Much gets made of the tax advantages of investing in property, leading to bizarre proposals to “fix it” like Gareth Morgan’s comprehensive capital tax. But the way investing in New Zealand businesses is like jumping into a viper pit is possibly a bigger reason why New Zealanders prefer property. Brain Gaynor explains some of the problems.
Yes. I wouldn’t dream of investing in NZ business rather than property, because it’s a game rigged in favour of the old boys’ club running it. The various fruitless attempts to deal with investment company owners who basically stole their investors’ money and got away with it, and the government’s complete lack of interest in doing something about it, makes it completely insane to invest in NZ business. Buy a house, at least some Grammar alumnus can’t steal that and face no consequences for it.
The NZX and kiwi business are a laughing stock amongst global fund managers.
Weldon did squat except fill his pockets and do as the boys club wanted. I recall Tony Gibbs broke ranks over one of Markys more avaricious remuneration proposals, probably because he wasn’t getting enough of the pie.
Rebstock, Weldon and Diplock presided over some of the most flagrant breaches of fiduciary duties and crony/insider behaviour handing out wet bus tickets to club members.
Now more recently against a backdrop of shonky dealer PM and his dealing cabinet room where they showed time and again that all you need is cash and nothing can’t be done for you.
We totally deserve to be shunned by savvy business investors because unless they are club members as they’ll not do so well. That’s the clear signal the NZX has been sending for a long time now.
Does anyone at about this time go into a major mall and, since you’ve done all your shopping, simply stand in the middle with an icecream and enjoy everyone else’s stress?
So now we are getting back to a nuclear arms race, courtesy of prime macho-posturers, Trump & Putin.
It means that younger generations, along with all the worries about climate change, global financial collapse, etc – also get to experience the nuclear fears that older generations experienced in their youth.
On a positive note, at least Sting’s “Russians” is now relevant once again. They may no longer be “Soviets”, but that’s about all that’s changed apparently. The circle of stupid is now complete. Welcome to Cold War 2.0 kids.
I don’t think that’s the case. Trumps a business man and so is his Sec of State. They’re not warmongers, and its likely the US and Russia will start working together in some way. The Middle east is likely to be a safer place too with less terrorism and US involvement. Our warhawk media would love to incite war by a Trump tweet or a Putin pic though.
I watched Putin do his live annual press meeting last night, it appears to me that some media are messing with his words a bit re nuclear. However it does appear that it is important to putin to be well armed as it makes him appear tough or strong, boys and their toys. Really interesting Q&A with Putin this year.
Yes war is great for business.
And Trump and Putin probably believe that the best way to ensure peace is to prepare for war. So money is still been made via military spending etc.
But the media was spinning the nuclear thing yesterday, like a bunch of warhawks. Bad news sells.
“Trumps a business man and so is his Sec of State. They’re not warmongers, and its likely the US and Russia will start working together in some way.”
mauī
War is business. by other means.
As usually happens with these things, Trump’s threatened trade war against China, will break out into a shooting war at some stage.
Yes, Mauī you are right, ‘the US and Russia will start working together in some way,’ but it won’t be a good way.
Trump is busy working to form an axis with Russia against China.
The joint arms race is to intimidate (or if that fails, anihilate) the Chinese when their economy collapses under US tarriff trade barriers. And in their desperation they to make some sort of military break out.
The most likely hot spots for this miltiary break out will be some sort of border dispute, leading to full scale invasion and territory grab, either Tibet/India, or the North vs South Korean peninsular. Or even Vietnam China border.
Not sure if I agree with that Jenny. Russia and China are much closer partners than the US and Russia. And I think the US economy, like lots of other well off western countries is reliant on China and they won’t want to see the global ponzi economy come under any additional pressures.
I don’t think you have been listening mauī.
Putin has Trump in his pocket – after all it was Russian money that has kept the “Trump” Empire afloat via Deutsche Bank, as Wall St would not lend to him anymore. His business affairs have heavily involved Russian interests, His intended Secretary of State has a Russian Honor presented to him by Putin himself. The meddling in the US election by Russia was not coincidental.
On the other hand.. Trumps hamfisted “diplomatic” incursions via Tweeting and the social media wrt to China have stirred up much resentment within China, and there has been a great deal of sabre rattling and increasing aggressive statements towards the US in the government sponsored Chinese Press in recent days. Statements calling for an early response to the Taiwanese situation include hinted threats of invasion.
The US should well remember that if there ever was to be conflict between China and the US, one of the first casualties would be their ability to cloth themselves. The US is actually clothed by China. Trump may have his suits hand made in NY – but for the rest of the population, their Levis are sewn in China.
Which is why I say that production of defence equipment should not be done by profiteering businesses and that means that it must fully be done by government.
Another nail in the coffin of those, like PM, who believe the lies about the rebels of Wast Aleppo.
6 independent journalists and now the ex-British Ambassador to Syria say it’s a lie.
PM, Peter Swift and a few other gullible victims of the msm say it’s not.
The ex-British Ambassador to Syria has accused the Foreign Office of lying over the country’s civil war and said British policy there has “made the situation worse”.
Peter Ford said the Whitehall department led by Boris Johnson and Philip Hammond before him had “gotten Syria wrong every step of the way”, and was now falsely claiming Bashar Assad could not control the country when he is “well on the way to doing so”.
It comes after the Syrian army reported that it had taken full control of Aleppo following weeks of heavy bombing and fighting in and around the city.
Mr Ford, who was Britain’s ambassador to Syria from 1999 to 2003, claimed that the UK had misread and misrepresented the situation in the country since the start of the conflict.
He said: “The British Foreign Office to which I used to belong, I’m sorry to say has gotten Syria wrong every step of the way.
“They told us at the beginning that Assad’s demise was imminent. They told us he’d be gone by Christmas. They didn’t say which Christmas, so they could still be proven correct.
“But then they told us that the opposition was dominated by these so-called moderates. That proved not to be the case and now they’re telling us another big lie – that Assad can’t control the rest of the country. Well I’ve got news for them – he’s well on the way to doing so.”
They say what’s a lie, Paul? You never actually say what you mean, merely posting other people’s opinions on the subject. How about actually saying something yourself for once? What lies are you claiming I believe, and what lies are you claiming have been exposed by the people you keep quoting every day as though there were some point to it?
