Open mike 25/04/2021
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- Economic Bulletin April/May 2025
Welcome to the April/May 2025 Economic Bulletin. The Minister of Finance has made it clear Budget 2025 will bring further cuts to public investment. She has chopped the operating allowance almost in half, said most government departments will not receive any additional funding, and signalled that numerous government programmes are ...37 minutes ago - The video sums things up.
Let me make this short and sweet (taken from my other social media): Seeing some of the world’s richest men shaking the blood-stained hand of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin-Salman while being warmly introduced by US president Donald Trump pretty much sums up the era we live in. It was ...2 hours ago - 191 NZers now emigrating each day, including 15 babies & toddlers
The exodus of New Zealanders goes on at a rate of one A320-plane load a day, including 15 babies and toddlers on each plane, every day of the year. Photo: SuppliedBriefly in the news from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, May 15:Statistics NZ reported yesterday ...3 hours ago - The writing of Joseph S Nye Jr: highlights from The Strategist
Joseph S Nye Jr, who co-founded neoliberalism and identified the concept of soft power, died at the age of 88 on 6 May. Here are links to a selection from the 100 columns by Nye ...5 hours ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Thursday, May 15
Briefly in the news from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, May 15:Staffing shortages mean 60 patients in Palmerston North deemed high risk of getting bowel cancer have not been tested because of staffing shortages last year, Isaac Davison reports this morning for NZ Herald-$. See ...5 hours ago - Australia must stop overlooking misogynistic youth extremism
Australia’s young people are being radicalised to violence more frequently, more quickly, and for increasingly complicated reasons—including the spread of misogynistic ideology. It’s time we better understand the relationship between misogyny and violent extremism, and ...8 hours ago
- Brownlee’s Bias: Māori MPs Punished, van Velden Spared
In a Parliament that’s supposed to uphold fairness, the recent punishments meted out to Te Pāti Māori MPs for their haka protest compared to Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden for her use of the C-word expose a glaring double standard. Speaker Gerry Brownlee and the Privileges Committee have once ...9 hours ago - A Four-Letter Word
To me, coming from you,Friend is a four-letter word.End is the only part of the wordThat I heard.Call me morbid or absurd.But to me, coming from you,Friend is a four-letter word.Writer: John McCrea.The dilemma.The c-word! Brooke said it, loud and clear. You know the one. We all do, even if ...9 hours ago - Trading in Tomorrow for Today
See him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeansWearin' yesterday's misfortunes like a smileOnce he had a future full of money, love, and dreamsWhich he spent like they was goin' outta styleKris Kristofferson, The Pilgrim, Chapter 33Luxon’s austerity reforms have objectively increased the country’s national debt, put ...9 hours ago - How climate change is raising your electricity bill
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In August 2023, during an especially brutal Texas heat wave, I opened my electricity bill and was stunned by the total. As someone who studies climate change, I couldn’t help but connect the dots: global warming had made the heat wave ...9 hours ago - The Telepathy Tapes is a Trojan Horse
Hi,This week The Telepathy Tapes won “Best Indie Podcast” at the Webby Awards.“For the voiceless, thank you!” said documentary maker and creator Dickens on Instagram, surrounded by some children in Telepathy Tapes t-shirts.Ky Dickens with her hands around some children in Telepathy Tapes t-shirts.The podcast continues to grow in audience ...12 hours ago - Gordon Campbell On The Mock Horror Over Political Profanity
Heavens to Betsy. Let me get this right. In her own opinion column, a female journalist (the fearsome Angela Vance) used a bad word to refer to female politicians who had just extinguished the ability of about 150,000 women to get fair pay for the work they do. The nation ...13 hours ago - Outrageous and antidemocratic
That is the only way to describe the Privileges Committee's recommendation to suspend the leadership of Te Pāti Māori for 21 sitting days for their haka protest against the racist Treaty Principles Bill (the haka's leader, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, gets only 7 days). Outrageous because this is the harshest penalty ever ...15 hours ago - Government Blames Labour For Andrea Vance’s Article
The National-led government, flailing like a fish out of water, is now pointing fingers at Labour for Andrea Vance’s critical column in The Post. Finance Minister Nicola Willis, in a display that can only be described as unhinged, has tried to pin the blame for Vance’s blistering critique on the ...19 hours ago
- AUKUS and deterrence: what, exactly, are we trying to deter?
