There has been a lots of reports recently about how the oceans have been acting as a heat sink for all the excess heat in the atmosphere caused by global warming. This heat sink effect has slowed the rise in temperature of the atmosphere. But what has been the affect in the oceans?
Warmer water holds less oxygen. The tropics are actually extreme environments for fish. Though tropical waters support many brilliant and exotic species, When it comes to actual biomass. The biomass density of the tropics are not anything like the huge marine biomass supported by the oxygen rich cold waters of the temperate and polar regions.
A study carried out by the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia and published in the prestigious Nature magazine, has revealed that fish are on the move, away from warmer waters, to colder waters.
French Scientist Daniel Pauly, project leader for the study is interviewed by Kathryn Ryan.
In the past the problem of overfishing has been addressed by all sorts of complicated international agreements and treaties. But the movement of fish stocks is creating all sorts of political problems for the management of fisheries which could see the collapse of all previous agreements.
In the North Atlantic, between Norway and Iceland for example, there was an agreement to share the mackerel fishery, in what was called a “straddling stock” fishery. What happened was that the mackerel moved into the waters of Iceland and the sharing agreement didn’t apply anymore. (8:00 minutes)
It looks likely that this kind of thing will happen more and more. This is creating a temptation to tear up all international agreements over fish stock management and strip mine the fishery before it moves to your neighbors territory.
In West Africa. In Senegal the fishery is moving to the north and into the waters of Mauritania. The temptation for Senegal is to take as much as they can before they lose it.
The management of global fish stocks are being affected.
In the North Pacific the stock of pollock, (which is the biggest fishery in the world). The US Alaskan pollock fishery is moving gradually towards Russia. (9:00 minutes)
The question is, What will the US do, when their fishery moves into the waters of another country, and a political rival at that?
Some fish of course, are so adapted to their local environment, salinity, certain types of reef, or food source, of a certain kind, that they can’t move, these sorts of fisheries are just simply in decline. (7:00 minutes in.)
Many fish species will not make the change. In the tropics fisheries are moving away and won’t be replaced. As with other, effects of climate change, sea level rise, and storm surges, the cruelty of climate change will impact many people in the third world already hard hit by the other effects of climate change particularly hard.
Of course as well as absorbing the excess heat, the seas have also been absorbing a lot of the excess CO2, leading to acidification of the oceans. But that is a whole other kettle of fish.
In gwyn dyers book ‘climate wars’ he details the department of the US govt, created under bush the elder i think, that runs scenarios on the land version of this which would see huge population shift across borders in search of workable land and food.
The CIA has said for some time that climate change is the greatest threat to stability (i.e., no wars). Of course, whether that filters down into constructive political action is a roll of the dice.
As is my habit I don’t like to just lay out the problem. Though it may get me into trouble, I like to suggest solutions.
Climate Change is not something that will happen in the far future. It is happening now.
As we begin to witness the destruction and cruelties visited by climate change.
New Zealand has a role to play, maybe a major one.
The problems are obvious the need to act is immediate.
This requires leadership. As in 1939 as the world witnessed the cruelties visited by fascism. It required just one island country to stand up and say, “no more”. “We will fight”.
In France which had one of biggest armies in Europe and would have well been able to stop the Nazis. There was not that same leadership. French Prime MinisterPetain who had been a military hero in the First world war, capitulated to the Nazis without a fight.
We are a global witness to the cruelties visited by climate change. We need a Churchill and not a Petain. We don’t need a leader who was a hero in the UN but is now a silent calculating political collaborator with the supporters of climate change. Preparing to surrender over deep sea oil drilling and major coal mine expansion.
To face the threat of climate change the country needs a Churchill not a Petain. Could David Cunliffe be that Churchill?
Maybe.
So far David Cunliffe is the only Labour parliamentarian to properly address the threat posed by climate change.
Like Churchill, Cunliffe has been banished to the back seats for his pains.
He should not let this silence him.
The leader is not the one who has the title, the leader is the one who gives the lead.
If he wants to lead, he needs to show it. David Cunliffe needs to start speaking out now on the biggest threat humanity has faced since fascism.
Churchill spent 10 years in the wilderness. He never shut up about the dangers of fascism. Hopefully Cunliffe will only spend months on the back benches. But he needs to start speaking up now.
Responding to the lack of leadership at the top of his party, Winstone Churchill led from the back benches, David Cunliffe should start doing the same.
Cunliffe should not see his demotion from official leadership position as a setbback but as an opportunity to speak freely.
“Churchill’s efforts through the wilderness years had shown the importance of independent voices in a highly controlled political environment” (p8). Churchill, through his position, was able to bring concerns into the public arena that might otherwise have been drowned out in the mood of appeasement and pacifism of 1930s Britain.
(Dumped into moderation again, I see. I wonder if the censor will let me out?)
Jenny
So far it seems not. Oh well. Off to work. It is raining and dreary. I hope the rest of my day goes better and the censor has relented by the time I get back.
For those interested. The comment held back, is on leadership and climate change.
Climate change wars date back to 1967, probably much earlier.
Israeli government documents have been released that show the June 1967 Six Day War had been in the planning stages for years. Its goal was to control the Jordan River, Israel’s source of fresh water.
The Golan Heights are the source of the Jordan. Taking the West bank from Jordan gave them control of both sides of the river.
At the time there tons of propaganda about how the Arabs were threatening Israel and theirs were preventive first strikes. All pure b.s. It was planned as a war to secure water. They achieved their objective.
“It is understood Mr Shearer had been looking for a suitable political adviser for some time, and asked Mold to return because of concerns Labour was struggling with its political management since her departure.”
Has David Shearer got a mirror. “Labour was struggling with its political management since her departure….” This stubborn fool fails to have the self awareness that he is fucking up the hopes of the Left of getting rid of this abysmal John Key government. Clearly National have 3 strategies for growth 1) Earthquakes 2) Dairy farming (Commodities, no control) 3)Now they seem to have added Auckland Housing (this should eventually create a bubble that NZ managed to avoid in the first GFC).
You have to admit that although Shearer is absolutely hopeless he must be mentally tough because if I’d read as much criticism about myself has he has had to endure, I would be balling my eyes out lying in the fetal position. He is either mentally tough or he has John Keys narcissism and self confidence without his political ability…
This stubborn fool fails to have the self awareness that he is fucking up the hopes of the Left of getting rid of this abysmal John Key government.
Actually, he’s not – the people who still support Labour are. Yes, Shearer isn’t changing Labour but it’s the continued support for the party that keeps Shearer there.
Clearly National have 3 strategies for growth
4) Dig up and sell our scarce energy resources ASAP
John Key is at his lying best again, saying yesterday on morning tele regarding the Chch and Wgtn earthquakes and buildings ……. “akshully, if you look at Christchurch and the building code, the vast majority of buildings came through it well”
John Key is a lying pig.
In Christchurch CBD about 80% of the buildings have come down. That leaves 20% that have come through it well, far from a “vast majority”.
He just keeps making shit up as he goes. And the dipshits on the tele and radio keep letting him get away with these lies. They are useless.
vto, that statement of Key’s is just plain offensive. What do your fellow Cantabrian’s think of him?
Every time he addresses the nation with what is meant to be soothing sounds and reflective thoughts on life changing disaster (Pike River, CHCH earthquakes) he’s so insincere that he makes me want to vomit.
And recently when he spoke about the 6.5 here in Wellington, and Marlborough his face was saying “I couldn’t give a flying fuck, and Wellington, you’d be better off slipping into the sea anyway, your city is dying” and all that came out of his mouth was blah blah blah.
Man, I really wanted to throw a brick at the tele.
What do Cantabrians think of him? If you are in the west and blue-voting areas you will think he is grand. Your houses tiny wee cracks got repaired first (while the worst ones waited), your roads and infrastructure are fine, your house value is rising and there is employment coming out your ears.
If you are in the east you have simply given up completely on him and this government. Key doesn’t even come into ti anymore – the vote decision is already made for these people. The arsehole is gone-burger
The point of the building code is to save lives during an earthquake. We had two serious collapses, and lots of deaths from masonry and facades that didn’t meet the building code. It seems that the two buildings that collapsed didn’t properly meet the building code…
After everyone has evacuated safely, the building has done it’s job.
Um, that’s not what he was referring to Lanthanide.
That buildings stayed upright and allowed people to escape as per the building code is not the same matter as John Key stating that most buildings came through it well i.e. they are useable and safe post-earthquake. 80% of Chch CBD buildings are down because they are no longer useable or safe.
