Naturally, this doesn’t cure homelessness. There’s still a big place for Labour’s excellent housing policies
But if you ever want to see policy working to tilt a whole market, look no further than the measures that this National government put in place.
It was only in October last year that tighter Loan to Value Ratio restrictions were put in place. It required property investors to have a 40% deposit for a mortgage loan and owner-occupiers to have a 20% deposit. Immediately the froth came off, but now its effect is really showing.
Who knows, we could still have a housing price collapse.
Or we could have the modern miracle of government, over the one great asset the majority of New Zealanders have: their home. And that miracle is managing the entire real estate market down.
What are you on? The article says the biggest casualty is first home buyers are the main ones being shut out of the housing market. Meanwhile, the biggest winners are investors with cash.
From the view from halfway to the bottom end, what you are talking about looks like tinkering to make the market better for the top end, mostly as investment. And ultimately that will continue to hurt renters, the homeless and those on lowish incomes who might want to buy. There are whole classes of people now who can’t own and struggle to afford rent and I don’t see what you are talking about as improving that much (although I’m sure it is better than nothing).
The problem is seeing housing as a financial investment, and that’s a tricky one to unpack because it’s tied to retirement and the contemporary idea that the state can no longer bet trusted to support people. Better to fix welfare/social security IMO, and then reinstate housing as being about having a home instead of a financial investment.
Yep. It’s treating housing a social investment that’s a problem – plus the decline of our welfare system, low wages and focusing generally on profits over people.
Considering that Labour, in it’s fanatical following of the neo-liberal cult, is actually in agreement with the TPPA and FTAs in general then, no, you shouldn’t expect them to make capital off of it.
They have been clear about opposition to the TPPA many times, including on Morning Report a couple of weeks ago. Not that it matters as the TPPA is dead.
Nope TPPA isn’t dead. Bill English was out trying to drum up the zombie agreement with anybody left who will listen.
If Natz get in again, and with Trump going to sign ‘if USA get a good deal”. Well we all know that Natz would sign anything no matter how damaging to the people of NZ. What do they care what’s in the details, whether arduous health costs or turning our cops into copywrite cops for US business – who the frig knows what the National party are prepared to sign with Trump or anyone else, anything.
Not a lot of talk about how hopeless the National Party look, post Key. Zero succession planning in the National Party. My guess is trader Key, read the future, realised the shit was going to hit the fan with our economy 98 million dollars into the red and bailed so he could look good and escape to Hawaii with full benefits and pensions and brag to his mates how he was NZ’s most popular PM.
Of course Tony Blair used to be popular and look what happened to him and the UK Labour party after he left.
Now it’s the right’s turn.
We have Bitter Bill, the world’s biggest bores.
Ex Bene turned Bene basher with a wonderful CV of receiving government money her whole life and now as deputy leader.
Judith Colins with so many scandals and dirt to be dug up she could make mince meat out of the National party rep.
Joyce, the world’s most arrogant yokel, who can even annoy the most eager National business person with his ‘pretty legal’ chit chat
Brownlee, the CHCH rebuild architect – “wizard’.
Smith, who unlike Jesus can turn fish into faeces.
Bill marched away from an interview looking relaxed and pleased.
His statement “if there was a tape” is a worry. Does he know it is long gone,
and now evidence is hear-say?
Though he still has to explain his texts and Glenys’s call to the victim, after his call to her on Waitangi Day. (interview with Gower),
Bouyed by the “late” poll results as well? (late = 2 weeks old)
Bennett declaring a political crush on English, tells me there is division, and she has chosen. No real surprise in that. So Bill has to get the numbers.
WE have to act on faith, and give our honest guy Andrew support.
We need to speak up and sell our honest group.
Bury all hair shirts ’till the election is over!!
We have enough horrible foes without ‘white anting’ the party.
We need to get them in, then apply the pressure to enact people friendly legislation.
We are closer than they care to admit, that is why they are shrill and in attack mode.
Don’t give them fodder.
We need to join together and push this over the line.
Please enrol and vote 2 ticks.
Stable Government with English being sold as a trusted, stable pair of hands is the line National are pushing.
English standing down would destroy that perception. But now that his credibility has come into question, there could also be damage if he remains party leader.
Therefore, it’s delusional to think they wouldn’t be evaluating the numbers.
Moreover, you’ve seem to have forgotten this is an MMP election, therefore Labour aren’t standing alone. And when combined with the Greens (& possibly NZF) it’s going to be a close finish.
CREATIVE FUTURE?
