The Green Party candidate list reveals the membership is happy with its current MPs and that a small group of left-wing party members did not have much influence.
The "small group" need to now be expelled from the Green party – their disruption was clearly designed to damage their own party and as such they fail the most basic tests for party discipline. Their should be consequences for that and expulsion is the most obvious.
Labour need to do a deal to give Chloe Swarbrick a clear run at Auckland Central. A victory for the Greens there would give them a lifeboat, and the Labour + Green vote would have a great chance of turfing out the National Party's deputy leader.
Why Nelson? Just do the simple arithmetic of adding up the leftish party votes and rightish party votes to see if there's any chance at all of making a deal work. Not a chance of making it happen in Nelson.
It will be tough enough getting a few Green voters to vote strategically to turf out Smith, let alone trying to get almost all Labour voters to vote for the Green candidate.
It will be tough enough getting a few Green voters to vote strategically to turf out Smith
Not necessarily. Last year the Greens received a large donation on the condition they used it to try and unseat dr. custard (aka nick smith). This year it will be different, there will be strategic voting. The Nelson race will be close, but I'm predicting nick will lose his seat this time to Labour, if only by a slim margin. Looking forward to it 🙂
I read the other day after his candidature was announced, the new geologist candidate (name forgotten), state he was focussing on the party vote in Nelson.
Yeah. Last time Boyack plus Lawrey was around 22k votes, vs 17k for the Nat candidate (what was his name?). So it wouldn't take much strategic voting to install a Labour candidate into that seat. Plus, haven't there been boundary changes that should be favourable to Labour?
Yes, the boundary change, good point. Nelson electorate has lost Brightwater (Dr custard's old stomping ground). Brightwater has now moved to the West Coast-Tasman electorate, and that will make a difference.
That is a good thing. But getting back to the topic of electorates, is that likely to pull in more Green voters or Labour or NZF voters into the electorate.
Brightwater is a blue town, with a bit of red. I'm guessing nick will lose out on up to 1,000 votes with the boundary change. Enough to make a difference on the night.
At a guess those blue person votes from Brightwater will be split between maureen pugh and Damien. Damien has quite a bit of respect from national party voters, it's not uncommon in West Coast-Tasman for national voters to vote Labour for the person (Damien).
I'd be really surprised if NZ 1st stood a strong candidate in Nelson or the WC-Tasman seat, they haven't in the past.
It will be a straight out red v's blue for Nelson re the person vote. With a strong Green party vote.
Brightwater is a blue town, with a bit of red. I'm guessing nick will lose out on up to 1,000 votes with the boundary change. Enough to make a difference on the night.
I've had a quick look & I'd say losing Brightwater will shave off less than 400 from Smithy's majority. Would only make a difference in an extremely tight race.
[That’s the Candidate Vote margin … in terms of the Party Vote profile – the Nats take 50%., while the Govt Bloc Parties as a whole take 45% … so i would have to say a relatively Pale Blue sort of a town]
Why Auckland Central? The combined Labour and Green party votes weren't much more than the Nat vote. Trying to divert Labour voters to Swarbrick is more likely to split the vote and let Kaye win again. Anyways, better to turf her out cleanly without any hint of dodgy deals.
Whereas Wellington Central and Dunedin North have a combined Labour and Green party vote nearly double the Nat party vote.
Ok. In 2017 the party votes in Auckland Central were: Nat 11773, Lab 11340, Green 4170, TOP 944, Winston1st 1165. (Note that Kaye's personal vote was 13198; she picked up a lot of non-Nat personal support)
Let's make the heroic assumptions that 10% of the Nat party vote swings to Labour (20% swing to Labour), that 1/2 of Labour voters will "take orders", the Green and NZ1st vote share holds, all TOP goes to Labour, half NZ1st goes to the Labour candidate.
For party votes that will be 10600 ish to Nat, 13500ish to Labour, 4200ish Greens plus rats and mice.
Divvy those up among the candidates as wildly optimistically fantasised above, and Kaye gets 11000 ish votes (Nat plus ACT, no NZ1st vote, no personal loyalty vote to Kaye), Greens candidate 10900ish votes, Labour candidate gets 7000ish.
Whereas, assume a small swing to Labour and that a decent chunk of Greens party voters use their heads and vote for the Labour candidate, then Kaye is solidly a list MP rather than an electorate MP. Which would do wonders for her cred as deputy leader.
Yes. But an electorate deal to persuade Labour party voters to strategically vote for a Greens candidate to give the Greens party a lifeboat is more likely to be successful where there is already a very strong Greens party vote, and an overwhelming Labour plus Greens dominance over the Nats.
Those conditions are not met in Auckland Central or Nelson, but they are met in Wellington Central and Dunedin North.
Replace Shaw, Sage and Swarbrick, and the Greens would no longer be green. And would then travel the route of other "activist left" parties such as Alliance, Mana etc.
Of those on the Green list only Eugenie Sage is ranked in the top 10 with any "Green" credentials. Not sure how you include the other 2 when it is not even important enough to include in the bio any. Not a mention of anything "Green" in Chloe Swarbrick's background !!! So who in the party is concerned with environment ?? Perhaps those who have left ??
Labour need to do a deal to give Chloe Swarbrick a clear run at Auckland Central.
You must be joking. Trying to herd voters simply doesn’t work unless there is a already a 3 way split because a small minority will either heed the advice or decide to do it themselves. The Green vote in Auckland Central was ~2.3k odd last time. Labour was ~11.5. National was ~13k.
