Open mike 24/08/2014

Written By: - Date published: 6:54 am, August 24th, 2014 - 194 comments
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openmikeOpen mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

194 comments on “Open mike 24/08/2014 ”

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  1. Awww 1
    24 August 2014 at 7:14 am

    Dirty Politics shows that sitting Ministers, specifically “Hon.” Judith Collins, are prepared to use their position and contact with paid bloggers to incite public hatred towards certain groups of people such as disabled, beneficiaries, Maori and PI, or any other group that they select.

    This would strongly suggest it is no longer safe to contact our elected Ministers lest our details be passed on to abuse us into submission.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1
      24 August 2014 at 7:18 am

      You’re looking at this the wrong way. This strongly suggests that our government ministers must not be offered any safe haven.

      • bad politics 1.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 8:30 am

        Or those sexually assaulted by diplomats…

        • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 8:35 am

          No, I mean that until National ministers are held accountable for their sleazy behaviour of dubious legality they must be pursued the length and breadth of the country by citizens, journalists and probably the SIS.

          The election is not going to be the final arbiter of the legality or otherwise of the government’s actions. Win or lose the National Party is under investigation.

          Edit: just figured out you were responding to Aww. Need breakfast.

  2. mickysavage 2
    24 August 2014 at 7:22 am

    Anyone aware if the National campaign launch video from last night is on the interwebs?

    • phillip ure 2.1
      24 August 2014 at 7:51 am

      try tvnzondemand ‘vote 2014’..they screened them all..so i suppose it’ll be there..

    • ianmac 2.2
      24 August 2014 at 9:01 am

      I did see Nationals launch last night and it is a very slick professional production. Key spoke very well. But it was mostly about Key and their recent history. Clinical rather than warm. Not enticing.
      Greens excellent production and message.
      Labour aimed at being of the people for the people and succeeded. David a little too cheerful and jiggled a bit much but we could identify with the issues and the people messaging..
      The Left win by miles.

  3. Ad 3
    24 August 2014 at 7:27 am

    My bet is Key’s campaign launch will announce further major tax cuts by 2017, and a second Auckland crossing.

    And a whole lot more sporting analogies after last night.

    • Colonial Viper 3.1
      24 August 2014 at 8:41 am

      He’ll do socialist stuff like promise an extra $5M for save the dolphins and rape crisis etc (over 10 years)

    • greywarbler 3.2
      24 August 2014 at 11:53 am

      @Ad 7.27
      “My bet is Key’s campaign launch will announce further major tax cuts by 2017, and a second Auckland crossing.”

      By Key walking on water! Now that would be an attention-getter. Perhaps a hologram could be hastily arranged.

  4. Gruntie 4
    24 August 2014 at 7:34 am

    All PPB on TV One – On Demand

  5. phillip ure 5
    24 August 2014 at 7:57 am

    a day of two choices..

    ..the national campaign launch..

    ..reason to go:..to read the mood of the party-faithful..to count the quivering bottom-lips..

    ..to feel/smell the spreading-panic..

    .(i’m picking the slater/eade whaledump 2day…you’d think..?..)

    ..to slater/lusk/eade spot..

    ..in essence..a schadenfreude-feast..

    ..or..

    ..the internet/mana launch..

    ..reasons to go:..too many to list…

    ..no choice..really..

    • Draco T Bastard 5.1
      24 August 2014 at 9:28 am

      I was going to go to the IMP launch but I’m thinking that I should stay home with this cold 🙁

  6. phillip ure 6
    24 August 2014 at 9:03 am

    q &a has farrar as a commentator..?

    ..why not slater/ede..?

    ..isn’t this taking getting commentators to comment on their ownactions to a new level..?

    ..farrar worked hand in glove with slater in running/publicising his dirt-campaigns..

    ..the record shows that..

    ..then of course there was farrars’kiwiblog story featuring the fake maori benificiary..’tania heke’..

    • phillip ure 6.1
      24 August 2014 at 9:13 am

      farrar is babbling…

      • Bearded Git 6.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 9:31 am

        It is clear from “the book” that Farrar knew exactly what Slater/Ede/Lusk were up to yet told the media nothing. This alone makes him complicit.

    • Bearded Git 6.2
      24 August 2014 at 9:39 am

      Mora has Farrar and Jordan Williams on The Panel often. And Sam Johnson, the chch student volunteer army guy, also appears regularly. Lusk says Johnson is a client of his in Dirty Politics. Johnston did not deny this when he was on The Panel last week.

      True Tory Mora never takes any of these guys to task for the links with Whale Oil.

      Bomber remains banned from The Panel.

      • Belladonna 6.2.1
        24 August 2014 at 10:09 am

        I can remember Sam Johnson saying after the Christchurch earthquakes, that his political leanings were to the ACT party. Another wolf in sheep’s clothing possibly.

        • Molly 6.2.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 12:51 pm

          I recall seeing him on TV a couple of times and thinking to myself that he sounded scripted. Doesn’t surprise me that he was being managed.

  7. lurgee 7
    24 August 2014 at 9:07 am

    From whaledump:

    Last last political post later today.

    Does this mean a lot of personal, non-Hager approved stuff is going to follow?

    • bad politics 7.1
      24 August 2014 at 9:11 am

      no, it’ll be the corporation industry stuff, the tobacco/alcohol stuff, i assume.

      • Tigger 7.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 9:38 am

        I’m learning not to assume anything with this situation. I hope there is personal stuff, might be the only thing that can wake the electorate up.

        • Anne 7.1.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 9:59 am

          My thoughts too Tigger. Given the average Joe and Mary Bloggs’ insatiable appetite for salacious gossip and subsequent hypocritical outrage, I think its the one thing that will make them sit up and take notice. Hopefully there would be a few sportspeople – or ex sportspeople – in the mix. Now that would be pennies from heaven – gold plated ones.

          • North 7.1.1.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 11:21 am

            I honour Hager’s rationale that ‘personal stuff’ in the emails should not get an airing.

            This however may be pregnant – From Chapter 10 – “Sex Scandal” at Location 2344 Amazon Kindle –

            “Even when hypocrisy justifies publication, for instance with an outspoken morals campaigner [*], revealing an affair is still very different from publishing the intimate details. But according to Cameron Slater’s selective morality, it was fine for him to do to an opponent what he would be incensed to see done to someone he liked [**].”

            [*] and [**] are my interpolations. Mmmm……makes you wonder if there’s a philandering “someone” morals campaigner out there whom Cameron Slater “liked”. Over whose public humiliation Slater would be “incensed”.

            Fascinating.

          • greywarbler 7.1.1.1.2
            24 August 2014 at 12:00 pm

            @Anne
            Hopeful that it would be real gold plated pennies with real substance behind. Not just those chocolate gold foil-wrapped ones.

    • phillip ure 7.2
      24 August 2014 at 9:25 am

      i think it will be the slater/ede comms..

      ..which will nail key to the cross..

      ..(this is my hope..anyway..)

      ..ede/slater is the shoe that has not yet dropped..

      ..and today..being nationals’ launch..

      ..is the perfect day to do that..

      ..and it’s sunny too..!

    • Rich 7.3
      24 August 2014 at 12:03 pm

      Don’t see that post there on whaledump’s twitter.

      • yeshe 7.3.1
        24 August 2014 at 12:41 pm

        it’s an old one I think .. from a few days back. Nothing new since the ‘I am in Vanuatu. Don’t have any important briefings while I am gone”.

        At first on Friday I read it as an admonition to us as readers not to do anything exciting! OIn re-read this monring, I think it’s actually advice that thee will be no more updates until back in NZ.

        Of course, the whole thing could be a trick to confuse those wishing to find her/him …

        popcorn ready again !

  8. Paul 8
    24 August 2014 at 9:08 am

    Winston on Q and A, discussing the SIS and Judith Collins, with biased media puppet Susan Woods.
    Suggesting he’ll lean to the right.

  9. Pasupial 9
    24 August 2014 at 9:15 am

    I hope the IMP launch gets its due in media attention, but can fully see any questions with Harawira being diverted into this story:

    Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira survived unscathed when he lost control of his car south of the Mangamuka Gorge, but he was more upset by the police response, saying they weren’t as swift at getting in touch with him when his office was shot at six weeks ago.

    http://www.odt.co.nz/news/election-2014/313552/unhappy-hone-may-face-driving-charge

    Which is itself a cute diversion from HH. The IMPs need this as much as the Nats have needed weeks long examination of their corrupt practices. Those who are directing today’s campaign launches have probably put weeks of effort into organising and preparation. It seems a shame that everyone who wasn’t there on the day is unlikely to appreciate their efforts; as our collective gaze will be directed elsewhere by the media gatekeepers.