You seem to misunderstand the burden of proof, but I’ll play along. I believe that a lot of the rebels in east Aleppo are people who’ve had enough of living under a despotic hereditary dictatorship, and have therefore had the Assad regime and the Russian air force bombarding their city for years as punishment. There are also some al-Qaeda-affiliated religio-fascist murderers in east Aleppo, but no-one has a definitive answer on what the proportion is (well, the regime, Russia and Iran are happy to put numbers on it, but there’s an obvious reason for that which has nothing to do with a great love of accuracy). I personally find it dissatisfying to see a brutal dictator and his great-power patron carrying out a massive bombing campaign against a civilian population, but apparently some people are fine with it – Paul included, judging by the regime propaganda he posts. As to where I get that belief from: everything I see and read on the subject. Even Paul’s pal Cockburn says the Syrian government settles for simply bombarding rebel-held areas because it doesn’t have the ground forces to do much else.
So the proof that you’re offering is:
“everything I see and read on the subject.”
Do you believe this account?
Do I believe an account by a regime shill? Er, no, and for fairly obvious reasons. Are you imagining the Assad regime is a source of truth on this subject? That said, it is worthwhile having a look through the stuff Vanessa Beeley and Eva Barrett are putting out, as it gives you an idea of how the regime would like you to view its actions.
You didn’t watch that link did you?
You are a funny fellow.
Now.
Which ‘regime shill’ have Paul or I quoted or offered links to their work?
Of those that you think are, you need to offer proof that they are a ‘regime shill’.
Oh yeah, I’m a laugh riot. Funny how you guys can never resist a personality assessment while you’re at it.
How do I know Vanessa Beeley is a regime shill? Well, let’s see – she entered east Aleppo courtesy of the Assad regime, talked to people the Assad regime let her talk to, and includes in her commentary only content that’s flattering to the Assad regime. Now, it could be that to you those are the hallmarks of independent journalism, but to me they’re hallmarks of a regime shill.
You’re al Qaeda. You’re being supported by the United States in your jihad to impose extremist rule on Syria, but you still have a PR problem; too many people remember all that unpleasant business from so long ago when you blew up a few buildings in the US. What can you do?
Well, first you change the name of your Syrian branch two or three times. You make sure your spokesmen — who actually get respectfully quoted in the US media! — say moderate things in English but speak with genocidal sectarian fury in Arabic. So far, so good. But what if your new US media buddies actually got a peek at how you operate on the ground in Syria — cutting off heads, hoarding food aid, colluding with ISIS, slaughtering religious minorities, oppressing women, etc.? That’s easy: as Patrick Cockburn noted this week, you simply make the zones you control so dangerous for reporters – killing them, kidnapping them, etc. — that they don’t go there anymore. Instead they “report” on your activities from far away, relying on you to provide their information, telling the story you want told.
And presto chango, that’s how those who murdered Americans have become America’s newest heroes, the brave defenders of freedom in Syria. What’s more, anyone who dares point out the true nature of your organization, and how you operate, are now denounced as apologists for the loathsome Assad regime, or as Putin-lovers, even as traitors! Think of it; just a few years ago, you were the most reviled and hated group Americans had ever known — and now Americans across the media and political spectrum hail you as heroes and defend you from all attacks!
Sure, you’ve lost your foothold in Aleppo, where for years you systematically persecuted people and forcibly prevented them from leaving. But America’s still got your back, AQ! Even when you attack relief convoys in an attempt to scuttle a peace deal that would allow anyone who wants to leave East Aleppo to go free, the American media will fudge the headlines so no one will know that it was you who did the deed.
[And hey, let’s not forget what America’s been doing for you in Yemen! Remember how the Houthis had you on the ropes, nearly ridding the country of your presence — and then the Americans stepped in with their Saudi allies, bombing the holy hell out of the place, choking off food and medicine supplies, destroying the infrastructure for basic survival, killing thousands of civilians and putting millions of people at dire risk of starvation! And suddenly you were back, making great gains, stronger than ever! You simply couldn’t ask for a better friend, could you?]
So buck up, AQ! With the full weight of the American media and political establishment behind you, no doubt there are still great days ahead! In fact, the president has just made it easier for you guys to get even more American weapons so you can carry on your noble quest! It’s just our way of saying Merry Christmas!
Umm, Paul you yourself quoted a report saying that AQ only made up around 11% of the insurgents in Aleppo. If that’s true how can you say that supporting the rebels was ipso facto supporting AQ?
Your quote;
“The reality is that al-Qaeda in Syria, now rebranded as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS) and ostensibly severed from al-Qaeda, had at most 900 fighters inside Aleppo City when this assault began, about 11% of a total insurgent force of 8,000, which has always been dominated in this area by nationalists. ”
There’s a maths problem to be worked out here. ISIS had no presence in Aleppo and the islamist Al Nusra are reported to have made up only 11% of the rebel forces in Aleppo. If the remaining 89% of the insurgents aren’t al-Queda or Daesh then what are they?
Lesser-known swamp things: politicians and lobbyists get the high profile attention. But the creatures that lurk in the shadows claiming “science” to legitimise their paid lies might be even more vile.
In this instance, I’m referring to economists. That just make up stories to justify monopoly-making mergers. Trading on their “credentials” as “scientific experts”. The harm these guys do goes way beyond just increasing corporate power to rip us all off, they also destroy confidence in actual expertise leading to the situation where leaders can just dismiss experts presenting irrefutable facts with a breezy “I can provide you with another one that will give you a counterview.”
Interesting twitter feed exploration on ‘Bana’ – the seven year old girl who allegedly tweeted from eastern Aleppo and who was then pictured on Erdoğan’s lap just the other day after apparently being evacuated from Aleppo along the terrorist’s corridor as opposed to the one used by civilians and moderates.
I notice you still haven’t been able to write down what you’re actually trying to say with all the posts you make about the Syrian civil war, Paul. What conclusions are you trying to lead us to? Or do you just post things at random as some kind of spam project?
The conclusion I have come to ( after reading and listening to Fisk, Cockburn, Oborne, Pilger, Bartlett, Hitchens and the ex-British Ambassador to Syria) is that we are being lied to by the western media about the events in Syria and in particular Aleppo.
I don’t know why the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Post and other news sources have become propaganda outlets. It could be, as Peter Hitchens generously says, that they don’t have the staff on the ground and innocently take those feeds. Or it could be that they are deliberately forming a pro-establishment narrative. The UK is heavily compromised by its relationship with Saudi Arabia; that I do know.
Anyway you have the right to come to your own opinion.
As do I.
“I don’t know why the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Post and other news sources have become propaganda outlets”…well they are ‘propoganda outlets’ on pretty much everything else..so why not Syria??
As you clearly know, the only way to even get a glimpse of ‘The Truth’, or something like it, is to engage in wide spread research from as many sources as possible.
Understanding Syria from the main News sources is about as realistic as flying to the moon in a 1968 Trekka.