It is no coincidence that world-wide rehabilitation programs for offenders and addicts are invariably grounded in creativity: cooking, music, art, surfing, environmental restoration. Spontaneous creativity is neither a luxury nor a talent, but the natural expression of all of us, setting us aside from other life forms on earth.
By re-aligning our waking hours with that which is creative in ourselves rather than squeezing it in over weekends we will defuse restlessness, the futility of non-fulfilment and the sense that our abilities are going to waste. With widespread automation, decimation of jobs and UBI in place vast reserves of creativity could be put to work restoring society, the environment, the social structure and all that runs counter to a happy and productive country.
Creativity has many faces; the politically inclined will generate fresh ways of inclusive government; educators new methods of drawing out the creativity of their charges; financiers equitable ways of restructuring currency (or what’s left of it); artists and musicians novel expression of humanity’s changing orientation on earth; scientists sustainable methods of restoring the integrity of our ecosystems; idealists insights into our future course; philosophers insightful ways to growth and understanding of the evolving human spirit, to name a few.
For those who have tried it the satisfaction of working creatively in cooperative ventures eclipses the need to “prove oneself” via competition. Whether the race is ready to move beyond this most basic of drivers is difficult to say.
For those who have tried it the satisfaction of working creatively in cooperative ventures eclipses the need to “prove oneself” via competition. Whether the race is ready to move beyond this most basic of drivers is difficult to say.
We evolved beyond it millions of years ago. If there’s anything to the human nature argument that the RWNJs bring up all the time it’s that we’re mostly altruistic and cooperative. It’s the sociopaths that aren’t and they’re the minority.
Your’e saying humans are no longer competitive? Free market system, capitalism, one-upmanship, rampant materialism, – all driven by competition when I last looked.
Our markets are not notably free – everything in NZ costs more except wages. The Rogergnomic reforms failed – but then they were never intended to work, only to enrich a small subset of the population.
True. Talent and creativity can only flourish through honouring the individual’s uniqueness in terms of background, era and culture. Mass delivered education in crowded classrooms can never deliver. National trots out the worn mantra “research has shown that class size does not make a difference to educational achievement.”; of course they are talking about grades but remain shy of asking why depression, suicide, substance abuse etc. remain depressingly high.
Will the PM who quit aka Key be making an appearance at the Nat’s conference this weekend? Will he be standing up and backing English, defending the outgoing PM’s lying etc?
Where is Key? If he was a good friend of Bills surely he would be helping him out of the massive Barclay scandal which is still making news.
Wish they’d get rid of Lisa Owen though, Jesus, shut the fuck up and let your guests speak. don’t ask a question and talk over them when they’re trying to reply to the question you asked.
I think Hone should stay out of politics and go back to activism. i don’t think he gets it. Nothing worse than seeing someone who doesn’t know when it’s over.
Going off the interview, can’t see his deal with the Māori Party going too well.
They agreed not to stand against each other in electoral seats. The expectation being that doing so would encourage supporters of both to support the one standing. However, Hone won’t give his backing of his members doing so due to the Māori Party’s support of the Māori land reform Bill.
And apparently Marama Fox has threaten to respond in kind.
I know. Got a Facebook petition – save the Māori land court – from the mana party. Someone wrote a comment about the deal with the Māori Party – just a joke imo.
Me too Marty. I like Hone but I don’t think he is doing himself (or Mana) any favours at the moment. I think he can be more effective as an activist than as a lone backbencher.
This is more worrying though – he evidently suggested life imprisonment or deportation to China for the death penalty to discourage meth dealing on the Nation. I really wouldn’t have expected that from him
Anyone interested in learning something about the ongoing siege of Gaza should read this book…
Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom
by NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Gaza is among the most densely populated places in the world. Two-thirds of its inhabitants are refugees, and more than half the population is under eighteen years of age. Since Israel occupied Gaza in 1967, it has systematically de-developed the economy. After Hamas won democratic elections in 2006, Israel intensified its blockade of Gaza, and after Hamas consolidated its control of the territory in 2007, Israel tightened its illegal siege another notch. In the meantime, Israel has launched no less than eight military operations against Gaza—culminating in Operation Cast Lead in 2008–9 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014—that left behind over three million tons of rubble. Recent UN reports predict that Gaza will be unlivable by 2020.
