyle environment” with “reasonable work opportunities”, which could be seen as “incompatible” with a social housing presence.
The comments have angered social housing providers in the town, including the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust.
Its executive officer, Julie Scott, said it had a waiting list of 350 people struggling to find affordable accommodation.
“I just met with a family this morning and she was in tears. They’ve been in Queenstown since 1992, they’ve got three kids and they’ve got until 22 August and then they’ve got to be out of their property.
“They just can’t find anywhere to go and it’s just heartbreaking.”
Queenstown has been “incompatible” with just about all social services for the last 40 years at least. It’s been almost impossible to access the dole, a state house or most other benefits, so accomodation subsidies don’t kick in. Even sickness benefit is difficult. About the only beneficiaries are on the pension, and there’s a lot of them, some of quite modest means but they do own their home. The senior citizens is a very active bunch down here.
I’m not that worried about HNZ selling out here, they got very good prices for the properties they sold and PROVIDED that money’s going to more housing in needier areas. That we’ll see. Their presence here is sort of a hangover from the days of government departments and an age when large employers had staff housing. The staff housing got sold off in the 90’s but HNZ endured. One story was that they couldn’t get their shit together in time to catch each cycle, so by the time they were ready to sell the market had gone.
These problems are old hat for Queenstown, we have always had hordes of “immigrants” flocking into town when times are good to partake of our perceived lifestyle, so the place goes crazy. What’s different this cycle, and under this government is that this business model has been scaled up and transferred to Auckland.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Cruel
Housing, prisons.
‘I reported from South Sudan and Sierra Leone. What I’ve returned to in New Zealand still shocks me…..
To not be able to swim in our rivers because they are so dirty would’ve been unthinkable to me 10 years ago. In March, the Waikato River Authority said it could take up to 100 years for the Waikato and Waipa rivers to be restored to clean and healthy levels. I’ve seen first-hand waterways that run off the Waikato River blanketed in a creeping toxic algae, festering like a black drain, lifeless. Meanwhile, what remains of our pristine water is being sold by the likes of the Ashburton District Council, to be extracted, bottled up and sent overseas.
Above ground, New Zealand’s reported rate of intimate partner violence is the highest in the developed world. Our incarceration rate is also one of the highest in the developed world and more than half of the men behind bars are Māori. According to Corrections Minister Judith Collins, our prison population topped 9,000 for the first time last year: “Since 2014, the prison population has increased… leading to record highs throughout 2015 and early 2016.” In part, she said the booming prison population was due to locking up family violence offenders for longer.
Then there’s housing and homelessness. New Zealand has one of the fastest growing rates of income inequality in the OECD and it’s on show in our biggest city. In Auckland, families with at least one working parent are living in vans and cars, with marae and charitable trusts stepping in to fill the breach left by social services. How galling it must be for those parents trying to find a warm place for their children to sleep to then see the Prime Minister’s son in all his privileged glory, posing with a Lambourghini and helicopter in his music video.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Selfish, greedy.
Max Key.
‘Then there’s housing and homelessness. New Zealand has one of the fastest growing rates of income inequality in the OECD and it’s on show in our biggest city. In Auckland, families with at least one working parent are living in vans and cars, with marae and charitable trusts stepping in to fill the breach left by social services. How galling it must be for those parents trying to find a warm place for their children to sleep to then see the Prime Minister’s son in all his privileged glory, posing with a Lambourghini and helicopter in his music video.’
‘Can’t wait to share paradise with you’……. says Max Key.
Key, Mike Hosking and Paul Henry all call New Zealand paradise.
And they are all rich.
And don’t have the compassion or empathy to see how tough it it for many New Zealanders.
For many New Zealanders it’s a neo-liberal nightmare.
All part of the grand plan to attract criticism to max then the ‘cyber bullying’ and ‘class war’ cards will be played as well as all the msm shills who get to play their sympathy violins for hard done by max.
It is a shame they have hijacked ‘cyber bullying’ to mean people taking the piss out of the powerful & famous. Since when has hassling politicians & musicians been ‘cyber bullying’, since it suited the powers that be, who think themselves above criticism.
The class war has been won. The left collapsed with thew end of the Soviet Union. And see how the New Prime Minister of Canada, son of a left marxist has been assimilated by Feminism. He wont improve workers economy.
Oh for fucks sake. It is not neoliberal. New Zealand has a left government. New Zealanders never ever will elect a neoliberal government. You must be tripping.
NZ has been a neo-liberal place since the 1980s as you well know. All governments since then have been either right-wing or hard right-wing. The present government is hard right-wing while pretending to be centrist – and you know that as well.
So at what point do they cross the Marie Antoinette threshold and it’s perceived as arrogance and bites them on the arse.
The casualties will be mounting of their aspirational economy, Max’s escapade would be hard watching for a young Dairy couple in their first farm with the big mortgage and deficits for the foreseeable. And probably soon to be followed by a lot in tourism and beekeeping.
We’re seeing a lot of really grumpy and jealous New Zealanders over our counter in Queenstown. People quite annoyed that someone else is perceived as doing better than them or their town.
Makes me wonder who the Keys are trying to reach with this caper?
WTF ? For a rag report that wrongly accused and defamed a man ? And has been found to be spectacularly wrongheaded and false ? WTF ??? Who pays the price for smashing over good people in this country anymore ?
The whole exercise cost over $500,000 & Finlayson said in Parliament he stood by the report when Labour questioned it in Feb. How about that, Labour were doing a good job holding the Govt to account.
Women make all the choices to be in a relationship, men have very little options but to settle for one that says yes. And their is some people that just shouldnt be in a relationship.
The question should be is how can we educate women to make better choices in men, because the problem isnt going to be fixed by doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome each time.
And prohibition sure worked wonderfully in America circa early last century, the social outcomes was a huge success.
Rugby is pretty boring with the All Blacks winning all the time.
You’re acting like women enter into a relationship with full knowledge about what the future holds.
I suspect very few men are abusive at the start of a relationship, it’s only once the woman has no other choice that the abuse starts, trapping the woman and making it very difficult to escape.
I thought he was meaning, Men are such desperate creatures, we sniff around women all day long until we find one who will say yes.
Where as women get to exersize choice in their mate much more, in a primal base sort of way.
IDNK it’s early I just woke up. The bloody standard requires, a fully comprehending mind of extraordinary intellect almost 24/7 where as right wing blogs expect you more to grunt at there bigotry, a far easier task.
and if he really thinks this about men in general, he is a pretty sad human being.
Men, generally speaking are not animals that can’t control their urges and desires.
Most man are not abusers, some are, and many of those that are would be repeat offenders, especially if they get away with their behavior. However, i firmly believe that the vast majority of men does not behave like a grunting degenerate around women and girls.
I would also really hope that men will stand up to that type of bullshit peddling.
It is time that we put the blame where the blame belongs, to those that abuse and hurt others, irrespective of gender, age and all the other stuff.
Hi Sabine I think you took it , too far to the literal, as the coffee enters my system I may be able to say it better,
In the gender search for a partner, perhaps he meant the male moves from rejection to rejection as he tries to impress each prospective mate, where as the female of the species is the one who sits and selects from her prospective mates as they vie for her affections.
as per my comment below, i have absolutly no idea what he meant, but i can read what he typed.
And what he typed is usally called Victim blaming and putting the onus on the Victim to protect herself form future harm, i guess whith the help of a glass ball or some tarot cards. I mean its not that man or women run around with a tattoo on their heads that say ‘beware, abuser’.
I was just focused on that particular sentence of his, the rest of it made little sense, I just got his reference to the mating ritual.
His one weakness of argument I immediately noticed, was his simplification of the issue, which due to the diversity of human behaviour he fails to acknowledge, as in the fact, Sociopaths, psychopathic people. I won’t go into their behavioural expertise area’s if you understand me, because he should realize it and incorporate it into his argument but fails to see it at all. Why should I enlighten his narrow perceptions of how things are.
When he learns to challenge his beliefs he’ll adopt a more rational view point.
Dating is a numbers game, and for a yes answer, some guys dont stop when they do get a yes, in marry.
I simplified the issue for the reason its not an easy one answer fix,
and it wont be solved because of human nature. And that desire of sexual attraction overrides any red flags.
I mentioned police proposing allowing women access to mens criminal records, privacy grounds aside, would it have worked,
has warning a female that a guy is no good ever.
These are crimes are of certain types of men who are psychotic, mentally ill, or just opportunists, it in no way relates to being in a relationship with a guy who drinks and watches Rugby.
And I cant stop them.
And Im not victim blaming, your projecting that onto me.
Thank you Lanthanide. I am just NOT getting into the theme of Graeme’s comment today. If there’s a few sentences that can sum up a response to Graeme, you’ve done it. Again, thank you.
So how can we fix rampant sexual abuse in religious communities etc, where booze isnt involved.
And for that matter where government agencies replace children back with their abusers.
Yes, if this girl/women would have just have the good sense to ‘choose’ a different Dad. And i am sure the wifes and children of the other men mentioned in this article are also trying very hard in the future to ‘choose’ better men and dads.
If your comment was an attempt at sarcasm it failed.
“A man who raped his own daughter, forced her to wear bondage and pimped her to six other men told police it was fun while it lasted.
The father, who cannot be named, has been jailed for more than 22 years in what a judge described as one of the worst cases of its kind.
He pleaded guilty to 61 offences committed between 2013 and 2015 when the girl was aged between 11 and 13.”
“Benjamin Simon Clarke was previously sentenced to three years in jail for his involvement, which included photographing the girl in lingerie and nude.
Former pastor and father-of-two, Dawid Volmer, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years after he admitted molesting and raping the blindfolded girl while her dad was present.
but how do you propose she could have ‘saved’ herself, by ‘choosing’ a better man in her life, and not ‘ignoring’ the pointers and hints that her father is a degenerate, that a priest is a degenerate that up to 6 man had no issue raping a girl of 11 – 13 years old.
that is what you stated above. that women should choose ‘better men’. so how does a child choose her father? Please explain. Thanks.
what about this girls and one boy? in care of CYF and a foster family?
Could they not just have choosen a better foster father? Or maybe the violene is really the fault of the one meeting out violence and not the fault of the one receiving the violence.
good grief, you really are a sad excuse for a human being aren’t you 🙂
Systemic failures in government agencies and various institutions are something I can not fix, and that political parties in government duck any responsibility if fixing problems they could.
Just blaming it all on booze and rugby is getting tiring to hear.
Meanwhile its an election next year, maybe a new anti domestic violence campaign will fix deeply embedded social problems that just seem to get worse.
Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result each time sure seems to be working.
I am not sure why you are mentioning booze and rugby all the time, cause i sure did not. I just mentioned all the cases of women not exercising good choice in the choice of their fathers, foster fathers, teachers, and so on. All those bad choices women make, we don’t even get rugby and booze to excuse our poor choice making when it comes to the men that will rape, abuse, beat and murder us.
Are you really that repulsive that you’ll settle for the first person who doesn’t run away screaming? If so, I think you’d be better advised to look at improving your own self rather than blaming all woman.
“The question should be”; why should anyone pay heed to one who can type; “their is some people” (not the only error, just the most concentrated), and then post it on a public thread? If they give their reasoning as little thought as they do their composition, then why am I wasting my time responding to this gibberish…
It sure aint none of my fault.
What happened to the police proposal that women could check up mens criminal record, that seems to have been dropped.