The Labour candidate is White who got that vote – who will have been doing the electorate work and face-to-face since becoming a MP off the list – which is essentially how you win electorate seats. I hadn’t noticed Swarbrick around much. That is a problem when dealing with a electorate seat. Kaye has been maintaining her usual level of work in the electorate. But it hasn’t been anything to write home about.
Basically you’re must be dreaming. Usually the maximum number of people shifting will be a few thousand at best unless there is a pretty piss-poor candidate. All a ‘deal’ in Auckland central will do is to increase Kayes majority. There is a good chance that a swing to Labour generally will flip that seat anyway.
The probability of neither Labour nor the Greens winning the seat will rise massively in the event of the type of deal you’re looking for. The Green vote would go up to something like 3.5-4.5k – well short of majority. It will consist almost entirely of Green split voters who party voted Green last time and electorate voted Labour.
You need to look at electorates that have a 3 way split. Offhand, I don’t know of an electorate. Even Nelson isn’t good for a Green electorate seat: Smith ~16.7k, Boyack (candidate again) ~12.4k, and Lawrey trailing well way behind at 9.7k. The Green party vote was only ~3.1k so it is likely that the split voting was pretty intense.
Is the Chinese government a client of Exceltium PR? I only ask because I want to know if Matthew Hooton, the $2 dollar store Dominic Cummings to the watered down ScoMo, is getting paid by China to tell Toddy what to do.
Brownlee's mascot could be Rolling Rosa. Rosa features an innovative self-righting design that allows …. to track Rosa's face as she spins, always landing with her smile facing up.
It would be educational for Muller plus with soothing sounds designed 'to stimulate auditory development'.
People go on about Labour and the Greens being killjoy wowsers, but you have Paulo Garcia, who think sex should only be for making babies, and having any pleasure from it is verboten.
And how many creationists are in there? No wonder there was such a huge support for charter schools, it was all about giving young NZers are creationist diet and purging any mention of Darwin from large parts of the education system, along with the perodic table, etc.
Jacinda was live. giving an interview when the quake struck, she remained positive, up-beat, unrattled and calm. She was awesome and impressive.
After which mark richardson had a crack at her, because she wasn't scared and she kept it together.
Now the herald are reporting nats at the beehive scrambled and hid under a table.
Everyone behaves differently during a crisis, some keep it together and re-assure others and some hide under a table. Earthquake responses this morning by our politicians spoke volumes.
To be fair Cinny, if the roles were reversed you would be having a go at the Nats for not following Civil Defence guidelines with respect to earthquakes.
Muller just interviewed by Kathryn Ryan…considerably better than Bridges but nothing to write home about….he will need to improve to make inroads…the same old attack lines and no substance
I felt similarly, but view it as natural caution. Can't go wrong adhering to the established party line. If that rumour is correct (that he only won by a single vote) then he will be aware that he has to win support for any new National plan before sketching that in public.
His main theme seemed to be “trust us we’re National”. That and bagging Cabinet Ministers under Ardern. Kaye was banging on along the same lines so definitely a pre-organised attack line. I suppose we should be pleased they’ve finally figured out that belittling the PM isn’t going to wash.
I listened to that broadcast as well Pat. At just after 9am, Kathryn Ryan asked a basic question re when did Muller first consider challenging the Natz leadership. It took her three attempts to get some sort of a response from him, even then Ryan caught him out in a lie. To me Muller seemed to be more interested in promoting himself than answering questions.
At this rate, Jacinda should have a field day during the election leaders' debates.
"It is a very different picture to that memorable North & South front page of just over three years ago. Half of the high ranking candidates on the cover are gone. The magazine itself is gone, too." John Hart, the farmer, gone. Alienated by leftists, I bet.
Hayley Holt, gone. I was sorry to see a brief media report recently that she'd lost her baby – had wondered at her disappearance from the TVNZ breakfast show – so wish her a speedy bounce back from that trauma.
"Perhaps more of a time warp, however, is the cover line: “Is the once ‘loony left’ ready to rule (and should we be afraid)?” For plenty of Greens – voters, members, and even some in caucus – the question is have they been loony, or at least loud, enough?"
"The Greens: we are the only ones that can achieve a true transformative tilt." Yeah, valid for the party as a whole but not for our parliamentarians, who continue to shirk that task.
Just read on 3news website the government has announced a $500pw tax free payment, for 12 weeks, for those laid off between March and October. Comes in 8th June and not backdated, and you have to be looking for work or training.
The wage subsidy should have shown clearly that the unemployment benefits for anyone on unemployement – not just hte current and growing expected wave of jobless – should get at the very minimum 585 $ (before tax 🙂 ) every week to maintain a semblance of normal life, i.e. pay rent, groceries and electricity.
Agree. Would have applauded any government that rebuilt from a solid base – from the ground up, rather attempting to provide support from the middle upwards. Doesn't look like I'll be clapping anytime soon.
The $490 for certain Covid related unemployed is useful of course, but has just put off the day of reckoning for Labour with the institutional neo liberalism of WINZ/MSD. Those Depts are punishment mazes and the Govt. knows it. Newbies do not cope well, or necessarily get the miserly assistance they seek.
Two tier unemployment payments, Covid and “Jobseeker” reinforce the “deserving/undeserving” tenet of state payments beloved of monetarist theory.
Some employers refused to apply for the subsidy, instead they gave their employee's two weeks notice of their intention to use their employees annual leave for their wages over lock down. Some of those employee's may have or did have very little accrued leave and they suffered over lock-down as a result.
Upon return to work, those employee's were told they were no longer tenable.
This is good news for them, as it was to no fault of those employee's that their employers decided against taking the subsidy.