AUKUS is one of the most ambitious allied defence undertakings in decades. But for all the high-end platforms and advanced capabilities it promises, a fundamental question remains underexplored: what, exactly, is AUKUS seeking to deter? ...22 hours ago
- Editors’ pick: Australia’s security architecture must evolve, not regress
Alongside Monday’s cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returned responsibility for the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to the Home Affairs portfolio. ASPI executive director Justin Bassi outlined reasons for such a ...22 hours ago
- When A Pay Cut Isn’t
22 hours ago - Ministers of Finance
No, nothing so serious as fiscal policy. I saw this morning this chart in a tweet from a Canadian economics professor (prompted by the new ministerial appointments in Canada). I was digging around in the list of former New Zealand Ministers of Finance anyway, and thought it might be ...23 hours ago - Into the gloopy quicksand
Item OneHere's something my erstwhile fellow blogger Emma Hart wrote today that I've remade into a riddle:There's a bunch of jobs in this country that require tertiary qualifications and pay only just over minimum wage. What do they all have in common?Ten points and a chocolate fish to everyone who ...23 hours ago - Chinese pressure is a part of Solomon Islands’ politics. Other Pacific countries should take note
The Chinese embassy in Solomon Islands has reportedly pressured newly appointed Minister of Rural Development Daniel Waneoroa to quit an international group that challenges China’s authoritarian regime. This incident highlights Beijing’s increased tendency to pressure ...24 hours ago
- An alternative vision for Aotearoa
Its the budget next week, where National will inflict another round of cuts on kiwis in order to keep funding handouts to landlords and rich people. And while Labour is doing nothing (sorry, "keeping its powder dry"), the Greens are acting as the main opposition, releasing an alternative budget to ...1 day ago
- To Play the Queen of Hearts: Accepted (again!)
No, I haven’t disappeared from the internet, and I still intend to get around to finishing off that Narnia analysis. It’s just I’ve been doing what I am actually supposed to be doing. Specifically, writing original fiction – let’s just say May 2025 has been fairly productive thus far. Oh, ...1 day ago - No, Australian trade isn’t diversifying away from China
Australia’s free-trade agreements with nations other than China have delivered diversification in neither exports nor imports over the past decade, leaving Australia more tightly bound by trade to China than any other advanced nation. While ...1 day ago
- Outsourcing Operations
Well, we know where we're goin'But we don't know where we've beenAnd we know what we're knowin'But we can't say what we've seenAnd we're not little childrenAnd we know what we wantAnd the future is certainGive us time to work it outSongwriters: David Byrne / Tina Weymouth / Jerry Harrison ...1 day ago - Localising northern supply chains will strengthen national resilience
Coming off the back of a successful NT Defence Week, one thing is clearer than ever: the Northern Territory is not just remote outpost—it is an asset central to our national security, economic resilience and ...1 day ago
- Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Wednesday, May 14
Briefly in the news from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, May 14:The Government is diverting its NZ Superannuation Fund (NZSF) contribution for 2025/26 of $39 $61 million to the NZSF-managed venture capital fund Elevate. Nicola Willis says NZSF will start sending money back to the ...1 day ago - The Lai Ching-te government shifts gears
Complex developments in Taiwan’s domestic legislative politics may affect the regional security outlook over the next 12 months. Since his election in 2024, Taiwan president Lai Ching-te has upheld the disciplined foreign policy of his ...1 day ago
- National’s Law and Order Fiasco
The National-led coalition, which came to power in 2023 with grand promises of restoring law and order, has entirely failed to deliver. Along with help from the mainstream media, they painted a grim picture of a crime-ridden New Zealand, vowing to crack down on gangs, bolster police numbers, and make ...1 day ago
- Killing Kiwi Thoughtlessly
Reprinted from an earlier post by Mountain TūīOPINION AND ANALYSISLast week, on the same day the Government tore through Pay Equity under urgency, they passed another law under urgency.The government called it the “Wildlife (Authorisations) Amendment Bill”. Greenpeace called it the “Kiwi Killing Bill”.Now this topic has a number of ...1 day ago - Trump’s science cuts threaten public research data
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- Government Shouldn’t Ignore Courts Over Voting Rights
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- We’re all for change as long as it doesn’t change anything
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The father of soft power and smart power has died, just as the United States has been giving those concepts a deathly stress test. Whereas US President Donald Trump thinks hard power is all he ...2 days ago
- Copy of Budget 2025: delivering for whom?
