Open mike 24/08/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 24th, 2015 - 52 comments
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52 comments on “Open mike 24/08/2015 ”

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  1. gsays 1
    24 August 2015 at 8:00 am

    so in the light of:
    asset sales (so we can do up the roads, schools, etc),
    masively delapidated housing stock,
    a drop in dairy price contributing to dire times,
    101B $in debt and climbing,
    solid energy,
    landcorp…,
    can someone please explain how this reigime are masters of the economy?

    ps plus more than 300,000 children in poverty.

    • Tautoko Mangō Mata 1.1
      24 August 2015 at 8:10 am

      ..and cost of private contractors doubles to $11.9m at Ministry of Social Development

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71367888/cost-of-private-contractors-doubles-to-119m-at-ministry-of-social-development

      • dv 1.1.1
        24 August 2015 at 8:19 am

        From the Minister that let Novopay thru.

      • Mike the Savage One 1.1.2
        24 August 2015 at 8:32 am

        It is totally in line with the philosophy and approach followed by this National led government and their lackeys. Outsourcing, contracting out, handing contracts to private service delivery agencies, that is what they love and believe in, they hate too much state, so all is “on track” for them.

        Contracts for some of their mates, all over the show, that is part of the game.

        You can witness the great “success” at Serco, who have also made investigations re catering for social housing clients, as TV3’s The Nation reported on the weekend.

        “Serco”, ahem, yeah, all ok, I suppose, yeah right.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.2
      24 August 2015 at 9:35 am

      can someone please explain how this reigime are masters of the economy?

      they’re managing to sell off our assets to make us poorer and their donors richer at our expense and we’re not getting mad at them for it – yet.

    • tc 1.3
      24 August 2015 at 9:58 am

      Let’s not forget the free ride fletchers have been granted to do dodgy work in chch whilst they enjoy a virtual monopoly on that ‘rebuild’.

      • vto 1.3.1
        24 August 2015 at 11:28 am

        Yes it is gobsmackingly astounding that Fletchers completes 10,000 shoddy home repairs for the government and then gets handed the biggest residential redevelopment in the citys history in the east frame thing….

        how does that work?

        If Fletchers stuffs up repairs on such a scale how can they be relied on to build new homes on such a scale?

        la la land…

        • Pat 1.3.1.1
          24 August 2015 at 2:44 pm

          How does that work?

          By following your instructions to the letter….the only part not in the script was getting caught before sufficient time had passed.

        • tc 1.3.1.2
          24 August 2015 at 3:38 pm

          Not really surprising at all vto.

          Just like if they’re getting any extra to compensate for the new earthmoving contractor required at SH1 Rangiriri after they sent the first one broke by screwing them to the floor which they eventually went through.

          A risk they should carry but probably aren’t which wouldn’t surprise me.

    • Bearded Git 1.4
      24 August 2015 at 10:48 am

      Don’t forget frozen food coming to Dunedin public hospitals from Auckland. You couldn’t make it up. It’s beyond satire.

  2. marty mars 2
    24 August 2015 at 8:03 am

    more poverty porn coming – laughing and demeaning those suffering is a growth industry and to feel better people can then watch our rach travel around the world talking about beauty. End daze indeed.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-guide/71341426/sydneys-poorest-under-the-spotlight

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/ondemand/shows/r/rachel-hunters-tour-of-beauty.html

  3. Mike the Savage One 3
    24 August 2015 at 8:24 am

    I cannot believe it, but they are still promoting the idea, that those receiving social security benefits are “dependent” on a “debilitating drug”:

    ‘Pressure / No Pressure, Strategies for Pushy Patients’:
    http://slideplayer.com/slide/3623123/

    Quote: “A Daily Reality! the “benefit” – an addictive debilitating drug with significant adverse effects to both the patient and their family (whānau) – not dissimilar to smoking and NZ GPs write 350,000 scripts for it every year!” (Slide 27)

    A writer of a new post has scrutinised some of the bold, bizarre claims by MSD’s Principal Health Advisor, and found that the “evidence” they use is not what it seems. Some OIA info assisted, while more sensitive info was withheld:
    https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/msd-and-dr-david-bratt-present-misleading-evidence-claiming-worklessness-causes-poor-health/