Norman G. Finkelstein presents a meticulously researched and devastating inquest into Israel’s actions of the last decade. He argues that although Israel justified its blockade and violent assaults in the name of self-defense, in fact these actions were cynical exercises of brutal power against an essentially defenseless civilian population. Based on hundreds of human rights reports, the book scrutinizes multifarious violations of international law Israel committed both during its operations and in the course of its decade-long siege of Gaza. It is a monument to Gaza’s martyrs and a scorching accusation against their tormenters.
The most charitable or delusional interpretation I can make is that Labour is outsourcing its environmental policy to the Greens and will ‘concede’ clean river as part of a deal later, but remember how Blair was supposed to be cultivating the Conservative voters before he was going to implement real socialist policies? Right, we all know how that turned out.
It looks like Little is just Captain Mumblefuck 2.0
I don’t know what they’re doing. I’d like to see their whole policies because that article doesn’t really say a lot.
One delegate sought an assurance from Little that the Green Party would not “can” Labour’s attitude to how it would operate as a government.
“We [and the Greens] have common areas of policy but also areas we differ on as well. The more support you give us, the more we can approach your industry in a practical and sensible way,” Little responded.
Lol, that’s my argument to people to vote Green. If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
Absolutely. They only succeed in coming across as insincere and confused.
I’m voting Green. Very Little can go fuck himself.
It’s very easy to see why people are sick of business as usual politics when the system keeps excreting nobodies like Blinglish and Little.
I think our best bet is to have a L/G govt without Peters. This will give the Greens a chance to prove themselves once and for all. They’re obviously competent to be in govt, but it will be crunch time as to whether they can do govt differently and keep left.
In the absence of any unicorns, I agree. The Greens are showing both integrity and discipline and deserve to have a hand in government. Labour is riddled with egotistical careerists such as Robertson who put themselves first, party second and principles third. Little is totally ineffective in keeping them in check and shows no competence or principles. He is not a PM in waiting, which is the test of any opposition. His only advantage is that Blinglish is not a PM at all.
Hmmm. I was really alarmed about the report about what Little said, but today there was a press release from him, plus just heard David Parker on midday news on Nat radio saying that policy from 2014 hasn’t changed. Little claims he misunderstood the question and his lack of response to another statement was seen as agreement when it wasn’t.
I agree that the Greens are stronger that Labour on environmental policy so making sure they have a significant influence in a Labour/Green government is important.
Thanks Karen, I’ll put that up as a post in the morning. I thought the original Stuff article was poor and probably misleading so good to have some more information.
One of Labour’s problems is the lag time between their speeches and media work and putting things up on their website. I’m still waiting for something on mental health after their good work in Chch last week. If they’re just going to rely on the media coverage then mistakes like this one over water will happen.
Labour don’t seem to have a good comms team at all and I find it really frustrating. I know they have quite a lot on at the moment but this water policy confusion should have dealt with as soon as the article appeared, not 2 days later.
If there is a policy announcement the policy page on the website should be updated immediately afterwards and there should be 2 versions, one with a lot more detail (for policy nerds like me!) They did that for the immigration one but it isn’t consistent.
I am on the mailing list for the Greens and Labour but Labour tend to just send major speeches rather than individual policy announcements. Mostly, I just look at the new policies page:
Hopefully this will be a bit more informative closer to the election as most of the policies don’t have enough detail for my liking. This may be because they are still formulating some of it.
To be honest I dont think farmers want clean rivers/waterways, for the simple reason that it impacts on their profits. “Local based solutions” are all PR bullshit.
It would be better and more honest for FF to have the guts to stand up and just say, “we dont want clean rivers, because we just want to make a shit load of money instead, and also, we want to shut New Zealander out of the farming industry and have farm workers all migrants”.
I think there are lots of farmers who don’t belong to FF, and many of those want to do the right things (and some are doing the right things). We need a govt that will support those farmers.
The 2017 FIZZ Conference
“Taxing Sugary Drinks: An Election Issue” will be held on Monday 26 June.
Meanwhile, I note the following Official Information request languishing on FYI”
Document containing advice re Sugar Tax from MOH tabled during question time 13.10.2016 Request sent to Minister of Health by John Gray on October 13, 2016. Long overdue.
Is it too early to suggest that an All Blacks series win against the Lions and an America’s Cup victory would be – al least national mood wise – be pretty good for this government in September?
I couldn’t see the game where I am overseas – but looks like we played well.
And agree – between this and if we get the Americas cup – it will pit a lot of people in a good mood. Add that the the majority of people thinking the country is heading in the right direction it’s a good position for national.
Outages today were due to googlebots having an issue with an old post from 2011 which had links starting with // and/or ending with ‘. They have read this post hundreds of times before. Looks like something got tweaked.