    • Rosie 9.1
      24 August 2014 at 10:40 am

      When I saw this on 3news I was quite surprised at the tone of accusation towards Hone when he was the one to suffer the experience of being involved in a car accident. Not a peep of concern expressed for his well being.
      I hope it doesn’t get twisted into a “bad Hone” narrative as has been the case for many years.

    • Draco T Bastard 9.2
      24 August 2014 at 11:32 am

      That shouldn’t even be a story.

      • mickysavage 9.2.1
        24 August 2014 at 11:56 am

        The charge would be careless driving at worst which is a fine only offence although a disqualification can be ordered. I heard that Hone sneezed at the time and if so he shouldn’t be charged.

        • greywarbler 9.2.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 12:10 pm

          If Hone sneezed as I have been lately, then he is lucky that worse didn’t happen. The sneezing and coughing reflex takes you and shakes you quickly and involuntarily. And then develops into a spasm that you have to fight before it continues to where you throw up. It’s been a hard and mean virus that has been roaming NZ this winter.

          I feel sorry for people under the WINZ no-welfare regime, struggling to manage, sickness is something that you’re not allowed to have (my school teacher relative has been criticised when forced to take time off, though a dedicated long employee at her school). If you are a beneficiary with children, all sick, but forced to go to work to ensure you stay on the rosters, how long can you carry on with all your duties?

          • yeshe 9.2.1.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 12:47 pm

            There was a case in Levin District Court many years ago .. an serious accident at Te Horo on main SH1 was caused by the driver sneezing. They had evidence produced that you could not sneeze and keep your eyes open. Even now, I remember that fact every time I sneeze !

            Humans are so cleverly designed, if only wisdom could aslo have been built in with learning not required.

        • Rosie 9.2.1.2
          24 August 2014 at 1:27 pm

          Goodness. That’s unfortunate. He’s been on a long road trip and may have been feeling a little run down, on the verge of getting a cold. Hope he doesn’t get charged, that would be unfair.

        • Pasupial 9.2.1.3
          24 August 2014 at 3:18 pm

          I hadn’t heard about the sneeze, it wasn’t mentioned in the article. Unless there’s been some major roadworks in the area in the past decade, it is a pretty winding stretch of road. Wouldn’t take much of a break in concentration to cause disaster.

          But we can’t expect the MSM to play fair – they’ll be slavering for a distraction from the Nat meltdown. And as adam says @ comment 12:

          This is just odd – prosecution before an investigation.

    • greywarbler 9.3
      24 August 2014 at 2:13 pm

      The police response! The roaring of cars with sirens wailing and lights flashing is so testosterone building! Tearing off from the police station, slowing and swerving at traffic lights, petrifying the populace. What fun, you can’t get these thrills at any other job in the country.

      And you feel that you are actually doing something, a great cop when you pull over some jerk. And then you get to do all the entries that will bring your section up to your target. Join the police force – ride round in smooth, responsive new cars – have car chases with idle morons and frighten the hell out of them.

      I fear that the police response is responsive to that sort of thinking.

  10. Rodel 10
    24 August 2014 at 9:20 am

    When George Bush invaded Iraq I was glad that Helen Clark was PM with her strong moral principles and not John Key who’s lack of principles said we were ‘missing in action’. In his eagerness to please the USA and its trade I believe he would have embroiled us in the fiasco.

    With the current international turmoil I sincerely hope David Cunliffe will soon be PM and not John Key.

    • phillip ure 10.1
      24 August 2014 at 9:33 am

      @rodel..there is not a shadow of doubt that key wd have been an eager spear-carrier for that invasion based on lies..of bush jnr/blair..

      ..simon power said to the parliament..(showing a distinct lack of originality/creativity..but there ya go..!..)

      ..power said:..’all the way with george bush!’..

      ..always been happy to kill for the ruling empire..the tories..

      ..key is a wannabe warmonger..

      ..and as the spooking-dump five days before the election will show..

      ..he has already well and truly sold nz out to the americans..

      ..’holy vote collapse..!..batman..!’..

      • Molly 10.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 10:04 am

        I attended the local ANZAC parade, with my son who was in scouts at the time Helen Clark made that decision.

        A fairly balanced and appropriate event – was then marred by our National MP, Dr Paul Hutchinson getting up to speak and using that phrase “missing in action”. Along with “we need to stick with our allies” and other trite comments that lasted an interminable 15 minutes.

        First time I had heard him speak, and was disgusted with his appropriation of a memorial service to essentially give a party political broadcast.

        (Must add: Not a usual attendee at ANZAC days, and this added to my personal aversion of the day.)

        • millsy 10.1.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 7:40 pm

          Paul Hutchinson — I thought he was one of the more moderate, liberal National MP’s…

          • Rodel 10.1.1.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 8:00 pm

            My original comment I hope will persuade any wavering voters, or those we may talk to who have teenage kids , boys probably, that John Key’s re election could have serious consequences re invasions, conscription and young NZ fodder for US inspired wars- and yes I’m a peacenick.

        • Rodel 10.1.1.2
          24 August 2014 at 9:42 pm

          Molly -I appreciate your thoughts but I go to ANZAC parades and silently think about those who suffered believing that they were doing the right thing and think about my kid’s futures.

          But John Key shouting like a performing seal in parliament about how we should be foddering our youth off to serve his Wall street friends in foreign wars gives me the furies.
          And when people like Hutchinson echo the war criminal Dick Cheney’s of this world, words fail me.

          I think the contrasting attitudes of the right and left to international relations is a forgotten election issue of which needs discussion as well as the current domestic obsession with the malicious crimes of Slater, Lusk and co.

  11. Bearded Git 11
    24 August 2014 at 9:22 am

    Brooke Sabin (TV3 News reporter) has just been pinged on Media Watch for lying over the OIA request for the release of the Cunliffe letter on Liu’s immigration. He knew the OIA was going to reveal the letter, yet TV3 said they had no idea this was going to happen.

    Anything Sabin says in the future can now never be trusted.

    Audio will be available on Radion NZ in a while.

    • Paul 11.1
      24 August 2014 at 9:24 am

      I wonder how many of the media are compromised by Slater..
      And by the information held by whale dump.

      • Once Was Tim 11.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 12:41 pm

        You know @ Paul …. anyone that goes near Slater is compromised – let alone those that profess to be ‘journalists’ …. Whether they be Eastern Suburb-living, raspy-voiced, alcohol-induced wife beaters (or maybe former wife); former Labourite-now neo-lib-converts; what the gay ‘community’ know as “bog-crawlers”; Nation and Q+A commentators and ‘experts’.
        Christ Almighty! …. if I’ve heard these things, as well as being very close to some of them (as in 2 degrees of separation), I’m bloody sure Cam Slator has (or will get) the details.
        Best policy is (and always was) to avoid the prick. Unfortunately some things can’t be undone. It just seems to me that there are too many a wishin and a hopin …. they might get away with it, they might not. Roll the dice.

  12. adam 12
    24 August 2014 at 9:24 am

    This is just odd – prosecution before an investigation.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11313008

    Is anyone covering Internet/Mana launch from here?

  13. Man in a Barrel 13
    24 August 2014 at 9:39 am

    Have Labour yet announced where they stand on the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership?

    I don’t like it just on the few things we’ve heard about it that have been leaked from the ‘confidential’ negotiations, and the fact that Key and the Nats have been pushing for it as hard as they can – no doubt eager to please the US – makes me suspect we ought to be backing Japan on this and treat it like an Ebola victim’s handkerchief.

    http://www.exposethetpp.org/

    • Tautoko Viper 13.1
      24 August 2014 at 10:06 am

      Man in a Barrel,
      Remit passed at National Conference

      http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/labour-party-tppa-remit-as-passed/

    • Colonial Viper 13.2
      24 August 2014 at 10:06 am

      Labour wants a public release of the details of the TPP so that it can be fully debated and discussed. Labour is pro-FTAs in general.

      • Vinscreen Viper 13.2.1
        24 August 2014 at 11:55 am

        AFAICT the remit pointed to by Tautoko Viper (thanks) would make the present contents as being pushed by the US a complete non-starter for a Labour Govt – while any proposal to release its contents to the public before they’ve been trussed like Xmas turkeys to be stuffed by it will be stamped on by the US until it’s signed, sealed and binding on Sovereign Nations.

        Labour did not say in the remit what its position would be if the TPP fails to meet any of its terms. I was looking for some kind of statement along the lines of bottom lines rather than a declaration as to what it would have been nice to have but, “well, this is what we had to sign up to. Disappointing, we know but ‘good international citizen’ and all that, and at least we get a seat in the back row of the conferences.”

        Anyone know if the Greens have come up with anything stronger than this waffle?