John Key plastered a deception on the country as it nervously looks at every single building in the land.
Hope all those building owners are out there securing their facades and verandahs today ……….
You’re saying John Key is deliberately deceiving everyone by claiming that buildings performed well in the sense that they didn’t fall over, when it is really quite obvious that a lot of buildings did fall over.
My suggestion is:
1. Key is conflating the idea of performing well as in not killing people with performing well as in not falling over.
2. Key is an idiot to do the above.
Don’t ascribe to malice that which is easily attributed to incompetence.
“Don’t ascribe to malice that which is easily attributed to incompetence.”
I think that’s generally a good rule of thumb but it does overlook the fact that much incompetence is the result of malice/disdain/complacency (over the interests of others)/negligence (of the interests of others)/etc.
The distinction is not that sharp. And that’s why people can say something misleading while claiming no deliberate lying.
The building code is performance based. IF buildings have performed tot he minimum standards of A to G or however many there are, then the Code has not “worked” rather the building has “performed” tot he minimum requirements of the Code.
People need to stop viewing codes and laws as setting the maximum standard of behaviour, it’s setting the minimum and people can construct buildings in excess of that if they choose. Strange in commercial buildings they rarely do.
There is a lot of construction in Christchurch that is in excess of code going on. It is driven by owners who do not want to have to deal with it all again – they want a building that will handle a quake and be useable again. These parts of a building are relatively small and easy to take above code.
It is driven by owners who do not want to have to deal with it all again
And a lot of them probably decided that after the quake and not before it. Beforehand they would have been building to minimum code and probably taking shortcuts to save money.
People need to stop viewing codes and laws as setting the maximum standard of behaviour, it’s setting the minimum and people can construct buildings in excess of that if they choose. Strange in commercial buildings they rarely do.
Which is why standards should be set at present maximum capabilities and increase as capabilities do.
yep but remember vto, Gerry Brownlee always had a scorched Earth policy – turn it into a carpark and start again. Demolish demolish demolish to a level ground – then get the developers in.
You’ll remember a couple of places were sacrosanct (eg the Arts Centre). Other than that – knock it ALL down – start again (City first).
None of ya try and preserve any sort of history (such as demolish to safe level and let something evolve where its on safe turf). He’d probably have let Fulton Hogan tarseal the lot if he could have got a reasonable price and his insurance mates had seen an earn it it all.
I wonder what’s he going to try and do with Wellington now. The approach won;t work here.
akshully, if you look at Christchurch and the building code, the vast majority of buildings came through it well
Well that’s fair enough insofar as the vast majority of buildings did not collapse and kill their occupants in the face of extremely large ground accelerations. Well beyond what the codes required and what they largely achieved. I’d call that “coming through it well”. The same quake in most other cities around the world would have resulted a death toll in the 10’s of thousands.
Of course you are also right that huge numbers of buildings were damaged beyond economic repair. That’s a related but largely different issue. No building code anywhere required or anticipated that.
The real problem has been the failure of the EQC, originally set up in 1945 in the wake of a number of major quakes, Napier, Buller, Masterton. The lesson learnt from this experience was that the private insurance industry is inherently unable to cope with events of this scale. A lesson subsequent governments proceeded to completely forget.
Why shouldn’t he? Hes a born and bred NZer as much as anyone here and if thats how he thinks then thats his choice, don’t like then wait another 4 years and you’ll be able to change it.
Santi would be saying the same thing about cunliffe if the vote had gone the other way. Anything to make the chicken littles flutter and squawk in a delightful way…
No, McFlock, I wouldn’t.
I know David Shearer is the leader who will make victory possible next year. More time and eloquence is all he needs. I just know.
Skanky is a broken record – can see him/her guffawing his/her tits off every time the same masterSTROKE is delivered – “I just LOVE David Shearer ” – (thinks……) “Ha……fucked them up again…….my cunning plan is working !”
It’s the basic authoritarianism in him. Authoritarians look up to people with titles such as King and Queen. I read an article many years ago about how surprisingly much USians were in awe of the British royal family – this was especially noted in richer families. The richer families were even going out and buying British titles.
The sickening rush of fawning over this birth of one who will spend a life of luxury paid for off of the backs of the working people of Britain has my TV on the endangered species list,
At the least there should be ‘naming rights’ given to the people who will pay for this ones life long idyll of excess by dint of the luck of being born into that particular family,
For the Princely(spit) little fella i pick the name Sponge, arise Sir Sponge to take your un-earned place of wealth and fame paid for off of the backs of British labor…
Primitive Primate Bullying again John Key is an atheist by his own admission!
Felix is saying is Key got his hand up from our welfare state (which is a reflection of kiwis caring and sharing team playing egalitarian society)!
Now after taking all the advantages of our society he is in charge of helping destroy our heritage!
Hitlers mother was a jew as well as Austrian!
As for not belonging, I mean he doesn’t appear to share the values usually credited to the NZ way of life (broad though they may be.)
He left this country as soon as he could, and only came back to live in a walled palace. He leaves whenever he has the chance and spends as much time overseas as he can in the places he feels at more at home.
When he is here – and this is the important bit – he spends his time trying to transform NZ into a place more like those places he has chosen to spend most of his life.
He continually negotiates away our independence and sovereignty in favour of the interests of foreign and international capital.
He is not on our side of anything. His needs are not our needs. His problems are not our problems. His goals are not our goals.
That’s what I mean. Alternately I could have just meant he’s a Jew.
From your original bile spit, one could only assume that the reason that you thought the Royals didn’t belong here was because they are British thus it was a natural inference to believe that your objection to John Key being here was race based as well.
Did you belong in New York, monkeyboy? No. Because you trashed the place. Even if you’d been born in the NYC zoo, you’d still have trashed the place. You obviously didn’t belong there.
I googled stuff.co.nz just now (I admit that is not a very scientific analysis of the veracity of the claim) and just found the reporting on English and the finger pointing.
I Emailed the Editor about it And he said it was Untrue. So I did comment that I then expected to see an honest critique of Professor Wades Lectures/Speeches. And to that, there was no reply, and I haven’t seen anything anywhere else either, maybe I’m not looking in the right places.
Good on you David H. Though I’m not surprised you didn’t hear back from the stuffed editor, and your second point. They come across as quite arrogant if challenged or questioned about their ‘work’. Thanks for the tip about the non destructive brick!
Hi Rosie. My Pleasure, if you cant get a brick I do know they make a Hammer with the sound effects, My son gets annoyed when I pinch it to hit the TV with, but he’s learning that when ever Key is on TV, bang there goes his little Hammer.
Have just had a read of the Mana Party Housing Policy being put forward by John Minto, it ticks all the boxes with policy to drive out of the housing market all the Speculators/Investors which is where fully 50% of present ‘demand’ in the Auckland housing market lies,
Along with such moves which would guarantee a large reduction on the demand side of ‘the market’ Mana is also proposing ‘fixing’ the amount of rent that can be charged on any particular dwelling,along with having the building of 20,000 Council owned rental units well under way in the first term of a Mana Mayoralty,
As far as a comprehensive housing policy goes,(there’s a lot more of it than i have mentioned above), this so far from all political party’s on a national level would be the most comprehensive and ensure affordable rental accommodation for all those unable to ever afford home ownership,
i hope the Mana candidate John Minto does well in the Auckland Mayoralty contest, although i would have to stretch my imagination by an extreme extent,(unfortunately), to suggest that He could triumph in this contest,
Mana tho has recently broached the 1% party vote to figure in the Roy Morgan Poll and i am now re-considering where my party vote will go in 2014 as 1.2% of the party vote may be all that Mana need to gain another MP via their party list…
i am afraid that as usual you don’t have a clue what your talking about, have i suggested anywhere that i will be voting in the Auckland Mayoral elections,
i would have to be really ‘spethul’ should i be allowed to do such as you obviously havn’t noticed that i reside in Wellington,
i would pick John Minto gaining 2-3000 votes in the Auckland Mayoral election and a lot of extra publicity for the Mana Party simply by dint of having stood in that particular contest,
The Mana Party’s share of the party vote after the recent by election in Parekura’s old stomping ground has risen to 1% and the Auckland Mayoral election will raise their profile further, thus a strong campaign by John Minto may just be the impetus at the 2014 election to push Mana over 1.2% of the party vote and allow Minto to enter the Parliament on the Mana Party list…
I was referring to your vote in the next general election. Minto is a no-show with little chance.
That’s democracy: go ahead and waste your vote. New Zealand will thank you.