Caused some interesting effects with some strange URLs. tens of thousands of queries per minute, high CPU, and the processor shutting down when it hit safety tempatures.
I have fixed the page, removed the googlebot special access and I’ve started treating it like bingbot…
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Austin Human/Unsplash How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people? –Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales Alright, let’s embark on a meteor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Acting Director the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Iran’s leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires ...
Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
Where some saw the worst press conference given by the government to date, Anna Rawhiti-Connell recognised girl maths game.Nicola Willis, recently exasperated by comparisons to Ruth Richardson, said she was “a bit sick of being compared with every female finance minister that’s ever been out there.”Some think that’s ...
The March results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2023 (HYEFU 2023), published on 20 December 2023 and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Jamie Arbuckle, the district councillor who became an MP but decided to keep getting paid for both roles, will instead donate one salary to charity. ...
Adding gender to the Human Rights Act would simply make the implicit explicit. So why is it so controversial? Paul Thistoll explain. At present, Aotearoa’s 1993 Human Rights Act (HRA) includes sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief (meaning a lack of religious belief), colour, race, ethnicity or national origin, ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an 18-year-old who’s studying and working in hospo shares their approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Transmasc Age: 18 Ethnicity: Pākehā/Māori Role: Student, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Resources Minister Shane Jones has reportedly asked officials for advice on whether oil and gas companies could be offered “bonds” as compensation if drilling rights offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Gleeson, Associate Professor of Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock The Albanese government is weighing up the costs of delivering an election promise to protect religious people from discrimination in Commonwealth law. Such protections were relatively uncontroversial when included in state anti-discrimination ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Bush, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock I met with a friend for a walk beside Merri Creek, in inner Melbourne. She had lived in the area for a few years, and as we walked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University Arts companies and individual artists in Australia are supported by government arts agencies, philanthropists, industry bodies, private donors and patrons. However, it is frequently overlooked that a major source of support for the arts ...
Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, a new incorporated society dedicated to ending harmful drug policies, officially launched today, seeks a new fit-for-purpose drug law for Aotearoa New Zealand, rooted in science, experience and evidence. ...
The Corrections Minister admits he "muddied the water" after he and the Prime Minister repeatedly provided incorrect information about a $1.9 billion prison spend-up. ...
It took a post-post-cabinet statement to confirm that 810 new beds will be built at Waikeria, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Lili Tokaduadua was only 15 when she left her family in Fiji to pursue her netball dream in New Zealand. She’d been playing the sport for 10 years and was offered a netball scholarship at Auckland’s Howick College. Now, in her first year out of high school, the 19-year-old defender ...
The beloved local grocers lost a legal challenge to stop a new cycleway outside their store. Joel MacManus reports. In the annals of New Zealand legal history, there are a few brave people who have dared to stand up to the powers that be, no matter how bleak the odds ...
How what we produce and what we eat connects us to the world beyond our shores, visualised. Walking around a supermarket or vege shop, it might be obvious that everything on the shelves came from somewhere. But you might ...
Opinion: Last week, important recommendations for our criminal justice system were made by the international community. Every five years, each member of the United Nations has its human rights practices reviewed. This rolling event – the Universal Periodic Review – is the culmination of a government reporting on its human ...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza – H5N1, or bird flu – has been flying around the world since the late 1990s. New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands are so far free of it, but now it’s been discovered in mainland Antarctica and scientists say it’s only a matter of time ...
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Looks like the Auckland housing price boom is really over.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11881164
Naturally, this doesn’t cure homelessness. There’s still a big place for Labour’s excellent housing policies
But if you ever want to see policy working to tilt a whole market, look no further than the measures that this National government put in place.
It was only in October last year that tighter Loan to Value Ratio restrictions were put in place. It required property investors to have a 40% deposit for a mortgage loan and owner-occupiers to have a 20% deposit. Immediately the froth came off, but now its effect is really showing.
Who knows, we could still have a housing price collapse.
Or we could have the modern miracle of government, over the one great asset the majority of New Zealanders have: their home. And that miracle is managing the entire real estate market down.
What are you on? The article says the biggest casualty is first home buyers are the main ones being shut out of the housing market. Meanwhile, the biggest winners are investors with cash.
+ 1
Ad will be okay so no problem.
Here it is.
Housing has to stop being our preferred asset class. It’s going to hurt.
First home buyers will almost always need to draw on their parents’ equity.