        • Naturesong 13.2.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 1:34 pm

          The Greens released a statement with the Australian and Canadian Green Parties on their position in Aug 2012 which stated a willingness to engage, and set out a number of bottom lines: Joint Statement Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement – Green Party Aotearoa New Zealand

          It covers the following points in detail:
          – Threat to New Zealands Sovereignty
          – Threat to Internet Freedom
          – More IP rights for the big players
          – Lack of Transparency

          Additionally, they were asked on the Nation earlier this year which was not so equivocal:
          – Herald Article
          – The Nation – Sunday March 30 2014

          • Vinscreen Viper 13.2.1.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 2:34 pm

            …

            Hmmm. Not too encouraging from any angle.

            TPP is hopefully dead in the water, fortunately stymied by the Japanese taking offence at the crass (offensively unJapanese) bullying tactics by the US and – incredibly – the Republicans in the Senate refusing to give Obama fast-track approval powers for the deal for fear he won’t screw enough out of the Pacific Rim for their paymasters.

            However if it rears its ugly head again we know the Nats would roll over to be screwed like a prostitute on peice-work but we really, really know where the other parties stand on this as it could be a defining issue of the next Parliament, with repercussions into infinity.

            http://triplecrisis.com/tpp-would-deepen-income-divide/

          • Naturesong 13.2.1.1.2
            24 August 2014 at 3:43 pm

            Oops, should read

            Additionally, when asked on the Nation earlier this year they were even more equivocal

      • Rich 13.2.2
        24 August 2014 at 11:59 am

        What’s going on with all these Vipers?

        • greywarbler 13.2.2.1
          24 August 2014 at 12:20 pm

          @ Rich 11.59
          There is an interesting history around Vipers here. An interesting tale too but a bit time-consuming.

  14. just saying 14
    24 August 2014 at 9:50 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/10417384/Drug-giant-incites-war-of-the-sexes

    According to the book of Hager, this pharmaceutical-company beat-up could lead to a National Party bribe this election. Because men are so downtrodden, and National seems to be going hard-out for the boofhead vote…

  15. North 15
    24 August 2014 at 10:13 am

    To the extent that Nicky Hager logically implicates the MSM as ‘enablers’ of dirty politics we have this morning Q + A actually reinforcing that implication by its own choice of commentatory panel.

    Why, before one word came out of David Farrar’s ‘commentator’ mouth, was he not directly asked to refute the clear assertions by Hager that he Farrar was a complicit actor in the dirty politics Hager exposes ?

    No. Farrar is a ‘commentator’ (Tui’s). Not the vaguest intimation of his true involvement in the whole nefarious carry-on. Journalistic laziness (a quote in the book attributed to some US right-wing strategist), an arrogant two fingers in the air ? Hard to say. I favour an hubristic, aging, cafe ‘double-shot’, subliminal sense that “however we do it, we do it right…..”. Coupled with – “that’s it, time to move on folks…..”. Which again reinforces the by and large MSM preparedness to pitch in politically…..in whose favour we identify at once.

    Imagine how inquisitorially animated would have been Susan Wood were Nicky Hager on that panel blithely masquerading as a ‘commentator’.

    It is risible particularly given the extraordinary airs and graces, the pretensions to elevated ‘appreciation’ of things. Shouldn’t complain though I guess…..they might have had the Clayton’s political scientist Claire Robinson riding shotgun to Farrar.

  16. yeshe 16
    24 August 2014 at 10:19 am

    confluence of names here into the polluted National river …..

    “A new politician has been dragged into the saga of Donghua Liu’s funding of political parties.

    National’s Coromandel MP Scott Simpson received a $5000 donation from the controversial Chinese-born property developer for his 2011 election campaign, after meeting Liu about 10 times, including a couple of dinner dates.

    The donation was declared in Simpson’s post-election return, and has been uncovered by the Sunday Star-Times during a forensic trawl of donations to MPs.

    But Simpson did not flag the donation with National Party leadership when Liu and the cash-for-favours scandal hit the headlines this year. “I had made my declaration which, as far as I was concerned, was all that I was required to do,” Simpson said.”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10416871/New-Donghua-Liu-donation-uncovered

  17. veutoviper 17
    24 August 2014 at 10:28 am

    An interesting little article hidden away on the Northern Advocate yesterday – h/t a commentator on Pundit.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11313017

    A taste

    “A former Whangarei Boys’ High pupil who describes himself as a “hobby hacker” has exposed security flaws in the National Party’s website.
    Josh Brodie, formerly of Whangarei but now living in Wellington, said his discovery left Prime Minister John Key open to accusations of “throwing ‘Labour left the security off’ stones from within a glass house”.

  18. Morrissey 18
    24 August 2014 at 10:28 am

    Wallace Chapman let himself, and his listeners, down this morning
    Radio NZ National, Sunday 24 August 2014

    This morning featured an excellent Counterpoint contribution by Wayne Brittenden, outlining the shameful record of collaboration between two pariah states: apartheid South Africa and Israel. Following that, Sunday host Wallace Chapman interviewed the Australian-based ANC official, Kolin Thumbadoo. This was mostly an enlightening ten minutes, but it was marred when Wallace Chapman thoughtlessly repeated a nasty cliché: he asked his guest if “this seemingly intractable situation” could ever be “resolved”.

    If Wallace Chapman wants to ever progress beyond the stage of wringing his hands in anguish about the ongoing oppression of the people in besieged Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, he will have to start some serious reading about the situation. The fact that he could so casually describe Israel’s crimes as “intractable” is a worrying indicator that he has not done much.

    I flicked him the following email. Keep listening, guys!….

    Please stop calling the Israel-Palestine conflict “intractable”

    Dear Wallace,

    In your interview with Kolin Thumbadoo, you described the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “intractable”. That’s not true; in fact it is perhaps the easiest conflict in the world to solve: Israel must withdraw to the pre-1967 borders, it must allow the people it expelled to return, it must stop its murderous siege on Gaza and it must tear down the illegal annexation wall it has been erecting for the last two decades. International law is clear and unequivocal about every one of these points.

    When you or any other commentator repeats the line that the situation in Palestine is “intractable”, you are, perhaps unwittingly, repeating a core trope of Israeli propaganda.

    Yours sincerely,

    Morrissey Breen
    Northcote Point

  19. North 19
    24 August 2014 at 10:50 am

    Worth a listen – Andrew Geddis with Wallace Chapman 9.00 am today RNZ. Geddis’s thesis – ‘this is not so much about the instant electoral outcome – it is about where we are prepared to allow New Zealand politics to go in the long term’ – words to that effect. ‘Will we blink at the filthing of the New Zealand political dynamic ?’

    • Once Was Tim 19.1
      24 August 2014 at 12:14 pm

      It was worth a listen. However ‘Will we blink at the filthing of the New Zealand political dynamic ?’.
      Probably not until we reach rock bottom – at which time consultants/pundits/sperts et al will be lining up to clip the ticket and give advice on how we might get our democracy back.

      Though we might know exactly who to ‘blame’, that’ll be of little comfort but great cost.
      Shudda Cudda Wudda

  20. Chooky 20
    24 August 2014 at 10:52 am

    ‘Blogging vs Journalism vs Politics – The 7 latest revolting revelations’

    By Martyn Bradbury / August 24, 2014

    “The Titanic is the National Party, Key the Captain, Whaleoil the iceberg & Sean Plunket, Mike Hosking and Paul Henry are the band playing on the deck….

  21. James Thrace 21
    24 August 2014 at 10:53 am

    “The real issue about the election is whether New Zealanders want one nation or whether they want two…in the past three years Government members have done everything they could to start the process of entrenching a two-nation New Zealand whereby one does very well and the other is left without hope.

    The struggle within the National Party over one-nation or two-nation Toryism has been resolved in favour of the two-nation Tories led by the Minister of Finance followed by an inadequate Prime Minister.

    Those who are doing well perceive very little identity of interest with those who are not doing well. Of course there has been some limited recovery in economic indicators – there had to be as we bounced back from the depths of a recession the government itself created. But who’s benefited?
    Not very many.

    Everybody wants things to be better, but few people can link the desire for things to be better with any material improvement in their own circumstances or in the circumstances of family and friends.

    There are stark choices for this election. Government members will settle for the ‘smug society’ and try to marginalise the one-third of people they do nothing for and try to buy off the rest”

    That was in 1993 – Rt Hon Helen Clarks budget speech.

    21 years later – an entire generation – that exact same speech could be stated word for word apopo and still be entirely relevant.

    How sad for New Zealand that we’ve just been treading water all this time.

    Thank heavens to murgatroyd that at least Grabour together, have decent policies to lift us from our mire.

  22. Rosie 22
    24 August 2014 at 10:54 am

    Think forward to Sunday morning four weeks from now. Will the Nat nightmare finally be over?

    God please let it be so.