On 22 May, the coalition government will release its budget for 2025, which it says will focus on "boosting economic growth, improving social outcomes, controlling government spending, and investing in long-term infrastructure.” But who, really, is this budget designed to serve? What values and visions for Aotearoa New Zealand lie ...2 days ago - One year on: no agreement for New Caledonia despite serious negotiations
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- Pay Equity Changes Bad For The Economy
The Coalition of Chaos has done it again, proving their knack for prioritising the wealthy over the workers. The Pay Equity Amendment Bill, rammed through Parliament under urgency, is a kick in the guts for low-waged women, and obliterating decades of progress on pay equity reform in New Zealand.Workplace Relations ...2 days ago
- Luxon’s Ladies.
Sisters are doin' it for themselvesStandin' on their own two feetAnd ringin' on their own bellsSaid, sisters are doin' it for themselvesSongwriters: Annie Lennox / Dave Stewart.Did you ever fancy the idea of protesting? Of taking to the streets with your fellows and standing up to the system? Is there ...2 days ago - Electricity inflation fears growing as Z Energy shuts Flick
Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, May 13:Monopoly nation just struck again. Flick Electric is shutting, making the electricity market even more dominated by the big four gentailers: the 51% state-owned Meridian, Genesis and Mercury, and the privately owned Contact.Consumers increasingly fear another winter ...2 days ago - Taiwan lacks clarity on energy security
Anyone would think that Taiwan, faced with a risk of blockade from China, would be doing all it could to ensure self-sufficiency or at least long endurance without supplies. But in energy security, it is going ...2 days ago
- How to deny climate change using the IPCC report
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters The new Department of Energy secretary, Chris Wright, until recently was the CEO of Liberty Energy, the nation’s second-largest fracking firm. In 2024, the firm published a manifesto called “Bettering Human Lives,” in which Wright makes a provocative statement that would ...2 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Parental Panic Over Young Kids Online
Creating a policy group to investigate a R16 ban on social media provides the government with a perfectly designed soapbox. The findings don’t have to end up suggesting anything useful, let alone a practical course of action. Yet in the meantime, the issue enables the government to connect with anxious ...3 days ago - Beyond the percentage: Australia’s defence debate needs a smarter metric
The global strategic landscape is undeniably shifting. Great power competition is reasserting itself, technological disruption is accelerating, and the familiar certainties of decades past are eroding. For a trading nation such as Australia, deeply connected ...3 days ago
- Far from responsible and anything but gutsy
Back home to the seaside village, back home to a waterlogged and gobsmacked New Zealand.Waterlogged by the most April rain in April for half a century.Gobsmacked by this dismal government managing to set a new low in its disregard for anyone who isn’t white, wealthy or a man.Fair-minded and right-thinking ...3 days ago - Albanese’s visit shows Indonesia is still a foreign policy priority
As Anthony Albanese prepares to travel to Jakarta for his first state visit in his second term, the symbolism is clear: Indonesia remains a cornerstone of Australia’s foreign policy. Since taking office, the Albanese government ...3 days ago
- Monday 12 May
Opposition to the Government’s attacks on pay equity are gathering steam, with protests around the country and more than 65,000 people already signed on to a petition calling on the Government to reverse the changes. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Cabinet will consider a social media ban on under-16s, despite ...3 days ago
- Naked corruption
When National passed its corrupt, Muldoonist fast-track law, they were criticised for accepting donations from fast-track applicants. You'd think that after such criticism, and the consequent effect on the reputation of our state, they might have ceased the practice - but of course not. Instead, they're still taking money from ...3 days ago
- Nicola Willis Calls Pay Equity “A Grievance Industry”
Nicola Willis pulled the sympathy and sexism card this morning in an opinion piece for Stuff/The Post.In it, claimed she had been much maligned by, well, everyone, on pay equity, and “mainstream” journalists were guilty of “sexist slurs” and misinformation against her.The offending piece was Andrea Vance’s “The girl-math budget ...3 days ago
- Rhys Williams – Arsehole of the Week
It’s time to shine the spotlight on a particularly vile specimen slithering through New Zealand’s political underbelly: Rhys Williams, this week’s Arsehole Award winner. Williams is a NZ First party activist (who didn’t renew his membership), and has carved out a niche as a homophobic, defamatory troll, hiding behind the ...3 days ago
- Bookshelf: Australia in a fragmenting and deglobalising world
Elisabeth Braw’s insightful 2024 book, Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World, has proven remarkably prescient in understanding the turbulent global landscape of 2025. While the era of globalisation promised unprecedented interconnectedness and prosperity, ...3 days ago
- Announcing Law & Order
Poets, priests and politiciansHave words to thank for their positionsWords that scream for your submissionAnd no one's jamming their transmissionAnd when their eloquence escapes youTheir logic ties you up and rapes you!Songwriter: Sting. Read more ...3 days ago - A counter to drone swarms: high-power microwave weapons
Military forces must prioritise a counter to drone swarming tactics with which inexpensive, mass-produced drones can overwhelm defences. What is needed is a layered defensive system that includes systems that can neutralise many threats within ...3 days ago
- Pay equity shock to have unintended consequences
Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, May 12:The gutting of pay equity laws may force hospices to close, pushing extra patients and extra cost into hospitals, the sector says at the start of Hospice Awareness Week. Barnados’ CEO says the law change will hit ...3 days ago - The Death of a Deer