Yes the Scots learnt how biased the BBC could be during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
As to Syria, I don’t know the exact motivation for the bias.
The conclusion I have come to ( after reading and listening to Fisk, Cockburn, Oborne, Pilger, Bartlett, Hitchens and the ex-British Ambassador to Syria) is that we are being lied to by the western media about the events in Syria and in particular Aleppo.
Well, it would be odd if we weren’t – the first casualty of war is truth. However, you seem to have come to the conclusion that, because the western media are lying to us (more accurately, haven’t dwelt to Robert Fisk’s satisfaction on the involvement of Islamofascists on the rebel side), the stuff that regime supporters are peddling must be the truth. It’s real face-palm stuff.
Also, it’s a spam project and getting really, really tedious. We all know that Syria is a hellhole and know where to read about it if we want to. Paul’s endless stream of fully quoted articles and videos is wrecking the conversation on TS.
I think you mean well, but give it a rest please Paul. You aren’t participating in dialogue, you are shouting and spamming content with no effort to state your own goddamn opinion. Please stop abusing this forum.
we are being lied to by the western media about the events in Syria and in particular Aleppo.
Yes, the most important thing is damning the media elites and their collaboration with western imperialism because, well, you can’t possibly do that and condemn Assad, Twelvers, and their Russian offsiders as murderous thugs intent on suppressing any and all opposition by whatever means necessary, can you.
/
Selling public assets for less than half their worth should have been a public scandal that brought down a government or at least halted the looting of NZ’s state houses. Instead the deal went ahead with barely a whimper from the opposition.
The UN got around to doing a Security Council vote on condemning Israeli settlements, with the US abstaining. Despite Trump and Netanyahu trying to delay it so it would go away later.
While it doesn’t even have the power of a wet bus ticket, it’s still a worthwhile symbolic move.
And immensly pleased to see that NZ was one of the four countries requesting the vote. At least we have done something positive in our term on the security council.
Of course the Chump immediately tweeted.
“As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20.”
🙄
However, nice to see a US official say:
that “that until Trump’s inauguration on 20 January there was one US president – Obama.”
🙂
Of course the Chump immediately tweeted.
“As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20.”
So this ugly, ignorant gorilla (as opposed to all the beautiful real gorillas) with the orange mop atop his head think he’s going to be in charge of the UN as well as the US? Because their HQ is domiciled in New York… does he think its an American institution? Wouldn’t surprise one little bit.
yep the chump is already the most idiotic pre-president ever and after he is in officially I am sure he will become the most idiotic president ever, if not the last one.
So if progressive states secede from the union, the progressive west coast will get most of the movie and IT industry. What’ll happen to the CIA & FBI given Virginia as fairly mixed state politically? Ditto Mayland home of the NSA?
“ugly, ignorant gorilla”
Hmmm a rather percipient choice of words there Anne..
Did you have Carl Paladino in mind as well?
I think he trumps Trump in disgusting
No Macro I didn’t. I have only just caught up with Master Carl Paladino comments. To be honest, I can’t think of a word in the English dictionary that suitably describes such a detestable specimen of humanity.
The Plight of New Zealand’s Freshwater Biodiversity
New Zealand, a land marketed as clean and green. A land of green lush fields for cows to graze on and beautiful drinkable fresh river water at every turn. In reality, this marketing campaign couldn’t be more of a lie.
A recent report led by two of New Zealand’s leading freshwater ecologists titled ‘The Plight of New Zealand’s Freshwater Diversity’ lists the following as contributors to New Zealand’s widespread pollution of freshwater waterways:
rapid intensification of lowland agriculture – dairy farming
increased urbanisation and development
rising nitrate and phosphate nutrient run off levels causing algal blooms
extraction of water
human and industrial waste discharged to waterways
Massey University’s Dr Mike Joy and Professor Russell Death helped conclude that 74% of our native freshwater fish, mussel and crayfish species are now listed as threatened with extinction, as well as the number of freshwater invertebrate species now at risk increasing from 17 in 2005, up to 82 in 2013.
On top of this, 96% of all lowland catchments and 100% of all urban catchments failed the current standard of pathogens for safe swimming, while 80% of sites exceeded current nutrient guideline levels.
The science here is very clear; we are allowing the systematic destruction of our waterways which so many people rely on for livelihoods, recreation, not to mention basic survival.
Penelope Cruz features in a very powerful short video called ‘Nature is Speaking’as the voice of water and says, “I am water. To humans, I am simply just there. I am something they just take for granted, but there’s only so much of me, and more and more of them every single day.”
The warning is clear. Freshwater sources are depleting very quickly around the world thanks to our actions.
Will we listen?
The recommendations from the report include:
Change legislation to adequately protect native and endemic fish species and invertebrates, including those harvested commercially and recreationally.
Protect habitat critical to the survival of New Zealand’s freshwater species.
Include river habitat health to protect ecosystem health in the National Objectives Framework for the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management.
Establish monitoring and recovery plans for New Zealand’s freshwater invertebrate fauna.
Develop Policy and best management practices for freshwater catchments which include wetlands, estuaries and groundwater ecosystems.
Establish, improve and maintain appropriately wide riparian zones that connect across entire water catchments.
Touted as a great leap forward by the Government, the latest national water quality standards are a scientific scam that will allow nitrate pollution to reach levels that will kill aquatic life and proliferate algal blooms, says Massey University ecologist and zoologist Dr Mike Joy.
Joy spoke of the current state and future poisoning of New Zealand’s waterways, and the associated cost to taxpayers and profits to the dairy industry, in a talk in Nelson last night.
In a separate interview, Joy said the Government’s new National Policy Statement of Freshwater Management, which comes into force on August 1, would see nitrate levels allowed to rise to 6.9 milligrams per litre – 10 times above current levels.
He also sounded a warning to the Tasman District Council saying plans to build the Waimea Community Dam would result in increased land intensification.
The NPS’s new nitrate level was “like increasing the suburban speed limit from 50 kilometres and hour to 500kmh. It would allow New Zealand’s rivers to become more polluted than the Yangtze in China, the Seine in France or the Thames in England”.
Joy said the first point was for New Zealanders to realise the lack of regulation helped increase pollution.
“If there are two farmers side by side and one does the least mitigation, he will make more money.”
Mitigation, such as fencing and planting streams reduced the rate of phosphate run-off but heavy nitrogen loading, produced by urine in quantity from intensive farming, could not be taken up by plants and ran into waterways creating algal growth and affecting aquatic life.
Joy said the current national nitrogen limit, which was already exceeded in a number of waterways, was low enough not to allow algal growth.