And yes, benefits need to be increased. Living wage please and thank you.
AFAIK, the annual leave could only be used WITH the agreement of the employee. (My partner spent much of his first couple of weeks at home dealing with this issue, while working with the business owner in trying to maintain full pay for all the staff.) Those that agreed took annual leave in the final week of lockdown.
Yes they do need to streamline the WINZ//MSD . But look at the politics of it. The three months will be up for extension shortly before the election. Would Nact extend if they won – takes the election battleground to social welfare and gets its off tax increases for the wealthy.
I think this is a good small step towards a better social security system. I'd love this to be bigger and bolder, but it's still more than nothing.
I also think this is very politically astute – start with a step that should be uncontroversial, extend later, go into the election with a bigger policy piece, win the election, and by the time National see the front bench again, it's the new normal.
Hosking: "The key here is, is there a magic? The X-factor? Is there something that transforms him from just another decent person who aspires to lead their party, and therefore their country, into a person who actually attracts votes, turns tides, explains things in a way people get? Is he something or someone that has that magnetic factor that marks you out as different from the rest?"
Then fails to provides any answers. He would no doubt claim that the media does shallow, only, and answers go too deep. But then he does have a go at profound:
I googled "Greens candidate profiles 2020" to see if the GP had performed the elementary political requirement of allowing those interested to get to know those candidates better.
No. No such link to the GP website exists as yet. So the clueless dork syndrome remains in control. Look on the bright side: they have four months to get their act together.
The good news is I've read those profiles and they are available to members – and some of those people would make exceptional parliamentarians. Please don't hide them!
And only Eugenie Sage (ranked 6th) from the current crop background containing anything substantial regarding the environment. No wonder Gaia is screwed.
I wouldn't go that far. If you read Lovelock's books you get a good sense of how resilient Gaia is – as a supersystem. That said, we have dislocated the Holocene, and that was the basis of the economy. Agriculture.
Now that the supersystem is in transition from that stable state to another as yet unknown, we call the interim Antropocene. We will all live & die in that one. Comprehension of this relation between economy and ecology is non-existent – I never encountered anyone in the Green movement who even thought about it. Statism has everyone in a death-grip. Thus we still await an alternative to neoliberalism 30 years after it was obviously dead in the water!
That the members of the GP persist in denial of this fundamental reality is due to human nature: gnosis is too hard, culture is trivial, we must therefore be trite, etc.
Fairfax papers in Australia are suggesting the Federal government over there may allow travel between NZ and individual states, NSW and Victoria while borders between other states remain closed.
That's weird. Aren't victoria & NSW still battling outbreaks whereas NT & Wa are pretty much clean? Is NZ being used by slomo to shore up his political standing?
Probably more likely an effort by the federal government to get the state Labor government’s in WA and Qld to move on opening their borders to interstate travel. At any rate tv news in Australia is reporting Ardern’s comments here this morning saying that NZ was unlikely to open the border unless all of Australia was available for non-quarantined travel for NZers.
"MacDonald is a family man with two daughters, and has lived in the electorate for five years. His background is not that of a traditional Green candidate. He's been a psychotherapist for two decades, helping people with mental health issues and addiction through their troubles with talk therapy."
"MacDonald gained a spot on radio's 'Nutter's Club' show, which has him talking to callers on-air about their problems. The show, started by comedian-turned-advocate Mike King, has a strong following of dedicated listeners. Between 60,000 and 80,000 tune in, which is the largest radio audience for the 11pm to 1am weekend timeslot, MacDonald says."
"MacDonald also wrote a regular column about mental health and drugs, which ended three weeks ago when he announced his candidacy." At #14 on the list, a significant rebound will be required to get him in.
Good discussion on Novara with James Meadway on how to manage the increased government debt racked up during the COVID-19 crisis. I was getting alarmed to hear Bridges, shortly before his replacement, describe the debt as "$80k per household", and more recently Nikki Kaye claiming that young people were concerned at the thought of having to pay the debt back in future through increased taxes.
It seems that National not only poses a threat to public health by wanting to prematurely open borders, but also poses a threat to the economy because of ingrained tendencies towards austerity.
Stuff have been sold by nine. Be very interesting to see if they are going to try to be genuinely NZ or whether this is a front for a wealthy individuals. Hoping for the former, be wise for the government to now bung them a relief package ., heck I'd subscribe again if they stopped being a Nact mouthpiece
Siebert arrived at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago three days later as the new U.S. restrictions — including mandatory medical screenings — went into effect. He encountered crowds of people packed in tight corridors, stood in lines in which he snaked past other travelers for nearly five hours and tried to direct any cough or sneeze into his sleeve.
When he finally reached the coronavirus checkpoint near baggage pickup, Siebert reported his prior symptoms and described his exposure in Spain. But the screeners waved him through with a cursory temperature check. He was given instructions to self-isolate that struck him as absurd given the conditions he had just encountered at the airport.
“I can guarantee you that people were infected” in that transatlantic gantlet, said Siebert, who tested positive for the virus two days later in Chicago. “It was people passing through a pinhole.”
Jack Tame had him over a barrel when he asked the question about there being no-one of Maori descent in his Shadow Cabinet. He didn't see it coming and tried to cover up by extolling the virtues of Shane Reti who comes in at 16 on the list.
How astounding that he didn't even consider how it would look having only pale, stale Pakehas in his line-up.
Q & A interview? Yeah, that was painful. Todd, toast.
As I said on Friday, Muller did well in his first round of interviews on Day 1, but now we've got past the soft "introduce yourself" and moved on to "what are your policies?".