Edit: This stuff is fascinating - and for the record you are definitely OK to disagree with me on any of this in the comments. This community rules, and you’re respectful and great even when disagreeing.With that said — this email just landed in my inbox from a Webworm subscriber ...3 days ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #19
A listing of 27 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 4, 2025 thru Sat, May 10, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...4 days ago
- India-Pakistan crisis: military operations intensify before ceasefire
The past 36 hours on the India-Pakistan front have been tumultuous. Where the confrontation is headed is unclear. Although things seemed to be calming down early on Friday, May 9, intense developments followed. A series ...4 days ago
- NZ First Resorts To Dirty Politics 2.0
4 days ago
- Mother’s Day
My mama saidThat it's good to be fruitfulBut my mama saidDon't take more than a mouthfulAnd my mama saidThat it's good to be naturalAnd my mama saidThat it's good to be factualAlways on the Run, by Lenny Kravitz & Slash.Morena folks, let me begin by acknowledging that Mother’s Day can ...4 days ago - Dunedin Mayor Calls On Government To Help Homeless
Last week, a fire tore through a homeless camp at Dunedin’s Oval, destroying tents and makeshift shelters in a stark reminder of New Zealand’s soul-destroying housing crisis. This isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a predictable outcome of the Coalition of Chaos’s reckless policies, which have gutted funding for emergency accommodation ...4 days ago
- Bernard’s Soliloquy for the week to May 11
Brooke van Velden says she had proposed the repeal of the Pay Equity Act in a letter to PM Christopher Luxon as soon as she became Workplace Relations and Safety Minister in late 2023. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesBriefly in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to Sunday, May 11:PM Christopher ...4 days ago - Mothers’ Day
In honour of those who have come, those who are, and those who will come to be.Kate SheppardKate Sheppard is famous for leading the successful campaign that made New Zealand the first self-governing nation to grant women the right to vote in 1893. CorrespondenceMarilyn WaringDame Marilyn Joy Waring DNZM is ...4 days ago - Fact brief – Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather?
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 the climate as unpredictable as the weather? Climate predictions are more reliable than weather forecasts because they model long-term trends driven by ...5 days ago
- Fact brief – Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather?
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 the climate as unpredictable as the weather? Climate predictions are more reliable than weather forecasts because they model long-term trends driven by ...5 days ago
- Watch Ozzy Man Destroy Some White Supremacist
Gather round, you bloody legends, and let’s talk about a true Aussie icon who’s taken a wild detour from his usual topics. Ethan Marrell, better known as Ozzy Man, has been a YouTube juggernaut since 2014, dishing out side-splitting commentary with that larrikin charm and a voice that could make ...5 days ago
- Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, May 10
Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy on Saturday, May 10: Protests have erupted over the Government’s pay equity betrayal this week. Abuse in care survivors are shocked the Government ignored the Royal Commission’s main recommendation.The Government has launched a review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s ‘activism,’ late on a Friday afternoon.Food poverty ...5 days ago - Cold as Ice
I've seen it before; it happens all the timeYou're closing the door, you leave the world behindYou're digging for gold, you're throwing awayA fortune in feelings, but someday you'll payYou know that you are(Cold as ice) As cold as ice to me(Cold as ice)Songwriters: Mick Jones / Lou Gramm.“My suffragette ...6 days ago - Seeking Fiscal Balance
Should we pursue a ‘Golden Rule’ where any public borrowing for consumption is temporary?This columnist is a fiscal conservative who is cautious about government borrowing for public consumption. I was not originally. The Keynesian model I first studied said borrow as much as is necessary to sustain demand. But the ...6 days ago - Taiwan’s polarised politics risks undermining its resilience and security
Taiwan’s opposition parties—including the once-dominant Kuomintang (KMT)—now wield real power in the legislature for the first time since 2012. But their recent actions have cast serious doubt on their commitment to Taiwan’s long-term security and ...6 days ago
- US Defense Secretary cancels Women, Peace and Security programs
Last week, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the cancellation of his department’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program. In doing so, he ignored the well-established overlap of insecurity and gender inequality. When announcing ...6 days ago
- PHOTOS: NZ Protests – Again
Kiwis around the country protest: RNZ reports more than 1000 descended on Brooke Van Velden’s officeNote:The government started this pay equity process in April 2024.That’s over a year ago.Cabinet signed it off two months ago.There was no reason for urgency - and never was.The Minister for Woman was left with ...6 days ago - More constitutional vandalism
Since the national government embarked on its racist campaign against Māori, the Waitangi Tribunal has emerged as one of its chief adversaries, putting the impacts of its racist policies formally on the record so they can not be denied. National has responded by sabotaging it, replacing almost the entire membership ...6 days ago
- Nicola Grigg’s Video A Tale Of Two Women
Nicola Grigg1 was given one of the safest blue seats in the country - Selwyn, Christchurch.She holds multiple ministerial portfolios including Trade & Investment, Women, Agriculture, and ACC. Not a bad role.Last year, Grigg said she entered Parliament with Luxon and developed a strong friendship with him.This week she affirmed ...6 days ago
- Are New Zealanders Really Living Beyond Our Means?