Every currently home-owning family will be forced to think like they are a bank with specific limited equity to carefully dole out.
Or, put rules in place to stop speculating on property as a way of making an income.
The 10 year boom has created a set of highly leveraged large landlords. Very few are cashed up. Very few banks are lending.
The 2 year Bright Line test is doing it’s job limiting speculators.
The new rules are not enough, but they are heading us in the right direction without a crash.
From the view from halfway to the bottom end, what you are talking about looks like tinkering to make the market better for the top end, mostly as investment. And ultimately that will continue to hurt renters, the homeless and those on lowish incomes who might want to buy. There are whole classes of people now who can’t own and struggle to afford rent and I don’t see what you are talking about as improving that much (although I’m sure it is better than nothing).
The problem is seeing housing as a financial investment, and that’s a tricky one to unpack because it’s tied to retirement and the contemporary idea that the state can no longer bet trusted to support people. Better to fix welfare/social security IMO, and then reinstate housing as being about having a home instead of a financial investment.
Yep. It’s treating housing a social investment that’s a problem – plus the decline of our welfare system, low wages and focusing generally on profits over people.
Do Labour plan to make the TPP an election issue?
Little has been said.
Good point, of course Labour should. It’s one of the main differences that people can say in one sentence and TPPA is very unpopular.
“TPPA is very unpopular”
One would expect Labour to capitalize off that, yet there’s little being said.
Considering that Labour, in it’s fanatical following of the neo-liberal cult, is actually in agreement with the TPPA and FTAs in general then, no, you shouldn’t expect them to make capital off of it.
That explains the silence. But it will probably cost them a few votes though.
The Nats are pushing it through, hence a number will vote accordingly to oppose it.
They have been clear about opposition to the TPPA many times, including on Morning Report a couple of weeks ago. Not that it matters as the TPPA is dead.
Link?
I’ve never seen them being clear about it and that is usually bound up with their general belief that FTAs are good no matter what.
I put in NZ Labour TPPA and got the NO and the petition.
Trade OK. The loss of sovereignty rules it out. No changes as far as I can see.
Nope TPPA isn’t dead. Bill English was out trying to drum up the zombie agreement with anybody left who will listen.
If Natz get in again, and with Trump going to sign ‘if USA get a good deal”. Well we all know that Natz would sign anything no matter how damaging to the people of NZ. What do they care what’s in the details, whether arduous health costs or turning our cops into copywrite cops for US business – who the frig knows what the National party are prepared to sign with Trump or anyone else, anything.
National will be doing the numbers. Will English remaining do more damage than English standing down?
Both are likely to be fatal.
Lets hope.
Not a lot of talk about how hopeless the National Party look, post Key. Zero succession planning in the National Party. My guess is trader Key, read the future, realised the shit was going to hit the fan with our economy 98 million dollars into the red and bailed so he could look good and escape to Hawaii with full benefits and pensions and brag to his mates how he was NZ’s most popular PM.
Of course Tony Blair used to be popular and look what happened to him and the UK Labour party after he left.
Now it’s the right’s turn.
We have Bitter Bill, the world’s biggest bores.
Ex Bene turned Bene basher with a wonderful CV of receiving government money her whole life and now as deputy leader.
Judith Colins with so many scandals and dirt to be dug up she could make mince meat out of the National party rep.
Joyce, the world’s most arrogant yokel, who can even annoy the most eager National business person with his ‘pretty legal’ chit chat
Brownlee, the CHCH rebuild architect – “wizard’.
Smith, who unlike Jesus can turn fish into faeces.
An ex Merrill Lyncher is the likely outcome of Barclay standing down, but yes, who would replace English?
Bill marched away from an interview looking relaxed and pleased.
His statement “if there was a tape” is a worry. Does he know it is long gone,
and now evidence is hear-say?
Though he still has to explain his texts and Glenys’s call to the victim, after his call to her on Waitangi Day. (interview with Gower),
Bouyed by the “late” poll results as well? (late = 2 weeks old)
Bennett declaring a political crush on English, tells me there is division, and she has chosen. No real surprise in that. So Bill has to get the numbers.
WE have to act on faith, and give our honest guy Andrew support.
We need to speak up and sell our honest group.
Bury all hair shirts ’till the election is over!!
We have enough horrible foes without ‘white anting’ the party.
We need to get them in, then apply the pressure to enact people friendly legislation.
We are closer than they care to admit, that is why they are shrill and in attack mode.
Don’t give them fodder.
We need to join together and push this over the line.
Please enrol and vote 2 ticks.