    But with these “experts”, like former ATOS staffer Dr Beaumont, who dares or even cares to challenge the not so evidence based agenda they pursue?
    http://fitforwork.co.nz/dr-david-beaumont-keynote-speaker-nz-disability-support-network-annual-conference

    http://fitforwork.co.nz/dr-david-beaumont-inducted-as-afoem-president

    He was also the man who brought UK “experts” such as Mr Aylward Down Under, to launch the UK devised strategy now serving welfare agencies there, in Australia and here to shift people off benefits and into whatever kinds of jobs, precarious in many cases, supposedly with “supports” to achieve the “health benefits of work”:
    http://members.racp.edu.au/page/racp-faculties/australasian-faculty-of-occupational-and-environmental-medicine/realising-the-health-benefits-of-work/may-2010-video-presentation-professor-sir-mansel-aylward/

    Really, “health benefits”, or more spin than reality?
    http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/work-has-fewer-health-benefits-than-mansel-aylward-and-other-experts-claim-it-can-cause-serious-harm/

    So perhaps some can share their experiences with the new approaches used by MSD AND WINZ?

    • adam 3.1
      24 August 2015 at 12:21 pm

      This has been coupled with laws now designed for full disclosure of disability, when trying to obtain employment. And anyone with a disability knows if you are forced to full discloser, most employers are ignorant and fearful of disability – in any form. Let alone if you disability means the work place/work hours have to be modified or changed.

      On that note, most disabled people can not do zero hours – an employed demanding they set the hours minutes before a shift – is a horror show for many disabled.

      It seems to me that Prof. Aylward is involved pseudo-science, a bit like eugenics. Expert, and only in his field. Why does his reporting read like a political polemic, rather than a scientific report? Awful reading, I’m not sure I should thank you for the links Mike the Savage One.

  4. Tautoko Mangō Mata 4
    24 August 2015 at 8:33 am

    Interesting article by Richard Harman headed
    LITTLE WILLING TO PULL OUT OF TPP EVEN IF IT CONTAINS A GOOD DAIRY DEAL

    “Mr Little appears to be hardening Labour’s stand on the TPP which is possibly a recognition of the widespread opposition on the left of New Zealand politics and within the union movement to the agreement.”
    ……
    “Labour’s position on the TPP may well define its position in the political spectrum more than almost any decision it has made in recent years.”

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1
      24 August 2015 at 9:47 am

      Little says he would pull out of TPP if five bottom lines not met

      Labour leader Andrew Little says a government he led would pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership if it didn’t meet the party’s five bottom lines.

      “If that agreement doesn’t meet our bottom lines, it undermines our sovereignty, it fails to protect Pharmac, it fails to protect the Crown’s obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi, and there’s no material benefit to us in it, we won’t be sticking around in it,” he said on The Nation.

      That’s good to hear.

  5. Mike the Savage One 5
    24 August 2015 at 8:44 am

    And before I forget it, there is also stuff happening behind the scenes, MSD are preparing to widen the scope for health professionals to sign their ‘Work Capacity Medical Certificates’. To some that may sound all good and fair, others may remember some experiences with their ‘designated doctors’ that were not so convincing. Anyway, the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) appear to have some concerns with what was being considered so far:

    https://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/assets/Submissions/Submission-Widening-who-can-sign-Work-Capacity-Medical-Certificates.pdf

    https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/msd-are-planning-to-widen-the-scope-for-who-can-sign-work-capacity-medical-certificates/

    And there is also supposed to be a “rewriting” of the ‘Social Security Act’ under way, about which we have not yet heard much, but which was meant to be finalised some time now (this year).

    So perhaps prepare for more changes, “little ones”, without much “fuss” and media attention.

  6. Chooky 6
    24 August 2015 at 9:38 am

    On dairy cows and milk surpluses in Europe plus the Russia dairy trade…basically the EU is a mess for dairy farmers ..

    ‘Huge Glut in European Dairy Cows and Milk Coming Up’ by Mike “Mish” Shedlock

    Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/08/huge-glut-in-european-dairy-cows-and.html#DgGgJY8izAuS6lvQ.99

    …”Instead of blaming farmers for producing too much milk, and instead of blaming inane sanctions on Russia, the government and news outlets blame people for paying too little for milk….In a free trade setup, unprofitable farms would go out of business, but there would also not have been a ridiculous set of sanctions on Russia in the first place.”

    ( In New Zealand John Key last year advised Fonterra NOT to trade dairy with Russia when the Russian market was open to New Zealand dairy !…was this sensible when Russia was open to buying dairy from New Zealand?..If i were a dairy farmer I would be mad )

    • greywarshark 6.1
      24 August 2015 at 11:28 am

      Not to worry NZ dairy is doing fine – one of the rich entities operateing from Luxembourg is buying a farm here and going to convert to dairy. More woe for us (way of extinction).