  23. Morrissey 23
    24 August 2014 at 11:09 am

    Israeli teenagers: Racist and proud of it
    Ethnic hatred has become a basic element in the everyday life of Israeli youth, a forthcoming book finds.
    by OR KASHTI, Haaretz, Sunday 24 August 2014

    “For me, personally, Arabs are something I can’t look at and can’t stand,” a 10th-grade girl from a high school in the central part of the country says in abominable Hebrew. “I am tremendously racist. I come from a racist home. If I get the chance in the army to shoot one of them, I won’t think twice. I’m ready to kill someone with my hands, and it’s an Arab. In my…”

    http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.611822

    • crocodill 23.1
      24 August 2014 at 11:25 am

      I wouldn’t call a tenth grade girl racist. She’s too young to know anything other than what she’s been told. If she’d grown up being told by her family and friends that people who eat chocolate ice cream are deviants she’d believe that too. To imply that a child freely arrives at racism as if from within a vacuum is just plain wrong. She has a big personal problem to solve, no doubt, but glibly throwing ideological newspaper headlines at her won’t reveal anything useful.

  24. crocodill 24
    24 August 2014 at 11:33 am

    For all the calls of corruption and sleeze over Dirty Politics, one thing should make us all feel better – there are no bodies yet. Don’t you find it encouraging that no one has been assisted into a permanent sabbatical over the massive damage they’ve done? If this stuff happened anywhere else in the world, if it happened in the commercial world, someone would be swimming with the fishes. Encouraging, or disappointing? New Zealanders really are “easy going” and our “corrupt pollies with links to organised crime” aren’t making any use off their supposed contacts. Even when their democracy and government are being dismantled in front of their eyes, New Zealanders just shout and shake their fists. Good on you New Zealand, you’re tame, but fair.

    • fender 24.1
      24 August 2014 at 11:56 am

      Too many sheep just swallow what Key has to say about the revelations, but there have been some damning opinion polls indicating Collins should resign or be sacked.

      I’d guess that there have been many behind closed door right-wing discussions about arranging an accident for Nicky Hager by the rabid right. After National lose the election and Key goes home to Hawaii will be when extra vigilance will be required.

      I’d like to think Slater went to Israel to escape the blowback but he’s probably just arranging delivery of his very own National Party sponsored spy drone..

  25. Chooky 25
    24 August 2014 at 11:59 am

    Wallace Chapman’s Sunday Morning has real gems …it is becoming a must listen!

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday

    Especially the Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint on Israeli Apartheid

    ….and the hard hitting interview with Koilin Thumbadoo ( a founding member of ANC) on the military State of Israel ( fourth largest military state in the world)…Zionism and Apartheid are the heirs of Nazism

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/20146879/wayne-brittenden's-counterpoint-israeli-apartheid

    • greywarbler 25.1
      24 August 2014 at 12:38 pm

      @ Chooky 11.59
      True about Wallace Chapman being good. Wayne Brittenden is tops also, Wallace’s other interviewees were insightful.

      Now can we get someone better than Jim Mora, for breadth of vision beyond comfortable middle-class memes with right wing bias, to run the Panel so that we don’t hear from cotton-wool puffheads there. Let’s have interesting people who do worthwhile things, make stuff, build stuff, achieve stuff, think stuff, who like humanity, and aren’t celebrities of the ‘right fit’ with charming easy laughter and recipes for living.or wise grumping about the state of the world without a positive idea of their own.

      • Chooky 25.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 2:04 pm

        @ greywarbler….glad you are up on deck again from the lurgy…i wondered where you had gotten to

        …yes although on occasion Jim Mora has some good commentary and interviewees….a lot of it is as you say “comfortable middle-class memes with right wing bias”…so bad that even he finds it necessary to challenge them

  26. Once Was Tim 26
    24 August 2014 at 12:04 pm

    @ Rosie and Yeshe
    You’ll recall I posed the question the other day as to whether the GG had the power to rescind Ministerial warrants. I attempted to get Wallace Chapman to pose that question to Andrew Geddes this morning on RNZ (to no avail).
    I’m still wondering.
    I’m also wondering about the Chief Justice.

    So far however, I’ve heard that “technically … YES he/she (the GG) does – except that Jenny Shipley did something a while back that effectively put the GG’s office UNDER the PM’s Office.
    One wonders whether that was in fact ‘technically’ legal too.

    Sheeple don’t seem that concerned however – so in future when I wake up one morning in a 3rd world country afar, and hear that NZ has descended into a fascist regime, and everyone is clutching their pearls and worrying and lamenting, I’ll be finding it a little hard to show any sympathy. I don’t even think I’ll ask for my ashes to be sent back for a sprinkling

    • yeshe 26.1
      24 August 2014 at 12:53 pm

      Thx for trying Once Was Tim .. what was it Shipley did ? Surely, nothing can put GG below PM … GG is Her Majesty The Queen’s local incarnation isn’t he ? Any details welcome, thx.

      On the ‘sheeple’? I trust Kiwis. I believe they are concerned. And it only takes a few % to be concerned enough. Have faith a little, from wherever you are ! All is not yet lost.

      • Jenny Kirk 26.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 3:58 pm

        To Once Was Tim, and Yeshe @ 26 re GG’s role. John Armstrong wrote a column in the Herald 15 November last year after attending a function at which the GG spoke. He summarised part of the GG’s speech as follows :

        “The most important task is the appointment of a Prime Minister after an election. It was to that task that Sir Jerry devoted most of his speech to a dinner he hosted last Friday for journalists in the Parliamentary press gallery. That role is to have as little or no role as possible. It is for the politicians to reach agreement which allows the leader of a party to inform the Governor-General that he or she has the confidence of the House – that is, sufficient MPs on board to defeat a no-confidence motion. That principle was enunciated by Sir Michael Hardie-Boys, Governor-General when the first MMP election was held in 1996 and no one was quite sure whether New Zealand’s unwritten constitution could cope with a multi-party Parliament. ”

    • greywarbler 26.2
      24 August 2014 at 1:21 pm

      @ Once Was Tim 12.04
      You have got me thinking. Bryan Gould said yesterday that NZ is not now a country in the style that our elders envisaged or fought and died for.

      New Zealand started off as a speculator’s dream. Getting the land off Maori and onselling it to those who couldn’t get any in the Auld Country, or who wanted more. Just the thing for those second and later sons who couldn’t inherit the family estate. And there was money in not owning land but clipping the ticket as it passed along.

      Maori saw that it wasn’t panning out and a little integrity from some pollies and aristos at the top meant there was something to build better legals on, to claim contra proferentem on.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_proferentem And Maori are getting some back and will be able to do good things if they can prevent themselves changing into aliens when they get a scholarship to Harvard or some other flash business school. Or military academy of the type that trained Fijian leaders.

      In the meantime the struggle to make a good society was messy and seemed to be solved by the suggestion that too much government control slowed down the move to modernism and a well-balanced economy. Try our free market snake oil said Roger Douglas, who had just enough Labour credentials to enable him to mask his alien change. (Excerpt from wikipedia on Rogernomics – In 1980, he described New Zealand as a country living on borrowed money, unable – in spite of the record efforts of its exporters – to pay its own way in the world.) And in 2014 the siutation is? In addition he put forward ideas of positive future directions which would have been of immense benefit if only they had been implemented. “He argued in 1982 that the government should actively support small business, and intervene to stop the aggregation of assets by big business. In his view, the government should use the tax system to encourage productive investment and discourage speculative investment.” Wikipedia.

      Now what’s left of NZ is now being sold as part of a speculator’s dream. Only Maori are putting up a sustained fight. The rest of the country are riding round in their elevated people movers or getting drunk, or sick, or looking as Janis Ian aptly puts it, In books and magazines on how to be and what to see while you are being https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSmSf153-8A
      Or the better off are sitting in their tastefully decorated lounge rooms watching large screen television including reality television because the reality of reality is too hard to take. There is no fun and pleasure in it.

      We might as well consider taking ourselves elsewhere and bury our ashes in the corner of some other foreign country. Perhaps I should try to go to France and be where my birth father, or bits of him, lie in a Commonwealth war grave near Nancy.

      • Rosie 26.2.1
        24 August 2014 at 1:34 pm

        Thoughtful, Warbs.

      • Once Was Tim 26.2.2
        24 August 2014 at 5:26 pm

        +1
        … and for a minute there @ Grey, I was thinking we may have come across each other somewhere along life’s journey.
        Interesting too your reference to Fiji. There were attempts at a workable constitution (by Reeves et al). It appears it wasn’t ‘efficient and effective’ enough to progress various agendas and so those well trained military conduct putchs and coups when it suits. Both Slator and Chapman are familiar with that situation – Slator approves apparently.

        Interesting post from Jenny Kirk above as well re the GG’s ‘role’. In theory that’s as it should be right up until the time things all turn to shit, but I hope he’s ‘comfortable’ in having enabled Judith Collins’ bad behaviour, just as I hope the judiciary are ‘comfortable’ with politicians of all stripes chipping away at their role (i.e. interpreting law and administering sanctions).
        We have a unicameral system without a formal constitution (BORA and Treaty and bits and pieces aside). But why worry – even if we did …. who the fuck have we got to enforce one anyway?
        And we continue to pretend we’re a 1st world democracy based on the fact that we’re ‘nice people’?