And Women do ignor red flags, and warnings.
Greg – get this and really really listen – the men that abuse, kill, rape, molest, and all of the other disgusting, degrading things they do to their victims are SOLELY to blame for their offending. That is the start, middle and end of the answer. If you don’t accept that then you are part of the problem not the solution.
I wish the focus was less on offender and more on the critical role of journalism/media and the need to not use that position for expressions of personal opinion.
I just stick with a few beers, work enough hours to pay rent , food etc.
Minimizing stress and chaos,
and avoiding the unrealistic expectations of others.
Well ok then Campbell Live was losing viewing and only picked up when TV3 announced its axing, to the best of my knowledge Mike Hosking isn’t losing viewers yet if people think it may get axed then more people may watch it, if for nothing else then curiosity to see what the fuss is about
That would only make sense if there were a whole lot of people who love Hosking in the way that others love Campbell. I just don’t think that’s true. There will be some, but mostly people watch Hosking because it’s on and because it’s sensational.
A lot of Campbell’s audience had stopped watching TV or were getting their current affairs on the internet. It’s really a different situation than Hosking.
Agreed, its quite different. Campbell Live getting axed was a commercial decision because he was losing viewers, Hosking isn’t losing viewers and is popular but people want him axed because they don’t like his views
Have faith Weka, one of the morons will slip up and mention that which they promised never to mention.
On a side note, I really find it absurdly ridiculous we have a PM, who is so arrogant he’s come out defending keeping Rebstock, and without even saying he dismisses the Ombudsman as irrelevant to his agenda, he just did by ignoring him. Iain moves on he knew and got a free pass, helped onto his next train wreck.
I trust a full investigation into the actions of National will be forthcoming regarding abuses of power, upon a change of government.
Rebstock is an Auckland based economist and company director. She is Chair of the ACC Board, Chair of the Work and Income Board, Deputy Chair of KiwiRail, and Chair of the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman Commission. Paula is also a member of the University of Auckland Business School Advisory Board, a member of the Synergia Limited advisory board and a director of Auckland Transport. She is also a lead reviewer for the Performance Improvement Framework for the State Services Commission. Paula has been chair of the New Zealand Commerce Commission (2003-2009) and a member of the Commission for 11 years.
Other past roles include director of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and Health Benefits Limited, general manager with the Department of Labour, as well as economic adviser positions with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the New Zealand Treasury. Paula has also worked in the private sector in the United States in the 1980s.
It beggars belief!!
This hard-wired American neoliberal junkie with a vindictive bent is practically running the show. I wonder how many NZ lives she has destroyed thus far… not to mention those she has slandered or defamed.
I sincerely hope the next Lab/Green/NZ First(?) govt. ensures she never gets another position of influence in this country ever again!
With Rebstock in charge no wonder the railways are being closed down and no wonder this government has fought sensible public transport options in Auckland (only to do the usual u-turn on the rail loop when their ridiculous position became untenable) and no wonder ACC has become much harder to obtain.
Her refusal to front up today to answer questions when disastrously wrong with the Foreign Affairs report , or earlier answer a civil question on ACC investment of public money (listen to Morning Report this morning) speaks volumes for the way this government operates.
Auckland Mayoral candidate Phil Goff supports road tolls for Auckland.
Labour Party Leader Andrew Little is calling for Labour Party supporters to support Phil Goff for Auckland Mayor.
Does that mean that the Labour Party supports road tolls for Auckland?
Statement by Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright
“Road Tolls? NO WAY!”
“Let’s get it right – there is NO SUCH THING as ‘public transport’ in Auckland,” says Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright.
“There are 10 private bus companies, 4 private ferries and a French multi-national operating and managing Auckland trains.”
“What is ‘public’ – is the subsidies these private passenger transport operators are receiving – but there is no transparency or accountability regarding how much is being received by whom.”
“I know – because I have asked.”
“Here is the LGOIMA (Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act) reply from Auckland Transport, dated 7 July 2015:
“Here is the evidence in the form of an extensive Privacy Act reply from Auckland Transport, dated 29 October 2015, which confirms that these private passenger transport operators did NOT want to reveal how much public monies they were receiving in the form of SUBSIDIES:
“Here’s a wild idea – how about ‘opening the books’ and ‘cutting out the contractors’, and making ‘public’ transport truly PUBLIC – by bringing ownership, management and operation back ‘in house’, under the not-for-profit, public service model?”
“Why should the public subsidise that which we no longer own, operate or manage?”
“If the private sector are SO ‘efficient’ – why do they need public subsidies?”
“‘Activists – get things done.
As well as carrying out this pivotal investigative research, I have also petitioned Parliament, where I have raised my concerns about Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) – directly, and successfully, with the law-makers.”
“Accountability and transparency of Auckland’s council-controlled organisations
The petitioner told us of her concern that the public was unable to have a say on the model of Auckland’s CCOs after the 2009 Auckland “super city” merger.
She stressed that the public is also unable to have a say about the directorship of CCOs or to have any direct say in CCO statements of intent.
She believes that this is because CCOs are not classified as local authorities for the purposes of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
The petitioner strongly believes that CCOs need to be more accountable to Auckland ratepayers because a percentage of rates goes towards the operations of CCOs.
She told us that she is defending her “lawful right as a citizen to know where my money is being spent”.
The petitioner questions how the efficiencies and cost-effectiveness of Auckland CCOs is monitored.
She is particularly concerned that information about the financial transactions of CCOs is unclear and difficult for the public to access.
For example, she would prefer that contractor transactions were easily available in a written format for public scrutiny.
The petitioner also asked why Auckland Transport does not provide open access to information about transport subsidies, given that much transport in Auckland is privately operated.
We were also told that Auckland rates have increased to pay for a transport levy.
…”
Priced out of apartments as well, forcing inner city workers to the suburbs.
It sure is wonderful sitting n a bus with virus filled passengers, or relying on the trains to be on time.
Auckland’s wage increases by its major employers have been lucky to be inflationary.
It sure is wonderful sitting n a bus with virus filled passengers, or relying on the trains to be on time.
The ‘virus filled’ buses cause less death per year than the cars (probably the lack of viruses due to good coverage of vaccines) and the trains are almost always on time.
the trains are probably a shitload more reliable than a car.
That’s why people get pissed off if they’re more than a few minutes late on any particular run, whereas even if traffic runs okay there’s always “sorry, I couldn’t find a park”.
Labour will instigate a funding mechanism whereby a portion of your toll (sorry congestion pricing incentive) invoice will be topped up, dependent on the extent to which your trip was related to your work. This won’t be available to anyone not working, or with more than 2.45 children under the age of 12.
There will also be a secondary method whereby you can estimate your likely toll bill for the next year and be paid the top up amount by NZTA. However penalty charges (150%) will be incurred should your estimate prove to be incorrect by more than 0.637%.
A partial compensation refund fund will also be available on a contestable, first in first served basis, with a sliding scale reduction for multiples of 12 public transport trips. Keep your tickets.
Further these charges will not apply to any vehicle less than 14 months old or with a market value greater than 48000 or with a WOF less than 2 weeks old.
I finally figured out why John keys flag referendum failed. The proper flag option he wanted didn’t get picked.
It would have been a black flag, with the word in bold white “democracy” written across it, and to finish it off, a nice blue slash going from bottom left corner, to the top right.
Patrick Cowley did the original mega 12″ version of I Feel Love, he was one of the first casualties of HIV/Aids back in the early 80s. The guy was pure genius, alongside Moroder he pretty much invented Disco/Hi-NRG/Electro whatever. Not heard the Bronski Beat version, it’s all right, they def wear their influences on their sleeves, love ’em.
I grew up with both as they came during different era’s I too agree both were good as each other, have to go for the former Donna summer for me. by a creative first way.
And of course you can hear Moroders “tears” famously sampled in DJ Shadow’s Organ Donor:
Now I’ve gotta get outta here because this isn’t politics, this more like The Standard Weekend Social. I’ve gotta go catch up with Brexit, check the house for ducks and work out how to use facebook. I’ve finally given in after all these year!
I was born in NZ to a UK mother and an Albanian father, I’ve seen it spelled Briton, and it’s a distraction to the point I make.
Oh BTW Trying to belittle someone you don’t know is just a reflection of your own insecurities, and how I spelled it , unless this is a spelling contest is my business.
It’s no distraction, just a bit of a fun fact to go with your third party rhetoric.
For informational purposes only, if you’ve ever seen ‘made in Briton’ then whoever wrote it got it really wrong. In the context given it’s always going to be Britain, unless of course it’s an archaeological relic from the relevant time period.
“The Britons were an ancient Celtic people who lived in Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Roman and Sub-Roman periods. They spoke a language that is now known as Common Brittonic.”
I never been there, rrreally, what would I know about the UK 🙂
come on dude I lived there ten years, mum came back 2 weeks ago from ten years there, we may have had a good catch up you know?. My sister works for the Council in Sunderland, she’s kiwi born, but like me has right of abode?
Britain is the country. Briton is a person from Britain. They sound the same, but our illogical spelling system means that one sound can have a number of spellings in English..
Dunedin, what are you doing? 20 degrees yesterday – are you serious? Are you trying for the 2016 climate change challenge to be the most unlikely southern city to have the highest winter temperature?
The degree of cognitive dissonance in South Dunedin must be peaking too (they had a meeting earlier in the week where some residents thought the council talking about the flooding in the context of climate change was greenie nonsense).
A face palm meeting by the sounds of it. It’s difficult when a council actually acknowledges their geographical area has a problem with CC and the residents deny it. A similar thing happened a few years ago when the Kapiti District council projected sea level rises along the coastline where housing would be affected.
Residents said it was nonsense and scaremongering. Now the $million + homes on beachfront land are sitting there unsold while houses elsewhere in that range, especially in town, in Wgtn, are selling no problem. I wonder if there will be an issue with potential buyers talking their insurance agents and the agents letting them know they will high premiums living in such a setting.
Even when I was a kid in the 70’s growing up across the road from the sea we had massive spring storms that would bring dunes down. It’s going to be nuts as we move further into the anthropocene.
Dunedin hasn’t had a winter, I work outside & have def noticed it, this time last year I think we had 2 dumps of snow! & the floods a year ago too (yes we were surrounded by water, came right to the door, 2 hours in this street were pulled down because of damage), been living in this suburb for 10 or so years, & def noticed the beach is nearer than it used to be, its a bit scary when you can hear it so close. Also a few years ago I had to dig a grave for the dog & the water table is only maybe 1-2 feet below us! So good on Cull for talking about it, though he’s back-tracking a bit because of the South Dunedin morons.
Side note, South Dunedin is one of the poorest suburbs in the country, with shocking rates of teen pregnancies, over crowding, unemployment etc…but it is connected to the richest suburbs of the city with old beautiful Victorian mansions & brand new mega flash cars, so I think its the rich end of town complaining, I doubt the poor have too much invested in this suburb.
Thanks for the local report. It’s always good to hear from residents and get their viewpoint. It’s often the case the wealthy have louder voices, or quite often more influence with the council.
Farry lives around the corner from me in the biggest house in the street,I would imagine he has a direct line to council/Govt. He was responsible for the stadium & got some kinda ‘honour’ from the Nat Govt for his effort in lying to us about it’s benefits. Some stunning old mansions in this ‘hood, a lot of ‘old money’ swishing around. Pity it’s all gonna be underwater in a few years.