  7. vto 7
    24 August 2015 at 9:45 am

    I wonder if Neanderthals ever made it to NZ in the long distant past ..?

  8. greywarshark 8
    24 August 2015 at 10:11 am

    I heard a Radionz interview with a Moroccan economist. Most interesting – when they put up audio I’ll try to get and put link up. He referred to rentier economies in some countries and I think that democratically interested activists and academics should make this a household word.

    That would be basic if committed to informing the citizens of the truth of their country’s economic environment. Got to break through the fog of ignorance and disinformation daily. The understanding of rentier economies would be a valuable start.

    • greywarshark 8.1
      24 August 2015 at 11:31 am

      Here is the link and notes.
      http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201767716
      The idea of the think tank over there, Morocco’s first sounds hopeful for some new ideas.

      How radical islam is engaged in a war of minds
      9:33 AM. Dr Nouh El Harmouzi is the Director of Morocco’s first Democrat-Liberal Think Tank, The Arab Center for Scientific Research and Human Studies. He says Islamic State has moved into the vaccum in unstable countries in the region, and is a dynamic organisation actively working to radicalise.

  9. plumington 9
    24 August 2015 at 10:18 am

    I have seen an interesting comment on the flag change by removing the Union jack will this be a precursor to remove our bill of rights and introduce a new constitution based on ? TPPA?
    Any thoughts?

    • Bearded Git 9.1
      24 August 2015 at 10:50 am

      @ plumington Tin Foil Hat stuff.

      • greywarshark 9.1.1
        24 August 2015 at 11:35 am

        First thought Bearded Git.
        Second thought Greywarbler.
        Mix a flag, the Union Jack, the Bill of Rights, TPP and our Constitution vaguely with an idle mind waiting for some smoke to fill it. What results?
        Discuss.

    • GregJ 9.2
      24 August 2015 at 11:24 am

      Yeah – complete bollocks. The flag is just a piece of cloth. Anyone with any understanding of constitutional law knows that what’s doing the rounds is a half-baked load of nonsense.

      • GregJ 9.2.1
        24 August 2015 at 11:26 am

        And I would add you can be opposed to a flag change and the TPPA for plenty of perfectly sensible and sound reasons – this ain’t one of them.

    • Blue Horsehoe 9.3
      24 August 2015 at 12:36 pm

      Has there been a discussion about why we need to change the flag, or the consequences and impacts of doing so ?

      Until such time as the legal ramifications of a flag change have been discussed, understood and shared with NZ, there is no business in holding a referendum on flag change

      It is another example of the piss being taken out of the NZ public, and the country as an entity, by having infantile comments about billions of dollars to the economy, and little to nothing else at all

      NZ has become a retarded nation state where the direction and politics / media / ‘socio cultural norms’ are so debased it is beyond comprehension

      The conclusion sincerely becomes, that it is all being carried out, intentionally

  10. travellerev 10
    24 August 2015 at 11:21 am

    Tim Groser: Opposing The TPP Is Completely Extreme. 97% Of New Zealanders Beg To Differ!

    • James 10.1
      24 August 2015 at 1:44 pm

      97% – thats a big claim. Anything to back it up? Even itsourfuture.org has far smaller %ages mentioned.

      Or are you telling porkies?

  11. adam 11
    24 August 2015 at 12:01 pm

    Talking about Tim Groser – Anyone else noticed he shut his office down after the protest. cleared it out and all. Odd, are the Tory’s that scared of us??

    • Gangnam Style 11.1
      24 August 2015 at 3:27 pm

      I would think so, Woodhouses office in Dunedin is surrounded by CTC cameras, tho to be fair he gets his windows smashed every other week, you would be hard to find anyone that likes him down here, & thats including the editors of the right wing ODT!

  12. adam 12
    24 August 2015 at 12:30 pm

    Great post over at the daily blog. Once again disabled get sub-par service by NZ companies.

    Kim say’s it way better than I can

    http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/24/guest-blog-kim-robinson-end-of-an-era/#comment-299445

  13. Draco T Bastard 13
    24 August 2015 at 3:50 pm

    And more collapse on the way as the global economy continues to slow:

    NZ Steel’s owner BlueScope Steel is threatening redundancies at the Glenbrook Mill near Auckland.

    ASX-listed BlueScope is Australia’s largest steelmaker and managing director and chief executive officer Paul O’Malley says it has been hit hard by a fall in demand from China.