His policy platform appears to be "saying Amy Adams a lot".
Yes. Watching the whole of Todd;s responses to Jack's questioning and it was worse even than earlier speeches. I know I am biased but truly I was expecting Todd to be able telling us that since the Government is failing, he could offer a light on how he would rescue the Small Business owners. He could only repeatedly tell us how wonderful Amy Adams is but no specifics – at all. Jack tried but it was a no show.
And these folk have been beavering away at this plan for months and should be ready to Wow.
Wish I had of watched it! Have just listened to his interview with Kathryn Ryan this morning and what a bore he is. One of these "we could do it better" with no good evidence for why. And it turns out they don't have a plan. He will begin to sound very boring and arrogant soon……..How long will Amy think it ok to play second fiddle to him and and wait, what! more excitement… Simon's back! Happy days
I guess Todd is obliged to give it a jolly good go but if I was him I'd find it hard not to feel like a caretaker, a guy to wave the flag until Florence Nightengale wanes.
I wonder if Jacinda has positioned us to be global destination darlings.
We haven't found a vaccine for the common cold. We suppress Aids, we're yet to find a vaccine, I'm not holding my breath for the arrival of a Covid-19 job.
Looking at the complexity of mutations to date, looks like a moving target to me.
I think the healing component most likely to become fail-safe first are speedy accurate testing regimes.
If we have none here and we have a speedy 100% accurate test at our borders. It's the 60+ that have big holiday $ to spend. The most Covid threatened.
I think we could easily make it to the top of many dream destination wish-lists around the world. Not kids in a van pooing in our carparks. Those that pay $200 for a personal guided tour of a marae.
Wish I had of watched it! Have just listened to his interview with Kathryn Ryan this morning and what a bore he is. One of these "we could do it better" with no good evidence for why. And it turns out they don't have a plan. He will begin to sound very boring and arrogant soon……..How long will Amy think it ok to play second fiddle to him and and wait, what! more excitement… Simon's back! Happy days
Everyone has nice scenery. We have lots of it but it's not special.
What makes NZ unique is Maori.
I think the rebuild of an elevated $ return per guest tourism industry should revolve around them. With a 60+ punter, they're over being drunk and chasing skirt, they want to taste the culture.
I think it would be a nice way for us of a colonial extraction to say "Thanks for sharing."
Huawei are running utube videos featuring US executives that sing their praises.
As the world slides over to 5G….
The thrust of the argument being put forward by this American Huawei executive was "We are a private company, the Chinese government have nothing whatsoever to do with our business."
A few weeks ago I watched an interview with the American manager of a 3M factory in China. They make masks for their parent company, the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. 3M, those guys on the board at Wall Street. They were visited and informed "All of your output will stay here in China."
When the largest company in China says "Oh no, we have nothing to do with the CCP.",,,, oxymoron.
hold on carmel sepuloni is reforming the welfare system.After the election,so in the mean time all you unemployed can look on the new unemployed with envy and imagine if the government treated everyone fairly.
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 ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
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. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
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 ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The courts should deal with illegal fishing, not the "court of public opinion", Shane Jones says, as he announces proposed changes to the Quota Management System. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan McElhone, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Monash University A London court has found Sam Kerr not guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of Metropolitan Police officer Stephen Lovell. As captain of the Australian women’s national soccer team, Kerr was widely condemned when ...
Could iwi and hapū be the unexpected solution to the government’s asset dilemma? David Seymour pressured the prime minister into an unwelcome conversation, and in the couple of weeks since the Act leader raised the issue in his state of the nation speech, privatisation has shifted from absent in the ...
Human rights advocates must uphold human dignity, rights and justice, while rejecting the discriminatory tactics we oppose, writes Taimor Hazou.Two weeks ago the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) launched a campaign inviting New Zealanders to call a hotline if they suspected an Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldier that had ...
Immigration New Zealand figures shows more people have been looking at the ETA and visitor visa pages on the website, however fewer people have applied to come or to extend their stay. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsten Banks, Lecturer, School of Science, Computing and Engineering Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology Debris on the surface of Mars from the Perseverance mission, captured on April 19 2022. NASA/JPL-Caltech In his inauguration speech in January, United States President Donald Trump ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alix Woolard, Senior Research Fellow, The Kids Research Institute Australia Stock Unit/Shutterstock Have you ever asked someone how their day was, or been chatting casually with a friend, only to have them tell you a horrific story that has left you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Quentin Grafton, Australian Laureate Professor of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Roper RiverChris Ison/Shutterstock Water is now a contested resource around the world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fight playing out over the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Graeme Turner, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies, The University of Queensland Matej Kastellic/ Shutterstock As we head towards the federal election, both sides of politics are making a point of criticising universities and questioning their role in the community. ...
Alex Casey examines the perils of having your period at a music festival. It was right after Clairo’s swooning set that Sarah* knew it was time. She was on the second day of her period at Auckland’s Laneway festival, and braved the portaloos to empty her menstrual cup and change ...
A battle between health officials and local councils is heating up, as one government party seeks to change the rules. The Bulletin’s Stewart Sowman-Lund explains. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
A global consultancy will lead the government's review of electricity markets, with a local firm offering advice and two groups of experts providing quality assurance. ...
New Public Service Minister Judith Collins is calling for a culture of saying 'yes', but being honest enough with ministers to "reconcile the vision with reality". ...
The future of nearly a third of all huts and tracks managed by the Department of Conservation is in limbo, as the agency faces a 30 percent shortfall in funding to maintain them. ...