The area used to be sand dunes & wetlands, the ducks still walk around thinking it is, but then maybe they have long genetic memories & know it will be theirs again one day.
No mention of Farry in the ODT, mainly; Ray MacLeod, spokesman of the South Dunedin Action Group (SDAG). Haven’t heard of him before, do you have any local knowledge? It seems a weird bit of delusion to be; blaming those attempting to formulate a response to climate change, for the property damage caused by sealevel rises.
SDAG spokesman Ray MacLeod finished the meeting by praising some of the council’s short-term measures, but had harsh words when it came to what he perceived as a “green” agenda on the council.
This agenda had resulted in a council policy of “strategic withdrawal” from South Dunedin “by stealth”, Mr MacLeod said.
Council chief executive Sue Bidrose earlier said there was no such plan, but both she and Mayor Dave Cull, whose speech was read out by Acting Mayor Andrew Noone, said such an option could not be counted out, given the serious threat posed by climate change.
This seems to me to be another bit of prepositioning for the anti-Green vote in this year’s local body elections. Similar to the antiwindfarm movement that sprangup out of nowhere earlier in Warrington.
In slamming “green” councillors, Mr MacLeod pointed to a proposal in the second generation plan being consulted on which would require “sensitive activities”, which included emergency services and other key infrastructure, in South Dunedin, to be relocatable.
He called on South Dunedin residents to vote out “green” councillors and Mr Cull, who he said were willing to “sacrifice” South Dunedin people in favour of their ideology.
No sorry, I just mentioned Farry because he’s around the corner, he’s more a behind the scenes type of guy, just my opinion. I don’t know of Mr MacLeod, but read about his anti ‘green’ type rant, maybe he should make use of the internet & google Canute. Not heard of the South Dunedin Action Group before this article sorry.
Just read the group was started after last years flood, maybe I should try & get involved, I love this ‘burb!
” It seems a weird bit of delusion to be; blaming those attempting to formulate a response to climate change, for the property damage caused by sealevel rises.”
Disagree.
Last year 90%+ of the damage was caused by DCC neglect. And all of the sub par post flood response.
Did climate change add a couple of cm to the flood height? Sure. So what.
I don’t know of this Farry character but there always seems to a local body self promoting/self interest type that is also in league with the nat party.
Hope you’ve got some strong contenders to look at voting for this year, ones that are aligned to environmental/restoration/cc issues/resilience. (Just reading Pasupial’s comment below).
Re ducks. I think they have long family memories, just my observation. I’ve really noticed that the more of the farmland disapears on the development where I live (especially the boggy bits) the more ducks we get in the garden, that won’t leave.
Because I live in their territory I feel I have a duty to care for them. I give them fresh water everyday as their water source has dried up. We had a drought over summer and they had nothing to eat so hung out here. I’ve also got orphaned ducklings who grew up in our garden and they come here every day, some are pets. They have a double risk with ongoing development too. The more roads that go in, the more stormwater drains there are for ducklings to fall into. I had SPCA in to help me rescue 3 babies that went down a drain. The SPCA person said that in the developing northern areas they had double the callouts, up to 500 call outs for ducklings alone. It’s a waste of their time. We just need smaller gap grates.
As humans we may expect them move somewhere else but they don’t seem to. They stay in their turf. Hope the ducks in your area have enough grass and insects to eat and enough water.
Still wondering why Woodhouse hasn’t stood against Curran. He has more connections to the Dunedin South electorate than she does. I figure it is because he can’t be bothered being an electorate MP.
There was a time when Curran was perceived as a bit of an embarrassment who spent too much time on twitter, but for what it’s worth, I think that’s changed.
She has grown into the role. She works hard. Yes she can be a bit impulsive and makes some mistakes, but has a lot of heart.
Her approach to the June flood was spot on from the day one; she held council to account for its dissembling and appeared to do a huge amount of work on that issue (for individual cases as well as the infrastructure issue).
It will be interesting to see if her efforts translate into more votes next time around.
I was about to say: It’s amazing how many Dunedinites are on this site.
But, come to think of it, Dunedin is still the most Left-leaning City in the Country* (Wellington’s the only other centre where the Left continue to beat the Right Bloc) … so maybe not all that surprising after all.
* Indeed, it’s been argued that Pete George is the only Dunedinite to have Party-Voted National at the last Election. Isn’t that right, Pete ?
Those who have followed the hatchet job on Peggy Burrows Principal of Rangiora High School, might care to visit the Givealittle page at https://explore.givealittle.co.nz/search?q=Peggy+Burrows
This time Peggy’s Rangiora case is in the Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11662583
Bev Moore, the Commissioner has also done a hatchet job on an Invercargill Principal in a similar fashion because that Principal contested National Standards. That Principal took her case to Court won and was vindicated.
Nasty unfair stuff.
In Vino. The excuse that Moore gave for sacking Peggy was her speaking out to defend herself. So what happened with the ERA?
Aha. Found it dated 24 June:
“The Employment Relations Authority yesterday ruled against the Rangiora High School commissioner, Beverley Moore, after she took a case to try and gag former RHS principal, Peggy Burrows. ” http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1606/S00797/era-finds-in-favour-of-peggy-burrows.htm
My mate has this installation at the moment, some people find it shocking, some are angry, but most are talking about homelessness which is kinda the point. Well done Toki!
Got a few lovely notes offering help, blankets, couches to sleep on etc…The All Blacks walked past without even glancing down, it’s been quite fascinating watching peoples reactions, I thought it was real when I first saw it. Apparently Dunedins homeless sleep in the greenbelt, too cold on the streets. And he’s left it outside over night a few times & each time in the morning the sleeping bag has been removed so we assume people are checking ‘he/she’ is OK. No sign of any Bennett ‘flying squad’ of monkeys as yet, still time!
Rest of the exhibition is good too if anyone is walking past, have a look!
“The British pound is in freefall as the Brexit vote looks set to win the EU Referendum. In the last five minutes it has fallen 8 per cent against the US dollar.
The crash is now the largest in modern history and has exceeded the fall known as Black Wednesday in 1992 when the UK was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.”
I wonder what instructions those trustees who are managing blind trusts/investments in foreign exchanges are receiving from those who have major interests in those blind trusts …
All credit to Amy Adams for reading out the apology to Teina Pora, apparently she didn’t have to. It was the least she could do, now it’s the polices turn.
Last week, ACT leader David Seymour called Green MP Golriz Ghahraman "a real menace to freedom in this country" over her views on hate speech. He said this in an environment where Ghahraman regularly receives death threats. And now, thanks ...
There's been another dump of documents from the Operation Burnham "inquiry", this time about rules of engagement. In the past, NZDF has refused to release these due to "national security", on the odd theory that if it were publicly known ...
Perhaps it’s because of the sheer size – and therefore enormous potential – of their country, but Australians have always demonstrated a harder-edged nationalism than have Kiwis. And that tendency has become even more apparent in recent years, when they ...
Current member of the National Party, List MP Alfred Ngaro, has declared he has an intent towards the possibility of setting up a Christian-oriented “values” party. Simon Bridges initially denied discussion, but we all know his denials are really never ...
Australians went to the polls over the weekend, and have apparently re-elected the shit party to government. It was unexpected, but I guess that's what happens when you have a media landscape utterly dominated by a highly partisan monopoly. Meanwhile, ...
Back in 2017, Taiwan's highest court ruled that violated “the people’s freedom of marriage” and “the people’s right to equality”, and gave the legislature to enact a marriage equality law. And over the weekend, just one week before the deadline ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, May 12 through Sat, May 18, 2019 Editor's Pick 12 excuses for climate inaction and how to refute themUsing moral ...
While abortion laws in New Zealand are likely to be liberalised, in the US abortion rights are being rolled back. This article from Feminist Current looks at the way the anti abortion movement is reframing its arguments. by Karen Jolly ...
by Sean Kearns It appears that even in Britain, where a lot of unions remain affiliated to Labour, the working class itself is less attached to Labour. The bureaucratic leaderships keep unions chained to Labour, the workers are just not ...
In October 2013 I wrote about “Valuing Xero in one hour“, and (although it had a bug) came up with a forecast that justified the then $2.2 billion valuation of Xero with a Weighted Average Cost of Capital of 18%. ...
Climate Change Minister James Shaw has announced the latest decisions in the government's programme to tweak the Emissions Trading Scheme to make it actually discourage pollution rather than subsidise it. There's a commitment to begin auctioning units from late next ...
Dunedin will play host to the New Zealand Minerals Forum at the end of the month, where the companies who dig up New Zealand and destroy our natural environment for private profit will conspire on how to pillage more effectively ...
Earlier in the year, National helped failed Green leadership candidate Vernon Tava set up a "teal" astroturf party, sustainablenz. It seems to have sunk without a trace, without even registering a logo with the Electoral Commission, let alone applying for ...
Those with a progressive agenda (and yes, I count myself as one) have been frustrated by our own inability and reluctance to engage head-on in the most important argument in political discourse – the role, function and objective of government.read ...
There is a story of a little old lady who woke up after a close election and was told that the result was a ‘hung parliament’. She responded that she did not know what that meant, but it sounded like ...
In a major decision, the UK Supreme Court has ruled that that country's spies are not above the law:Government security decisions will in future be open to challenge in the courts after judges ruled that a secretive intelligence tribunal could ...
‘Cheating by university students paying ‘ghostwriters’ to write essays for them is totally unacceptable and requires a nationally co-ordinated response’, says the New Zealand Tertiary Education Union. ...
ECan has just declared a climate emergency, becoming the first local authority in New Zealand to do so. But what does it mean? Their declaration included this:Environment Canterbury declares a climate emergency and commits to continue to: robustly and visibly ...
An investigation by the Privacy Commissioner has found that WINZ systematically misused its powers, conducting intrusive and illegal searches into beneficiaries' lives in violation of both the Social Security Act and Privacy Act. Searches like this:“In one instance, a beneficiary ...
I love the National's Library's Papers Past archive. I've used it many times for work and sometimes just for fun. The one thing I never thought I'd be able to do is vanity-search on it. And yet, here it is: ...
Bolton has never conceded that invading Iraq was a mistake, in fact he considers it to this day still as a roaring success. His history in public life is that of an unrepentant, ignorant thug of a politician, a persona ...
A big myth in this country is that we are all equal under the law. If someone commits a crime, they get prosecuted, regardless of who they are. We already know that that's a myth when it comes to race ...
Hate speech’ laws are being considered in New Zealand. We believe it is important to defend free speech. This is an important issue that the left should take up. If you’d like to be a part of the Left Network ...
One of the criticisms of the government's Zero Carbon Bill is that it is toothless: the independent Climate Change Commission can set budgets and advise on plans, but has no power to implement anything. Greenpeace for example wanted the Commission ...
(fire, California)Some time ago Jeanette Fitzsimons described our action on climate change like a car driving rapidly to a precipice while the occupants argue about whether they should maybe change down a gear. If we are to continue with this ...
“Business as usual” is always the catch-cry of those who are happy with the way things are. “Let’s not change anything” makes sense to those who are doing well and see no reason to run any risks in case that ...
KYOTO, Japan, May 13 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on Monday an update to its methodology used by governments to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and removals. Governments are required to report their national greenhouse gas ...
The Tertiary Education Union Te Hautū Kahurangi welcomes the pre-budget announcement of $197 million for the reform of vocational education saying it’s a step in the right direction. ...