“But the industry and the Government want to double dairy production. To get around the science the bottom line for nutrients is only set at the toxicity limit for nitrogen – it’s a single-unit scam.”
He said the policy received a direct hit from the Ruataniwha Dam Board of Inquiry, which confirmed nitrogen leaching levels from agriculture at 0.8mg a litre, which would ensure the ability of rivers to sustain life.
By making toxicity the new national nitrogen bottom line in waterways the Ministry for the Environment was closing the door after the horse had bolted, Joy said.
“Before toxic level are reached, algal growth will have smothered a stream. The board of inquiry set a precedent. New Zealand cannot keep expanding its intensive farming.”
Not only was expansion costing the country’s waterways but it also cost taxpayers with the profits going to industry and individual farmers.
“Only a few are profitting from this and they are destroying our ability to maintain the Clean Green image.
“It costs $250,000 to clean one tonne of nitrates from Lake Rotorua, but only $6600 in lost profit for a farmer to not put that on his land.
“And the surprising thing is that our productivity has dropped in the past 10 years. Production has gone up – however the cost of imported inputs, such as palm kernel, have risen faster.”
However Guy Beatson, deputy secretary of policy at the Ministry for the Environment, said the NPS would not allow the degradation of rivers. “The bottom lines are not a minimum standard – instead the existing condition is the starting point for managing water quality, which in most cases is above the national bottom lines.”
And the NPS did not suggest or endorse a single nutrient management approach. “Regional councils will need to set an objective for periphyton ([slime] in their regional plans, and adopt appropriate management options to achieve that objective,” Beatson said. “Where necessary, this will require them to set limits on nitrogen and phosphorus and manage other factors that promote weed growth such as shade, temperature and flow levels.”
Councils have to enforce the new NPS standards by 2025.
Defending TDC is an interesting stance – considering the major conflicts of interest the mayor and several councillors have with regard to the Lee Valley Dam. They push the story that we will be in dire straits if there is another drought but fail to mention that those who benefit the most from the dam include themselves and their own properties and businesses.
yes his research is what he should use , but claiming all animals would / should be out of the food chain by 2050 just makes him look like a loony fool,
🙄
Ever heard of Phosphates?
Take a look at the Corn belts of North America and the effects they have had on groundwater and surface runoff into the Great Lakes.
We are not talking dairy – or beef – production. Purely intensive mono culture maintained by massive quanties of artificial fertilisers.
Interesting comment. And probably true.
If one does not ‘toe the Party line’ you tend to be on the out. Though to its credit Massey is now far more supportive. But anyway, its called having principles and stating the facts as you see them, oh, yeah, and the facts as can be proven with Science.. But hey, what would a Senior Lecturer in Ecology / Zoology know.
Then again you have the likes of Waikato University professor of agri-business Dr Jacqueline Rowarth (a favorite in the NBR) who has boldly claimed…”it was “naive” to expect water quality in waterways could be restored to pristine conditions when it was already safe to drink.”
I would like to extend a personal invitation to Dr Rowarth to come down to the Bay and have a nice cup of water from the Tukituki.
Comparing hort to dairying doesn’t mean that hort is non-polluting, you’re looking at the wrong scale. We are so far from anything resembling sustainable despite the fact that we already have sustainable farming and land use tech in NZ. Promotion of export hort is akin to saying bring on climate change.
elephant in the room…..irrespective of whether we control agri/hort/aqua culture to preserve water quality and subsequently the environment the problem remains the same.
The equation is incredibly simple and at the same time impossible….the planet cannot support 7 plus billion human beings regardless ….either the population degrades or the environment does.
ultimately the population will collapse either way.
Well,as we all know Greenwald is a paragon of balanced journalism.
Actually Paul, just about anything you post seems to entirely come from activists with an agenda, or journalists who are notoriously opposed to the West. So in your view anything by the BCC, CNN, the Guardian et al is simply propaganda, but if it is from RT then obviously it is the truth. In the old days you would have been seen as a fellow traveller.
Of course it is your world view, but don’t expect your posts (with their long quotes from people you deem to be “authorities”) to be seen as anything other than partisan.
You might want to read and research these journalists, Wayne. You should know of them given the fact you were a MP….
Or was that last entry just a spray and run away?
France on Thursday inaugurated the world’s first “solar highway”, a road paved with solar panels providing enough energy to power the street lights of the small Normandy town of Tourouvre.
The one-kilometre (half-mile) “Wattway” covered with 2,800 square metres (30,000 square feet) of resin-coated solar panels was hooked up to the local power grid as Environment Minister Segolene Royal looked on.
“This new use of solar energy takes advantage of large swathes of road infrastructure already in use… to produce electricity without taking up new real estate,” Royal said in a statement.
Such a scheme is certainly worth looking into especially when we consider just how much land area roads take up.
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And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
Comment: Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are making it easier for people to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum without having to handle digital wallets or private keys. These allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency through their regular brokerage accounts.This has opened the door for billions of dollars ...
Two long-awaited reports into alleged personal data misuse, centred on census collection and Covid-19 vaccination efforts at Manurewa Marae, were released yesterday. Here’s what you need to know.“Very sobering reading” was how public service commissioner Sir Brian Roche described his organisation’s long-awaited report into the alleged misuse of census ...
Backbench MPs reached new levels of patsy questions in an extraordinarily dull question time on Tuesday. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. “MPs ask questions to explore key issues ...
The New Zealand Government says the Cook Islands must share more information about the deals it has signed with China, following the release of an ‘action plan’ in the face of protests in the Pacific nation’s capital.The Cook Islands government has also revealed plans to spend $3 million on a ...
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Comment: The recent attack by Destiny Church front groups on a Drag science show at Te Atatū library crossed a line. This wasn’t the first time that Brian Tamaki, the multimillionaire self-appointed ‘apostle’, has ordered acts of aggression against the queer community. Last year, Drag Story Time events were targeted, ...
Martina Salmon is well versed in the fast-paced action on a netball court, but even she was caught by surprise with the speed at which her career changed tack last year.Staying in the fast lane is only part of her drive this season.Fresh off a nine-day camp in Sydney with ...
Last night I may as well have been in Taihape. Or, closer to home, for me at least, somewhere in the Wairarapa. Or Tūrangi, even – which is near where we used to spend the summer when I was a child. For there was that same gorgeous small town feeling ...
Having Auckland’s food scraps dumped onto your rural backyard sounds scandalous, but in the North Island town of Reporoa there’s no fuss about the thousands of tonnes carted here every week.From the same site as one truck drops the waste, another truck picks up fertiliser to spread on local sheep ...