Nice ‘slither’ sideways, i wont bother making any accusation that your a liar, support of Slippery the current Prime Minister tho is tantamount to an admission…
Santi you are a great motivator of the left.Minto is a firebrand personality at least he bring issues to the fore while he may not get many votes other candidates will benefit from his activism!
um, by your “logic” anyone who doesn’t vote for the “winning team” has wasted their vote? Do you really see the future of our country as a game to be won and lost. Your na-na-na-na-na attitude is scarey.
A good point, here in the Otaki electorate there is a dearth of votable stock I have absolutely no clue who even sat here in 08, I just ticked the usual red boxes. Well not this time, Maybe a mp vote Legalise Cannabis, and Party vote Mana. I do like what they are saying on a wide range of things.
i am picking the 2014 election to be as ‘tight’ as 2011, it may well come down to 1 or 2 MP’s and i also pick the Maori Party not to be present in the next Parliament,
My heart says i should stick with the Green Party, BUT, my head says that if Mana can maintain it’s 1% of polling in the Roy Morgan into 2014 AND the Green Party holds it’s present level of support then a vote for Mana is DEFINTELY NOT wasted,
It will only take 1.2% of support for Mana to gain a list MP off of the back of Hone Harawira holding onto Te Tai Tokerau AND, i pick Te Ururoa Flavell’s Waiariki seat to be 50/50 between Labour and the Mana Party,
To me the numbers say there is a good chance of having in the next Parliament a 3 seat bloc of Mana Party MP’s and a ‘strategic’ party vote or two for that party could be the difference in who forms the next Government…
I think Mana are poised well at this stage of the cycle. The key will be to overcome the innate fear that some have that it is a narrow focus party and sadly I think that fear comes from people’s personal prejudice and distrust (because they believe the memes, think they know the history of this country and have bought into the othering of Māori). I’m hopeful that that will be overcome for many because the truth is that poverty and deprivation can, and do, affect anyone regardless of their supposed ‘colour’. Equality, leadership and principles are what we need and those qualities are human qualities not based upon ethnicity.
Aha, i am not sure of the strength of Mana in Wellington, among young Maori i know that the Maori Party ‘sellout’ has retarded their political development,
i will, this afternoon after i have done my stint in the garden have a look online with a view to offering Mana a bit of on the ground support going into 2014…
You might be right about the support level of Mana, but could you see Shearer forming a working relationship with Mana? I can’t. He’d rather coalesce with National. In fact I can see that coming quite easily if there is no other majority (one that doesn’t include Mana).
If you think labour could “coalesce with national”, they’ve a much bigger identity issue than shearer. And I don’t just mean a couple of other mps in caucus.
There are plenty of people in Mana that would be totally opposed to their party doing any sort of a deal with the right wing Labour Party under any circumstances simply because there is no reason to suppose a Labour government would be an improvement on the present lot.
Unless you count having a nicer flavour of rhetoric and murmuring sweet nothings to the people at the bottom as they put the boot into them as being an improvement.
Thats unless they are different to every Labour govt since 1984 of course.
Augustus, i will assume you are a National Party voter,(Lolz if so i expect your next comment to be along the lines of a ‘wasted vote’),
Mana has and does support Labour in it’s voting pattern in the House, until today when i read the Mana Party housing policy i had yet to see Mana proposing anything much that was not Labour policy until 1984 and is Green party policy at present,
Mana have no time as far as i can ascertain for grandiose neo-housing schemes that target pathways for the children of today’s middle class to climb upon the ‘property ladder’ thus becoming tomorrow part of what has caused the housing un-affordability of today,
Mana appear to favor the housing solution that stood our parents in good stead and provided affordable housing to a generation of kiwi-kids,(including Slippery the Prime minister), HousingNZ rentals rented to tenants on the basis of the most Need and not the most Greed,
These are the 3 policy areas i would expect a strengthened Mana party to base it’s negotiations with Labour upon after the 2014 election,
(1), 5000 new state houses a year for every year of coalition with Labour,
(2), The ‘living wage’ to be achieved in the first term of such a coalition, and, a rise in that living wage to be negotiated every year after that,
(3), the children of beneficiaries to be included in the working for families tax scheme and/or a comprehensive food in schools program,
That’s hardly an over the top wish list, to me it’s simply practical workable socialism which as it’s grown into being middle class along with it’s voter base Labour seems to have forgotten,
LOLZ, the Labour Party in coalition with National, your wet dream is it???…
Short explaination is that a baby was born premmy (just 27 weeks!) in China.
– her parents are not allowed to visit more than once a day
– parents pay for all her needs (I assume that means doctors as well…Dr’s in China are cheaper, but they are not free!)
– they don’t speak Chinese so I imagine this is very distressing
– they are asking for donations to get her flown home.
– baby is a girl. Will this mean she is given lower priority? I don’t know.
Worse than that, it will take the NZ embassy 2 months (!) to process the documentation for this NZ Citizen to be allowed into NZ. There is no reason for this, bring her back, get her treated here where the family is and sort out the details later.
Its only as mental as the wank fest autonomous collective that you chaps espouse
[lprent: Yes we do pride ourselves on being independent. I am glad that you understand that at least.
But we know that slavish little mouthpieces for the great coalition of the stupid like yourself would view autonomy as being something to denigrate.
In other words you would have been particularly moronic today. However your cellphone or tablet is more intelligent than the monkey trying to “run” it. ]
Since you have been telling us what a great leader Shearer is to lead Labour to victory, I want to make my recommendations for National.
Gerry Brownlee is the ideal replacement when Key retires. To smash Labour’s grip on so many Maori voters and get lots of women’s votes, put Hekia Parata as deputy. If not Hekia, try Anne Tolley. Anne is fantastic! I guarantee you she will be a great vote getter.
What a packet of assorted nuts you have produced there Mr Blomfield. You do have some voting options though. Maybe the Libertarian Party if they’re still around, ACT comes to mind. On the other hand if you want to see GST gone, as I do, you can always vote Mana, but somehow I don’t think it will be your style.
Corporates won’t rule the world, most corporates are dying on the vine. Sears, International Harvester. As the population is impoverished so are all real businesses.
Truth Is Corporates will rule the world real soon but you guys will think it was on ‘Your Terms”
It does not say much about your sanity, Rosie.
What woman in control of her own faculties would ever vote Mana, the party of the hopeless loser, the violent Harawhira? No way, Jose.
Lol you panties. Where did you see me say I was voting Mana? It was my suggestion to the commenter above seeing as he wants to see GST abolished, but as I suspected it wasn’t his style.
I’m a Green voter but I like Mana too, so who knows, by next year I might even end up voting for them. Anything can happen.
And my faculties are doing just fine thanks. Not sure about yours though, thinking that Shearer is safe (at 11.1)
Not only safe, but without doubt the Labour leader at the next election, who will lead to victory. The Labour Caucus will see to it.
As per the Greens, their radical influence has damaged David S. Norman was too close, but wait over the coming weeks for the efforts to distance Labour from the Green Party. It will pay off.
[lprent: Yes we all know after weeks of it that one of the nuttiest of the RWNJ’s is purportedly David Shearers biggest supporter on this site, and that you have the ability to repeat yourself endlessly like a small child. However I’m bored with this trolling now – it has long since degenerated into astroturfing.
If I see you even hint at it again then you won’t be commenting here until AFTER the election. Now I realise this will cramp your style a bit because you will now have to think and even imagine on every comment how I could possibly construe it as a RWNJ supporting David Shearer because they want another government of the right. But that was why I let this go on for so long. It is going to be amusing seeing how good your atrophied imagination can regenerate… 😈 ]
A better option (just as a start) would be to repeal every piece of legislation since October 2008. Then begin from there.
Oh – hang on …. ONE News – YOUR news has just started. I’ll get back to you. I need a laugh
“Labour are losing votes to National, and they’ve lost them during the period of time in which the GCSB bill was introduced and the Sky-City deal signed off. They should be winning, not losing. Shearer has responded by replacing his Chief of Staff with Fran Mold, his former press secretary, and Labour’s MPs are leaking to the gallery that his leadership is under threat if he doesn’t reverse this downward trend.”
An incomplete analysis.
David S.’s staff change will reverse the trend and lead to shore up his position. He is safe.
He might feel safe , except that a lot of New Zealanders won’t vote for him , no matter what his support staff….(See Chris Trotter on Shearer’s massive PR and media campaign build up…way more than Cunliffe’s and way more than any other Labour MPs….makes you suspicious.)
It is not that Shearer lacks support…..It is that he is not up to inspiring the ordinary NZ voter to vote for him….