The National-led government has been banging the drum of fiscal restraint again, claiming New Zealanders have been “living beyond our means” in another Luxon hates "wet and whiny New Zealanders" standup that is likely to tank his approval rating even further. Yet, the Coalition of Chaos' actions tell a different ...6 days ago
- Drawing Parallels.
The April 22 attacks by Kashmir Resistance (KR), a (at least tacitly) Pakistani-backed irredentist group in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in which 26 people were murdered, has some unfortunate parallels with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Although many more Israelis died in the latter (nearly 2000) and the costs ...6 days ago
- It’s a wrap: NT Defence Week 2025
Australia’s future security will be decided as much in Darwin as in Canberra. NT Defence Week 2025 made that reality unmistakably clear, showcasing the Northern Territory not as a remote outpost, but as the operational ...6 days ago
- Huge Increase In Part Time Workers Earning Nothing
New Zealand’s part-time workers are caught in a vicious cycle, ground down by a system that punishes ambition and rewards poverty. Work and Income’s draconian deductions regime ensure that every extra dollar earned by part time workers is clawed back, leaving many with nothing to show for their efforts. Add ...6 days ago
- 210,000 Māori Silenced: Committee Delivers Harshest Punishment in Parliament History
Today the Privileges Committee handed down a severe punishment. Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have been suspended for 21 days, and MP for Hauraki-Waikato Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been suspended for 7 days. ...3 hours ago
- Release: Govt finally admits 180,000 in line for a pay cut
The Government finally admitted late last night that roughly 180,000 people will be affected by its decision to halt pay equity claims. ...1 day ago - Release: Admin nearly a quarter of entire FamilyBoost spend
Nearly a quarter of the money spent on the Government’s flagship FamilyBoost policy has gone to administration, not to families to help with childcare. ...1 day ago
- Green Budget delivers for Māori
The Green Party is delivering for Māori with its Green Budget. ...1 day ago - Green Budget: Free GPs for all
The Green Party has launched its plan for Free GPs as part of its Green Budget. ...1 day ago
- Green Budget for a country worth fighting for
The Green Budget shows how much better our lives could be under a Green Government, instead of one dominated by corporate greed. ...1 day ago
- Green Budget: Early Childhood Education for Everyone
The Green Party has unveiled its new plan to make Early Childhood Education (ECE) free. ...1 day ago
- Chris Hipkins: Pre-Budget speech
Tēnā koutou katoa. Good morning. I read recently that one of the keys to success in life is to do the hard stuff first thing in the morning. ...2 days ago
- Release; Budget should not be paid for by working women
The Government must do three things in Budget 2025 if it is genuinely going to turn things around for New Zealanders. ...2 days ago
- Release: Peeni Henare takes over foreign affairs
Labour’s Peeni Henare will pick up the foreign affairs portfolio, following David Parker’s departure from Parliament. ...3 days ago
- Release: Govt better at crushing women’s rights than cars
Rehashing old laws around boy racers is not going to make our communities safer, or distract New Zealanders from the appalling decision to cut women’s pay. ...3 days ago
- No Justice for State Abuse Survivors- Kapa-Kingi
Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau calls out the government’s decision to keep funding state abuse, turning their backs on justice and real change for abuse in care survivors. “The government has committed to throwing $744 million down the drain, reinforcing a violent regime of disrespect against the ...5 days ago
- Govt’s War on Te Tiriti Continues as Review of Treaty Act Announced
Te Pāti Māori is absolutely disgusted by the Government’s announcement to review the Waitangi Tribunal- a deliberate and dangerous escalation in its ongoing campaign to undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi and silence tangata whenua. “The Government’s onslaught against Te Tiriti continues with this latest move to review the Treaty of ...6 days ago
- Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...6 days ago
- Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...6 days ago
- Release: Labour asks why Govt is silent on Gaza
Labour is asking the Government why it is silent on Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, saying New Zealand should be speaking out. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt ignores the voices of survivors
Survivors of abuse in state care have a right to feel disappointed and sidelined by the Government. ...6 days ago
- Redress announcement leaves little justice for survivors
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s decision to severely underfund financial compensation for survivors of abuse in state care. ...6 days ago
- Release: Bill launched to stop tobacco industry lobbying