        Easy to see why New Zealand is spectacularly placed for experimentation.

    • Rosie 26.3
      24 August 2014 at 1:57 pm

      A fine opportunity to raise such a question (yes, as previously discussed), and a shame that your very valid question wasn’t put forward. Interesting about the Shipley intervention – I wonder what that was about?

      I do have this nagging worry that the Hager revelations will fall on the deaf ears of the the majority of the public, despite the high profile media attention. I would like to have yeshe’s faith in folk, but the last few years, decade really, have made me feel cynical towards the reasoning of our fellow NZer’s, their apathy and cognitive dissonance.

      Alex Salmond, on the telly awhile ago said that an Independent Scotland would consider granting citizenship to NZer’s who have a Scottish born grandparent. If they win the independence vote on 18th September and we lose the election I might just consider taking them up on that offer! It would be overwhelmingly incomprehensible to live in a country that legitimises and rewards corruption by voting back in those same corrupt leaders.

      On the bright side, this election has a completely different feel to 2011 and there is hope. Good and great things could be afoot. And despite the odds I have a feeling that here in Ohariu, “Our Ginny” might just knock Dunne off his comfy perch, by a whisker. One critical Nat coalition partner gone. She’s doing well, getting out and about…………….and for the lols, check out the photo of Ginny photo bombing Dunne in the mall:

      https://www.facebook.com/virginia.andersen.ohariu

      • Rich 26.3.1
        24 August 2014 at 2:14 pm

        Tempting as it is to leave the problem to someone else, it’s more tempting to try and show the world how to move forward in my view. Get Labour into Govt and then set up ‘free movement’ for citizens between Scotland and New Zealand. We could try it with other countries of a similar size as well. I don’t see why it should only be the rich who have free movement of State.

        • greywarbler 26.3.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 2:28 pm

          @ Rich 2.14
          Sounds a good idea. Join in an association with Scotland of small states, countries, that are trying to achieve greater stability and prosperity and discuss matters relevant to their size and status and independence. and sovereignty. States that want to avoid merely being the lackey of some big power playing chess with the world.

          I don’t know whether Australia could join, I think its tendencies would diminish the value of the association. Scotland would need some criteria of judgment as to suitability to prevent some craven tool of the corporate nations getting in and white-anting the association. And if the left don’t win this election here then Scotland shouldn’t touch us with a barge pole for fear of catching whatever disease is diminishing us. Rickets perhaps.

        • Rosie 26.3.1.2
          24 August 2014 at 2:55 pm

          I don’t how serious Alex Salmond was when he said that! He was really referring the strong ancestral ties between the two countries. I viewed it as a welcoming gesture to those who wanted to return to their ancestral home land.

          First things first though, we have an election to win! I’d have no thoughts of leaving NZ if we did.

      • greywarbler 26.3.2
        24 August 2014 at 2:41 pm

        @ Rosie
        I hope all is well with campaign in Ohariu. Your positive comments are strengthening medicine to the blog.

        • Rosie 26.3.2.1
          24 August 2014 at 3:21 pm

          Hi Warbs. Peoples Power Ohariu kicked off last week with billboards and leafletting.

          We have six billboards that say “Hey Peter! We don’t want a ‘willing seller’ MP for Ohariu” put up around various suburbs.

          Our leaflet covers 4 aspects of Dunne’s deals and fence sitting status:

          His “willing seller’ stance on the GCSB
          His promotion of asset sales as being advantageous to ‘mum and dad’ investors when less than 2% bought them
          His claim (in a video on his website) that he his “neither National or Labour” in the political spectrum but he has a confidence and supply agreement with National
          His refusal to discuss concerns PPO put to him about the TPPA saying he wasn’t going to waste time speculating on what the TPPA might contain..

          We’ve done about 4000 households so far and have another week to complete the whole electorate or what we can manage – it’s a huge area to cover!

          We’ve had feedback trickling in. Two supportive, two hostile and one right winger feeling resigned that he had to vote for Dunne to keep the Nats in.

          It will be interesting to see how audiences respond to Dunne during the candidates meetings which start 1st September. A lot has happened in the last 3 years, hopefully he will have lost some of his shine and hopefully this will show in those meetings.

          • yeshe 26.3.2.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 3:37 pm

            power to you, Rosie, you got two out of five as a good start.

            I take heart remembering that the whole nuclear-free movement began in Devonport with us putting up A4 sheets in our windows, saying “WE SAY NO TO NUCLEAR SHIPS”.

            It was slow, but it was steady and sure .. eventually the whole suburb had white signs in their windows. And so it began.

            I think the effect of Nicky’s book is similar … slow, but steady and inexorable, with more to come. And it takes such a small percentage to tip it over.

            Honestly, I don’t think Kiwis in general are reactive .. it takes a slow burn, but once the decision is made, it’s irrevocable. And I think one the biggest cons from National has been they they had a mandate to rule when more people voted against them than voted for them last time.

            It won’t take so much imho !!! This shit has to stop.

            • yeshe 26.3.2.1.1.1
              24 August 2014 at 3:48 pm

              and this made me laugh if you haven’t seen it .. dry and clever in 60 secs …

              http://www.3news.co.nz/Jeremy-Corbett–Paul-Ego-Politics-In-60-Seconds/tabid/1348/articleID/358117/Default.aspx

              • Rosie …
                24 August 2014 at 4:34 pm

                Lols. They can be quite cutting on 7 Days too, especially on the “No Minister” segment.

            • Rosie 26.3.2.1.1.2
              24 August 2014 at 4:12 pm

              Great that you were part of such an effective movement yeshe 🙂 My generation owes so much to yours for the stands you took and in the courage required in certain fights. (I’m thinking of the ’81 Springboks tour).

              Luckily the scariest thing we have to do is face one man!

              PS. One of the hostile emails doesn’t really count as pro Dunne. He was just really angry with the shouty capitals accusing us of being the Conservative Party and how he didn’t want any more material from us. Clearly he didn’t even read our leaflet and can’t see the difference between a glossy four page colour brochure and a black and white photocopied A5 leaflet.

              • yeshe …
                24 August 2014 at 5:03 pm

                so maybe you got three out of five ? 😀

                maybe you can buy some old toilet bowls from a wrecker and place one under each Dunne billboard ? ( not yours, the others!)

                good and effective visual .. and cheap !

          • Bearded Git 26.3.2.1.2
            24 August 2014 at 5:48 pm

            +100 Rosie. And we should all remember when voting starts on 3rd September the best way to get rid of Key is:

            Green Party Supporters-Party Vote Green
            Labour Party Supporters-Party Vote Labour
            Internet-Mana Supporters-Party Vote Internet-Mana

            Te Tai Tokerau Constituency
            Green, Labour and Internet-Mana supporters Candidate Vote Mana-Hone Harawira

            Epsom Constituency
            Green, Labour and Internet-Mana supporters Candidate Vote National-Paul Goldsmith

            East Coast Bays Constituency
            Green, Labour and Internet-Mana supporters Candidate Vote National-Murray McCully

            Ohariu Constituency
            Green, Labour and Internet-Mana supporters Candidate Vote Labour-Virginia Andersen

            • Rosie 26.3.2.1.2.1
              25 August 2014 at 8:22 am

              ………..and Annette Sykes, candidate vote for Waiariki, shift Flavell out.

              Although Tame Iti has announced he is standing for the Maori Party, which is a huge draw card for them. Could his influence strengthen a coalition party that looked like it was on the way out?

          • anker 26.3.2.1.3
            24 August 2014 at 5:51 pm

            Rosie, do you need help with deliveries in Ohariu?

            • Rosie 26.3.2.1.3.1
              25 August 2014 at 8:31 am

              Hi anker. Apologies for the late reply. We had a power cut last night which put the evenings agenda in a bit of a spin.

              Yes, thank you very much for your offer, we will gladly accept!

              Probably the best thing to do is to go to our face book page, if you’re on face book that is (I’m not and can’t access it through google but those who are can get to the People’s Power Ohariu page easily enough) and the person over seeing the page will get your message and make arrangements with you,

              Thanks again for your offer anker. It’s really encouraging to see the growing number of volunteers we have for leafleting. Folks are keen to do what they can to contribute to making the change we so desperately need.

      • Once Was Tim 26.3.3
        24 August 2014 at 5:50 pm

        I’ll actually be happy if the election result moves the left-right pendulum back to where it should be … and that would be somewhere that ensures the will of the people (not just their economic interests, but their SOCIAL interests as well) trump all. Not just that, but one where democratic principles (open to various definitions I know) are paramount.
        At the moment we actually have faux democracy and not one where disenfranchised people are any better off than they would be under undemocratic regimes where a benevolent dictator rulz.