The only Labour leader who can face Key in the ring and beat him is David Cunliffe…..
The rank and file Labour members should rise up and demand a real democratic grassroots vote on the leadership of the Labour Party. It is their party …not David Shearer’s..
(.And the Labour Party does not belong to any of the other Rogernom failures, plotters or ‘boy’s club’ contender, wanna bes…
Key says it’s not a matter of a U-Turn of convenience, courting Peters, but a matter of principle – because, according to Mr Slippery, Kiwis don’t want a Labour-Green government.
What’s so sad is not that Key is behaving entirely in character (principles? ha!) but that so many people believed him before … and will now perform gymnastics to justify his lies now.
Got to go, got a million quotes to dig up from the last 5 years …
So key is all over the news. Being spoonfed by P. . rick Gower. In the street looking like a …….world leader….not! Telling NZ what he thinks they should be thinking. One thing about it, he’s certainly getting uglier. And Shearer gets a to speak for about 5 seconds. We all know that who is in the news the most, especially always in a positive light is the one getting the most traction in peoples minds. It happened in the last election and will happen again in the next election unless Labour can get decent honest coverage. I don’t necessarily think that Cunliffe is the answer. It’s bad enough key shouting and screaming in Parliament without Labour lowering themselves to keys level.
I read that the Maori translation for John is Hone. So that would be HoneKey
so 24 million for the novapay debacle and 38 million for that strange boat race….hmmm what could this country do with 62 million?????? oh yes then we have that money spent on private schools especially special ed funding so that rich kids get help with their exams that others don’t….feeling incrediably pissed off @#$%^^&&
Note: It takes a privately owned TV station to produce a documentary about one of our most famous NZers (and former PM) while the state sponsored station ignores her completely in favour of dumbed down crap and mock current affairs programmes fronted by ego-stroking Nat. Party biased half-wits.
I know what Key does when hes quietly pissed , he gets a rubberband and sees how far he can stretch it and when he gets sober he’ll lie that he was doing something else
To win the next election Labour will have to stick the boot into national everyday because that is what it will take to get rid of 5yrs of fascism which is what this national govt is
The Gormless Fool Formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrel 19.1
KK always reverting to primitive instincts!
civilized behavior has passed a Neanderthal like completely by!
Given your size King Kong that makes you the worlds biggest Dick!
Better to pay NZ workers and keep the money going round within the system, ‘trickling down’ or expanding the multiplier effect in the country, than to pay imported workers and have money draining out of NZ.
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 ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
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 English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. 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 ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
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. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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 ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
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Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
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Opinion: PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a class of thousands of man-made chemicals used widely in everyday consumer items such as textiles, packaging, and cookware, popular for their water, grease and stain-repellent properties. However, the very properties that make PFAS so attractive to manufacturers are also what ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)’ This is the hottest book in New Zealand, number one with a bullet in its first week, selling more than any overseas title, and demand is so huge that it’s already been reprinted. A ...
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There has been a lots of reports recently about how the oceans have been acting as a heat sink for all the excess heat in the atmosphere caused by global warming. This heat sink effect has slowed the rise in temperature of the atmosphere. But what has been the affect in the oceans?
Warmer water holds less oxygen. The tropics are actually extreme environments for fish. Though tropical waters support many brilliant and exotic species, When it comes to actual biomass. The biomass density of the tropics are not anything like the huge marine biomass supported by the oxygen rich cold waters of the temperate and polar regions.
A study carried out by the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia and published in the prestigious Nature magazine, has revealed that fish are on the move, away from warmer waters, to colder waters.
French Scientist Daniel Pauly, project leader for the study is interviewed by Kathryn Ryan.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2563045/fish-move-as-oceans-warm
In the past the problem of overfishing has been addressed by all sorts of complicated international agreements and treaties. But the movement of fish stocks is creating all sorts of political problems for the management of fisheries which could see the collapse of all previous agreements.
In the North Atlantic, between Norway and Iceland for example, there was an agreement to share the mackerel fishery, in what was called a “straddling stock” fishery. What happened was that the mackerel moved into the waters of Iceland and the sharing agreement didn’t apply anymore. (8:00 minutes)
It looks likely that this kind of thing will happen more and more. This is creating a temptation to tear up all international agreements over fish stock management and strip mine the fishery before it moves to your neighbors territory.
In West Africa. In Senegal the fishery is moving to the north and into the waters of Mauritania. The temptation for Senegal is to take as much as they can before they lose it.
The management of global fish stocks are being affected.
In the North Pacific the stock of pollock, (which is the biggest fishery in the world). The US Alaskan pollock fishery is moving gradually towards Russia. (9:00 minutes)
The question is, What will the US do, when their fishery moves into the waters of another country, and a political rival at that?
Some fish of course, are so adapted to their local environment, salinity, certain types of reef, or food source, of a certain kind, that they can’t move, these sorts of fisheries are just simply in decline. (7:00 minutes in.)
Many fish species will not make the change. In the tropics fisheries are moving away and won’t be replaced. As with other, effects of climate change, sea level rise, and storm surges, the cruelty of climate change will impact many people in the third world already hard hit by the other effects of climate change particularly hard.
Of course as well as absorbing the excess heat, the seas have also been absorbing a lot of the excess CO2, leading to acidification of the oceans. But that is a whole other kettle of fish.
In gwyn dyers book ‘climate wars’ he details the department of the US govt, created under bush the elder i think, that runs scenarios on the land version of this which would see huge population shift across borders in search of workable land and food.
And the US response? A massive homeland security apparatus.
The CIA has said for some time that climate change is the greatest threat to stability (i.e., no wars). Of course, whether that filters down into constructive political action is a roll of the dice.
As is my habit I don’t like to just lay out the problem. Though it may get me into trouble, I like to suggest solutions.
Climate Change is not something that will happen in the far future. It is happening now.
As we begin to witness the destruction and cruelties visited by climate change.
New Zealand has a role to play, maybe a major one.
The problems are obvious the need to act is immediate.
This requires leadership. As in 1939 as the world witnessed the cruelties visited by fascism. It required just one island country to stand up and say, “no more”. “We will fight”.
In France which had one of biggest armies in Europe and would have well been able to stop the Nazis. There was not that same leadership. French Prime MinisterPetain who had been a military hero in the First world war, capitulated to the Nazis without a fight.
We are a global witness to the cruelties visited by climate change. We need a Churchill and not a Petain. We don’t need a leader who was a hero in the UN but is now a silent calculating political collaborator with the supporters of climate change. Preparing to surrender over deep sea oil drilling and major coal mine expansion.
To face the threat of climate change the country needs a Churchill not a Petain. Could David Cunliffe be that Churchill?
Maybe.
So far David Cunliffe is the only Labour parliamentarian to properly address the threat posed by climate change.
http://www.labour.org.nz/news/speech-the-dolphin-and-the-dole-queue
Like Churchill, Cunliffe has been banished to the back seats for his pains.
He should not let this silence him.
The leader is not the one who has the title, the leader is the one who gives the lead.
If he wants to lead, he needs to show it. David Cunliffe needs to start speaking out now on the biggest threat humanity has faced since fascism.
Churchill spent 10 years in the wilderness. He never shut up about the dangers of fascism. Hopefully Cunliffe will only spend months on the back benches. But he needs to start speaking up now.
Responding to the lack of leadership at the top of his party, Winstone Churchill led from the back benches, David Cunliffe should start doing the same.
Cunliffe should not see his demotion from official leadership position as a setbback but as an opportunity to speak freely.
(Dumped into moderation again, I see. I wonder if the censor will let me out?)
So far it seems not. Oh well. Off to work. It is raining and dreary. I hope the rest of my day goes better and the censor has relented by the time I get back.
For those interested. The comment held back, is on leadership and climate change.
Censorship? You kid yourself about the responses of a machine.
Jenny, I think it is the amount of coffee you drink in the morning – it is hard to compete and puts us – mere mortals – in the shade.
Who was it that said brevity is the soul of wit ?
Polonius in Hamlet – giving advice to Hamlet.
The irony is that Polonius was in the midst of a long exposition.
He [the character] had other good quotes: “Neither a lender nor a borrower be”; “To thine own self be true”.
You must be referring to that well-known Tudor propagandist who was trying to forestall a Plantagenet revival ..
That would be the one 🙂
Jenny the use of the word that describes the ruling party in Germany during the second world war causes the machine to dump you into moderation.
+ 1 Jenny Thanks
Cunliffe is the only one with the intellect and the integrity
I tend to agree ..