Negotiating rights over freshwater in Treaty settlement negotiations could have extended negotiations a decade, a Ngāi Tahu leader says.Tribal leaders, and its umbrella body, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, have taken the Attorney-General to court in a bid to have the Crown recognise its rangatiratanga (chiefly authority) over wai māori ...
Analysis: Poor safeguarding of New Zealanders’ data could be a widespread practice within the public service and certainly within the health system, according to the findings of an independent inquiry into allegations of misused census and Covid-19 vaccination information.The Public Service Commission’s review, led by consultant Pania Gray and former ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Stone, Principal Research Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Having dense breasts is a clear risk factor for breast cancer. It can also make cancers hard to spot on mammograms. Yet you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The National Anti-Corruption Commission will finally investigate whether six people referred to it by the royal commission into Robodebt engaged in corrupt conduct. This follows an independent reconsideration by former High Court judge Geoffrey ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Last week in Europe, the United States sent some very strong messages it is prepared to upend the established global order. US Vice President JD Vance warned a stunned Munich ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank cut official interest rates on Tuesday, the first decrease in four years, saying inflationary pressures are easing “a little more quickly than expected”. However, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan Fels, Professor Allan Fels, Professor of Law, Economics and Business at the University of Melbourne and Monash University., The University of Melbourne Australia is creeping towards adding a divestiture power to its Competition and Consumer Act. Under such a law, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arjen Vaartjes, PhD Student, Quantum Physics, UNSW Sydney Dmitriy Rybin / Shutterstock What makes something quantum? This question has kept a small but dedicated fraction of the world’s population – most of them quantum physicists – up at night for decades. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University Australia’s minister for home affairs announced on Sunday that the federal government has struck a deal with Nauru to “resettle” three non-citizens from what’s come to be known as the “NZYQ cohort”. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Fitzpatrick, Professor in International History, Flinders University (From left to right): Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany.German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons Ukraine ...
The purpose was to establish the facts and provide an independent assessment of government agency activity in relation to allegations that personal data may have been misused during the 2023 General Election. ...
Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster said he is carefully reviewing the referrals raised in the two reports. That work will be done in the context the Privacy Act and the need to ensure individuals’ rights to privacy is protected and respected. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bhavna Middha, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The average Australian household size has decreased from 4.5 people per household in 1911 to 2.5 people in 2024. At the same time, the average house size has increased, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Page Jeffery, Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Sydney suriyachan/Shutterstock When the Australian government passed legislation in November last year banning young people under 16 from social media, it included exemptions for platforms “that are primarily for the purposes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leslie Roberson, Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland If you’ve ever been stopped by quarantine officers at the airport, you might think Australia’s international border is locked down like a fortress. But when it comes ...
Duncan Sarkies’ latest novel, Star Gazers, is about the collapse of democracy in a society of alpaca breeders. Here are some things his intensive research revealed. 1 How greed works, psychologicallyYes, I guess I already understood greed, but I could never understand why people who already have everything they ...
The proposed cuts would see only two full time Telehealth data and digital roles, and one Planning, Funding and Outcomes (PFO) role remain, reduced from 17 Telehealth support roles (including vacant roles). Roles proposed to be cut include Telehealth ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Ministers to end funding for Te Kurahuna programmes and workshop grifters that have received millions in taxpayer funding, despite the Government’s supposed focus on cutting costs. ...
Much gets made of the tax advantages of investing in property, leading to bizarre proposals to “fix it” like Gareth Morgan’s comprehensive capital tax. But the way investing in New Zealand businesses is like jumping into a viper pit is possibly a bigger reason why New Zealanders prefer property. Brain Gaynor explains some of the problems.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11772481
Yes. I wouldn’t dream of investing in NZ business rather than property, because it’s a game rigged in favour of the old boys’ club running it. The various fruitless attempts to deal with investment company owners who basically stole their investors’ money and got away with it, and the government’s complete lack of interest in doing something about it, makes it completely insane to invest in NZ business. Buy a house, at least some Grammar alumnus can’t steal that and face no consequences for it.
The NZX and kiwi business are a laughing stock amongst global fund managers.
Weldon did squat except fill his pockets and do as the boys club wanted. I recall Tony Gibbs broke ranks over one of Markys more avaricious remuneration proposals, probably because he wasn’t getting enough of the pie.
Rebstock, Weldon and Diplock presided over some of the most flagrant breaches of fiduciary duties and crony/insider behaviour handing out wet bus tickets to club members.
Now more recently against a backdrop of shonky dealer PM and his dealing cabinet room where they showed time and again that all you need is cash and nothing can’t be done for you.
We totally deserve to be shunned by savvy business investors because unless they are club members as they’ll not do so well. That’s the clear signal the NZX has been sending for a long time now.
You could be right about the viper pit image of NZX investing as an important influence on people putting their money into unlisted property.
The NZX has historically delivered steady growth and reliable dividends, and has outperformed in recent years.
https://milfordasset.com/2015-share-market-returns-kiwi-investors-the-big-winners/
https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/investing-in-nz/opportunities-outlook/economic-overview
Some of the successful (so far) IPOs not mentioned in Gaynor’s article
https://www.nzx.com/markets/NZSX/securities/PEB
https://www.nzx.com/markets/NZSX/securities/ATM
https://www.nzx.com/markets/NZSX/securities/XRO
Does anyone at about this time go into a major mall and, since you’ve done all your shopping, simply stand in the middle with an icecream and enjoy everyone else’s stress?
Nah. My family is having our Christmas meal today. Just not looking forward to the traffic getting across town to it.
Then tomorrow I’ll have a lie in and a laid back day.
A friend says it’s very European to celebrate on Christmas eve.
We had my side’s major dinner last night, then there’s the other half’s one on Christmas Day itself.
Similar reason for our family having it today – some family members have other families to be with tomorrow.
Was that your foot I ‘accidentally’ trod on the other day?
So now we are getting back to a nuclear arms race, courtesy of prime macho-posturers, Trump & Putin.
It means that younger generations, along with all the worries about climate change, global financial collapse, etc – also get to experience the nuclear fears that older generations experienced in their youth.
Merry Xmas, war is not over.
On a positive note, at least Sting’s “Russians” is now relevant once again. They may no longer be “Soviets”, but that’s about all that’s changed apparently. The circle of stupid is now complete. Welcome to Cold War 2.0 kids.
https://youtu.be/wHylQRVN2Qs
And Dylan’s “Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” was thought to be about a nuclear holocaust – but maybe also so much more. Good choice for the Nobel gig.
Patti Smith nailed it IMO, even when she messed up, made it all the more poignant
I don’t think that’s the case. Trumps a business man and so is his Sec of State. They’re not warmongers, and its likely the US and Russia will start working together in some way. The Middle east is likely to be a safer place too with less terrorism and US involvement. Our warhawk media would love to incite war by a Trump tweet or a Putin pic though.