Nats 49% – labour 25% and you think it’s nats doing the numbers – you’re delusional.
Stable Government with English being sold as a trusted, stable pair of hands is the line National are pushing.
English standing down would destroy that perception. But now that his credibility has come into question, there could also be damage if he remains party leader.
Therefore, it’s delusional to think they wouldn’t be evaluating the numbers.
Moreover, you’ve seem to have forgotten this is an MMP election, therefore Labour aren’t standing alone. And when combined with the Greens (& possibly NZF) it’s going to be a close finish.
Do you care about New Zealand’s children?
We are 1st for rugby, but 34th for children in the OECD.
Which do you care about more ?
CREATIVE FUTURE?
It is no coincidence that world-wide rehabilitation programs for offenders and addicts are invariably grounded in creativity: cooking, music, art, surfing, environmental restoration. Spontaneous creativity is neither a luxury nor a talent, but the natural expression of all of us, setting us aside from other life forms on earth.
By re-aligning our waking hours with that which is creative in ourselves rather than squeezing it in over weekends we will defuse restlessness, the futility of non-fulfilment and the sense that our abilities are going to waste. With widespread automation, decimation of jobs and UBI in place vast reserves of creativity could be put to work restoring society, the environment, the social structure and all that runs counter to a happy and productive country.
Creativity has many faces; the politically inclined will generate fresh ways of inclusive government; educators new methods of drawing out the creativity of their charges; financiers equitable ways of restructuring currency (or what’s left of it); artists and musicians novel expression of humanity’s changing orientation on earth; scientists sustainable methods of restoring the integrity of our ecosystems; idealists insights into our future course; philosophers insightful ways to growth and understanding of the evolving human spirit, to name a few.
For those who have tried it the satisfaction of working creatively in cooperative ventures eclipses the need to “prove oneself” via competition. Whether the race is ready to move beyond this most basic of drivers is difficult to say.
Very uplifting, thanks Ant, there is much to reflect on in your post.
We evolved beyond it millions of years ago. If there’s anything to the human nature argument that the RWNJs bring up all the time it’s that we’re mostly altruistic and cooperative. It’s the sociopaths that aren’t and they’re the minority.
Your’e saying humans are no longer competitive? Free market system, capitalism, one-upmanship, rampant materialism, – all driven by competition when I last looked.
Yep but that doesn’t mean that the majority of people are that way inclined. It just means that the ones with power are.
If the majority were not that way inclined the fashion, cosmetic, designer clothing, and a host of other industries would have collapsed long ago.
No. It’s a question of training via environment. Change the environment and change the people.
Our markets are not notably free – everything in NZ costs more except wages. The Rogergnomic reforms failed – but then they were never intended to work, only to enrich a small subset of the population.
Yes Beeby had it right in the 60s school syllabus.
True. Talent and creativity can only flourish through honouring the individual’s uniqueness in terms of background, era and culture. Mass delivered education in crowded classrooms can never deliver. National trots out the worn mantra “research has shown that class size does not make a difference to educational achievement.”; of course they are talking about grades but remain shy of asking why depression, suicide, substance abuse etc. remain depressingly high.
Agreed. Bring back Beeby!
Thank you!
Only through being creative can we realise who we are.
It’s both an inward and outward journey with no set destination and no initial boundaries or fear.
+1
Will the PM who quit aka Key be making an appearance at the Nat’s conference this weekend? Will he be standing up and backing English, defending the outgoing PM’s lying etc?
Where is Key? If he was a good friend of Bills surely he would be helping him out of the massive Barclay scandal which is still making news.
Enjoying retirement.
Hone on the Nation – wow! He’ll keep the headline writers busy.
Pretty scathing of Andrew Little.
Wish they’d get rid of Lisa Owen though, Jesus, shut the fuck up and let your guests speak. don’t ask a question and talk over them when they’re trying to reply to the question you asked.
Definitely one of the worst interviewers on TV.
“Pretty scathing of Andrew Little.”
Indeed. He accused Little of lying and treating Labour’s Maori MPs like “shit”.
I think Hone should stay out of politics and go back to activism. i don’t think he gets it. Nothing worse than seeing someone who doesn’t know when it’s over.
It’s clear he’s going to let voters decide that one (whether it’s over).
They already have.
Your talking last election. Things are different now, hence I was referring to this election.
Yeah i know. They are different not in a beneficial way imo.
Going off the interview, can’t see his deal with the Māori Party going too well.