As Donald Trump surveys the current state of his relationships with China, Iran and North Korea, with all of whom he has recently engaged in a somewhat confrontational way, even someone as resistant to self-doubt as the US President might ...
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being prosecuted for corruption. So how is he planning to avoid it? A law granting him immunity would not survive judicial scrutiny. So, he plans to remove that scrutiny entirely:The new far-reaching bill would ...
Last week I highlighted an odious secrecy clause in the government's Zero Carbon Bill, which unnecessarily exempted information from the Official Information Act, undermining transparency and accountability. The government's Equal Pay Amendment Bill is back from select committee today, and ...
Earlier today Redline reached a total of 600,000 views since we began in June 2011. This is a modest total, but not bad for a hardcore marxist blog at the arse-end of the world, and based in perhaps the most ...
Why is MBIE so supportive of the oil industry, why do they come up with outrageous estimates of the value of the oil industry to New Zealand, and why do they see environmentalists as a threat to be suppressed by ...
So, its on. On May 29, the day before Labour's "wellbeing budget", the centrepiece of its political year when it tries to send a good news message about what its doing, the teachers are going on strike. They've been overworked ...
My wife grew up in suburban London – not an environment that was conducive, one might think, to developing an interest in wild life. But her father was a bird lover and he helped her, too, to develop a love ...
“You just need a sense of humour”. I heard this patronising and unhelpful advice from a panellist at an Autism New Zealand Conference many years ago. What about access to education and services, understanding, financial and other support?These words came ...
The Giddens Project has its origins in my association with 'Third Way' politics during my time as a member of the New Zealand parliament between 1990 and 2008.read more ...
by Jon Flanders Once again this year I traveled to Cuba on a delegation that visited many interesting sites on the island, once of them being the huge May Day march in Havana. Cuba celebrates May Day as a national ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, May 5 through Sat, May 11, 2019 Editor's Pick Proposal to spend 25% of EU budget on climate change Schoolchildren ...
Film review by Don Franks All is not true but lots is good in the Shakespeare movie now showing in Wellington. In “All is true” , Ben Elton’s script combines, happily to this viewer, the little that’s known of historical Shakespeare ...
A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below. This post has separate sections for: Climate Change, Climate Change Impacts, Climate Change Mitigation, and Other Papers. Climate change mitigation Climate change communicationClimate change and educational attainment in ...
There's a strange thing about having songwriters as longtime friends. On the one hand there are years when you're mates getting in the same scrapes; they're smoking your weed and you're drinking their riders; you're all fitfully growing up, not ...
Just look at all the houses they own. Parliament's Register of Pecuniary Interests was released yesterday, showing all the pies our MPs said they have their fingers in. And their favourite pie is houses. NewsHub has a list here, and ...
Last week, the UK Parliament became the first in the world to recognise the seriousness and urgency of the environmental situation by declaring a climate emergency. And last night, Ireland followed suit:Ireland has become only the second country in the ...
Two developments over the past week or so demonstrate how serious is the existential crisis we now face, in terms of the damage we are doing to our planet, and how far we are from facing up to our responsibilities. ...
This is a fascinating interview – and not only because it is a highly respected independent journalist, Aaron Maté, interviewing his highly respected mental health expert father, Dr. Gabor Maté. It is fascinating because it is objective and adult ...
At the core of a successful economy is ‘trust’. Buy a can of beans and your decision depends on trusting a whole chain of suppliers. Admittedly, you also trust that the law is working in your favour too; it usually ...
A new 23-country survey conducted by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project found that America has the highest percentage of climate denial among first-world nations, behind only Indonesia and Saudi Arabia in all the countries surveyed. A total of 13 percent of Americans responded that ...
by Don Franks Way back in the bad old days before cell phones and computers, I helped a fellow car factory militant campaign for a union position. My mate belonged to what was then called the Engineers Union, at that ...
Writing in The Spinoff, former National Minister Wayne Mapp argues that a good first step to meeting the targets of the Zero Carbon Act would be to end fossil fuelled cars. He's right (and I've talked at length about how ...
Yesterday the government announced its Zero Carbon Bill, which would establish a framework for long-term emissions reductions. The most controversial aspect of the Bill is its agricultural targets: for the first time, farmers will face an explicit responsibility to clean ...
Improving the safety of all road users is the focus of a new public consultation document on the issue of drug driver testing. Plans for public consultation on options to improve the drug driver testing process have been announced by ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says calling a cop suddenly got a whole lot easier with the launch of a ground-breaking new service for non-emergency calls. “The single non-emergency number ‘ten-five’ is designed to provide better service for the public and ...
Frontline Police numbers have been boosted with today’s deployment of 77 new officers to the regions.Police Minister Stuart Nash today congratulated the recruits of Wing 325 who graduated at a formal ceremony at the Royal New Zealand Police College. ...
One of the biggest IT projects ever undertaken in the state sector has successfully passed its latest hurdle with the transition of more than 19.7 million taxpayer accounts from one Inland Revenue computer system to another. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash ...
The first nationwide snapshot of the consumption of restricted drugs indicates the prevalence of methamphetamine use in New Zealand, says Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The first quarterly analysis of the nationwide wastewater testing programme reinforces the coalition government’s determination to ...
A man’s threat to sue Government children’s agency Oranga Tamariki over false claims by department staff comes as no surprise to new action group Whanau First. ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has passed its first reading in Parliament today, and Forest & Bird is welcoming the progress on this landmark legislation to make Aotearoa carbon neutral. "We're very pleased to see the Zero Carbon Bill pass its ...
We broadly support the findings and recommendations of Debbie Francis’ independent review into Bullying and Harassment in the New Zealand Parliamentary Workplace. We want to thank staff for taking the difficult and brave step of making their voices ...
"The Minister is talking in platitudes but saying nothing new!" according to Leanne Otene, Principal of Manaia View School in Whangarei and executive member of Te Tai Tokerau Principals’ Association. ...
The group representing 29 of the Pike River Families - the Pike River Family Reference Group - has welcomed the unsealing of the mine at a private family event this morning. ...
A Police Asset Recovery Unit investigation into the misappropriation of funds from a government department is leading to the recovery of about $620,000. ...
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in Care has announced the appointment of a Survivor Advisory Group. The group will represent survivors of abuse in State care and those from faith-based institutions. Commission Chair Sir Anand ...
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) strongly condemns the 30-day suspension without pay of union members by the Spanish employer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) in Auckland, New Zealand. ...
We all have a stake in the End of Life Choice Bill conversation, but for some people, this Bill is more than a thought experiment – it is a clear and present danger. For this reason, some of the people ...
Land Information New Zealand will release calicivirus K5 in some areas of the Residential Red Zone to manage a significant increase in rabbit numbers. ...
Minister Twyford’s announcement this morning of reform of the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM) will be a timely fix for bad legislation that has cost jobs and pay for drivers and left public transport systems broken says New Zealand Council ...
A report claiming that Predator Free NZ could be derailed by conflict over how to maintain biodiversity should not discourage New Zealanders from getting involved in conservation, says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...
Deepfake and other 'synthetic media' will be the next wave of online content causing concern, but there's no need to rush to create new laws to cope. ...
There are now only three days until May 24th, when thousands of school students across the country and the world will strike from school to demand the Government treat climate change as the crisis that it is. ...
Israel Institute of New Zealand co-director, Dr David Cumin, is calling for a moratorium on any further Kiwi taxpayer funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) until serious issues of corruption, antisemitism and extremism within that ...
The Wellington Howard League's "Let Prisoners Vote" petition, presented to Parliament by Wellington Central MP, the Hon. Grant Robertson, will be tabled in the House on Tuesday 21 May before question time. ...
Chair of the Summer KiwiSaver Investment Committee Martin Hawes has urged the Government to change the law so that employers are required to continue to make KiwiSaver contributions to workers over 65 years old. ...
Wellington, 21 May 2019 – Facing continuous technological and societal disruption, millennials and Gen Zs are disillusioned with traditional institutions, skeptical of business’ motives and pessimistic about economic and social progress, according ...
The spectre of trout farming has reared up from the murky shadows of the previous National government’s treaty deals. Māori owners of Lake Rotoaira near Turangi are reported to be backing an attempt to allow trout farming. ...
Our education system is a slowly unfolding disaster. Too many kids leave school without basic literacy and numeracy skills. In 2014, the Tertiary Education Commission found about half of Year 11 students achieved the international reading and numeracy benchmarks. ...
Free speech or hate speech? When do words go too far? We debate whether New Zealand needs new hate speech laws with ACT leader David Seymour and Labour MP Louisa Wall. ...
The Hauraki Gulf Forum, the statutory body tasked with progressing integrated management of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, today recommended two significant goals for the important and much-loved marine park. ...
“I was very disappointed that last night all my Minister could do when confronted with the reality of teaching, was to mouth the same old clichés and platitudes. ...
The Sensible Sentencing Trust say the Children’s Commissioner is guilty of riding the ‘Colonialism’ bandwagon by blaming racism and colonialism after Oranga Tamariki removed a child from its mother’s care. Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew ...
The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) is inviting submissions on proposals to create dual Māori–English names for 16 sounds and inlets in Fiordland. The NZGB says restoring traditional Ngāi Tahu names alongside ...
Few of us want to think about something happening to us that might impact on our ability to make sound decisions. The reality is, we can’t predict what’s going to happen in life that may impact on our health or ...
Former retired Probation officer Tom Hemopo and Māori Climate Commissioner, Donna Awatere-Huata are due to give evidence this afternoon at the Māori Prisoner’s Voting Inquiry at the Waitangi Trbunal in Wellington. ...
May 20 (BusinessDesk) - The National Party proposes ambitious new trade targets for New Zealand's relations with both China and the United States in a foreign affairs discussion document released this morning for public consultation. ...
Christchurch Central Labour MP Dr Duncan Webb has been criticized by the NZ Jewish Council for his promotion of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement directed at Israel. ...
The highly publicised case of Nicky Stevens who died in 2015 while in the legal care of the Waikato DHB is to be put before the Prime Minister next week. ...
New Zealand's first shelter dedicated to housing pets affected by family violence is being built. Pet Refuge will provide a temporary safe haven for pets, while their owners escape abuse. The initiative comes as new research from Women’s Refuge reveals ...
Forest and Bird, The Tree Council and the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society are dismayed but not surprised at the recent attacks on the scientific credibility of the Auckland Council Monitoring Report that describes the increased spread of kauri ...
Kiwibuild is turning into a corporate welfare racket, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in response to news that none of the seven Kiwibuild homes marketed in Christchurch have sold, and therefore the Government is likely to pay out the ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s budget later this month could have contained an additional $6 billion in spending without costing taxpayers a single cent more, Social Credit Party Leader, Chris Leitch told the party’s Canterbury Regional conference ...
New Zealand’s specialist sexual violence service sector is heartened to hear today that the government has demonstrated its commitment to the Well-Being of its citizens by announcing a significant injection of money into the work the sector undertakes ...
The spectre of trout farming has reared up from the murky shadows of the previous National government’s treaty deals. Māori owners of Lake Rotoaira near Turangi are reported to be backing an attempt to allow trout farming. ...
The Aotearoa Legal Workers’ Union (ALWU) launches today to advocate for all legal workers and to improve working conditions for junior lawyers in the legal sector. ...