Agree with you Maui about that.
I watched Putin do his live annual press meeting last night, it appears to me that some media are messing with his words a bit re nuclear. However it does appear that it is important to putin to be well armed as it makes him appear tough or strong, boys and their toys. Really interesting Q&A with Putin this year.
https://www.rt.com/news/371502-putin-conference-wrap-up/
Yes war is great for business.
And Trump and Putin probably believe that the best way to ensure peace is to prepare for war. So money is still been made via military spending etc.
But the media was spinning the nuclear thing yesterday, like a bunch of warhawks. Bad news sells.
War is business. by other means.
As usually happens with these things, Trump’s threatened trade war against China, will break out into a shooting war at some stage.
Yes, Mauī you are right, ‘the US and Russia will start working together in some way,’ but it won’t be a good way.
Trump is busy working to form an axis with Russia against China.
The joint arms race is to intimidate (or if that fails, anihilate) the Chinese when their economy collapses under US tarriff trade barriers. And in their desperation they to make some sort of military break out.
The most likely hot spots for this miltiary break out will be some sort of border dispute, leading to full scale invasion and territory grab, either Tibet/India, or the North vs South Korean peninsular. Or even Vietnam China border.
Not sure if I agree with that Jenny. Russia and China are much closer partners than the US and Russia. And I think the US economy, like lots of other well off western countries is reliant on China and they won’t want to see the global ponzi economy come under any additional pressures.
I don’t think you have been listening mauī.
Putin has Trump in his pocket – after all it was Russian money that has kept the “Trump” Empire afloat via Deutsche Bank, as Wall St would not lend to him anymore. His business affairs have heavily involved Russian interests, His intended Secretary of State has a Russian Honor presented to him by Putin himself. The meddling in the US election by Russia was not coincidental.
On the other hand.. Trumps hamfisted “diplomatic” incursions via Tweeting and the social media wrt to China have stirred up much resentment within China, and there has been a great deal of sabre rattling and increasing aggressive statements towards the US in the government sponsored Chinese Press in recent days. Statements calling for an early response to the Taiwanese situation include hinted threats of invasion.
The US should well remember that if there ever was to be conflict between China and the US, one of the first casualties would be their ability to cloth themselves. The US is actually clothed by China. Trump may have his suits hand made in NY – but for the rest of the population, their Levis are sewn in China.
Arm’s races are always good for business.
Unfortunately, so are wars.
Which is why I say that production of defence equipment should not be done by profiteering businesses and that means that it must fully be done by government.
Yep trump and Putin what a pair of arseholes and dirty warmongers as anyone with a brain knew.
The problem is the Americans had a choice between a known warmonger and a loose cannon.
That is no longer the problem.
True that.
The problem now is Trump’s Orwellian propaganda
Another nail in the coffin of those, like PM, who believe the lies about the rebels of Wast Aleppo.
6 independent journalists and now the ex-British Ambassador to Syria say it’s a lie.
PM, Peter Swift and a few other gullible victims of the msm say it’s not.
Former UK ambassador to Syria accuses Foreign Office of lying about the country’s civil war.
They say what’s a lie, Paul? You never actually say what you mean, merely posting other people’s opinions on the subject. How about actually saying something yourself for once? What lies are you claiming I believe, and what lies are you claiming have been exposed by the people you keep quoting every day as though there were some point to it?
What do you believe, and why do you believe it? What evidence (i.e.reportage from witnesses at the scene) can you provide to support what you believe.
I think his sources are the White Helmets.
Laugh Out rather Loudly
What do you believe, and why do you believe it?
You seem to misunderstand the burden of proof, but I’ll play along. I believe that a lot of the rebels in east Aleppo are people who’ve had enough of living under a despotic hereditary dictatorship, and have therefore had the Assad regime and the Russian air force bombarding their city for years as punishment. There are also some al-Qaeda-affiliated religio-fascist murderers in east Aleppo, but no-one has a definitive answer on what the proportion is (well, the regime, Russia and Iran are happy to put numbers on it, but there’s an obvious reason for that which has nothing to do with a great love of accuracy). I personally find it dissatisfying to see a brutal dictator and his great-power patron carrying out a massive bombing campaign against a civilian population, but apparently some people are fine with it – Paul included, judging by the regime propaganda he posts. As to where I get that belief from: everything I see and read on the subject. Even Paul’s pal Cockburn says the Syrian government settles for simply bombarding rebel-held areas because it doesn’t have the ground forces to do much else.
So the proof that you’re offering is:
“everything I see and read on the subject.”
Do you believe this account?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgnTskvdYi0
If not, why not?
You are wasting your breath, Brigid.
I have posted the accounts of 6 independent journalists ( you now make it 7) and the ex-British Ambassador to Syria, who all challenge the narrative.
But pm knows better.
What narrative? And in what way do they challenge it? You still haven’t said.
So the proof that you’re offering is:
“everything I see and read on the subject.”
Do you believe this account?
Do I believe an account by a regime shill? Er, no, and for fairly obvious reasons. Are you imagining the Assad regime is a source of truth on this subject? That said, it is worthwhile having a look through the stuff Vanessa Beeley and Eva Barrett are putting out, as it gives you an idea of how the regime would like you to view its actions.
You didn’t watch that link did you?
You are a funny fellow.
Now.
Which ‘regime shill’ have Paul or I quoted or offered links to their work?
Of those that you think are, you need to offer proof that they are a ‘regime shill’.
Otherwise who is likely to believe you?
Oh yeah, I’m a laugh riot. Funny how you guys can never resist a personality assessment while you’re at it.
How do I know Vanessa Beeley is a regime shill? Well, let’s see – she entered east Aleppo courtesy of the Assad regime, talked to people the Assad regime let her talk to, and includes in her commentary only content that’s flattering to the Assad regime. Now, it could be that to you those are the hallmarks of independent journalism, but to me they’re hallmarks of a regime shill.
How perfectly reasonable. Demanding someone tells you their beliefs and requiring them to provide reasons and links for their personally held views.
Personally held views being propagated publicly and violently expressed.
sorry, which side are you talking about again?
Also, you forgot to quote these bits:
Ford, who has been accused of being an apologist for the Syrian regime…
…argued that Assad would win because “repression works”.
Top bloke, I can see why you like him.
An al Qaeda Christmas: the Touching Tale of How Hate Figures Became American Heroes
Umm, Paul you yourself quoted a report saying that AQ only made up around 11% of the insurgents in Aleppo. If that’s true how can you say that supporting the rebels was ipso facto supporting AQ?