        If sheeple want to waltz their way into fascism – so be it – I’m off … there’ll a noice 3 bedroom house on the Kapiti Coast going cheap. Might even give it cheap to a certain Natzi politicians’ former pot dealer (he never inhaled dontcha know) – he’s desperate to collect property and get himself ‘respectable’.

    • Vinscreen Viper 26.4
      24 August 2014 at 3:58 pm

      Sorry, meant as a reply to Once was Tim above

      The Sovereign’s powers are absolute. That’s what Sovereignty means. In its ultimate manifestation a Sovereign can’t even divest itself of its powers – it’s a local example of the mind-teaser as to whether an All-powerful God can make a stone too heavy for Him to pick up. A King (and some would say a Pope, too) can’t abdicate because their power is not a thing they can transfer any more than you can transfer who you are to another. All they can do is delegate the exercise of that power to another.

      Hence while the Sovereign might delegate its legislative or other powers to Parliament the Sovereign can never surrender them, and so remains able to exercise them at will. Thus the GG’s office might have been absorbed into the Prime Minister’s for administrative reasons I doubt any Constitutional lawyer would say this makes the GG subject to the PM.

      Too, the 1975 dismissal of Whitlam and his Government in Australia by the Governor-General seems to make it abundantly clear that the GG can withdraw a Ministerial Warrant at any time as it is, after all, granted by the Crown and held at its pleasure.

      Constitutional convention provides that Warrants are granted and revoked at the request of the Prime Minister of the day, and a GG arbitratily revoking Ministerial Warrants would likely provoke a Constitutional crisis and be a boon for the Republican Movement,

      However part of the argument in favour of a Monarchy is that it cuts the Geordian Knot of whether a written Consitution can protect itself from future amendment or even revocation? If it can’t how useful is it? If it can what happens if a desperate and unforseen need to amend or revoke it arises? A Monarchy is far more flexible and responsive – at least in theory although Charles I and Louis XIV demonstrate it doesn’t always work that way.

      At least, tho’, if enough ‘subjects’ petitioned the Crown to revoke the Warrant of a Minister who was clearly acting improperly and the PM refused to act I like to think that we appoint GG’s who have enough respect for their Office to exercise its powers responsibly and in the public interest.

  27. Paul 27
    24 August 2014 at 12:29 pm

    Further evidence of our growing inequality

    ‘Posh school’s auction offers the stuff of dreams

    Auction items are either gifted by well-known firms or donated by wealthy and well-connected parents.

    The items include:

    • Two weeks at Vivre La Vie, a three-bedroom apartment in the Ribaute wine village in the south of France — value $7500.
    • An internship with top Sydney ad agency DDB — priceless.
    • A Rarotonga holiday for six at a beachside villa in Titikaveka, with flights for two including Koru Lounge access — value $4800.
    • A commercial-grade La Spaziale coffee machine with accessories and a two-hour coffee appreciation course — value $4800.
    • A bronze sculpture by artist and parent Richard Wells of a Dio girl reading a book — value $5000.
    • A two-week internship at Kiwi Energy in New York, including airfares and an apartment — priceless
    • A “very convenient” and envied private undercover carpark at the school — understood to be one of the most coveted items listed.’

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11313395

    ‘Inequality in NZ worsens over decade’

    ‘Inequality between New Zealand’s European, and Maori and Pacific populations has worsened over the past decade, according to a new study.

    The University of Victoria research built on a report released by the Ministry of Social Development in 2003.

    Associate Professor of accounting and commercial law Dr Lisa Marriott and statistical consultant from the school of mathematics, statistics and operations research Dr Dalice Sim examined 21 social inequality indicators, including measures of health, knowledge and skills, employment, standards of living, cultural identity and social connectedness.’

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11312322

  28. hoom 28
    24 August 2014 at 2:39 pm

    Doubtless going to be ignored for the most part but along with the World Bank & several other big ‘economic’ names, Standard & Poors has apparently discovered that Income Inequality is not only bad for poor people but bad for the Economy
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11313342

    • Rich 28.1
      24 August 2014 at 3:22 pm

      Not necessarily bad for the rich though. See Southern Italy, mafia economy, rubbish economy but the mafia itself is turning over huge amounts. And do they care squat for the result of that?

      I’m not meaning that we are looking at a mafia economy here of course…..

  29. Chooky 29
    24 August 2014 at 3:36 pm

    I would like to know all the Political Parties views on the housing shortage and causal factors (…artificial scarcity ?…I have heard anecdotally of overseas students buying up houses not just in New Zealand but in Australia )

    …because yet again this housing shortage is undermining young New Zealander’s rights to own a home ( first young NZers are being costed out of education and now housing)

    …Once upon a time a New Zealander could trade in a good car and put the money in the bank as deposit on buying a house…no more! ….why?…why are houses so expensive for New Zealanders?

    ..Is it because overseas investors are buying up New Zealand housing?…this is not fair !.

    I know Act supports building new housing and encroaching on farmland …but imo the housing crisis is an artificial one manufactured by the Capitalist class ( NZ and International)

    …. (and it is not just happening in New Zealand)

    …it is a betrayal of the working class in their own countries to own their own homes ( not only are we becoming peasants in our own land but also tenants in our own land)

    http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/aucklands-housing-crisis-investor-driven-not-shortage-nzier-bd-156835

    http://tonyalexander.co.nz/regular-publications/bnz-weekly-overview/housing-market/housing-shortage-was-foreseen-and-it-will-worsen/

  30. Jenny Kirk 30
    24 August 2014 at 4:14 pm

    For Chooky – Yes – Labour is concerned that overseas investors are falsely increasing the cost of NZ’s housing stock. Labour’s policies – including Housing – can be found at the following link –

    http://campaign.labour.org.nz/all_our_announced_policies

  31. Chooky 31
    24 August 2014 at 5:15 pm

    thankyou …yes I see it here

    http://campaign.labour.org.nz/overseas_speculation

    …i hope this legislation will be very tight indeed!…and restricted to New Zealanders who have lived here for a number of years

    … .because I hear of overseas students not just buying one house but several!…. when many New Zealanders struggle to find adequately paid work and save for one house for their family

    this is increasingly a problem not just in New Zealand

    http://theconversation.com/the-end-of-affordable-housing-in-melbourne-8273

    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/young-heads-look-to-solve-sydney-housing-crisis-20140703-zss5a.html

    http://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/sydney_s_housing_affordability_crisis_putting_young_lives_on_hold

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2597354/Chinese-fuel-UK-housing-shortage-Far-East-speculators-price-Britons-market-country.html

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/07/10/chinese-to-spend-billions-on-american-real-estate/

    • Chooky 32.1
      24 August 2014 at 5:37 pm

      @yeshe …thanks, well we know where Winston stands …and I wonder why John Key’ NACTs allow this?!…what is in it for them ?…or are they a part of this!… and getting kick backs?

      Young New Zealanders struggling to afford ONE house ..or RENTING in terrible conditions ….should be VERY VERY ANGRY!

      It is a BETRAYAL of the Capitalist class of New Zealand’s working class and youth struggling to make their way in the world ….and it must stop!

      • Jenny Kirk 32.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 6:22 pm

        Chooky – you ask :

        “and I wonder why John Key’ NACTs allow this?!…what is in it for them ?…or are they a part of this!… and getting kick backs?

        On a personal level, I think you have answered your own question. There certainly appears to be something in it for them – Key doesn’t seem to give a damm about New Zealanders or our country – he just appears to be helping overseas interests to exploit us all, and our land, and our seas.
        I find the actions of him and his government sickening.

  33. joe90 33
    24 August 2014 at 5:51 pm

    Decent people speaking out.

    As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide, we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonisation of historic Palestine. We further condemn the United States for providing Israel with the funding to carry out the attack, and western states more generally for using their diplomatic muscle to protect Israel from condemnation. Genocide begins with the silence of the world

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/15/gaza-propaganda-machines

  34. phillip ure 34
    24 August 2014 at 6:10 pm

    brooke sabin is a total fucken creep..

    ..his report on int/mana launch is unadulterated horseshit..

    ..corkery called him and that michael wood from tvone..’slaters’ sock-puppets’…

    ..the hacking story when he was 19.told by dotcom..is the one he has told multiple times..

    ..and these ‘sock-puppets’ try to make the case that he must be whaledump..’cos he mentioned hacking..(f.f.s..!..)

    ..and tho’ being told it was the campaign-launch..and therefor for the politicians..so he was doing no interviews..

    ..this fucken pathetic excuse for a fucken journalist makes that the fucken story..?

    ..possibly the worst example of sock-puppet/pissweak journalism..

    ..in many a long year..