Tammy Ngawhika has recently achieved her dream of becoming a homeowner, together with her four children. She attained her goal through Progressive Home Ownership. Progressive Home ownership is one of the KiwiBuy products the Government is being ...
The National Network of Stopping Violence Services today welcomed the Ardern Government’s Family Violence and Sexual Violence Package announcement, part of its Wellbeing Budget. ...
A distressed and traumatized grandmother from the Rodney Electorate will meet with Rodney Electorate MP Mark Mitchell on Monday, May 20, 10am at the Rodney Electorate Office, Tamariki House, 7 Tamariki Avenue, Orewa. The Rodney Electorate MP has been ...
Over 400,000 New Zealanders say they would definitely seek out medicinal cannabis products when they become widely available from 2020, according to a large independent survey and the first of its kind, just released. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Bisley, Head of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University, La Trobe University Trump’s long-threatened trade war with China is now a reality. Beijing has ...
Opinion - The report that has just revealed serious bullying, sexual harassment and even sexual assault in Parliament won't surprise anyone who has worked there, Peter Wilson writes. ...
There are just so many damning statements and statistics that need to be highlighted from today’s parliamentary bullying report. These all show that Parliamentary staff work in a dangerous and toxic place. But one of the most revealing facts in ...
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea’s opposition says it is withdrawing its motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, but is likely to lodge a new one soon. Also, former Finance Minister James Marape is withdrawing as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Barnett, Professor of Statistics; President of the Statistical Society of Australia, Queensland University of Technology In 2012, US statistician Nate Silver correctly predicted the results of all 50 states in the ...
The number of families and individuals taken off the state housing register and placed into permanent homes fell about 20 percent in the last quarter. ...
The authorised biography of New Zealand’s longest-serving female MP was co-written by her former press secretary. Unsurprising, then, that it focuses on her triumphs, says longtime Labour activist Shane Te Pou.If you’re like me, and admire Dame Annette King the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marian Sawer, Emeritus Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University Can billionaires buy elections in Australia? In the 2019 election, Clive Palmer demonstrated they can certainly flood the print ...
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.As always, you can email us at papercutspod@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @papercutspod and a big thanks to The Spinoff and ...
Megan Dunn looks back on this year’s Auckland Art Fair and what the fair means to New Zealand art galleries, buyers and artists.A curator friend recently said to me, “everyone loves to hate art fairs.” True, but only because everyone ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Technology and Learning, Western Sydney University Imagine you’re a 14-year-old girl on the train on your way home from school, when out of nowhere a “dick pic” appears on ...
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman's security risk was escalated following comments from white supremacists and she says comments from ACT leader David Seymour played a part, too. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Notre Dame Australia It’s an axiom that the effectiveness of documentary typically rests on two things: if its subject matter is interesting, and if ...
A report into bullying and harassment has exposed allegations of sexual assault and huge problems with parliament’s culture and reporting systems.The Francis Report, presented by Speaker Trevor Mallard and independent external reviewer Debbie Francis on Tuesday morning, established that bullying ...
While KFC staff are desperately trying to draw attention to their terrible working conditions, people are losing their shit over a chicken burger. Over the weekend, as their staff begged them for better working conditions, KFC sent out an email to ...
What is your landlord entitled to ask you? According to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, a lot less than you think, reports Dan Satherley for Newshub.Next time you’re looking at a rental and the property manager asks to see ...
A lion escapes from the zoo and kills a Rotorua poodle. Weird story, but how did it actually happen? Jean Sergent watches Who Killed Lucy The Poodle?, a TVNZ documentary that attempts to get to the bottom of the legendary ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Farmer, Researcher, University of Melbourne Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mihiri Silva, Paediatric dentist and PhD candidate, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to ...
A report into bullying and harassment has delivered a scathing view of what it's like to work at Parliament, including allegations of sexual assault. ...
IRD Commissioner Naomi Ferguson should have asked the courts for twice as much as it was awarded earlier this month against Eric Watson’s Cullen Group. ...
To celebrate the release of her third album, Dedicated, here’s our guide to becoming a Carly Rae Jepsen fan. A Carly Rae Jepstan, if you will.You, an idiot: “Is that the girl who did ‘Call Me Maybe’?”Me, an intellectual and someone ...
A recent Dominion Post column attacked British-born Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt as not ‘one of us’. It’s a phrase we should all feel uncomfortable with, writes Hunt, wherever we come from.Not long after I took up office as ...
Asking if a women needs an abortion is the wrong question. The right one is whether you think women should have rights to their own bodies without interference from the state, writes Sophie Bateman for Newshub. Abortion is never not a ...
COMMENTARY:By Dan McGarry in Port Vila Vanuatu and other Pacific nations can teach a lesson to the world, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “That lesson is very simple. We absolutely need to save the Pacific, and to save ...
Investors have a wariness about auditors who check company finances because they believe they lack independence and there is not enough competition in the sector. ...
The privilege many 21st-century parents think they have – to choose what illness will befall their children and how they will recover from it – is a relatively new phenomenon, writes historian Ayelet Zoran-RosenVaccines save lives. They have saved millions of ...
Ambulance services will get an extra $21 million in one-off funding plus a boost to their bottom lines, the government has said in a pre-Budget announcement. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentBullying and harassment Jessica Mutch (1News): Parliament’s bullying and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Beckett, Lecturer (Food Science and Human Nutrition), School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle We choose to spend money on household items based on how they look, feel and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Associate Professor, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University Concussion is a temporary disturbance in brain function following an impact to the head. It can also occur after a blow ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pep Canadell, Chief research scientist, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere; and Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Discussions on how to address climate change have focused, very appropriately, on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rajshri Roy, Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Auckland Students typically gain weight in their first year of university. There are expressions to reflect this knowledge, such as the “freshman 15” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sudipta Sen, Professor of History, University of California, Davis For centuries many millions of Hindus have gathered at the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Sarswati in northern India for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW The coalition’s shock victory pushed up the S&P ASX 200 1.7%. The ASX 200 measures the price of Australia’s 200 biggest public companies. The major ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Davis, Professor of Finance, University of Melbourne Will the banking services royal commission have a lasting effect of improving the banking and financial sector? The answer is “no”. A temporary change ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Forcier, PhD Candidate, Swinburne University of Technology Warning: spoilers are coming! As the ash settles upon the smouldering crenels of King’s Landing and a new ruler ascends to the throne, Game ...
Today marks the deadline for the release of the first batch of ministerial diaries, but some, even within the government's own ranks, are sceptical that it will achieve anything. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Farming groups concerned about growth of forestry, dramatic new documents revealed in Hit and Run inquiry, and govt agency loses town records.Land conversions towards farming have pretty much always brought with ...
Open mike 24/06/2016 
Open mike is your post.
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Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Uncaring.
New Zealand’s housing.
‘Baby gets sick in crowded house
A baby has contracted potentially deadly meningococcal meningitis – and a senior hospital doctor says overcrowded housing is a factor in the development of his condition.
The 3-month-old boy lives at a Tauranga property with 10 other people sharing two bedrooms, a lounge and a caravan. He is one of eight people – including a 16-month toddler and three teenagers – living in the two-bedroom state house in Gate Pa. Another three people, including two children aged 5 and 13, live in a caravan outside.
Doctors confirmed on Sunday that the baby had meningococcal meningitis. Tauranga Hospital specialist paediatrician Dr Hugh Lees this week wrote to Housing New Zealand (HNZ) on behalf of the family, stating that baby Hamish’s diagnosis was “meningococcal meningitis”, which he said was “known to be associated with overcrowding”.
Dr Lees asked the case be given urgent attention and he supported an application for “appropriate housing”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11662280
One of the people living at the house is a manager & cannot afford a rental, must be in retail or a McJob or something because their wages are utter shite. But it’s OK, the state will will top up employers pathetic pay & the state will top up your wage for the greedy landlords, she will be alllllllllll right in godzone.
We peons have had a visitation from our glorious leader whereupon he delivered these words unto my child…”Nothing lifts people out of poverty faster if they can work and earn money”.
Which would be correct – if he and all the governments for the last thirty years hadn’t set it up so that working no longer provided enough income.
+1
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Cruel
Housing New Zealand
‘Queenstown social housing questioned
A memo from Housing New Zealand details an exit strategy for its presence in Queenstown.
The memo, released under the Official Information Act, relates to the sale last month of one of the agency’s 10 homes in the resort town.
It said the town was a “high profile resort/lifestyle environment” with “reasonable work opportunities”, which could be seen as “incompatible” with a social housing presence.
The comments have angered social housing providers in the town, including the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust.
Its executive officer, Julie Scott, said it had a waiting list of 350 people struggling to find affordable accommodation.
“I just met with a family this morning and she was in tears. They’ve been in Queenstown since 1992, they’ve got three kids and they’ve got until 22 August and then they’ve got to be out of their property.
“They just can’t find anywhere to go and it’s just heartbreaking.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/307127/queenstown-social-housing-questioned
“which could be seen as “incompatible” with a social housing presence.”
Financial cleansing plain and simple.
Queenstown has been “incompatible” with just about all social services for the last 40 years at least. It’s been almost impossible to access the dole, a state house or most other benefits, so accomodation subsidies don’t kick in. Even sickness benefit is difficult. About the only beneficiaries are on the pension, and there’s a lot of them, some of quite modest means but they do own their home. The senior citizens is a very active bunch down here.
I’m not that worried about HNZ selling out here, they got very good prices for the properties they sold and PROVIDED that money’s going to more housing in needier areas. That we’ll see. Their presence here is sort of a hangover from the days of government departments and an age when large employers had staff housing. The staff housing got sold off in the 90’s but HNZ endured. One story was that they couldn’t get their shit together in time to catch each cycle, so by the time they were ready to sell the market had gone.
These problems are old hat for Queenstown, we have always had hordes of “immigrants” flocking into town when times are good to partake of our perceived lifestyle, so the place goes crazy. What’s different this cycle, and under this government is that this business model has been scaled up and transferred to Auckland.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Cruel
Housing, prisons.
‘I reported from South Sudan and Sierra Leone. What I’ve returned to in New Zealand still shocks me…..
To not be able to swim in our rivers because they are so dirty would’ve been unthinkable to me 10 years ago. In March, the Waikato River Authority said it could take up to 100 years for the Waikato and Waipa rivers to be restored to clean and healthy levels. I’ve seen first-hand waterways that run off the Waikato River blanketed in a creeping toxic algae, festering like a black drain, lifeless. Meanwhile, what remains of our pristine water is being sold by the likes of the Ashburton District Council, to be extracted, bottled up and sent overseas.
Above ground, New Zealand’s reported rate of intimate partner violence is the highest in the developed world. Our incarceration rate is also one of the highest in the developed world and more than half of the men behind bars are Māori. According to Corrections Minister Judith Collins, our prison population topped 9,000 for the first time last year: “Since 2014, the prison population has increased… leading to record highs throughout 2015 and early 2016.” In part, she said the booming prison population was due to locking up family violence offenders for longer.
Then there’s housing and homelessness. New Zealand has one of the fastest growing rates of income inequality in the OECD and it’s on show in our biggest city. In Auckland, families with at least one working parent are living in vans and cars, with marae and charitable trusts stepping in to fill the breach left by social services. How galling it must be for those parents trying to find a warm place for their children to sleep to then see the Prime Minister’s son in all his privileged glory, posing with a Lambourghini and helicopter in his music video.
http://thespinoff.co.nz/media/21-06-2016/i-reported-from-south-sudan-and-sierra-leone-what-ive-returned-to-in-new-zealand-still-shocks-me/
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Selfish, greedy.