Your quote;
“The reality is that al-Qaeda in Syria, now rebranded as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS) and ostensibly severed from al-Qaeda, had at most 900 fighters inside Aleppo City when this assault began, about 11% of a total insurgent force of 8,000, which has always been dominated in this area by nationalists. ”
What looks to be the original source;
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-nusra-idUSKBN12E0R6
I am quoting sources to help you make an informed decision.
How about you answer the question Paul.
There’s a maths problem to be worked out here. ISIS had no presence in Aleppo and the islamist Al Nusra are reported to have made up only 11% of the rebel forces in Aleppo. If the remaining 89% of the insurgents aren’t al-Queda or Daesh then what are they?
Lesser-known swamp things: politicians and lobbyists get the high profile attention. But the creatures that lurk in the shadows claiming “science” to legitimise their paid lies might be even more vile.
In this instance, I’m referring to economists. That just make up stories to justify monopoly-making mergers. Trading on their “credentials” as “scientific experts”. The harm these guys do goes way beyond just increasing corporate power to rip us all off, they also destroy confidence in actual expertise leading to the situation where leaders can just dismiss experts presenting irrefutable facts with a breezy “I can provide you with another one that will give you a counterview.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/these-professors-make-more-thousand-bucks-hour-peddling-mega-mergers
Another view on the strength of oligopolies in the US at present.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/23/14052804/oligopoly-tim-wu
Interesting twitter feed exploration on ‘Bana’ – the seven year old girl who allegedly tweeted from eastern Aleppo and who was then pictured on Erdoğan’s lap just the other day after apparently being evacuated from Aleppo along the terrorist’s corridor as opposed to the one used by civilians and moderates.
https://twitter.com/BBassem7/status/811592983464198144
Don’t post other people’s opinions on the matter, Bill. It upsets pm.
He prefers to hear our own opinions- based on no evidence I guess.
Wow, that Bassem’s a real ugly piece of work.
I notice you still haven’t been able to write down what you’re actually trying to say with all the posts you make about the Syrian civil war, Paul. What conclusions are you trying to lead us to? Or do you just post things at random as some kind of spam project?
I have said this before.
The conclusion I have come to ( after reading and listening to Fisk, Cockburn, Oborne, Pilger, Bartlett, Hitchens and the ex-British Ambassador to Syria) is that we are being lied to by the western media about the events in Syria and in particular Aleppo.
I don’t know why the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Post and other news sources have become propaganda outlets. It could be, as Peter Hitchens generously says, that they don’t have the staff on the ground and innocently take those feeds. Or it could be that they are deliberately forming a pro-establishment narrative. The UK is heavily compromised by its relationship with Saudi Arabia; that I do know.
Anyway you have the right to come to your own opinion.
As do I.
“I don’t know why the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Post and other news sources have become propaganda outlets”…well they are ‘propoganda outlets’ on pretty much everything else..so why not Syria??
As you clearly know, the only way to even get a glimpse of ‘The Truth’, or something like it, is to engage in wide spread research from as many sources as possible.
Understanding Syria from the main News sources is about as realistic as flying to the moon in a 1968 Trekka.
Yes the Scots learnt how biased the BBC could be during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
As to Syria, I don’t know the exact motivation for the bias.
The fact Syria has so much coverage is bias in itself. Though I can guess why no one wants to talk about Yemen. .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyUX7e7g_Zs
https://www.theguardian.com/world/yemen
The conclusion I have come to ( after reading and listening to Fisk, Cockburn, Oborne, Pilger, Bartlett, Hitchens and the ex-British Ambassador to Syria) is that we are being lied to by the western media about the events in Syria and in particular Aleppo.
Well, it would be odd if we weren’t – the first casualty of war is truth. However, you seem to have come to the conclusion that, because the western media are lying to us (more accurately, haven’t dwelt to Robert Fisk’s satisfaction on the involvement of Islamofascists on the rebel side), the stuff that regime supporters are peddling must be the truth. It’s real face-palm stuff.
Also, it’s a spam project and getting really, really tedious. We all know that Syria is a hellhole and know where to read about it if we want to. Paul’s endless stream of fully quoted articles and videos is wrecking the conversation on TS.
I think you mean well, but give it a rest please Paul. You aren’t participating in dialogue, you are shouting and spamming content with no effort to state your own goddamn opinion. Please stop abusing this forum.
Read this, bullet points 5 and 6
https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/#banning
Yes, the most important thing is damning the media elites and their collaboration with western imperialism because, well, you can’t possibly do that and condemn Assad, Twelvers, and their Russian offsiders as murderous thugs intent on suppressing any and all opposition by whatever means necessary, can you.
/
Susie Ferguson acting as a propaganda outlet for the establishment narrative.
‘The regime MP for Aleppo defends its approach to liberating Aleppo – and laughs when asked about civilian deaths’
She does not like it when people question her parroting of propaganda on her twitter feed.
Bruce King
@SusieFergusonNZ
A reason why I feel like giving up voting;
“Government sells off Tauranga’s state housing portfolio to Accessible Properties”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=11771757
Selling public assets for less than half their worth should have been a public scandal that brought down a government or at least halted the looting of NZ’s state houses. Instead the deal went ahead with barely a whimper from the opposition.
Bomber sums up 2016 well.
Christmas 2016 – it’s a broken and cold Hallelujah
If you think this year has been bad – just wait until next year when the Chump takes office…
Then we surely will be on the Highway to Hell.
The UN got around to doing a Security Council vote on condemning Israeli settlements, with the US abstaining. Despite Trump and Netanyahu trying to delay it so it would go away later.
While it doesn’t even have the power of a wet bus ticket, it’s still a worthwhile symbolic move.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-un-idUSKBN14C1IV
Agreed Andre
And immensly pleased to see that NZ was one of the four countries requesting the vote. At least we have done something positive in our term on the security council.
Of course the Chump immediately tweeted.
“As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20.”
🙄
However, nice to see a US official say:
that “that until Trump’s inauguration on 20 January there was one US president – Obama.”
🙂
Of course the Chump immediately tweeted.
“As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20.”
So this ugly, ignorant gorilla (as opposed to all the beautiful real gorillas) with the orange mop atop his head think he’s going to be in charge of the UN as well as the US? Because their HQ is domiciled in New York… does he think its an American institution? Wouldn’t surprise one little bit.
yep the chump is already the most idiotic pre-president ever and after he is in officially I am sure he will become the most idiotic president ever, if not the last one.
What makes you think that he’d be the last president?
He’ll fuck it up so bad the place will disintegrate into fiefdoms.