Labour is launching a members’ bill to stop the Government from putting tobacco industry interests ahead of public health. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour fights for firefighters
The Labour Party backs volunteer firefighters who are currently not covered by ACC for workplace disease and mental injury and is drafting policy to put this right when the party wins the election in 2026. ...1 week ago
- Wildlife law change a deep betrayal of public trust
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s use of urgency to rewrite the Wildlife Act–without consultation, without an impact statement, and in direct response to a court ruling in favour of protecting wildlife. ...1 week ago
- Release: National cuts women’s pay
National has forced through a law change that will take money out of women’s pockets. ...1 week ago
- ‘Govt’s Pay Bill Entrenches Discrimination Against Women’ – Kemp
Te Pāti Māori stands in staunch and emotional opposition to the Government’s so-called Equal Pay Amendment Bill, calling it a calculated attack on working women and a cruel betrayal of the generations who have fought for pay equity in Aotearoa. “This bill doesn’t just undermine equal pay — it completely ...1 week ago
- Release: Fewer jobs and opportunities for Māori, again
In the last 12 months life has only got worse for Māori under Christopher Luxon’s Government. ...1 week ago
- Release: More than one in 10 Pacific people unemployed under National
There are more Pacific people unemployed as the rate increases to a staggering 10.8% under National. ...1 week ago
- Release: Unemployment remains high under National
Job losses remain stubbornly high under National, as their attack on jobs, wages, and women rages on. ...1 week ago
- Govt for the rich is failing the unemployed
The latest job market statistics show that unemployed people are being failed by a Government more focused on punishing the poor than creating jobs. ...1 week ago
- RSE Draft Erases Rainbow and Takatāpui Youth
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent changes to the draft Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) framework, calling it a dangerous step backwards for Takatāpui, trans, and rainbow rangatahi. “This draft erases Takatāpui voices, ignores whānau diversity, and delays consent education. It’s not just inadequate, it’s unbelievably unsafe” said Te Pāti ...1 week ago
- RSE Draft Erases Rainbow and Takatāpui Youth
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent changes to the draft Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) framework, calling it a dangerous step backwards for Takatāpui, trans, and rainbow rangatahi. “This draft erases Takatāpui voices, ignores whānau diversity, and delays consent education. It’s not just inadequate, it’s unbelievably unsafe” said Te Pāti ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour welcomes inquiry into school lunches
Labour welcomes the Auditor-General’s inquiry into the Government’s school lunches programme. ...1 week ago
- Release: Women will keep being paid less under National
This Government is taking the women’s movement backwards, ensuring women will continue to be paid less into the future. ...1 week ago
- Govt takes workplace equity efforts backwards
The Green Party has called out the Government’s latest attack on workers with the announcement that it is halting all pay equity claims. ...1 week ago
- Release: Questions over Erica Stanford’s personal email use
Erica Stanford has been misusing her personal email address to manage sensitive information relating to Budget and visa changes prior to their public release. ...1 week ago
- Greens launch Member’s Bill to close loophole allowing animal cruelty in imports
Today, Green Party MP Steve Abel has added a new Member’s Bill to the biscuit tin to ensure any product sold in New Zealand meets New Zealand’s animal welfare standards, even if it’s produced overseas. ...1 week ago
- Iwi Rights Under Attack in Government Treaty Clause Purge
Te Pāti Māori warns that the Government’s Treaty Clause Review represents the most severe erosion of iwi rights in modern legal history. “Luxon's Government is doing what the Treaty Principles Bill failed to do. They are removing every legal reference to Te Tiriti across health, housing, conservation, and child wellbeing ...1 week ago
- Release: Cuts to beds for seniors at Dunedin Hospital
After failing to be upfront about cuts to intensive care beds, it’s now becoming clear that other downgrades to Dunedin Hospital are being concealed by the Minister of Health. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour backs workers while Govt cuts jobs and protections
This May Day Labour is standing with workers to defend decent jobs and fair pay. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Still no ferries as first of old fleet retire
Two old and ageing ferries are going to have to work double time because of this Government’s failure to get a ferry deal. ...2 weeks ago
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Good news with a ruling in favor of the bus drivers, declaring the lockout illegal.