They agreed not to stand against each other in electoral seats. The expectation being that doing so would encourage supporters of both to support the one standing. However, Hone won’t give his backing of his members doing so due to the Māori Party’s support of the Māori land reform Bill.
And apparently Marama Fox has threaten to respond in kind.
I know. Got a Facebook petition – save the Māori land court – from the mana party. Someone wrote a comment about the deal with the Māori Party – just a joke imo.
Me too Marty. I like Hone but I don’t think he is doing himself (or Mana) any favours at the moment. I think he can be more effective as an activist than as a lone backbencher.
This is more worrying though – he evidently suggested life imprisonment or deportation to China for the death penalty to discourage meth dealing on the Nation. I really wouldn’t have expected that from him
Yep just a rubbish non solution. Sad.
Anyone interested in learning something about the ongoing siege of Gaza should read this book…
Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom
by NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Gaza is among the most densely populated places in the world. Two-thirds of its inhabitants are refugees, and more than half the population is under eighteen years of age. Since Israel occupied Gaza in 1967, it has systematically de-developed the economy. After Hamas won democratic elections in 2006, Israel intensified its blockade of Gaza, and after Hamas consolidated its control of the territory in 2007, Israel tightened its illegal siege another notch. In the meantime, Israel has launched no less than eight military operations against Gaza—culminating in Operation Cast Lead in 2008–9 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014—that left behind over three million tons of rubble. Recent UN reports predict that Gaza will be unlivable by 2020.
Norman G. Finkelstein presents a meticulously researched and devastating inquest into Israel’s actions of the last decade. He argues that although Israel justified its blockade and violent assaults in the name of self-defense, in fact these actions were cynical exercises of brutal power against an essentially defenseless civilian population. Based on hundreds of human rights reports, the book scrutinizes multifarious violations of international law Israel committed both during its operations and in the course of its decade-long siege of Gaza. It is a monument to Gaza’s martyrs and a scorching accusation against their tormenters.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/book/gaza-an-inquest-into-its-martyrdom-3/
They Learnt well from the Warsaw ghetto.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/book/gaza-an-inquest-into-its-martyrdom-3/
Thanks Morrissey Not available from Amazon until Jan ’18 apparently Daresay it will be definitive As remains this –
Here’s some punctuation –
Women crying…….not truly for the victims……..more for themselves and their busted ‘Zionist Exceptionalism’
Thanks for those excellent links North!
Reasons to be Cheerful
No. 1 Jeremy Corbyn
The British prime minister-in-waiting has been confronting pure evil for a long time now….
And pure stupidity as well….
A great man.
“Oh Jeremy Corbyn.”
Well fuck you too Labour:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/93965507/labour-abandons-water-and-nutrient-charging-policy-for-farming
The most charitable or delusional interpretation I can make is that Labour is outsourcing its environmental policy to the Greens and will ‘concede’ clean river as part of a deal later, but remember how Blair was supposed to be cultivating the Conservative voters before he was going to implement real socialist policies? Right, we all know how that turned out.
It looks like Little is just Captain Mumblefuck 2.0
Adelia Hallett @AdeliaHallett 5h5 hours ago
Labour hasn’t ruled out pricing water at all David Parker tells F&B conference #ConservationHeroes
https://twitter.com/AdeliaHallett/status/878441100586786816
I don’t know what they’re doing. I’d like to see their whole policies because that article doesn’t really say a lot.
One delegate sought an assurance from Little that the Green Party would not “can” Labour’s attitude to how it would operate as a government.
“We [and the Greens] have common areas of policy but also areas we differ on as well. The more support you give us, the more we can approach your industry in a practical and sensible way,” Little responded.
Lol, that’s my argument to people to vote Green. If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
Absolutely. They only succeed in coming across as insincere and confused.
I’m voting Green. Very Little can go fuck himself.
It’s very easy to see why people are sick of business as usual politics when the system keeps excreting nobodies like Blinglish and Little.
I think our best bet is to have a L/G govt without Peters. This will give the Greens a chance to prove themselves once and for all. They’re obviously competent to be in govt, but it will be crunch time as to whether they can do govt differently and keep left.
In the absence of any unicorns, I agree. The Greens are showing both integrity and discipline and deserve to have a hand in government. Labour is riddled with egotistical careerists such as Robertson who put themselves first, party second and principles third. Little is totally ineffective in keeping them in check and shows no competence or principles. He is not a PM in waiting, which is the test of any opposition. His only advantage is that Blinglish is not a PM at all.