Climate change wars date back to 1967, probably much earlier.
Israeli government documents have been released that show the June 1967 Six Day War had been in the planning stages for years. Its goal was to control the Jordan River, Israel’s source of fresh water.
The Golan Heights are the source of the Jordan. Taking the West bank from Jordan gave them control of both sides of the river.
At the time there tons of propaganda about how the Arabs were threatening Israel and theirs were preventive first strikes. All pure b.s. It was planned as a war to secure water. They achieved their objective.
“It is understood Mr Shearer had been looking for a suitable political adviser for some time, and asked Mold to return because of concerns Labour was struggling with its political management since her departure.”
Excerpt from Claire Trevett this morning.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10902145
Has David Shearer got a mirror. “Labour was struggling with its political management since her departure….” This stubborn fool fails to have the self awareness that he is fucking up the hopes of the Left of getting rid of this abysmal John Key government. Clearly National have 3 strategies for growth 1) Earthquakes 2) Dairy farming (Commodities, no control) 3)Now they seem to have added Auckland Housing (this should eventually create a bubble that NZ managed to avoid in the first GFC).
You have to admit that although Shearer is absolutely hopeless he must be mentally tough because if I’d read as much criticism about myself has he has had to endure, I would be balling my eyes out lying in the fetal position. He is either mentally tough or he has John Keys narcissism and self confidence without his political ability…
“he must be mentally tough”
All politicians are made of stern stuff, they have to be, because they’re never going to please everyone all the time.
Also, he probably just doesn’t read any of it; he claims not to read blogs remember.
Actually I think they were struggling while she was still there too… 2011 result and all.
That roof painter thing was a PR masterstroke
I thought that came from John Pagani.
I know its a crappy Herald online poll but even so 71% of people say that changing Shearer’s chief of staff won’t make any difference. (Today’s NZH)
Actually, he’s not – the people who still support Labour are. Yes, Shearer isn’t changing Labour but it’s the continued support for the party that keeps Shearer there.
4) Dig up and sell our scarce energy resources ASAP
John Key is at his lying best again, saying yesterday on morning tele regarding the Chch and Wgtn earthquakes and buildings ……. “akshully, if you look at Christchurch and the building code, the vast majority of buildings came through it well”
John Key is a lying pig.
In Christchurch CBD about 80% of the buildings have come down. That leaves 20% that have come through it well, far from a “vast majority”.
He just keeps making shit up as he goes. And the dipshits on the tele and radio keep letting him get away with these lies. They are useless.
vto, that statement of Key’s is just plain offensive. What do your fellow Cantabrian’s think of him?
Every time he addresses the nation with what is meant to be soothing sounds and reflective thoughts on life changing disaster (Pike River, CHCH earthquakes) he’s so insincere that he makes me want to vomit.
And recently when he spoke about the 6.5 here in Wellington, and Marlborough his face was saying “I couldn’t give a flying fuck, and Wellington, you’d be better off slipping into the sea anyway, your city is dying” and all that came out of his mouth was blah blah blah.
Man, I really wanted to throw a brick at the tele.
What do Cantabrians think of him? If you are in the west and blue-voting areas you will think he is grand. Your houses tiny wee cracks got repaired first (while the worst ones waited), your roads and infrastructure are fine, your house value is rising and there is employment coming out your ears.
If you are in the east you have simply given up completely on him and this government. Key doesn’t even come into ti anymore – the vote decision is already made for these people. The arsehole is gone-burger
Buy a Kiddies stuffed brick, it’s quite soothing to throw it at the TV. if your lucky it will have sound effects ie glass breaking.
Man, in my dreams I really want to throw a brick at Key. A large one with very sharp edges. 🙂
[lprent: Don’t care if it is in your dreams or not – keep your more violent fantasies to yourself. 😈 ]
Apologies. A rather silly quip.
Um, he’s actually right, vto.
The point of the building code is to save lives during an earthquake. We had two serious collapses, and lots of deaths from masonry and facades that didn’t meet the building code. It seems that the two buildings that collapsed didn’t properly meet the building code…
After everyone has evacuated safely, the building has done it’s job.
That’s bullshit.
If your house had been knocked down would you say it had “come through it well”?
If I had happened to be in it at the time, I’d be glad it didn’t collapse on my head, yes.
Ideally the building remains structurally sound, even after a 6.5 magnitude.
Um, that’s not what he was referring to Lanthanide.
That buildings stayed upright and allowed people to escape as per the building code is not the same matter as John Key stating that most buildings came through it well i.e. they are useable and safe post-earthquake. 80% of Chch CBD buildings are down because they are no longer useable or safe.
John Key plastered a deception on the country as it nervously looks at every single building in the land.
Hope all those building owners are out there securing their facades and verandahs today ……….
You’re saying John Key is deliberately deceiving everyone by claiming that buildings performed well in the sense that they didn’t fall over, when it is really quite obvious that a lot of buildings did fall over.
My suggestion is:
1. Key is conflating the idea of performing well as in not killing people with performing well as in not falling over.
2. Key is an idiot to do the above.
Don’t ascribe to malice that which is easily attributed to incompetence.
To Key I ascribe incompetence, slackness and malice. In equal proportions.
“Don’t ascribe to malice that which is easily attributed to incompetence.”
I think that’s generally a good rule of thumb but it does overlook the fact that much incompetence is the result of malice/disdain/complacency (over the interests of others)/negligence (of the interests of others)/etc.
The distinction is not that sharp. And that’s why people can say something misleading while claiming no deliberate lying.
Exactly.
I can’t believe people are still falling for Key’s style of non-specific lying.
The building code is performance based. IF buildings have performed tot he minimum standards of A to G or however many there are, then the Code has not “worked” rather the building has “performed” tot he minimum requirements of the Code.
People need to stop viewing codes and laws as setting the maximum standard of behaviour, it’s setting the minimum and people can construct buildings in excess of that if they choose. Strange in commercial buildings they rarely do.
There is a lot of construction in Christchurch that is in excess of code going on. It is driven by owners who do not want to have to deal with it all again – they want a building that will handle a quake and be useable again. These parts of a building are relatively small and easy to take above code.
And a lot of them probably decided that after the quake and not before it. Beforehand they would have been building to minimum code and probably taking shortcuts to save money.
Which is why standards should be set at present maximum capabilities and increase as capabilities do.
My sentiments, exactly.
yep but remember vto, Gerry Brownlee always had a scorched Earth policy – turn it into a carpark and start again. Demolish demolish demolish to a level ground – then get the developers in.
You’ll remember a couple of places were sacrosanct (eg the Arts Centre). Other than that – knock it ALL down – start again (City first).
None of ya try and preserve any sort of history (such as demolish to safe level and let something evolve where its on safe turf). He’d probably have let Fulton Hogan tarseal the lot if he could have got a reasonable price and his insurance mates had seen an earn it it all.
I wonder what’s he going to try and do with Wellington now. The approach won;t work here.
akshully, if you look at Christchurch and the building code, the vast majority of buildings came through it well
Well that’s fair enough insofar as the vast majority of buildings did not collapse and kill their occupants in the face of extremely large ground accelerations. Well beyond what the codes required and what they largely achieved. I’d call that “coming through it well”. The same quake in most other cities around the world would have resulted a death toll in the 10’s of thousands.
Of course you are also right that huge numbers of buildings were damaged beyond economic repair. That’s a related but largely different issue. No building code anywhere required or anticipated that.
The real problem has been the failure of the EQC, originally set up in 1945 in the wake of a number of major quakes, Napier, Buller, Masterton. The lesson learnt from this experience was that the private insurance industry is inherently unable to cope with events of this scale. A lesson subsequent governments proceeded to completely forget.
Governments seem real good at forgetting lessons learned from the past if doing so benefits their corporate benefactors.
Yeah mate its about time someone took the little shit out the back for a good thrashing, thats about what he deserves
“Future King of New Zealand”?
Get fucked John Key, you don’t even belong here yourself.
Why not, number 2 ?
And he couldn’t help himself be a smarmy prick by welcoming the “future king of New Zealand”: yesterday.
Where did our child of an Austrian immigrant get such royalist sycophancy from?
The realisation that 50mil just dosent cut it in the circles ,Sir John Key wants to move in.
I never got a clear answer on this, its NZ$50M, or is it US$50M?
If its the former its a bit weak, if its the latter, its maybe middling
The figure 50m, was chosen as part of the back story, and is a fabrication!
Why shouldn’t he? Hes a born and bred NZer as much as anyone here and if thats how he thinks then thats his choice, don’t like then wait another 4 years and you’ll be able to change it.