I couldn't do their job. Too much abuse, too much sitting. I think it's a higher risk of injury (from members of the public) than most people believe. Had the lockout been upheld I think they would have had trouble filling the roles leaving Wellington in disarray. Plenty of opportunities with better pay in Australia.
Plus one here Ksays.
It would be interesting to know what the bus companies real end game is. Other than being nasty b……ds I cant see what they hoped to achieve
It did seem like a pointless show of power. Someone stressed and overreacting in the background.
ANZAC BAG PIPES IN AOTEAROA
I hear the Bag Pipes calling,
Sending shivers along my spine,
The tunes,are from my culture,
Yet, this land is not mine.
So why, are they used in ceremony here,
Is it to represent the Imperialists part,
The same English Imperialism,
That tore out my Ancestors heart.
Is it not a slight on us both,
Natives of Aotearoa and Scotland,
Who's people were used as fodder,
In wars on anothers land.
That Imperialism still exists,
Still lord's it over us all,
The chains of the five eyes,
Demands us dance to their call.
That third stanza needs some work there Bydonz. "Whose" rather than "who's" for a start. Also linking; "and Scotland" to "another's land", feels jarringly off balance – unless that's what you were going for.
Otherwise I like where you are going with it. My personal experience of bagpipes today was the NZ anthem. The final cadence being made dissonant by the drones. Irish pipes are sweeter though less overpowering.
Thanks for your critique, of which I'll take on board.
Ah, courts' decisions.
"There have been three court orders demanding Bhumika Kohli pays up, but despite mounting penalties, she has refused to even negotiate a discounted settlement."
If the victims in this case/these cases suggested they were going to going round and have 'meaningful discussions' with the implicated mongrels, the cops would be there in full force to stop them.
How a cleaning boss has dodged a $120,000 wages bill for three years
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124704427/cant-pay-or-wont-pay-how-a-cleaning-boss-has-dodged-a-120000-wages-bill-for-three-years
Cancel their citizenship and deport them.
Before they are deported, do to them what they did to their employees. Cold and calculated and both have had the opportunity to pay the workers wages owed and compensation.
Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist
I looked at it as being slave labour and exploited due to the workers situation and not torture. Torture, I agree that a person needs to be above that. Carl Jung has not published anything in years, is he still alive? The same has been said about those who have been sexually abused, that they can sexually abuse. I find this to be victim blaming.
I was holding up a mirror to all the kind Lefties
Jung died in 1961.
My all time favourite was Freud, his psychoanalysis and transference and counter transference are still current today.
I liked Wilhelm Reich, love is the answer:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/17/wilhelm-reich-the-strange-prescient-sexologist-who-sought-to-set-us-free
Maybe it was a Freudian slip 4.1.1
Yeah, could be that
I find Jungian psychology fascinating and its influence in art and modern culture goes far and deep.
As this unpleasant business seems like a nasty and predictable downstream effect of the growth in our private tertiary education sector – the person we should be going after is the architect of that industry: Steven Joyce
Had Covid not have occurred, more in private tertiary education could have been exploited. Restructuring is required for the future.
Unbelievable. I wonder if it was money owed to the IRD it would have been collected by now. They should have a debt collector visit them.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018792909/morris-pearl-the-patriotic-millionaires-movement
Morris Pearl is chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of hundreds of high-net-worth people who want millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.
Patriotic Millionaires calls for a living wage for US workers and believes that inequality is bad for society and bad for business.
Someone called Morris Pearl. I have noted that surname as being connected with good intentions – what a nice name to have. Don't know about the group's name – 'Patriotic' attitudes seem to accompany unpleasant behaviour often.
Good to see the reclamation of an abused adjective.
This bloke Morris Pearl abuses the term as much as anyone else does. He’s no moral leader; I lost count of the number of times he said there was "nothing wrong" with people being extremely rich.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." —Samuel Johnson, 7 April 1775
Moaning Minnie Morrissey – Accept your good things where you find them. If he likes being rich we can't stop him. But if he likes the idea of giving more back through taxes etc. we won't stop him will we. That would be cutting off your nose to spite your face, an unpleasant image.