Hmmm. I was really alarmed about the report about what Little said, but today there was a press release from him, plus just heard David Parker on midday news on Nat radio saying that policy from 2014 hasn’t changed. Little claims he misunderstood the question and his lack of response to another statement was seen as agreement when it wasn’t.
http://www.labour.org.nz/labour_will_not_resile_from_royalties
I agree that the Greens are stronger that Labour on environmental policy so making sure they have a significant influence in a Labour/Green government is important.
Thanks Karen, I’ll put that up as a post in the morning. I thought the original Stuff article was poor and probably misleading so good to have some more information.
One of Labour’s problems is the lag time between their speeches and media work and putting things up on their website. I’m still waiting for something on mental health after their good work in Chch last week. If they’re just going to rely on the media coverage then mistakes like this one over water will happen.
Labour don’t seem to have a good comms team at all and I find it really frustrating. I know they have quite a lot on at the moment but this water policy confusion should have dealt with as soon as the article appeared, not 2 days later.
If there is a policy announcement the policy page on the website should be updated immediately afterwards and there should be 2 versions, one with a lot more detail (for policy nerds like me!) They did that for the immigration one but it isn’t consistent.
On you on any of their mailing lists? do you get emailed policy summaries or such? Just wondering if I should subscribe.
I am on the mailing list for the Greens and Labour but Labour tend to just send major speeches rather than individual policy announcements. Mostly, I just look at the new policies page:
http://www.labour.org.nz/announced_policies
Hopefully this will be a bit more informative closer to the election as most of the policies don’t have enough detail for my liking. This may be because they are still formulating some of it.
I also look at their press release page as I prefer to get the info direct rather than filtered by the MSM.
http://www.labour.org.nz/press_releases
thanks Karen.
Federated Farmers are NZ’s version of the NRA.
To be honest I dont think farmers want clean rivers/waterways, for the simple reason that it impacts on their profits. “Local based solutions” are all PR bullshit.
It would be better and more honest for FF to have the guts to stand up and just say, “we dont want clean rivers, because we just want to make a shit load of money instead, and also, we want to shut New Zealander out of the farming industry and have farm workers all migrants”.
/
And bogs do you want clean bogs or dirty bogs?
http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/wetlands/wetlands-by-region/waikato/kopuatai-peat-dome/
Lol that FF positioning advice, very good.
I think there are lots of farmers who don’t belong to FF, and many of those want to do the right things (and some are doing the right things). We need a govt that will support those farmers.
Federated Farmers are NZ’s version of the NRA.
Ha, yes. A political tumour.
The 2017 FIZZ Conference
“Taxing Sugary Drinks: An Election Issue” will be held on Monday 26 June.
Meanwhile, I note the following Official Information request languishing on FYI”
Hansard details:
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I seek leave to table advice to me from the Ministry of Health saying that there is no conclusive evidence that a sugar tax will decrease obesity rates
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20161013_20161013_16
It is nearly 8 months since the OIA request……….
The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor give his view- “don’t rule out sugar tax” on video. https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2015/07/30/pms-chief-science-advisor-on-sugar-obesity-and-taxes/
Thanks for your good work.
30-8 to the All Blacks.
Is it too early to suggest that an All Blacks series win against the Lions and an America’s Cup victory would be – al least national mood wise – be pretty good for this government in September?
Great – we’re first at rugby and sailing and 34th in the OECD for looking after children.
If we vote for this, we are contemptible.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11874764
The peop,e are never wrong Paul or ed or what ever you call yourself these days so be ready to be disapointed
That’s just a cliché, not an argument.
We are misguided, misinformed, disinformed, manipulated, conditioned, and most of all resistant to change and apathetic. You were saying?
I couldn’t see the game where I am overseas – but looks like we played well.
And agree – between this and if we get the Americas cup – it will pit a lot of people in a good mood. Add that the the majority of people thinking the country is heading in the right direction it’s a good position for national.
Outages today were due to googlebots having an issue with an old post from 2011 which had links starting with // and/or ending with ‘. They have read this post hundreds of times before. Looks like something got tweaked.
Caused some interesting effects with some strange URLs. tens of thousands of queries per minute, high CPU, and the processor shutting down when it hit safety tempatures.
I have fixed the page, removed the googlebot special access and I’ve started treating it like bingbot…
Fascinating interview with Frankie Boyle on British politics
Brilliant
Frankie has had to many pies
Gosh, that’s astute. That really shoots down his points doesn’t it? Also, it’s ‘TOO many’.
Try not to look like such an idiot in future.