Max Key.
‘Then there’s housing and homelessness. New Zealand has one of the fastest growing rates of income inequality in the OECD and it’s on show in our biggest city. In Auckland, families with at least one working parent are living in vans and cars, with marae and charitable trusts stepping in to fill the breach left by social services. How galling it must be for those parents trying to find a warm place for their children to sleep to then see the Prime Minister’s son in all his privileged glory, posing with a Lambourghini and helicopter in his music video.’
http://thespinoff.co.nz/media/21-06-2016/i-reported-from-south-sudan-and-sierra-leone-what-ive-returned-to-in-new-zealand-still-shocks-me/
‘Can’t wait to share paradise with you’……. says Max Key.
Key, Mike Hosking and Paul Henry all call New Zealand paradise.
And they are all rich.
And don’t have the compassion or empathy to see how tough it it for many New Zealanders.
For many New Zealanders it’s a neo-liberal nightmare.
All part of the grand plan to attract criticism to max then the ‘cyber bullying’ and ‘class war’ cards will be played as well as all the msm shills who get to play their sympathy violins for hard done by max.
It is a shame they have hijacked ‘cyber bullying’ to mean people taking the piss out of the powerful & famous. Since when has hassling politicians & musicians been ‘cyber bullying’, since it suited the powers that be, who think themselves above criticism.
“All hail plankton, all hail plankton”.
Thats why they put it out there with granny trying to garner sympathy for pullya benefit. Its all about subtle messaging and the framing.
The class war is being waged already.
By the rich.
Yes and passed off as the politics of envy
The class war has been won. The left collapsed with thew end of the Soviet Union. And see how the New Prime Minister of Canada, son of a left marxist has been assimilated by Feminism. He wont improve workers economy.
try hitting the keys with your other paw – the one you are using is not making any sense
Oh for fucks sake. It is not neoliberal. New Zealand has a left government. New Zealanders never ever will elect a neoliberal government. You must be tripping.
Don’t blame the ‘left’ for this horrible Govt thank you very much, it’s all yours & your fellow ‘right’ travelers.
NZ has been a neo-liberal place since the 1980s as you well know. All governments since then have been either right-wing or hard right-wing. The present government is hard right-wing while pretending to be centrist – and you know that as well.
” New Zealanders never ever will elect a neoliberal government”
well that explains the lies, dead rats, massive $ spent on PR and the secret smear machine doesnt it
another day, another load of cobblers from sly hands
So at what point do they cross the Marie Antoinette threshold and it’s perceived as arrogance and bites them on the arse.
The casualties will be mounting of their aspirational economy, Max’s escapade would be hard watching for a young Dairy couple in their first farm with the big mortgage and deficits for the foreseeable. And probably soon to be followed by a lot in tourism and beekeeping.
We’re seeing a lot of really grumpy and jealous New Zealanders over our counter in Queenstown. People quite annoyed that someone else is perceived as doing better than them or their town.
Makes me wonder who the Keys are trying to reach with this caper?
How much was Rebstock paid for that rubbish report ?
Far too much
Over $200,000! Yet they cannot afford the to pay a Living Wage, at least the Damehood was cheap & cheerful.
WTF ? For a rag report that wrongly accused and defamed a man ? And has been found to be spectacularly wrongheaded and false ? WTF ??? Who pays the price for smashing over good people in this country anymore ?
She was paid $2,000 per day according to one report. True?
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2016/06/paula-rebstock-should-pay-for-this.html
“Meanwhile, its worth noting that Rebstock was paid $208,907″ for this report”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11205716
The whole exercise cost over $500,000 & Finlayson said in Parliament he stood by the report when Labour questioned it in Feb. How about that, Labour were doing a good job holding the Govt to account.
I feel a distinct sense that these bastards are dashing out like Ceauscescus.
Did a communist theorist predict Auckland’s housing crisis 70 years ago?
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2016/06/bill-mcara-on-aucklands-housing-crisis_23.html
We cannot afford the rich
No pandas for Wellington. Perhaps they should have got someone who isn’t a low-life to make the request for them.
Buenos Aires is making the right decision
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/23/buenos-aires-zoo-close-animals-captivity-argentina?CMP=share_btn_fb#_=_
+1
New Zealand men.
Alcohol.
Rugby.
A formula for domestic violence..
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11662434
Women make all the choices to be in a relationship, men have very little options but to settle for one that says yes. And their is some people that just shouldnt be in a relationship.
The question should be is how can we educate women to make better choices in men, because the problem isnt going to be fixed by doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome each time.
And prohibition sure worked wonderfully in America circa early last century, the social outcomes was a huge success.
Rugby is pretty boring with the All Blacks winning all the time.
You’re acting like women enter into a relationship with full knowledge about what the future holds.
I suspect very few men are abusive at the start of a relationship, it’s only once the woman has no other choice that the abuse starts, trapping the woman and making it very difficult to escape.
I thought he was meaning, Men are such desperate creatures, we sniff around women all day long until we find one who will say yes.
Where as women get to exersize choice in their mate much more, in a primal base sort of way.
IDNK it’s early I just woke up. The bloody standard requires, a fully comprehending mind of extraordinary intellect almost 24/7 where as right wing blogs expect you more to grunt at there bigotry, a far easier task.
and if he really thinks this about men in general, he is a pretty sad human being.
Men, generally speaking are not animals that can’t control their urges and desires.
Most man are not abusers, some are, and many of those that are would be repeat offenders, especially if they get away with their behavior. However, i firmly believe that the vast majority of men does not behave like a grunting degenerate around women and girls.
I would also really hope that men will stand up to that type of bullshit peddling.
It is time that we put the blame where the blame belongs, to those that abuse and hurt others, irrespective of gender, age and all the other stuff.
Hi Sabine I think you took it , too far to the literal, as the coffee enters my system I may be able to say it better,
In the gender search for a partner, perhaps he meant the male moves from rejection to rejection as he tries to impress each prospective mate, where as the female of the species is the one who sits and selects from her prospective mates as they vie for her affections.
typically.
as per my comment below, i have absolutly no idea what he meant, but i can read what he typed.
And what he typed is usally called Victim blaming and putting the onus on the Victim to protect herself form future harm, i guess whith the help of a glass ball or some tarot cards. I mean its not that man or women run around with a tattoo on their heads that say ‘beware, abuser’.
IF he was being sarcastic he failed utterly. The two articles linked by me below are from todays herald. Other headlines today, a. another ‘sex’ attack in Wellington http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/81407411/police-investigating-early-morning-sex-attack-on-wellingtons-taranaki-street and an arrest was made in the case of the 65 year old women who was raped in her home this week
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/81384392/arrest-made-in-porirua-rape-case
then there is the article about a murderer being released from prison, but the body of his victim is still not found http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/81363039/former-detective-holds-out-hope-neithes-body-will-be-uncovered
and of course lets not forget the schoolsgirls with their defrauding knees defrauding and distracting male school teachers to the point of where their naked knees could be considered ‘sexual harrasment’ http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/81365804/christchurch-schoolgirls-told-their-skirt-length-distracted-male-teachers , maybe trousers should be the standard school uniform, or maybe teachers need to learn that if the knees of a 16 year old are so ‘defrauding and distracting’ that maybe they should only teach at a boys school….but then i hear there are boys that wear shorts to school…..oh those naked knees of children.
And this is just one morning over coffee. So maybe you know, he just meant what he said?
I was just focused on that particular sentence of his, the rest of it made little sense, I just got his reference to the mating ritual.
His one weakness of argument I immediately noticed, was his simplification of the issue, which due to the diversity of human behaviour he fails to acknowledge, as in the fact, Sociopaths, psychopathic people. I won’t go into their behavioural expertise area’s if you understand me, because he should realize it and incorporate it into his argument but fails to see it at all. Why should I enlighten his narrow perceptions of how things are.
When he learns to challenge his beliefs he’ll adopt a more rational view point.
Dating is a numbers game, and for a yes answer, some guys dont stop when they do get a yes, in marry.
I simplified the issue for the reason its not an easy one answer fix,
and it wont be solved because of human nature. And that desire of sexual attraction overrides any red flags.
I mentioned police proposing allowing women access to mens criminal records, privacy grounds aside, would it have worked,
has warning a female that a guy is no good ever.
Men Going There Own Way is a utube thing.
Relationships are a choice.
Those poor male teachers can’t have been educated at coed schools, or they wouldn’t have made it to university.
These are crimes are of certain types of men who are psychotic, mentally ill, or just opportunists, it in no way relates to being in a relationship with a guy who drinks and watches Rugby.
And I cant stop them.
And Im not victim blaming, your projecting that onto me.
Thank you Lanthanide. I am just NOT getting into the theme of Graeme’s comment today. If there’s a few sentences that can sum up a response to Graeme, you’ve done it. Again, thank you.
Here’s a another hard earned lesson. No booze or Rugby involved here.
https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/31907367/pregnant-woman-saved-by-breast-implants-as-partner-tried-to-stab-her-to-death/#page1
The modern New Zealand way is not prohibition of Alcohol ………… just attacks and smears on those wanting to lower alcohol ABUSE …..
While passing laws that are a confused expensive mess that work in favor of the booze industry.
Steinlager All blacks ……… Drug All blacks
So how can we fix rampant sexual abuse in religious communities etc, where booze isnt involved.
And for that matter where government agencies replace children back with their abusers.
and this dead women here also could have done a better job at ‘choosing’ that man in her life.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11662452
but hey, it must be her fault and he gets an interview in which he can all tell us what a good boy he is and he meant nothing he did.
Yes, if this girl/women would have just have the good sense to ‘choose’ a different Dad. And i am sure the wifes and children of the other men mentioned in this article are also trying very hard in the future to ‘choose’ better men and dads.
If your comment was an attempt at sarcasm it failed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11662214
“A man who raped his own daughter, forced her to wear bondage and pimped her to six other men told police it was fun while it lasted.
The father, who cannot be named, has been jailed for more than 22 years in what a judge described as one of the worst cases of its kind.
He pleaded guilty to 61 offences committed between 2013 and 2015 when the girl was aged between 11 and 13.”
“Benjamin Simon Clarke was previously sentenced to three years in jail for his involvement, which included photographing the girl in lingerie and nude.
Former pastor and father-of-two, Dawid Volmer, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years after he admitted molesting and raping the blindfolded girl while her dad was present.
Four other men also face charges.”
Its why there are prisons.
but how do you propose she could have ‘saved’ herself, by ‘choosing’ a better man in her life, and not ‘ignoring’ the pointers and hints that her father is a degenerate, that a priest is a degenerate that up to 6 man had no issue raping a girl of 11 – 13 years old.
that is what you stated above. that women should choose ‘better men’. so how does a child choose her father? Please explain. Thanks.
what about this girls and one boy? in care of CYF and a foster family?
Could they not just have choosen a better foster father? Or maybe the violene is really the fault of the one meeting out violence and not the fault of the one receiving the violence.
good grief, you really are a sad excuse for a human being aren’t you 🙂
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/79441329/walmsley-trial-the-evidence-that-simply-couldnt-be-invented
Systemic failures in government agencies and various institutions are something I can not fix, and that political parties in government duck any responsibility if fixing problems they could.