4 years? 4 long, long years? I despair.
I’m counting on David Shearer to be the next PM. Go David, go.
I really love your optimistic outlook on life.
Santi would be saying the same thing about cunliffe if the vote had gone the other way. Anything to make the chicken littles flutter and squawk in a delightful way…
No, McFlock, I wouldn’t.
I know David Shearer is the leader who will make victory possible next year. More time and eloquence is all he needs. I just know.
I congratulate you. Your wall of sarcasm is impenetrable. You haven’t let it slip in ages.
Christ Santi!!! it’s almost like the hero worship is getting to sugar-daddy level
Skanky is a broken record – can see him/her guffawing his/her tits off every time the same masterSTROKE is delivered – “I just LOVE David Shearer ” – (thinks……) “Ha……fucked them up again…….my cunning plan is working !”
Yawn yawn Skanky.
He even remembered the prince on the lawn with a buzzy bee but cant for the life of himself recall if he was pro or anti springbok tour…
I just wondered how a child of his background became so royalist
It’s the basic authoritarianism in him. Authoritarians look up to people with titles such as King and Queen. I read an article many years ago about how surprisingly much USians were in awe of the British royal family – this was especially noted in richer families. The richer families were even going out and buying British titles.
+1. He’d better hope he gets that knighthood before there’s a change in government.
The sickening rush of fawning over this birth of one who will spend a life of luxury paid for off of the backs of the working people of Britain has my TV on the endangered species list,
At the least there should be ‘naming rights’ given to the people who will pay for this ones life long idyll of excess by dint of the luck of being born into that particular family,
For the Princely(spit) little fella i pick the name Sponge, arise Sir Sponge to take your un-earned place of wealth and fame paid for off of the backs of British labor…
You may find this interesting
The True Cost of the Royal Family Explained:
So what???, does the average unemployed Brit get 40 million pound a year, free world travel and various other perks,
Shove the whole bludging lot of them into some flats in the tower blocks of an English housing estate and pay them all the dole,
The Soprano’s of great Britain living off of the proceeds of the families previous crimes is as kind as what i can get…
Sorry, but if you had the people of the UK vote on your proposal, it would be defeated 3:1.
Dont follow the royals at all, dont care either way, but arent the two boys in the military.
There better be more to this story Brett. Come on, don’t leave us hanging.
I mean they’re not just hanging around the palace, eating big chicken wings, cutting their wifes heads off, like the old days.
Arent they actually working, like I said I dont follow the royals much.
But i wouldnt like to be one, to have no privacy etc etc.
So do you reckon everyone who manages to not cut their spouse’s head off should be getting 40 million a year on the dole?
Or everyone who serves a few years in the air force gets a palace?
I can’t see that working out.
on the dole?
If the Royals charged the State for everything they earned the State they would get three times as much ‘support” as they do now.
Royalty is a massive industry.
lols. If they’re such a profit centre then privatise them.
The state has no reason to be in the royalty business.
They do pretty well on their own by this account:
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/royal-family-uk-taxpayers/
Right on Felix. Fucking Jews, eh?
(I presume thats what you were referring to when you said John Key doesn’t belong here. I can’t think of any other reason)
Primitive Primate Bullying again John Key is an atheist by his own admission!
Felix is saying is Key got his hand up from our welfare state (which is a reflection of kiwis caring and sharing team playing egalitarian society)!
Now after taking all the advantages of our society he is in charge of helping destroy our heritage!
Hitlers mother was a jew as well as Austrian!
KK I should get the Iron cross for my services to irony
Why do you presume that and why would you even be thinking it?
I love it when bigots out themselves by assuming everyone thinks they way they do.
Why does KK think it makes sense to say someone doesn’t belong here if they’re Jewish?
Is Key actually Jewish? Does it matter? Does anyone (apart from n@zis) care if he is?
What a strange thing for a monkey to be concerned with.
I don’t like Key’s politics either but I don’t know what you meant by your comment about him not belonging here ?
Perhaps you should clarify to calm the baboon down.
I’m not responsible for the emotions of baboons.
As for not belonging, I mean he doesn’t appear to share the values usually credited to the NZ way of life (broad though they may be.)
He left this country as soon as he could, and only came back to live in a walled palace. He leaves whenever he has the chance and spends as much time overseas as he can in the places he feels at more at home.
When he is here – and this is the important bit – he spends his time trying to transform NZ into a place more like those places he has chosen to spend most of his life.
He continually negotiates away our independence and sovereignty in favour of the interests of foreign and international capital.
He is not on our side of anything. His needs are not our needs. His problems are not our problems. His goals are not our goals.
That’s what I mean. Alternately I could have just meant he’s a Jew.
See, there you go. It may have taken 24 hours but you thought of something in the end.
🙄 It wasn’t me who leapt to the conclusion that Jews don’t belong in NZ you horrible bigot.
I was never in any doubt about what I said, and I’m still in no doubt that you won’t understand it.
KK I’m not surprised you can’t think of any other reason. You stopped at the reason that makes sense to you.
It’s not one that even crossed my mind.
From your original bile spit, one could only assume that the reason that you thought the Royals didn’t belong here was because they are British thus it was a natural inference to believe that your objection to John Key being here was race based as well.
Being Jewish isn’t a racial characteristic. Silly Monkey.
“From your original bile spit, one could only assume that the reason that you thought the Royals didn’t belong here was because they are British”
If you were a complete thickie – which seems to be the case – that might well be the only reason you could come up with.
“thus it was a natural inference to believe that your objection to John Key being here was race based as well.
Yes, that piece of idiocy follows perfectly from your first piece of idiocy. Doesn’t make it true though.
Have an apple.
I notice you still haven’t mentioned what it was you were basing your eviction order on yet.
Just saying.
Did you belong in New York, monkeyboy? No. Because you trashed the place. Even if you’d been born in the NYC zoo, you’d still have trashed the place. You obviously didn’t belong there.
Is it because I is black?
Not according to the demographic data of NYC.
Well if we are going to start making lists of reprobates who should be kicked out of the country based on poor behaviour, let me fetch my pen.
Your pen is in Australia
[quick, someone cancel all return flights!]
“I notice you still haven’t mentioned what it was you were basing your eviction order on yet.
Just saying.”
Ah, I love it. “I didn’t understand anything you said so I assumed you were thinking like me (a racist idiot) and worked backward from there.”
Fucking moron.
Still nothing, eh
Nothing you seem to be able to grasp, no.
Have some grapes.
Number 2 we still need a good cover as to why John Key doesn’t belong here.
Once we’ve got him out of the way we can start part 3 of the plan.
KonKing @ 5.5.3.1 – specious, criminally specious. You thick or something ?
Thick as ape shit.
why not?
You are beginning to sound like the sewer did in ’06-’08 re Clark
Key doesn’t want to be King. That would mean it would have to retire in this backwater hick country.
Did anyone else see the tweet alleging that Fairfax had banned its reporters from writing about Professor Wade’s visit to NZ?
http://fearfactsexposed.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/fairfax-bans-reporters-from-covering-inequality/
I googled stuff.co.nz just now (I admit that is not a very scientific analysis of the veracity of the claim) and just found the reporting on English and the finger pointing.
I Emailed the Editor about it And he said it was Untrue. So I did comment that I then expected to see an honest critique of Professor Wades Lectures/Speeches. And to that, there was no reply, and I haven’t seen anything anywhere else either, maybe I’m not looking in the right places.
I hear you. I guess there’s just so many more inter sting things to report on…
Good on you David H. Though I’m not surprised you didn’t hear back from the stuffed editor, and your second point. They come across as quite arrogant if challenged or questioned about their ‘work’. Thanks for the tip about the non destructive brick!
Hi Rosie. My Pleasure, if you cant get a brick I do know they make a Hammer with the sound effects, My son gets annoyed when I pinch it to hit the TV with, but he’s learning that when ever Key is on TV, bang there goes his little Hammer.