Try finding something to praise each day. Be a little Pollyanna!
The Pollyanna principle (also called Pollyannaism or positivity bias) is the tendency for people to remember pleasant items more accurately than unpleasant ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna_principle
Yes, he's certainly an improvement on millionaires like Donald Trump. Unlike Trump, he's a good speaker who can string a few coherent sentences together.
I like the sentences that say – wealthy people can pay their taxes and invest in businesses that provide jobs for a sustainable future. That's what I like. Make it so!!
I know this is going to controversial, but for a short while, during about the middle of Trumps presidency, I watched a few of his speeches from beginning to end, and I have to admit he was actually pretty funny sometimes and there was something else at play that doesn’t get mentioned often, I don’t think he ever used a script..so there was something really spontaneous about him that I think is completely absent from any other politician in the US, and I guess if you were at all swayed by him, that must have been extremely appealing.
I liked this bit from the Radionz item on Morris Pearl above.
He said the wealthy have much more influence over government than the less well off, in part because US politicians, for example, are required to raise huge amounts of money for their own and their party's campaigns.
"They [politicians] spend so much time with the rich people they think they're the only people they have to care about."
Pearl said that is why his group supports laws seeking to change the system of political funding. In New York, where he lives, if a person collects a donation of $100 it can be matched eight-fold by a campaign finance organisation, if they're interested in running for mayor or other local body positions. This has opened up political races to anybody instead of just the relatives of rich people.
Hard to believe that name is not an anagram for something else. Sounds like a good man.
I have just looked at the daily mail Australia. Two articles, in India 3 – 4 to a bed sharing oxygen, crematoriums melting due to over capacity, people suffocating, pregnant women dying, young babies sick with Covid. There is no escape from Covid – 19 in India until it peaks. The other article is about the army in China and the Wuhan lab looking for viruses in animals.
Did not link as my links usually fail.
How come your links usually fail?
Copy the link address (also known as URL, which usually starts with “https:// “ and paste it in your comment. That’s all you need to know and do unless you want get more ‘fancy’ with links.
They fail because I make an error doing long hand.
With your cursor, highlight the whole link address (i.e. URL), copy (Ctrl+C), paste (Ctrl+V) in the text/comment editor. Done.
Highlighting might work by clicking once on the URL although I think sometimes you may have to double-click.
Thank you for trying to help me do links.
You’re welcome. We all benefit from you learning how to link 😉
If my suggestions don’t work or make no sense, perhaps you could ask somebody whom you trust to show you how to do it.
Anyone else find this outbreak a bit suss given the ongoing conflict with C'na? They were doing really well handing out Vit D etc + Ivermectin packs, and suddenly it spikes massively out of control. It's had nearly a year in India so I guess it's possible the reporting was massively out.
I did consider the Indian defence force being immobilised due to being required to manage Covid.
A lot of transmission has occurred due to festivals and the size of the population.
A look at the timeline suggests they might have declared victory too early. Bugger.
Not sure what part the B.1.617 India strain has played. Any mutation seems to bring on another wave.
Good news. Let's have some real talks honouring the principles of good faith bargaining.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/441186/bus-travel-disruption-over-for-wellington-passengers
Bus commuters in Wellington should see their routes running a normal schedule today, after the Employment Court ordered an end to the bus driver lockout.
I think it's surprising how many of our unaddressed issues stem from this rightwing veto.
Everyone should have housing as of right – but somehow mass immigration, running downing housing NZ, and no organized building were allowed to happen. Couldn't be helped – the dodgy accounting was needed by Treasury for some reason.
We couldn't have boots on the ground pest control – cost too much, in spite of the need for more jobs. So aerial topdressing of poisons and collateral kills it is.
Kind of need to turn this stuff on its head – government should be working to make things better, not to preserve the entitlements of a sociopathic minority.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Is Susan Edmunds about to be inundated with email from outraged PI's and their associations? Hopefully they have moved on to more productive persuits like building houses and brushing up on the RPA rather than shouting their outrage and threats of rental retaliation via the media.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300284756/landlords-missed-a-chance-to-change-nzs-mind
Indeed.
Landlords are not entitled to take the extention of the bright line test and not being able to claim tax on interest from bank loans out on a tenant. The changes have not yet been fazed in.
Are landlords getting it that tenants cannot afford unrealistic rent increases?