Today I’ve had a bit on. I’m living in a 23.4 metre tug off the coast of Samoa and have been for a few weeks now. I’m on a top-secret mission to help save the planet from another potential environmental disaster.I’m currently tasked with looking out the window and making ...
The ‘loneliness epidemic’ is apparently spreading around the world, but what does it look like here in New Zealand? Rachel Judkins reports. It’s a beautiful summer evening in Cornwall Park, with families scattered on the grass and a live band playing a backing track to their laughter. Sprawled on a ...
The Act leader gets a telling-off from the principal and prime minister Christopher Luxon loses his cool in a heated question time. 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. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 12 February appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: It was the 10th anniversary of UNESCO’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science this week, the theme being ‘Unpacking STEM Careers: Her Voice in Science’. It is 2025, but we still need a lot more of her voices in science.In New Zealand, a 2021 survey found that ...
NewsroomBy Dr Jennifer Kruger and Dr Kelly Burrowes
A Government proposal to axe the only two jobs in New Zealand’s health sector of people who were working on a national strategy for palliative care has angered those in the sector, which is already under immense strain.It’s put another wedge between those who want terminally ill patients to live ...
The High Court isn’t the appropriate place to solve a South Island iwi’s claims over freshwater, the Crown says.Ngāi Tahu leaders, and the collective Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, are taking legal action against the Attorney-General, demanding to be involved in decision-making over freshwater. Iwi want the Crown to recognise ...
Teenage swimmer Rylee Sayer has qualified for the world Para swimming championships, a year after her right arm, clavicle and shoulder were amputated to remove aggressive bone cancer. Ironically, her surgery has resulted in her being more competitive, due to a Para swimming reclassification.Sayer, 16, is also the only swimmer to ...
COMMENTARY:By Sawsan Madina I watched US President Donald Trump’s joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week in utter disbelief. Not that the idea, or indeed the practice, of ethnic cleansing of Palestine is new. But at that press conference the mask has fallen. Recently, fascism ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will on Wednesday announce it is willing, as a last resort, to purchase the collapsed Rex Airlines, in its latest bid to prop up aviation services to regional and remote areas. As ...
Jotham Napat has been elected as the new prime minister of Vanuatu. Napat was elected unopposed in Port Vila today, receiving 50 votes with two void votes. He is the country’s fifth prime minister in four years and will lead a coalition government made up of five political parties — ...
Party releases actual list. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121610675/election-2020-green-party-list-promotes-hello-boomer-chloe-swarbrick
The "small group" need to now be expelled from the Green party – their disruption was clearly designed to damage their own party and as such they fail the most basic tests for party discipline. Their should be consequences for that and expulsion is the most obvious.
Labour need to do a deal to give Chloe Swarbrick a clear run at Auckland Central. A victory for the Greens there would give them a lifeboat, and the Labour + Green vote would have a great chance of turfing out the National Party's deputy leader.
Is that the safest seat they could do a deal on?
There and Nelson, getting rid of Nikki Kaye and Nick Smith, what is not to like?
Why Nelson? Just do the simple arithmetic of adding up the leftish party votes and rightish party votes to see if there's any chance at all of making a deal work. Not a chance of making it happen in Nelson.
It will be tough enough getting a few Green voters to vote strategically to turf out Smith, let alone trying to get almost all Labour voters to vote for the Green candidate.
Not necessarily. Last year the Greens received a large donation on the condition they used it to try and unseat dr. custard (aka nick smith). This year it will be different, there will be strategic voting. The Nelson race will be close, but I'm predicting nick will lose his seat this time to Labour, if only by a slim margin. Looking forward to it 🙂
I read the other day after his candidature was announced, the new geologist candidate (name forgotten), state he was focussing on the party vote in Nelson.
That's good news 🙂
Yeah. Last time Boyack plus Lawrey was around 22k votes, vs 17k for the Nat candidate (what was his name?). So it wouldn't take much strategic voting to install a Labour candidate into that seat. Plus, haven't there been boundary changes that should be favourable to Labour?
Yes, the boundary change, good point. Nelson electorate has lost Brightwater (Dr custard's old stomping ground). Brightwater has now moved to the West Coast-Tasman electorate, and that will make a difference.
Dr custard was gutted about the boundary change.
That is a good thing. But getting back to the topic of electorates, is that likely to pull in more Green voters or Labour or NZF voters into the electorate.
Brightwater is a blue town, with a bit of red. I'm guessing nick will lose out on up to 1,000 votes with the boundary change. Enough to make a difference on the night.
At a guess those blue person votes from Brightwater will be split between maureen pugh and Damien. Damien has quite a bit of respect from national party voters, it's not uncommon in West Coast-Tasman for national voters to vote Labour for the person (Damien).
I'd be really surprised if NZ 1st stood a strong candidate in Nelson or the WC-Tasman seat, they haven't in the past.
It will be a straight out red v's blue for Nelson re the person vote. With a strong Green party vote.
I've had a quick look & I'd say losing Brightwater will shave off less than 400 from Smithy's majority. Would only make a difference in an extremely tight race.
[That’s the Candidate Vote margin … in terms of the Party Vote profile – the Nats take 50%., while the Govt Bloc Parties as a whole take 45% … so i would have to say a relatively Pale Blue sort of a town]
Why Auckland Central? The combined Labour and Green party votes weren't much more than the Nat vote. Trying to divert Labour voters to Swarbrick is more likely to split the vote and let Kaye win again. Anyways, better to turf her out cleanly without any hint of dodgy deals.
Whereas Wellington Central and Dunedin North have a combined Labour and Green party vote nearly double the Nat party vote.