Have just had a read of the Mana Party Housing Policy being put forward by John Minto, it ticks all the boxes with policy to drive out of the housing market all the Speculators/Investors which is where fully 50% of present ‘demand’ in the Auckland housing market lies,
Along with such moves which would guarantee a large reduction on the demand side of ‘the market’ Mana is also proposing ‘fixing’ the amount of rent that can be charged on any particular dwelling,along with having the building of 20,000 Council owned rental units well under way in the first term of a Mana Mayoralty,
As far as a comprehensive housing policy goes,(there’s a lot more of it than i have mentioned above), this so far from all political party’s on a national level would be the most comprehensive and ensure affordable rental accommodation for all those unable to ever afford home ownership,
i hope the Mana candidate John Minto does well in the Auckland Mayoralty contest, although i would have to stretch my imagination by an extreme extent,(unfortunately), to suggest that He could triumph in this contest,
Mana tho has recently broached the 1% party vote to figure in the Roy Morgan Poll and i am now re-considering where my party vote will go in 2014 as 1.2% of the party vote may be all that Mana need to gain another MP via their party list…
Minto will be lucky to get 500 votes. He has no hope at all. None whatsoever.
I’m afraid your vote will be wasted.
i am afraid that as usual you don’t have a clue what your talking about, have i suggested anywhere that i will be voting in the Auckland Mayoral elections,
i would have to be really ‘spethul’ should i be allowed to do such as you obviously havn’t noticed that i reside in Wellington,
i would pick John Minto gaining 2-3000 votes in the Auckland Mayoral election and a lot of extra publicity for the Mana Party simply by dint of having stood in that particular contest,
The Mana Party’s share of the party vote after the recent by election in Parekura’s old stomping ground has risen to 1% and the Auckland Mayoral election will raise their profile further, thus a strong campaign by John Minto may just be the impetus at the 2014 election to push Mana over 1.2% of the party vote and allow Minto to enter the Parliament on the Mana Party list…
I was referring to your vote in the next general election. Minto is a no-show with little chance.
That’s democracy: go ahead and waste your vote. New Zealand will thank you.
Nice ‘slither’ sideways, i wont bother making any accusation that your a liar, support of Slippery the current Prime Minister tho is tantamount to an admission…
Santi you are a great motivator of the left.Minto is a firebrand personality at least he bring issues to the fore while he may not get many votes other candidates will benefit from his activism!
“Minto is a firebrand personality”.
Really? Who said satire and sarcasm were dead in New Zealand?
maybe it was Dr Bertram lol what do your memories tell you?
um, by your “logic” anyone who doesn’t vote for the “winning team” has wasted their vote? Do you really see the future of our country as a game to be won and lost. Your na-na-na-na-na attitude is scarey.
Skanky @ 7.1……..you want a sizeable wager on that 500 votes thing you just tossed out re Minto…….let me see, $3K ? Even money ?
No you say ? Oh OK then. That was just a figure of speech to convey you don’t fancy Minto’s chances ?
Right you are ! Entirely permissible !
A valid device which just by happenchance has saved you performing and me reading the perennial troll wank – “Fuck……I just LOVE David Shearer !
[lprent: I got tired of that meme. ]
So in other words we can just wait with baited breath for the attacks to start, similar to the attacks on the Greens, and Labour.
A good point, here in the Otaki electorate there is a dearth of votable stock I have absolutely no clue who even sat here in 08, I just ticked the usual red boxes. Well not this time, Maybe a mp vote Legalise Cannabis, and Party vote Mana. I do like what they are saying on a wide range of things.
i am picking the 2014 election to be as ‘tight’ as 2011, it may well come down to 1 or 2 MP’s and i also pick the Maori Party not to be present in the next Parliament,
My heart says i should stick with the Green Party, BUT, my head says that if Mana can maintain it’s 1% of polling in the Roy Morgan into 2014 AND the Green Party holds it’s present level of support then a vote for Mana is DEFINTELY NOT wasted,
It will only take 1.2% of support for Mana to gain a list MP off of the back of Hone Harawira holding onto Te Tai Tokerau AND, i pick Te Ururoa Flavell’s Waiariki seat to be 50/50 between Labour and the Mana Party,
To me the numbers say there is a good chance of having in the next Parliament a 3 seat bloc of Mana Party MP’s and a ‘strategic’ party vote or two for that party could be the difference in who forms the next Government…
Good stuff bad.
I think Mana are poised well at this stage of the cycle. The key will be to overcome the innate fear that some have that it is a narrow focus party and sadly I think that fear comes from people’s personal prejudice and distrust (because they believe the memes, think they know the history of this country and have bought into the othering of Māori). I’m hopeful that that will be overcome for many because the truth is that poverty and deprivation can, and do, affect anyone regardless of their supposed ‘colour’. Equality, leadership and principles are what we need and those qualities are human qualities not based upon ethnicity.
Aha, i am not sure of the strength of Mana in Wellington, among young Maori i know that the Maori Party ‘sellout’ has retarded their political development,
i will, this afternoon after i have done my stint in the garden have a look online with a view to offering Mana a bit of on the ground support going into 2014…
You might be right about the support level of Mana, but could you see Shearer forming a working relationship with Mana? I can’t. He’d rather coalesce with National. In fact I can see that coming quite easily if there is no other majority (one that doesn’t include Mana).
Ahh, its been a long time since we had a Grand Coalition ruling the nation. No more need for elections after that.
Well, while CV’s winning an emmy for melodrama, anyone recall reading about forbes & coates?
Opened the way for Labour in the first place.
If you think labour could “coalesce with national”, they’ve a much bigger identity issue than shearer. And I don’t just mean a couple of other mps in caucus.
There are plenty of people in Mana that would be totally opposed to their party doing any sort of a deal with the right wing Labour Party under any circumstances simply because there is no reason to suppose a Labour government would be an improvement on the present lot.
Unless you count having a nicer flavour of rhetoric and murmuring sweet nothings to the people at the bottom as they put the boot into them as being an improvement.
Thats unless they are different to every Labour govt since 1984 of course.
Augustus, i will assume you are a National Party voter,(Lolz if so i expect your next comment to be along the lines of a ‘wasted vote’),
Mana has and does support Labour in it’s voting pattern in the House, until today when i read the Mana Party housing policy i had yet to see Mana proposing anything much that was not Labour policy until 1984 and is Green party policy at present,
Mana have no time as far as i can ascertain for grandiose neo-housing schemes that target pathways for the children of today’s middle class to climb upon the ‘property ladder’ thus becoming tomorrow part of what has caused the housing un-affordability of today,
Mana appear to favor the housing solution that stood our parents in good stead and provided affordable housing to a generation of kiwi-kids,(including Slippery the Prime minister), HousingNZ rentals rented to tenants on the basis of the most Need and not the most Greed,
These are the 3 policy areas i would expect a strengthened Mana party to base it’s negotiations with Labour upon after the 2014 election,
(1), 5000 new state houses a year for every year of coalition with Labour,
(2), The ‘living wage’ to be achieved in the first term of such a coalition, and, a rise in that living wage to be negotiated every year after that,
(3), the children of beneficiaries to be included in the working for families tax scheme and/or a comprehensive food in schools program,
That’s hardly an over the top wish list, to me it’s simply practical workable socialism which as it’s grown into being middle class along with it’s voter base Labour seems to have forgotten,
LOLZ, the Labour Party in coalition with National, your wet dream is it???…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8956951/Fight-to-bring-premature-baby-Lily-home
Short explaination is that a baby was born premmy (just 27 weeks!) in China.
– her parents are not allowed to visit more than once a day
– parents pay for all her needs (I assume that means doctors as well…Dr’s in China are cheaper, but they are not free!)
– they don’t speak Chinese so I imagine this is very distressing
– they are asking for donations to get her flown home.
– baby is a girl. Will this mean she is given lower priority? I don’t know.
Can you help? My heart really goes out to them.
Worse than that, it will take the NZ embassy 2 months (!) to process the documentation for this NZ Citizen to be allowed into NZ. There is no reason for this, bring her back, get her treated here where the family is and sort out the details later.
oh, we have far more important things on our minds, like what to call a baby in a country half a world away…
How to FIX NEW ZEALAND
Remove GST number 1
Gert rid of resource Management Act and all by laws by lunch time.
Remove Building permit by requirement
Sell Off all Government SOES
Sell all Road, Land owned by Govt
Volunteer Tax System to pay for a basic Volunteer Welfare System
Write Constitution
Allow any Currency by LAw ( Recommend Aussie Dollar as Default)
Allow any and all immigration except Violent Criminal offenders
Army / Police/ paid by basic Goverment Fees,
Allow for civilians to form Private Government from their own Collective and organise their own tax’s and international agreements and treaties.
fify
Colonial Viper. Well I do believe it would all Help New Zealand my self
alas that is what I would want for the country.
But it seems majority does not so I have the beautiful freedom to move to Beautiful America.