    Hundreds of jobs may be affected – not only at Glenbrook but also at the Port Kembla steel works in Australia.

    Can I point out that if we only produced for the local market then this wouldn’t be happening.

  14. Morrissey 14
    24 August 2015 at 7:26 pm

    Never thought I’d say this, but: BRING BACK COME DINE WITH ME (NZ)
    Campbell Live‘s sorry replacement cannot survive.
    Sorry, TV3, Monday 24 August 2015

    “We Cover the Big Story of the Day. 7PM MON-THU on TV3.”—Mediaworks publicity blurb

    HEATHER DU PLESSIS-ALLAN: Bad news today Dunc—One Direction’s broken up!
    DUNCAN GARNER: I don’t CARE. I really don’t.
    HEATHER DU PLESSIS-ALLAN: [suddenly uneasy, isolated] Heh, heh….

    More on this godawful program….
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11082015/#comment-1057820

    • Hami Shearlie 14.1
      24 August 2015 at 11:06 pm

      Heather and Dunc’s carefully scripted banter takes up half the time – the rest is 3 very short once over lightly “stories” of dubious worth and that’s our lot – Duncan said about one story “who makes me say all this stuff” – so really they have no editorial control, they are mere presenters. This is what Julie Christie wanted – John Campbell from what I understand, had editorial control over Campbell Live and that’s why he had to go – If he felt a story warranted it, he would stay with it for the full half hour, not these pathetic little soundbites of a few minutes duration to be followed with inane fake banter – message to Dunc and Heather – we are NOT interested in what you like to gossip about – do that on your own time! As a reporter Heather was pretty good I thought, but now , boy is she really getting on my wick!! Seven Sharp is slightly worse because of the Hateful little Hosking gnome, but unfortunately, only slightly!

  15. cricko 15
    24 August 2015 at 8:47 pm

    Do any correspondents on this site actually believe that 300,000 children in NZ are
    living in poverty ?

    No shoes to wear to school, no raincoat in the rain, no lunch to eat, living in cold damp mould infested state houses.

    ‘Kin 300 thousand ?

    OK then. Judged by the same yardstick, how many children live in such deprived
    conditions in say Australia.

    Take a guess.

    (thing is, when you over egg your argument you loose credibillity, you defeat our own argument.)

    • Draco T Bastard 15.1
      24 August 2015 at 8:59 pm

      And when you don’t make an argument at all you lose all credibility.

      Oh, wait, that’s what you just did.

      • cricko 15.1.1
        24 August 2015 at 9:59 pm

        Cut to the chase.

        Do you really believe that in New Zealand 300 thousand children live in poverty ?

        Yes or no ?

        • Draco T Bastard 15.1.1.1
          24 August 2015 at 10:23 pm

          Do you really believe that in New Zealand 300 thousand children live in poverty ?

          It’s not a question of belief you moron – it’s a question of fact and the facts show that 300,000+ children in NZ live in poverty.

          Now, here’s an interesting point:

          But the warnings of hedge fund experts were ignored. They contradicted the powerful groundswell of over-optimism and euphoria so characteristic of charismatic authority – a tidal wave of euphoria so powerful that it demanded the destruction of any logical dissent that got in its way.

          History shows that charismatic rhetoric relies on the demonisation of an enemy to deflect blame and to continue to stoke the fires of emotion.

          Which is exactly what you’re doing. Using emotion and outright bullshit to deflect from the fact that this government and it’s charismatic but completely unethical leader are making New Zealand worse off.

    • Kevin 15.2
      24 August 2015 at 9:26 pm

      I see plenty every day, you need to get out more.

      • cricko 15.2.1
        24 August 2015 at 10:02 pm

        Even you Kevin.
        Do you really , sincerely believe that over 300 thousand children in New Zealand live in poverty ?
        No shoes, no raincoat, no lunch, starving, living in
        cold damp mould infested state houses ?

        That what you believe ?

        300 thousand of them ?

        • McFlock 15.2.1.1
          24 August 2015 at 10:27 pm

          I believe the actual figure is around 260 thousand. But not all of them have the full characteristics you describe of “No shoes, no raincoat, no lunch, starving, living in cold damp mould infested state houses ?” (which are actually individual indicators of hardship, rather than poverty). But I definitely believe that there are some children in NZ who would meet that description, and worse.

          What number of children meeting that description in NZ would you find acceptable? !00,000? 50,000? 1,000? 100? 1?