Just blaming it all on booze and rugby is getting tiring to hear.
Meanwhile its an election next year, maybe a new anti domestic violence campaign will fix deeply embedded social problems that just seem to get worse.
Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result each time sure seems to be working.
I am not sure why you are mentioning booze and rugby all the time, cause i sure did not. I just mentioned all the cases of women not exercising good choice in the choice of their fathers, foster fathers, teachers, and so on. All those bad choices women make, we don’t even get rugby and booze to excuse our poor choice making when it comes to the men that will rape, abuse, beat and murder us.
Tsk tsk tsk.
First post reply was to a lets blame rugby and booze.
Dont date this guy:
https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/31907367/pregnant-woman-saved-by-breast-implants-as-partner-tried-to-stab-her-to-death/#page1
Greg
Are you really that repulsive that you’ll settle for the first person who doesn’t run away screaming? If so, I think you’d be better advised to look at improving your own self rather than blaming all woman.
“The question should be”; why should anyone pay heed to one who can type; “their is some people” (not the only error, just the most concentrated), and then post it on a public thread? If they give their reasoning as little thought as they do their composition, then why am I wasting my time responding to this gibberish…
Fuck that and fuck you too!
It sure aint none of my fault.
What happened to the police proposal that women could check up mens criminal record, that seems to have been dropped.
And Women do ignor red flags, and warnings.
Just to list one of many Men who are victims as well, Austin Bernard Hemmings stepped in: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/645983/Stabbing-victim-named-as-father-of-three
I’m avoiding being a victim by choosing a level four MGTOW lifestyle,
Men going their own way.
Greg – get this and really really listen – the men that abuse, kill, rape, molest, and all of the other disgusting, degrading things they do to their victims are SOLELY to blame for their offending. That is the start, middle and end of the answer. If you don’t accept that then you are part of the problem not the solution.
i wasnt ever saying they wernt, thats why we have prisons, what dont you understand:
This is what we do have to compete with:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/7800865/Women-who-date-death-row-prisoners.html
New Zealand men + alcohol + rugby = domestic violence ???
bullshit on the toilet front
Plenty of violence happens in religious communities, where their isnt any booze or rugby. And then theirs gang culture, which does.
This a good, silly game.
http://w3w.co/humans.skill.rats
Mexit petition nears 20,000
https://www.change.org/p/tvnz-get-rid-of-hosking-1347aa6d-8044-4a33-ba59-7fe0a5dba42b
Interview with petition starter,
http://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/81370038/mike-hosking-why-i-want-to-get-rid-of-him
I wish the focus was less on offender and more on the critical role of journalism/media and the need to not use that position for expressions of personal opinion.
One could argue that this will make more people watch the show thus consolidating Mike Hoskings position
one could argue that not watching this geezer is good for the mental and spiritual well being of one.
I don’t watch him but you may well be right
Not me, havnt watched TV since Netflix started up.
And he is too predictable.
I prefer kodi… 🙂
I just stick with a few beers, work enough hours to pay rent , food etc.
Minimizing stress and chaos,
and avoiding the unrealistic expectations of others.
One could argue that the moon is made of blue cheese too PR. Go on, make your argument then.
Well ok then Campbell Live was losing viewing and only picked up when TV3 announced its axing, to the best of my knowledge Mike Hosking isn’t losing viewers yet if people think it may get axed then more people may watch it, if for nothing else then curiosity to see what the fuss is about
Or not
That would only make sense if there were a whole lot of people who love Hosking in the way that others love Campbell. I just don’t think that’s true. There will be some, but mostly people watch Hosking because it’s on and because it’s sensational.
A lot of Campbell’s audience had stopped watching TV or were getting their current affairs on the internet. It’s really a different situation than Hosking.
Agreed, its quite different. Campbell Live getting axed was a commercial decision because he was losing viewers, Hosking isn’t losing viewers and is popular but people want him axed because they don’t like his views
paul henry on tv1.
Actually on that topic, where’s our moon base.
Nasa wants to go to Mars, yet we havnt got a moon base yet.
glad I’m not the only one pissed off about that
And ,so many promises of a great future,
4 day working week, or working from home, living wage, paperless office,
They has just managed to implement E invoices in the last 6 months.
Have faith Weka, one of the morons will slip up and mention that which they promised never to mention.
On a side note, I really find it absurdly ridiculous we have a PM, who is so arrogant he’s come out defending keeping Rebstock, and without even saying he dismisses the Ombudsman as irrelevant to his agenda, he just did by ignoring him. Iain moves on he knew and got a free pass, helped onto his next train wreck.
I trust a full investigation into the actions of National will be forthcoming regarding abuses of power, upon a change of government.
and its tough competing with this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/7800865/Women-who-date-death-row-prisoners.html
Paula Rebstock’s influence on NZers:
It beggars belief!!
This hard-wired American neoliberal junkie with a vindictive bent is practically running the show. I wonder how many NZ lives she has destroyed thus far… not to mention those she has slandered or defamed.
I sincerely hope the next Lab/Green/NZ First(?) govt. ensures she never gets another position of influence in this country ever again!
http://www.beaccessible.org.nz/the-movement/fab-50-network/paula-rebstock
Probably in the thousands so far at least.
And what law would they do that under?
Although, falsifying the report seems like good grounds.
Well, they got rid of Christine Rankin. I was referring to the public sector roles in which she is involved.
With Rebstock in charge no wonder the railways are being closed down and no wonder this government has fought sensible public transport options in Auckland (only to do the usual u-turn on the rail loop when their ridiculous position became untenable) and no wonder ACC has become much harder to obtain.
Her refusal to front up today to answer questions when disastrously wrong with the Foreign Affairs report , or earlier answer a civil question on ACC investment of public money (listen to Morning Report this morning) speaks volumes for the way this government operates.
And she will be getting a heafty stipend for every one, how would her PAYE would work out,
Probably contracts rather than PAYE and she has offshore trusts?
I’d be surprised to find that she paid tax.
Auckland Mayoral candidate Phil Goff supports road tolls for Auckland.
Labour Party Leader Andrew Little is calling for Labour Party supporters to support Phil Goff for Auckland Mayor.
Does that mean that the Labour Party supports road tolls for Auckland?
Statement by Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright
“Road Tolls? NO WAY!”
“Let’s get it right – there is NO SUCH THING as ‘public transport’ in Auckland,” says Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright.
“There are 10 private bus companies, 4 private ferries and a French multi-national operating and managing Auckland trains.”
“What is ‘public’ – is the subsidies these private passenger transport operators are receiving – but there is no transparency or accountability regarding how much is being received by whom.”
“I know – because I have asked.”
“Here is the LGOIMA (Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act) reply from Auckland Transport, dated 7 July 2015:
http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51SCLGE_EVI_51DBHOH_PET66634_1_A494427/9aa813e65f89372033c648c285010dec9ff0b40f
“Here is the evidence in the form of an extensive Privacy Act reply from Auckland Transport, dated 29 October 2015, which confirms that these private passenger transport operators did NOT want to reveal how much public monies they were receiving in the form of SUBSIDIES:
http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51SCLGE_EVI_51DBHOH_PET66634_1_A494428/9b31a5acc867353077952bd23648be429134bbf6
“Here’s a wild idea – how about ‘opening the books’ and ‘cutting out the contractors’, and making ‘public’ transport truly PUBLIC – by bringing ownership, management and operation back ‘in house’, under the not-for-profit, public service model?”
“Why should the public subsidise that which we no longer own, operate or manage?”
“If the private sector are SO ‘efficient’ – why do they need public subsidies?”
“‘Activists – get things done.
As well as carrying out this pivotal investigative research, I have also petitioned Parliament, where I have raised my concerns about Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) – directly, and successfully, with the law-makers.”
http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51DBSCH_SCR69296_1/924613ec7fb831c4e74bd062f73287ac2ceb5081
“Accountability and transparency of Auckland’s council-controlled organisations
The petitioner told us of her concern that the public was unable to have a say on the model of Auckland’s CCOs after the 2009 Auckland “super city” merger.
She stressed that the public is also unable to have a say about the directorship of CCOs or to have any direct say in CCO statements of intent.
She believes that this is because CCOs are not classified as local authorities for the purposes of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
The petitioner strongly believes that CCOs need to be more accountable to Auckland ratepayers because a percentage of rates goes towards the operations of CCOs.
She told us that she is defending her “lawful right as a citizen to know where my money is being spent”.
The petitioner questions how the efficiencies and cost-effectiveness of Auckland CCOs is monitored.
She is particularly concerned that information about the financial transactions of CCOs is unclear and difficult for the public to access.
For example, she would prefer that contractor transactions were easily available in a written format for public scrutiny.
The petitioner also asked why Auckland Transport does not provide open access to information about transport subsidies, given that much transport in Auckland is privately operated.
We were also told that Auckland rates have increased to pay for a transport levy.
…”
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Indeed, Penny.
National’s brighter future seems to be one where the poor are priced off the roads.
What is Labour’s vision?
Priced out of apartments as well, forcing inner city workers to the suburbs.
It sure is wonderful sitting n a bus with virus filled passengers, or relying on the trains to be on time.
Auckland’s wage increases by its major employers have been lucky to be inflationary.
Dead right, Greg.
The ‘virus filled’ buses cause less death per year than the cars (probably the lack of viruses due to good coverage of vaccines) and the trains are almost always on time.
the trains are probably a shitload more reliable than a car.
That’s why people get pissed off if they’re more than a few minutes late on any particular run, whereas even if traffic runs okay there’s always “sorry, I couldn’t find a park”.
Labour will instigate a funding mechanism whereby a portion of your toll (sorry congestion pricing incentive) invoice will be topped up, dependent on the extent to which your trip was related to your work. This won’t be available to anyone not working, or with more than 2.45 children under the age of 12.
There will also be a secondary method whereby you can estimate your likely toll bill for the next year and be paid the top up amount by NZTA. However penalty charges (150%) will be incurred should your estimate prove to be incorrect by more than 0.637%.
A partial compensation refund fund will also be available on a contestable, first in first served basis, with a sliding scale reduction for multiples of 12 public transport trips. Keep your tickets.
Further these charges will not apply to any vehicle less than 14 months old or with a market value greater than 48000 or with a WOF less than 2 weeks old.
That s farking funny 🙂
Epiphany moment.
I finally figured out why John keys flag referendum failed. The proper flag option he wanted didn’t get picked.
It would have been a black flag, with the word in bold white “democracy” written across it, and to finish it off, a nice blue slash going from bottom left corner, to the top right.
I am a fkn genius!
/sarc.
“I feel love”
Which do you prefer, the original Donna Summer disco sounds or Bronski Beat?
I love both but for today it will be Bronski Beat, featuring Marc Almond
Patrick Cowley did the original mega 12″ version of I Feel Love, he was one of the first casualties of HIV/Aids back in the early 80s. The guy was pure genius, alongside Moroder he pretty much invented Disco/Hi-NRG/Electro whatever. Not heard the Bronski Beat version, it’s all right, they def wear their influences on their sleeves, love ’em.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Cowley
The Rollo/Sister Bliss Monster Mix.
Gangnam and Gabby, I am definitely going to check those two out later
I grew up with both as they came during different era’s I too agree both were good as each other, have to go for the former Donna summer for me. by a creative first way.