“Gert rid of …all by laws by lunch time. ”
cool – so you happy if i come round, steal all your stuff and then maybe a bit of casual murder?
didnt think that particular bullshit session through very much did you
your (ahem) “fix” is so full of holes that its actually pathetic
The freedom of the plutocrats. 49 million on food stamps and rising
when you say “beautiful”, you must be talking about some gated compound in San Diego with private armed security guards
good luck to you
1 out of every 100 adult Americans will sleep in prison tonight (and every night).
Anthony Bloomfield, are you white and rich?
LOLZ, bring on the doctor in charge, the ‘fix’ in the states pyschiatric institution obviously didn’t ‘stick’ for this particular individual,
It’s above comment makes me wonder if i havn’t been viewing the efficacy of electric shock therapy all these years from an errant perspective,
It would be entirely inappropriate for me to suggest that ‘it’ be given a couple of nails and directed to the nearest wall socket…
Its only as mental as the wank fest autonomous collective that you chaps espouse
[lprent: Yes we do pride ourselves on being independent. I am glad that you understand that at least.
But we know that slavish little mouthpieces for the great coalition of the stupid like yourself would view autonomy as being something to denigrate.
In other words you would have been particularly moronic today. However your cellphone or tablet is more intelligent than the monkey trying to “run” it. ]
Your abuse is undeserving of any reply other than to point out that your next ‘banning’ is long overdue,
Keep it up to make it happen and make us all just that little bit more happy…
All excellent suggestions. Motion passed.
fify
lol
Hey, Santi, nice to see you back again.
Since you have been telling us what a great leader Shearer is to lead Labour to victory, I want to make my recommendations for National.
Gerry Brownlee is the ideal replacement when Key retires. To smash Labour’s grip on so many Maori voters and get lots of women’s votes, put Hekia Parata as deputy. If not Hekia, try Anne Tolley. Anne is fantastic! I guarantee you she will be a great vote getter.
What a packet of assorted nuts you have produced there Mr Blomfield. You do have some voting options though. Maybe the Libertarian Party if they’re still around, ACT comes to mind. On the other hand if you want to see GST gone, as I do, you can always vote Mana, but somehow I don’t think it will be your style.
http://mana.net.nz/policy/
Hey thanks Rosie.
I was a member of Act for a while, Friends are Libertarian.
Sure was a glimmer of hope there when Don Brash was in.
But um nah – I feel voting is just supporting the system.
So sweet asse have fun- burgers
Truth Is Corporates will rule the world real soon but you guys will think it was on ‘Your Terms”
Not really a even playing field.
Truth is corporate’s DO rule the world Anthony and it is purely on their terms alone and no one elses. We’re already there.
Corporates won’t rule the world, most corporates are dying on the vine. Sears, International Harvester. As the population is impoverished so are all real businesses.
So you’re an authoritarian fascist. Figures.
Jam is good on Toast Colonial .
It does not say much about your sanity, Rosie.
What woman in control of her own faculties would ever vote Mana, the party of the hopeless loser, the violent Harawhira? No way, Jose.
Lol you panties. Where did you see me say I was voting Mana? It was my suggestion to the commenter above seeing as he wants to see GST abolished, but as I suspected it wasn’t his style.
I’m a Green voter but I like Mana too, so who knows, by next year I might even end up voting for them. Anything can happen.
And my faculties are doing just fine thanks. Not sure about yours though, thinking that Shearer is safe (at 11.1)
Not only safe, but without doubt the Labour leader at the next election, who will lead to victory. The Labour Caucus will see to it.
As per the Greens, their radical influence has damaged David S. Norman was too close, but wait over the coming weeks for the efforts to distance Labour from the Green Party. It will pay off.
[lprent: Yes we all know after weeks of it that one of the nuttiest of the RWNJ’s is purportedly David Shearers biggest supporter on this site, and that you have the ability to repeat yourself endlessly like a small child. However I’m bored with this trolling now – it has long since degenerated into astroturfing.
If I see you even hint at it again then you won’t be commenting here until AFTER the election. Now I realise this will cramp your style a bit because you will now have to think and even imagine on every comment how I could possibly construe it as a RWNJ supporting David Shearer because they want another government of the right. But that was why I let this go on for so long. It is going to be amusing seeing how good your atrophied imagination can regenerate… 😈 ]
What a purposeless existence there is to be spent indulging cynicism and snide bad faith. Sad but true.
Oh the irony.
A better option (just as a start) would be to repeal every piece of legislation since October 2008. Then begin from there.
Oh – hang on …. ONE News – YOUR news has just started. I’ll get back to you. I need a laugh
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10902041
On the way to recovery since changes were needed. The next polls will reflect the impact of the new team behind the Labour leader David Shearer.
Danyl is smart:
http://dimpost.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/more-noise/
“Labour are losing votes to National, and they’ve lost them during the period of time in which the GCSB bill was introduced and the Sky-City deal signed off. They should be winning, not losing. Shearer has responded by replacing his Chief of Staff with Fran Mold, his former press secretary, and Labour’s MPs are leaking to the gallery that his leadership is under threat if he doesn’t reverse this downward trend.”
An incomplete analysis.
David S.’s staff change will reverse the trend and lead to shore up his position. He is safe.
Reply Santi
He might feel safe , except that a lot of New Zealanders won’t vote for him , no matter what his support staff….(See Chris Trotter on Shearer’s massive PR and media campaign build up…way more than Cunliffe’s and way more than any other Labour MPs….makes you suspicious.)
It is not that Shearer lacks support…..It is that he is not up to inspiring the ordinary NZ voter to vote for him….
The only Labour leader who can face Key in the ring and beat him is David Cunliffe…..
The rank and file Labour members should rise up and demand a real democratic grassroots vote on the leadership of the Labour Party. It is their party …not David Shearer’s..
(.And the Labour Party does not belong to any of the other Rogernom failures, plotters or ‘boy’s club’ contender, wanna bes…
Key says it’s not a matter of a U-Turn of convenience, courting Peters, but a matter of principle – because, according to Mr Slippery, Kiwis don’t want a Labour-Green government.
Meanwhile Peters is playing hard to get.
What’s so sad is not that Key is behaving entirely in character (principles? ha!) but that so many people believed him before … and will now perform gymnastics to justify his lies now.
Got to go, got a million quotes to dig up from the last 5 years …
So key is all over the news. Being spoonfed by P. . rick Gower. In the street looking like a …….world leader….not! Telling NZ what he thinks they should be thinking. One thing about it, he’s certainly getting uglier. And Shearer gets a to speak for about 5 seconds. We all know that who is in the news the most, especially always in a positive light is the one getting the most traction in peoples minds. It happened in the last election and will happen again in the next election unless Labour can get decent honest coverage. I don’t necessarily think that Cunliffe is the answer. It’s bad enough key shouting and screaming in Parliament without Labour lowering themselves to keys level.
I read that the Maori translation for John is Hone. So that would be HoneKey
so 24 million for the novapay debacle and 38 million for that strange boat race….hmmm what could this country do with 62 million?????? oh yes then we have that money spent on private schools especially special ed funding so that rich kids get help with their exams that others don’t….feeling incrediably pissed off @#$%^^&&
TV3 @9:30pm tonight:
Helen Clark – Road to Power (Part One).
Note: It takes a privately owned TV station to produce a documentary about one of our most famous NZers (and former PM) while the state sponsored station ignores her completely in favour of dumbed down crap and mock current affairs programmes fronted by ego-stroking Nat. Party biased half-wits.
Something about living within ones means nothing about it applying to all nzers lenore
I will be watching something called Devious Maids on TV2 at 9:30 tonight. I encourage you all to do likewise.
I will be watching something called Devious Maids on TV2 at 9:30 tonight. I encourage you all to do likewise.
Must…force….history……down….memoryhole
Hagiography.
Must…eliminate….all….doubleplusbad…perspectives
I know what Key does when hes quietly pissed , he gets a rubberband and sees how far he can stretch it and when he gets sober he’ll lie that he was doing something else
To win the next election Labour will have to stick the boot into national everyday because that is what it will take to get rid of 5yrs of fascism which is what this national govt is
Dick.
+6″
KK always reverting to primitive instincts!
civilized behavior has passed a Neanderthal like completely by!
Given your size King Kong that makes you the worlds biggest Dick!
I keep hearing, from both Labour and National, that imported workers don’t take away work from NZers but in Christchurch:
That’s exactly the purpose of the imported workers. Apparently, having to pay NZ workers enough to cover their costs is too much.
Better to pay NZ workers and keep the money going round within the system, ‘trickling down’ or expanding the multiplier effect in the country, than to pay imported workers and have money draining out of NZ.