    • cricklewood 34.1
      24 August 2014 at 6:19 pm

      If Corkery had kept her head it would have been a non event… losing her rag and going to war with the media is hardly a sign of a good press sec…

      • phillip ure 34.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 6:31 pm

        that case cd b made..

        ..however satisfying/accurate her ‘slater-sock-puppet’ jibe was/must have been….

      • TheContrarian 34.1.2
        24 August 2014 at 6:37 pm

        What the fuck was up with her rant?

        She sounded like she’d been drinking, there’s no reason to lose one’s rag in such a manner

        • phillip ure 34.1.2.1
          24 August 2014 at 8:44 pm

          it wasn’t a ‘rant’..it was a snarl…..

          ..that both those media clowns/sock-puppets turned into the story..

          • Paul 34.1.2.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 8:53 pm

            Because the media’s owners don’t want the public to be aware of the issues.
            They will do anything to distract.
            Sabin was shown up as a puppet of Slater’s in Mediawatch this morning.
            Now add Michael Parkin to the list of media puppets.
            TVNZ is not an impartial observer or reporter.

            • phillip ure 34.1.2.1.1.1
              24 August 2014 at 9:02 pm

              i quite liked how corkery pointed out to them that they wd both be featuring in future whaledumps…

              ..how the evidence wd be presented they both ‘worked’ for slater..were his ‘sock-puppets’..pushed his rightwing spin-stories/lies for him..

              ..that’ll be the media-links one…

              ..i look forward to it..

          • TheContrarian 34.1.2.1.2
            24 August 2014 at 9:01 pm

            Having a head press sec of a political party swear at the media is a story. She made it into a story – because getting unhinged on camera, as a representative of a political party weeks before an election, is news.

            • RedLogix 34.1.2.1.2.1
              24 August 2014 at 9:09 pm

              Pam’s a very, very experienced media person – and this is the pure authentic Corkery.

            • phillip ure 34.1.2.1.2.2
              24 August 2014 at 9:12 pm

              possibly a side-story..funny a p.s..’oh..!..by the way..corkery lost her rag at me/us..’

              ..but not ‘the’ story..

              ..the only story..

              ..from both of them..

              ..that is complete and utter bullshit-journalism..

              ..making it all about them not getting their own way..

              ..packing little sads..

              ..and ‘getting back’ at corkery for that..

              ..fucken pathetic..

      • Rose 34.1.3
        24 August 2014 at 7:36 pm

        Biased reporting on TVOne News tonight. Pam Corkery didn’t have a “meltdown”. She was emphatic in the decision regarding interviewing Kim Dotcom. They didn’t show how the journalists were behaving. The journos could have been louder than Pam. OK, she talked about a
        “sock puppet” but then that’s the truth. How refreshing having someone talking the truth.

        • greywarbler 34.1.3.1
          24 August 2014 at 8:47 pm

          I say that Pam Corkery did have a meltdown. She was making good points but needs to have some Nat media training. All their puppets know how to modulate their voices and do the broken record thing, keep coming back to the main point you wish to make.

          She must be more professional, the pack always go for the weakest and easiest target. Judith Collins wouldn’t behave like that!

          • Hanswurst 34.1.3.1.1
            25 August 2014 at 12:48 am

            Corkery isn’t running for office. She may also be deliberately playing to the FJK-crowd, who are apparently suspicious and/or bored of a sanitised media environment, rather than to the more bourgeois voters who tend towards Labour, National or even the Greens. Whether it’s a good or successful tactic is one matter, but I’d hesitate before assuming that it wasn’t deliberate.

    • Bearded Git 34.2
      24 August 2014 at 6:45 pm

      Why cover the policies and issues when they can attack IMP?

      See my post earlier today Phillip on the OIA request.

      It follows from this that Sabin’s credibility as a journalist is zero.

      • Pasupial 34.2.1
        24 August 2014 at 7:01 pm

        The Fairfax coverage is pretty solidly policy based, with not a word about Corkery’s meltdown.

        http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10418342/Internet-Mana-promises-jobs-for-all

        Sure, she shouldn’t have given the journos such an easy target, but Sabin’s name has long been a byword for hatchedit jobs on the Nats political opponents. He would have found a pretext, and the hacking story was one that was fairly predictable from Dotcom. One shouldn’t necessarily judge based on family connections, but it seems to me that; his father being an ex-national MP, is as much a coincidence as Slater’s being ex-National Party President.

        • karol 34.2.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 7:12 pm

          I think Corkery just happened to be going off at someone when Sabin was in front of her talking to camera,. So she got into Sabin’s frame.

          Sabin was just being opportunist, going for a cheap headline, and not really looking at context.

          • TheContrarian 34.2.1.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 7:22 pm

            Not Sabin, she was talking to Michael Parkin.

            Come on, why are you defending this shit? She made a fucking hash-up of it. There’s no excuses, it was an awful display.

            • adam 34.2.1.1.1.1
              24 August 2014 at 9:01 pm

              No it wasn’t, she spoke to the truth. These guys just made up a story. They avoided what was said and they attacked Internet Mana any way they could. Not policy but personality, what a joke – well good to see dirty politics is still alive and well.

              Just wow, TheContrarian, the media are fully in bed with the right wing propaganda trip of personality attacks, and you join in. Prop to personality attacks, by default, or design TheContrarian and others, by design or default?

              • TheContrarian …
                24 August 2014 at 9:05 pm

                “These guys just made up a story.”

                No, she made a story. She openly swore at the gathering media – what the fuck did you think would happen?

                • Ant …
                  24 August 2014 at 9:11 pm

                  You have to be delusional to not see Corkery’s behaviour was idiotic for a PRESS SECRETARY.

                • adam …
                  24 August 2014 at 9:19 pm

                  Calling someone a shit? Oh please, that’s not a fucking story!

                  • TheContrarian …
                    24 August 2014 at 9:47 pm

                    It was completely unprofessional and needlessly antagonistic. But hey, I’m sure if it were anyone from the right you be totally as forgiving.

                    F’ fucks sake, shit behaviour is shit behaviour no matter what side of the fence they are from.

    • Ant 34.3
      24 August 2014 at 7:52 pm

      Dotcom was an arrogant fool to talk about hacking in the current political context.

      Corkery is a twit.

      • phillip ure 34.3.1
        24 August 2014 at 8:16 pm

        @ ant..his hacking-story from his teenage yrs is his stage-staple…

        ..to try to link that to whaledump..is ridiculous..

        • Weepus beard 34.3.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 8:33 pm

          Yeah, Ant must have been in the same cave as Brooke Sabin and Michael Parkin the last four weeks.

        • Ant 34.3.1.2
          24 August 2014 at 8:43 pm

          I know it is a staple, but for the benefit of IMP it was silly, anyone could see how it would be interpreted by the media, in fact he probably knew that – which is why he did it.

          He’s reinforced National’s narrative for them.

          • phillip ure 34.3.1.2.1
            24 August 2014 at 8:47 pm

            yr descending into wholesale orifice-plucking there ant..

            ..why give the false-equivalences of these clowns the credit it doesn’t deserve..?

        • Bob 34.3.1.3
          24 August 2014 at 10:14 pm

          Phillip, he was quoted as saying “I hacked our German credit rating system and put our Prime Minister’s credit rating to zero because I didn’t like the guy,”, “And we have all figured by now there’s another prime minister I don’t like.”
          http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10418540/Dotcom-tells-of-hacking-skill

          This when National is saying that ‘the left is just as bad’ when it comes to ‘Dirty Politics’ has just given National back the platform to win the media and the election.

          It is about time people started opening their eyes to this psychopath with delusions of grandeur!

      • Murray Olsen 34.3.2
        25 August 2014 at 12:45 am

        From what I know, I tend to agree with you. Why is Dotcom even on the stage at the launch? Hacking is the last thing anyone should have talked about. I think his essential narcissism is going to cause more problems.
        Pam Corkery possibly has a role, but not as press secretary.

        I find Internet Mana very frustrating. They do some very good things, then do something stupid and lose momentum. I wish they’d get their act together.

    • phillip ure 34.4
      24 August 2014 at 8:19 pm

      ahem..michael parkyn from tvone..not ‘wood’..

      ..and he ran the same story as sabin….

  35. Dont worry. Be happy 35
    24 August 2014 at 7:01 pm

    Pam Corkery must resign. She lost her temper. She can do that on her own time. It was was self indulgent, embarrassing and let the rest of a very hard working team down. This election is too important to have this type of distraction.

    • Te Reo Putake 35.1
      24 August 2014 at 7:27 pm

      First rule of media relations; don’t become the story.

      • ianmac 35.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 7:38 pm

        However the story was around Kim saying that he did not want an interview. So he walked away then drove away. A fuss ensued.
        Meanwhile after the Nat Launch a reporter asked Key a question. He said that he didn’t want to talk about that and walked away. No fuss ensued.

        Spot the difference?