Georgio Moroder produced a lot of hits for Donna Summer. He was a very influential pioneer of electronic beats
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Moroder
And of course you can hear Moroders “tears” famously sampled in DJ Shadow’s Organ Donor:
Now I’ve gotta get outta here because this isn’t politics, this more like The Standard Weekend Social. I’ve gotta go catch up with Brexit, check the house for ducks and work out how to use facebook. I’ve finally given in after all these year!
Half of my house is riveted, Heard of multitasking? Split screens etc. 🙂
We are in the, please leave already camp.
You’re in the leave camp?………………
The celebrations are resounding here, and i’m proud to say Sunderland voted to leave to, as well as Durham. Represent North east!
Proud to be British might mean something again, so will “Made in Briton”.
“The celebrations are resounding here, and i’m proud to say Sunderland voted to leave to, as well as Durham. Represent North east!
Proud to be British might mean something again, so will “Made in Briton”.”
Even if you’re not and it’s spelled Britain. lol
“i’m also Albanian”
I was born in NZ to a UK mother and an Albanian father, I’ve seen it spelled Briton, and it’s a distraction to the point I make.
Oh BTW Trying to belittle someone you don’t know is just a reflection of your own insecurities, and how I spelled it , unless this is a spelling contest is my business.
It’s no distraction, just a bit of a fun fact to go with your third party rhetoric.
For informational purposes only, if you’ve ever seen ‘made in Briton’ then whoever wrote it got it really wrong. In the context given it’s always going to be Britain, unless of course it’s an archaeological relic from the relevant time period.
“The Britons were an ancient Celtic people who lived in Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Roman and Sub-Roman periods. They spoke a language that is now known as Common Brittonic.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Britons
I never been there, rrreally, what would I know about the UK 🙂
come on dude I lived there ten years, mum came back 2 weeks ago from ten years there, we may have had a good catch up you know?. My sister works for the Council in Sunderland, she’s kiwi born, but like me has right of abode?
Sounds lovely
Britain is the country. Briton is a person from Britain. They sound the same, but our illogical spelling system means that one sound can have a number of spellings in English..
Germans use to call yous Englanders…
Dunedin, what are you doing? 20 degrees yesterday – are you serious? Are you trying for the 2016 climate change challenge to be the most unlikely southern city to have the highest winter temperature?
The degree of cognitive dissonance in South Dunedin must be peaking too (they had a meeting earlier in the week where some residents thought the council talking about the flooding in the context of climate change was greenie nonsense).
A face palm meeting by the sounds of it. It’s difficult when a council actually acknowledges their geographical area has a problem with CC and the residents deny it. A similar thing happened a few years ago when the Kapiti District council projected sea level rises along the coastline where housing would be affected.
Residents said it was nonsense and scaremongering. Now the $million + homes on beachfront land are sitting there unsold while houses elsewhere in that range, especially in town, in Wgtn, are selling no problem. I wonder if there will be an issue with potential buyers talking their insurance agents and the agents letting them know they will high premiums living in such a setting.
Even when I was a kid in the 70’s growing up across the road from the sea we had massive spring storms that would bring dunes down. It’s going to be nuts as we move further into the anthropocene.
I live in South Dunedin, we are not all morons.
Dunedin hasn’t had a winter, I work outside & have def noticed it, this time last year I think we had 2 dumps of snow! & the floods a year ago too (yes we were surrounded by water, came right to the door, 2 hours in this street were pulled down because of damage), been living in this suburb for 10 or so years, & def noticed the beach is nearer than it used to be, its a bit scary when you can hear it so close. Also a few years ago I had to dig a grave for the dog & the water table is only maybe 1-2 feet below us! So good on Cull for talking about it, though he’s back-tracking a bit because of the South Dunedin morons.
Side note, South Dunedin is one of the poorest suburbs in the country, with shocking rates of teen pregnancies, over crowding, unemployment etc…but it is connected to the richest suburbs of the city with old beautiful Victorian mansions & brand new mega flash cars, so I think its the rich end of town complaining, I doubt the poor have too much invested in this suburb.
Thanks for the local report. It’s always good to hear from residents and get their viewpoint. It’s often the case the wealthy have louder voices, or quite often more influence with the council.
Farry lives around the corner from me in the biggest house in the street,I would imagine he has a direct line to council/Govt. He was responsible for the stadium & got some kinda ‘honour’ from the Nat Govt for his effort in lying to us about it’s benefits. Some stunning old mansions in this ‘hood, a lot of ‘old money’ swishing around. Pity it’s all gonna be underwater in a few years.
http://www.odt.co.nz/files/featured_gallery/2015/06/aerial_07_03062015_jpg_556eb86932.jpg
http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/5/4/y/f/3/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.154ri4.png/1433445323485.jpg
http://www.odt.co.nz/files/featured_gallery/2015/06/aerial_01_03062015_jpg_556eb86911.jpg
http://www.odt.co.nz/files/user21583/aerial_05_03062015.jpg
The area used to be sand dunes & wetlands, the ducks still walk around thinking it is, but then maybe they have long genetic memories & know it will be theirs again one day.
Gangnam Style
No mention of Farry in the ODT, mainly; Ray MacLeod, spokesman of the South Dunedin Action Group (SDAG). Haven’t heard of him before, do you have any local knowledge? It seems a weird bit of delusion to be; blaming those attempting to formulate a response to climate change, for the property damage caused by sealevel rises.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/387568/anger-about-south-dunedins-future
This seems to me to be another bit of prepositioning for the anti-Green vote in this year’s local body elections. Similar to the antiwindfarm movement that sprangup out of nowhere earlier in Warrington.
No sorry, I just mentioned Farry because he’s around the corner, he’s more a behind the scenes type of guy, just my opinion. I don’t know of Mr MacLeod, but read about his anti ‘green’ type rant, maybe he should make use of the internet & google Canute. Not heard of the South Dunedin Action Group before this article sorry.
Just read the group was started after last years flood, maybe I should try & get involved, I love this ‘burb!
bugger all coverage in the ODT, what’s that about?
” It seems a weird bit of delusion to be; blaming those attempting to formulate a response to climate change, for the property damage caused by sealevel rises.”
Disagree.
Last year 90%+ of the damage was caused by DCC neglect. And all of the sub par post flood response.
Did climate change add a couple of cm to the flood height? Sure. So what.
You’d think the council could ponder deeply the issues of climate change AND keep the drains clear, really.
Blimey.
I don’t know of this Farry character but there always seems to a local body self promoting/self interest type that is also in league with the nat party.
Hope you’ve got some strong contenders to look at voting for this year, ones that are aligned to environmental/restoration/cc issues/resilience. (Just reading Pasupial’s comment below).
Re ducks. I think they have long family memories, just my observation. I’ve really noticed that the more of the farmland disapears on the development where I live (especially the boggy bits) the more ducks we get in the garden, that won’t leave.
Because I live in their territory I feel I have a duty to care for them. I give them fresh water everyday as their water source has dried up. We had a drought over summer and they had nothing to eat so hung out here. I’ve also got orphaned ducklings who grew up in our garden and they come here every day, some are pets. They have a double risk with ongoing development too. The more roads that go in, the more stormwater drains there are for ducklings to fall into. I had SPCA in to help me rescue 3 babies that went down a drain. The SPCA person said that in the developing northern areas they had double the callouts, up to 500 call outs for ducklings alone. It’s a waste of their time. We just need smaller gap grates.
As humans we may expect them move somewhere else but they don’t seem to. They stay in their turf. Hope the ducks in your area have enough grass and insects to eat and enough water.
mum lived in Atkinson st – like going back in time going there
Michael Woodhouse is from that part of South Dunedin too marty, he mentions it now & again like Key & his state house upbringing.
lol – street cred is hard to buy
Still wondering why Woodhouse hasn’t stood against Curran. He has more connections to the Dunedin South electorate than she does. I figure it is because he can’t be bothered being an electorate MP.
Possibly because Curran is too popular. Nobody seems to have been able to roll her, no matter how much they’d like to take her place.
Curran is too popular? Have you even looked at her plummeting electorate majority?
There was a time when Curran was perceived as a bit of an embarrassment who spent too much time on twitter, but for what it’s worth, I think that’s changed.
She has grown into the role. She works hard. Yes she can be a bit impulsive and makes some mistakes, but has a lot of heart.
Her approach to the June flood was spot on from the day one; she held council to account for its dissembling and appeared to do a huge amount of work on that issue (for individual cases as well as the infrastructure issue).
It will be interesting to see if her efforts translate into more votes next time around.
I was about to say: It’s amazing how many Dunedinites are on this site.
But, come to think of it, Dunedin is still the most Left-leaning City in the Country* (Wellington’s the only other centre where the Left continue to beat the Right Bloc) … so maybe not all that surprising after all.
* Indeed, it’s been argued that Pete George is the only Dunedinite to have Party-Voted National at the last Election. Isn’t that right, Pete ?
Those who have followed the hatchet job on Peggy Burrows Principal of Rangiora High School, might care to visit the Givealittle page at
https://explore.givealittle.co.nz/search?q=Peggy+Burrows
This time Peggy’s Rangiora case is in the Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11662583
Bev Moore, the Commissioner has also done a hatchet job on an Invercargill Principal in a similar fashion because that Principal contested National Standards. That Principal took her case to Court won and was vindicated.
Nasty unfair stuff.
True. And the ERA have just given Peggy a minor victory in overturning the latest gagging order imposed on her. There is hope…
In Vino. The excuse that Moore gave for sacking Peggy was her speaking out to defend herself. So what happened with the ERA?
Aha. Found it dated 24 June:
“The Employment Relations Authority yesterday ruled against the Rangiora High School commissioner, Beverley Moore, after she took a case to try and gag former RHS principal, Peggy Burrows. ”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1606/S00797/era-finds-in-favour-of-peggy-burrows.htm
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/387979/homeless-installation-causes-stir
My mate has this installation at the moment, some people find it shocking, some are angry, but most are talking about homelessness which is kinda the point. Well done Toki!
Good for them! interesting piece of interactive art with people leaving donations of food and cash.
Got a few lovely notes offering help, blankets, couches to sleep on etc…The All Blacks walked past without even glancing down, it’s been quite fascinating watching peoples reactions, I thought it was real when I first saw it. Apparently Dunedins homeless sleep in the greenbelt, too cold on the streets. And he’s left it outside over night a few times & each time in the morning the sleeping bag has been removed so we assume people are checking ‘he/she’ is OK. No sign of any Bennett ‘flying squad’ of monkeys as yet, still time!
Rest of the exhibition is good too if anyone is walking past, have a look!
+ 1 Awesome art and contemporary commentary – love it and the things people have left.
tipping point?
“The British pound is in freefall as the Brexit vote looks set to win the EU Referendum. In the last five minutes it has fallen 8 per cent against the US dollar.
The crash is now the largest in modern history and has exceeded the fall known as Black Wednesday in 1992 when the UK was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11662600
beginning of the transition. A lot of it will be speculative shorting
I wonder what instructions those trustees who are managing blind trusts/investments in foreign exchanges are receiving from those who have major interests in those blind trusts …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11662642
All credit to Amy Adams for reading out the apology to Teina Pora, apparently she didn’t have to. It was the least she could do, now it’s the polices turn.
I have to be slightly impressed by that.
I don’t have to be but I acknowledge a good measure of belief. Politics fucks up belief unfortunately but it is admirable as far as it goes.