What about after a 18% swing to the government?
Ok. In 2017 the party votes in Auckland Central were: Nat 11773, Lab 11340, Green 4170, TOP 944, Winston1st 1165. (Note that Kaye's personal vote was 13198; she picked up a lot of non-Nat personal support)
Let's make the heroic assumptions that 10% of the Nat party vote swings to Labour (20% swing to Labour), that 1/2 of Labour voters will "take orders", the Green and NZ1st vote share holds, all TOP goes to Labour, half NZ1st goes to the Labour candidate.
For party votes that will be 10600 ish to Nat, 13500ish to Labour, 4200ish Greens plus rats and mice.
Divvy those up among the candidates as wildly optimistically fantasised above, and Kaye gets 11000 ish votes (Nat plus ACT, no NZ1st vote, no personal loyalty vote to Kaye), Greens candidate 10900ish votes, Labour candidate gets 7000ish.
Whereas, assume a small swing to Labour and that a decent chunk of Greens party voters use their heads and vote for the Labour candidate, then Kaye is solidly a list MP rather than an electorate MP. Which would do wonders for her cred as deputy leader.
https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2017/electorate-details-01.html
I think the 18% swing to the Government will happen just after I win Lotto for the third time.
We’re talking about electorate candidate votes though aren’t we?
Yes. But an electorate deal to persuade Labour party voters to strategically vote for a Greens candidate to give the Greens party a lifeboat is more likely to be successful where there is already a very strong Greens party vote, and an overwhelming Labour plus Greens dominance over the Nats.
Those conditions are not met in Auckland Central or Nelson, but they are met in Wellington Central and Dunedin North.
The Green Left are absolutely correct, Shaw, Swarbrick and Sage need to be replaced. One of the many reasons, Dennis and I are now former Greens…
Replace Shaw, Sage and Swarbrick, and the Greens would no longer be green. And would then travel the route of other "activist left" parties such as Alliance, Mana etc.
Of those on the Green list only Eugenie Sage is ranked in the top 10 with any "Green" credentials. Not sure how you include the other 2 when it is not even important enough to include in the bio any. Not a mention of anything "Green" in Chloe Swarbrick's background !!! So who in the party is concerned with environment ?? Perhaps those who have left ??
https://www.greens.org.nz/our_people
You must be joking. Trying to herd voters simply doesn’t work unless there is a already a 3 way split because a small minority will either heed the advice or decide to do it themselves. The Green vote in Auckland Central was ~2.3k odd last time. Labour was ~11.5. National was ~13k.
The Labour candidate is White who got that vote – who will have been doing the electorate work and face-to-face since becoming a MP off the list – which is essentially how you win electorate seats. I hadn’t noticed Swarbrick around much. That is a problem when dealing with a electorate seat. Kaye has been maintaining her usual level of work in the electorate. But it hasn’t been anything to write home about.
Basically you’re must be dreaming. Usually the maximum number of people shifting will be a few thousand at best unless there is a pretty piss-poor candidate. All a ‘deal’ in Auckland central will do is to increase Kayes majority. There is a good chance that a swing to Labour generally will flip that seat anyway.
The probability of neither Labour nor the Greens winning the seat will rise massively in the event of the type of deal you’re looking for. The Green vote would go up to something like 3.5-4.5k – well short of majority. It will consist almost entirely of Green split voters who party voted Green last time and electorate voted Labour.
You need to look at electorates that have a 3 way split. Offhand, I don’t know of an electorate. Even Nelson isn’t good for a Green electorate seat: Smith ~16.7k, Boyack (candidate again) ~12.4k, and Lawrey trailing well way behind at 9.7k. The Green party vote was only ~3.1k so it is likely that the split voting was pretty intense.
The split vote statistics for Nelson are indeed very interesting.
https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2017/statistics/split-votes-electorate-30.html
Green party members and voters, in general, will not be as accepting of "deals" as Epsomites.
You reckon they'd turn their nose up at a gaurantee of getting back into parliament?
Indeed.
Is the Chinese government a client of Exceltium PR? I only ask because I want to know if Matthew Hooton, the $2 dollar store Dominic Cummings to the watered down ScoMo, is getting paid by China to tell Toddy what to do.
I have certainly wondered that-particularly after the recent Herald article by him that was pounded on social media.
First retrograde step for National?
Gerry Brownlee tipped to be campaign manager
Yep. Looking forward to this.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/onenews/story/2013/11/21/praise-for-gerry-brownlee-hates-christchurch-plaque.html?variant=tb_v_1
Perhaps the words campaign chair should always be replaced by a picture off this bench
Brownlee's mascot could be Rolling Rosa.
Rosa features an innovative self-righting design that allows …. to track Rosa's face as she spins, always landing with her smile facing up.
It would be educational for Muller plus with soothing sounds designed 'to stimulate auditory development'.
https://us.tomy.com/lamaze/rolling-rosa
Nikki Kaye is on Morning Report just now. She’s not very good really.
Nikki didn't seem very assertive during Question Times.
She avoided answering the question this morning of when she and Toddy started planning.
An awful lot of Simon-like padding in her non answers.
A poor start Nikki.
Yes I started to count the number of times she said "Look".
Excellent piece by Chris Trotter….misogyny and religious fundamentalism at the core of Nationals woes
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/105183/chris-trotter-argues-todd-mullers-backers-have-rejected-radical-conservatism
That was rather good.
Those far right Christian zealots remain in the National Caucus. Will they fall into line or will they grumble?
do zealots ever fall into line?