California has already stated that it will protect its citizens should the federal government overstep its mandate
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-immigration-bills_us_5845f08ee4b02f60b02498e4
So if progressive states secede from the union, the progressive west coast will get most of the movie and IT industry. What’ll happen to the CIA & FBI given Virginia as fairly mixed state politically? Ditto Mayland home of the NSA?
It will never happen. Things are a bit more sophisticated than when the ‘Souixt’ happened in 1861.
Though when Trump takes his hands off that bible, all bets are pretty much off.
“ugly, ignorant gorilla”
Hmmm a rather percipient choice of words there Anne..
Did you have Carl Paladino in mind as well?
I think he trumps Trump in disgusting
Did you have Carl Paladino in mind as well?
No Macro I didn’t. I have only just caught up with Master Carl Paladino comments. To be honest, I can’t think of a word in the English dictionary that suitably describes such a detestable specimen of humanity.
God help America!
I heard on the 4 oclock news that Israel has withdrawn its Ambassador.
Oh Dear! How Sad! Never mind…
Fine by me. There’s no point in having any sort of relationship with such a despotic regime.
My thoughts entirely.
The Plight of New Zealand’s Freshwater Biodiversity
The Plight of New Zealand’s Freshwater Biodiversity
74 percent of freshwater life now threatened with extinction
NZ rivers will be ‘like Yangtze’
NZ rivers will be ‘like Yangtze’
Toxic algae found in Selwyn River at Glentunnel
Don’t tell me.
Is Russel Norman continuing his didymo spreading canoe tour of the South Island river systems?
Another rwnj happy with the destruction of our environment.
We need your hero president Assad to sort this out
Dr Joy should have a good walkabout of the Waimea Plains area before making pronouncements decrying all intensification.
The agricultural intensification that continues there is not dairy, it’s horticulture.
Hroticulture has far fewer downsides than dairy.
Also, a few years ago the area had a really intense drought, which would be pretty motivating.
Also, Tasman District Council appears to have done a far better job of public engagement than say Ruataniwha, so far.
Horticulture is on track to quickly surpass beef production as a New Zealand export earner.
Defending big ag.
That’s a brave stance.
OK…..
Nope, defending horticulture.
I made a clear distinction between dairy and horticulture.
Dr Joy does himself no favors sometimes.
Defending TDC is an interesting stance – considering the major conflicts of interest the mayor and several councillors have with regard to the Lee Valley Dam. They push the story that we will be in dire straits if there is another drought but fail to mention that those who benefit the most from the dam include themselves and their own properties and businesses.
Full list of the Tasman District Council Register of Interests, though still awaiting the new Council one from the new Councillors:
http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0ahUKEwig0pPnhIzRAhUCkJQKHarhD5QQFggoMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tasman.govt.nz%2Fdocument%2Fserve%2FInterest%2520Register%2520as%2520at%2520June%25202016.pdf%3Fpath%3D%2FEDMS%2FPublic%2FOther%2FCouncil%2F000000428249&usg=AFQjCNFnhEVyu7pHUGXnZ8SxRPFFclCCXw&sig2=lUL1_ZGpeXMaBbVr4pxKSg
Are there elected member interests that are missing that you can document?
Got research to back up what you say?
joy has lost all chance of being included with his grandstanding the man is a fool
Got research?
Because Joy does.
Course not
yes his research is what he should use , but claiming all animals would / should be out of the food chain by 2050 just makes him look like a loony fool,
If we want to maintain billions of people then he’s probably right.
🙄
Ever heard of Phosphates?
Take a look at the Corn belts of North America and the effects they have had on groundwater and surface runoff into the Great Lakes.
We are not talking dairy – or beef – production. Purely intensive mono culture maintained by massive quanties of artificial fertilisers.
+1
Then there is cropping to support the dairy industry. etc. It’s all just wrong.
Interesting comment. And probably true.
If one does not ‘toe the Party line’ you tend to be on the out. Though to its credit Massey is now far more supportive. But anyway, its called having principles and stating the facts as you see them, oh, yeah, and the facts as can be proven with Science.. But hey, what would a Senior Lecturer in Ecology / Zoology know.
Then again you have the likes of Waikato University professor of agri-business Dr Jacqueline Rowarth (a favorite in the NBR) who has boldly claimed…”it was “naive” to expect water quality in waterways could be restored to pristine conditions when it was already safe to drink.”
I would like to extend a personal invitation to Dr Rowarth to come down to the Bay and have a nice cup of water from the Tukituki.
Comparing hort to dairying doesn’t mean that hort is non-polluting, you’re looking at the wrong scale. We are so far from anything resembling sustainable despite the fact that we already have sustainable farming and land use tech in NZ. Promotion of export hort is akin to saying bring on climate change.
elephant in the room…..irrespective of whether we control agri/hort/aqua culture to preserve water quality and subsequently the environment the problem remains the same.
The equation is incredibly simple and at the same time impossible….the planet cannot support 7 plus billion human beings regardless ….either the population degrades or the environment does.
ultimately the population will collapse either way.
In depth journalism looking at our prison system.
Private business, public failure
Alec Baldwin feels sorry for Trump coz no one with any talent wants to go near his inauguration. So he’s offered to perform.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alec-baldwin-fires-one-hell-of-a-zinger-at-donald-trumps-inauguration_us_585d549be4b0eb58648622b5
Glenn Greenwald: The State Of Journalism In The US
Well,as we all know Greenwald is a paragon of balanced journalism.
Actually Paul, just about anything you post seems to entirely come from activists with an agenda, or journalists who are notoriously opposed to the West. So in your view anything by the BCC, CNN, the Guardian et al is simply propaganda, but if it is from RT then obviously it is the truth. In the old days you would have been seen as a fellow traveller.
Of course it is your world view, but don’t expect your posts (with their long quotes from people you deem to be “authorities”) to be seen as anything other than partisan.
Do you trust ………
Patrick Cockburn?
Peter Hitchens ?
Robert Fisk ?
John Pilger ?
Peter Oborne ?
Or the ex-British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford?
Would you describe these people as ‘ activists with an agenda, or journalists who are notoriously opposed to the West.’
Just wondering……
No I don’t trust them, they all have an axe to grind one way or another
Do you know who they are?
You might want to read and research these journalists, Wayne. You should know of them given the fact you were a MP….
Or was that last entry just a spray and run away?
Food for thought.
What did you think about the final analysis of the new cabinet?
More proof that private ownership which returns money without doing anything (otherwise known as usury) is simply bad for society.
Road paved with solar panels powers French town
Such a scheme is certainly worth looking into especially when we consider just how much land area roads take up.