        • cricklewood 35.1.1.1
          24 August 2014 at 7:48 pm

          Excepting Keys press sec didnt go mad call the journo Kims puppet etc all on film so although Gower mentioned it Keys blank refusal to except question regarding the book it became a non story.

          • bad politics 35.1.1.1.1
            24 August 2014 at 8:34 pm

            Garner tweets “Thought John Key walking out on media today was identical to 2011 walkout at Westpac Stadium during tea-tapes saga.”

    • millsy 35.2
      24 August 2014 at 7:51 pm

      So what? Given that the media is going all out to strangle the IMP in its cradle, she has every reason to let rip.

      • Weepus beard 35.2.1
        24 August 2014 at 8:22 pm

        I expect most New Zealanders would like to say the same to Brooke Sabin. He’s a serial offender in jumping to conclusions for a dramatic sound bite. Previously he drove hard on the fictitious deal between Labour and Harawira in TTT.

      • adam 35.2.2
        24 August 2014 at 8:39 pm

        I agree millsy

        The right wing press hate anything which will challenge the status quo. Internet Mana will, and will continue to do that.

        So get with the programme people. It is a war of ideas. There are no rules, the Tory scum have thrown them out. Pam, can say what she likes, why get sanctimonious about her actions?

        And any way, Annette gave the best speech of the day. And no one from the Tory media will print a word she said.

        • phillip ure 35.2.2.1
          24 August 2014 at 8:53 pm

          that’s what surprises me..i stood behind those clowns for most of the launch..

          ..and i know they saw/heard sykes lift the roof off the place..

          ..and saw/felt the energy in the room..

          ..saw/heard the reaction to the full-employment policies articulated by harre..

          ..but nah..!..

          ..they have a minor squabble with corkery..

          ..and that becomes their/the story of the launch..

          ..fucken pathetic excuses for journalists..

          ..hacks..both of them….

          ..’sock-puppets’..indeed..!..

          ..corkery wasn’t being insulting..she was being descriptive..

    • Murray Olsen 35.3
      25 August 2014 at 12:51 am

      She can do a package deal with Key, Joyce, Collins, and Brownlee. The election is too important to have corrupt candidates standing.

  36. Weepus beard 36
    24 August 2014 at 8:19 pm

    Stuff just changed the headline of their latest tabloid piece from “Was it Dotcom?” to “Hacking Tales”.

    Not sure the left hand knows what the right hand is doing in that outfit.

    • greywarbler 36.1
      24 August 2014 at 8:28 pm

      @ Weepus Beard
      Just a few small changes would transform to Barking Tails.

    • phillip ure 36.2
      24 August 2014 at 8:38 pm

      the actual coverage of the policies etc is ok from both stuff and herald..

      ..maybe sabin and parkyn need to read them..to see what they clearly missed…

  37. greywarbler 37
    24 August 2014 at 8:24 pm

    PUBLIC NOTICE
    Nicky Hagar – Auckland Public Meeting
    A public meeting meeting with Jesson Prize winner Nicky Hagar will be held Wednesday 27th August, 7.30pm, at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall (Cnr Dominion Rd & Balmoral Rd).
    Chaired by Sir Edmund Thomas
    Hosted by the Human Rights Foundation & Equal Justice Project.

    Also here is link to Nicky Hager’s 2012 text http://www.brucejesson.com/?p=394#comment-305
    for his lecture to Bruce Jesson Foundation audience
    and Sir Edmund Thomas 2013 lecture http://www.brucejesson.com/?p=475.

    • greywarbler 37.1
      24 August 2014 at 8:51 pm

      I’ve had something on moderation for almost half an hour and want people to see the notice about Nicky Hager so could someone help me out of the naughty corner.

      • Rich 37.1.1
        24 August 2014 at 9:03 pm

        Well I might if I knew what it is that you are saying.

        Is there some sort of yellow card on this site?

        And I have no idea what the Nicky reference is (of course I know who you’re talking about)

        • greywarbler 37.1.1.1
          25 August 2014 at 9:16 am

          @Rich
          Thanks for caring. My comment was actually a call to whoever was moderating the site. Now and then something triggers off moderation and it gets freed when the person in charge gets time. The comment of course shows up on my screen but nobody else would know what I was talking about.
          At one time using the word N.zi would take you to moderation – I don’t know if that still applies.

  38. Chooky 38
    24 August 2014 at 8:35 pm

    GO Internet /Mana!..Young people should be voting Internet MANA and/or GREEN!…to support a Cunliffe Labour led Left coalition

    ‘Internet MANA announce free tertiary education & full employment – media ego blocks it’

    By Martyn Bradbury / August 24, 2014

    “I was looking forward to the headlines. The headlines were a train wreck…

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    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • iPad vs. Tablet Computers A Comprehensive Guide to Differences
    In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • How Are Computers Made?
    A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • How to Add Voice Memos from iPhone to Computer
    Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • Why My Laptop Screen Has Lines on It: A Comprehensive Guide
    Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • How to Right-Click on a Laptop
    Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • Where is the Power Button on an ASUS Laptop?
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    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • How to Start a Dell Laptop: A Comprehensive Guide
    Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Serious populist discontent is bubbling up in New Zealand
    Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago

  • How to Take a Screenshot on an Asus Laptop A Comprehensive Guide with Detailed Instructions and Illu...
    In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • How to Factory Reset Gateway Laptop A Comprehensive Guide
    A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • The Folly Of Impermanence.
    “You talking about me?”  The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
    Bowalley Road
    4 days ago

  • A crisis of ambition
    Roger Partridge  writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Have 308 people in the Education Ministry’s Curriculum Development Team spent over $100m on a 60-p...
    Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • 'This bill is dangerous for the environment and our democracy'
    Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • The Bank of our Tamariki and Mokopuna.
    Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • The worth of it all
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
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    4 days ago

  • What is the Hardest Sport in the World?
    Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • What is the Most Expensive Sport?
    The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    4 days ago

  • Pickleball On the Cusp of Olympic Glory
    Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
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    4 days ago

  • The Origin and Evolution of Soccer Unveiling the Genius Behind the World’s Most Popular Sport
    Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
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    4 days ago

  • How Much to Tint Car Windows A Comprehensive Guide
    Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
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    4 days ago

  • Why Does My Car Smell Like Gas? A Comprehensive Guide to Diagnosing and Fixing the Issue
    The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
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    4 days ago

  • How to Remove Tree Sap from Car A Comprehensive Guide
    Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
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    4 days ago

  • How Much Paint Do You Need to Paint a Car?
    The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
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    4 days ago

  • Can You Jump a Car in the Rain? Safety Precautions and Essential Steps
    Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
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    4 days ago

  • Can taxpayers be confident PIJF cash was spent wisely?
    Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    4 days ago

  • EGU2024 – An intense week of joining sessions virtually
    Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Submission on “Fast Track Approvals Bill”
    The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    5 days ago

  • The Case for a Universal Family Benefit
    One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    5 days ago

  • A who’s who of New Zealand’s dodgiest companies
    Submissions on National's corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law are due today (have you submitted?), and just hours before they close, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been forced to release the list of companies he invited to apply. I've spent the last hour going through it in an epic thread of bleats, ...
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    5 days ago

  • On Lee’s watch, Economic Development seems to be stuck on scoring points from promoting sporting e...
    Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • New Zealand has never been closed for business
    1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Stop the panic – we’ve been here before
    Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’.  ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Minister welcomes hydrogen milestone
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    15 hours ago

  • Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment Bill
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago

  • Overseas decommissioning models considered
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago

  • Release of North Island Severe Weather Event Inquiry
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago

  • Justice Minister to attend Human Rights Council
    Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order.  “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facility
    Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024
    Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing  At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin    Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho    Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today.    I am delighted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government to introduce revised Three Strikes law
    The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • New diplomatic appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions.   “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says.    “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and Somalia
    New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today.   “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho Collective
    Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale.  “It is good ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Supporting better financial outcomes for Kiwis
    The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Trade relationship with China remains strong
    “China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.   Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • PM’s South East Asia mission does the business
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • $41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
    New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
    The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Judicial appointments announced
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
    Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa.  The summit is co-hosted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
    A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.    “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
    Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
    The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Taupō takes pole position
    The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners.  “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Government backing mussel spat project
    The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
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    6 days ago

  • Government focused on getting people into work
    Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
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    6 days ago

  • Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
    The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
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    6 days ago

  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
    The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
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    6 days ago

  • Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
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    7 days ago

  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
    RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
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    7 days ago

  • Inflation coming down, but more work to do
    Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
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    7 days ago

  • School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
    Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
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    7 days ago

  • Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
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    7 days ago

  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
    Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector.    "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
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    1 week ago

  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
    The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
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    1 week ago

  • RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
    Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
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    1 week ago

  • McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
    Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
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    1 week ago

  • Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
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    1 week ago

  • PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ ties
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.  During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
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    1 week ago

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