People go on about Labour and the Greens being killjoy wowsers, but you have Paulo Garcia, who think sex should only be for making babies, and having any pleasure from it is verboten.
And how many creationists are in there? No wonder there was such a huge support for charter schools, it was all about giving young NZers are creationist diet and purging any mention of Darwin from large parts of the education system, along with the perodic table, etc.
Good one Trotter.
Muller hasn't made a good start though. Methinks the MAGA cap might disappear from the display cabinet in due course. 😉
Simon's junketing ambitions thwarted. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12334370
So The Herald 'has learned'.
Is that what you say when it is leaked to you?
These folk are leakier than a colander full of thin water. They would want to get on top of the internal discipline or else we may run low on popcorn.
Jacinda was live. giving an interview when the quake struck, she remained positive, up-beat, unrattled and calm. She was awesome and impressive.
After which mark richardson had a crack at her, because she wasn't scared and she kept it together.
Now the herald are reporting nats at the beehive scrambled and hid under a table.
Everyone behaves differently during a crisis, some keep it together and re-assure others and some hide under a table. Earthquake responses this morning by our politicians spoke volumes.
To be fair Cinny, if the roles were reversed you would be having a go at the Nats for not following Civil Defence guidelines with respect to earthquakes.
I hear what your saying, but too be fair, I've always been impressed when people hold it together to keep others calm in a crisis, emergency etc.
Some people panic, some don't.
That's where I'm coming from, re my comment above.
Muller just interviewed by Kathryn Ryan…considerably better than Bridges but nothing to write home about….he will need to improve to make inroads…the same old attack lines and no substance
I felt similarly, but view it as natural caution. Can't go wrong adhering to the established party line. If that rumour is correct (that he only won by a single vote) then he will be aware that he has to win support for any new National plan before sketching that in public.
His main theme seemed to be “trust us we’re National”. That and bagging Cabinet Ministers under Ardern. Kaye was banging on along the same lines so definitely a pre-organised attack line. I suppose we should be pleased they’ve finally figured out that belittling the PM isn’t going to wash.
I listened to that broadcast as well Pat. At just after 9am, Kathryn Ryan asked a basic question re when did Muller first consider challenging the Natz leadership. It took her three attempts to get some sort of a response from him, even then Ryan caught him out in a lie. To me Muller seemed to be more interested in promoting himself than answering questions.
At this rate, Jacinda should have a field day during the election leaders' debates.
You reckon Hosking will be out to get her in those debates? He's been out to get her for 2 and a half years. Or will they use a staffer?
Jacinda must have nerves of steel. She was smiling and posed. It was a very big shake and the Beehive shakes more in EQ.
Also heard her talking positively and compassionately about National. Its so soothing the amygdala…….she's a winner.
She behaved like a parent who keeps it together in a crisis so ones kid's don't panic. Made me feel very proud 🙂
Seems to be a rumor going around that amy adams may not quit politics after all.
I heard this to.
Is it the change of leader or the job market?
We are now praising people for being used to earthquakes in Wellington?
Compared to the National MPs hiding under a table?
I think we’re just admiring her sangfroid.
That's it 🙂
It's trending around the world.
Toby Manhire reviews the Green Party list here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/25-05-2020/the-greens-list-ranking-revealed-can-this-group-lift-them-over-the-threshold/
"It is a very different picture to that memorable North & South front page of just over three years ago. Half of the high ranking candidates on the cover are gone. The magazine itself is gone, too." John Hart, the farmer, gone. Alienated by leftists, I bet.
Hayley Holt, gone. I was sorry to see a brief media report recently that she'd lost her baby – had wondered at her disappearance from the TVNZ breakfast show – so wish her a speedy bounce back from that trauma.
"Perhaps more of a time warp, however, is the cover line: “Is the once ‘loony left’ ready to rule (and should we be afraid)?” For plenty of Greens – voters, members, and even some in caucus – the question is have they been loony, or at least loud, enough?"
"The Greens: we are the only ones that can achieve a true transformative tilt." Yeah, valid for the party as a whole but not for our parliamentarians, who continue to shirk that task.
Just read on 3news website the government has announced a $500pw tax free payment, for 12 weeks, for those laid off between March and October. Comes in 8th June and not backdated, and you have to be looking for work or training.
Cant link on this stupid IPad.
Edit:
What do you know? I can after all
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/05/income-relief-payment-tax-free-weekly-payments-of-almost-500-announced-for-workers-laid-off-due-to-covid-19.html
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/105188/people-who-lose-their-jobs-could-be-eligible-250-490-week-payment-12-weeks-under-new
could
between
for 12 weeks.
Government still so timid.
The wage subsidy should have shown clearly that the unemployment benefits for anyone on unemployement – not just hte current and growing expected wave of jobless – should get at the very minimum 585 $ (before tax 🙂 ) every week to maintain a semblance of normal life, i.e. pay rent, groceries and electricity.
I guess its baby steps.
Agree. Would have applauded any government that rebuilt from a solid base – from the ground up, rather attempting to provide support from the middle upwards. Doesn't look like I'll be clapping anytime soon.
The $490 for certain Covid related unemployed is useful of course, but has just put off the day of reckoning for Labour with the institutional neo liberalism of WINZ/MSD. Those Depts are punishment mazes and the Govt. knows it. Newbies do not cope well, or necessarily get the miserly assistance they seek.
Two tier unemployment payments, Covid and “Jobseeker” reinforce the “deserving/undeserving” tenet of state payments beloved of monetarist theory.
Some employers refused to apply for the subsidy, instead they gave their employee's two weeks notice of their intention to use their employees annual leave for their wages over lock down. Some of those employee's may have or did have very little accrued leave and they suffered over lock-down as a result.
Upon return to work, those employee's were told they were no longer tenable.
This is good news for them, as it was to no fault of those employee's that their employers decided against taking the subsidy.
And yes, benefits need to be increased. Living wage please and thank you.
AFAIK, the annual leave could only be used WITH the agreement of the employee. (My partner spent much of his first couple of weeks at home dealing with this issue, while working with the business owner in trying to maintain full pay for all the staff.) Those that agreed took annual leave in the final week of lockdown.
Yes they do need to streamline the WINZ//MSD . But look at the politics of it. The three months will be up for extension shortly before the election. Would Nact extend if they won – takes the election battleground to social welfare and gets its off tax increases for the wealthy.
Tiger Mountain "Punishment mazes" So apt. 😥
I think this is a good small step towards a better social security system. I'd love this to be bigger and bolder, but it's still more than nothing.
I also think this is very politically astute – start with a step that should be uncontroversial, extend later, go into the election with a bigger policy piece, win the election, and by the time National see the front bench again, it's the new normal.
Hosking: "The key here is, is there a magic? The X-factor? Is there something that transforms him from just another decent person who aspires to lead their party, and therefore their country, into a person who actually attracts votes, turns tides, explains things in a way people get? Is he something or someone that has that magnetic factor that marks you out as different from the rest?"
Then fails to provides any answers. He would no doubt claim that the media does shallow, only, and answers go too deep. But then he does have a go at profound:
"The polls will close, they always do." Usually at 7pm on election day. Something vaguely zen about that, eh? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12334438
Hosking as usual going round and round the bowl at the first flush and inevitably like all waste, following all the crap that's gone before.
I googled "Greens candidate profiles 2020" to see if the GP had performed the elementary political requirement of allowing those interested to get to know those candidates better.
No. No such link to the GP website exists as yet. So the clueless dork syndrome remains in control. Look on the bright side: they have four months to get their act together.
The good news is I've read those profiles and they are available to members – and some of those people would make exceptional parliamentarians. Please don't hide them!
And this from Weka – The Green Party with an environmentalist ranked at No 11 in the new crop and will require 8.6% of the vote (Same as NZ1st)
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-green-party-list-2/
And only Eugenie Sage (ranked 6th) from the current crop background containing anything substantial regarding the environment. No wonder Gaia is screwed.
https://www.greens.org.nz/our_people
I wouldn't go that far. If you read Lovelock's books you get a good sense of how resilient Gaia is – as a supersystem. That said, we have dislocated the Holocene, and that was the basis of the economy. Agriculture.
Now that the supersystem is in transition from that stable state to another as yet unknown, we call the interim Antropocene. We will all live & die in that one. Comprehension of this relation between economy and ecology is non-existent – I never encountered anyone in the Green movement who even thought about it. Statism has everyone in a death-grip. Thus we still await an alternative to neoliberalism 30 years after it was obviously dead in the water!
That the members of the GP persist in denial of this fundamental reality is due to human nature: gnosis is too hard, culture is trivial, we must therefore be trite, etc.
NZ is blessed to have such a great leader ☺️
https://twitter.com/DrJinRussell/status/1264707155606691840?s=20
Fairfax papers in Australia are suggesting the Federal government over there may allow travel between NZ and individual states, NSW and Victoria while borders between other states remain closed.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/border-friction-new-zealand-set-to-open-for-nsw-victorian-tourists-before-queensland-20200524-p54vwg.html
That's weird. Aren't victoria & NSW still battling outbreaks whereas NT & Wa are pretty much clean? Is NZ being used by slomo to shore up his political standing?
Probably more likely an effort by the federal government to get the state Labor government’s in WA and Qld to move on opening their borders to interstate travel. At any rate tv news in Australia is reporting Ardern’s comments here this morning saying that NZ was unlikely to open the border unless all of Australia was available for non-quarantined travel for NZers.
"Kyle MacDonald is seeing more solar panels on the rooves of the electorate's million-dollar homes. That's a sign that Epsom voters are increasingly Green, he says." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119520709/a-poverty-agitator-a-climate-negotiator-and-a-psychotherapist-take-on-doomed-mission-for-the-greens?rm=a
"MacDonald is a family man with two daughters, and has lived in the electorate for five years. His background is not that of a traditional Green candidate. He's been a psychotherapist for two decades, helping people with mental health issues and addiction through their troubles with talk therapy."
"MacDonald gained a spot on radio's 'Nutter's Club' show, which has him talking to callers on-air about their problems. The show, started by comedian-turned-advocate Mike King, has a strong following of dedicated listeners. Between 60,000 and 80,000 tune in, which is the largest radio audience for the 11pm to 1am weekend timeslot, MacDonald says."
"MacDonald also wrote a regular column about mental health and drugs, which ended three weeks ago when he announced his candidacy." At #14 on the list, a significant rebound will be required to get him in.
Good discussion on Novara with James Meadway on how to manage the increased government debt racked up during the COVID-19 crisis. I was getting alarmed to hear Bridges, shortly before his replacement, describe the debt as "$80k per household", and more recently Nikki Kaye claiming that young people were concerned at the thought of having to pay the debt back in future through increased taxes.
It seems that National not only poses a threat to public health by wanting to prematurely open borders, but also poses a threat to the economy because of ingrained tendencies towards austerity.
This could be huge.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/kiwis-now-trust-labour-more-than-national-repair-economy-poll-suggests
Children's Commissioner calls for all benefits to be on the same level of trust, equity and accessibility as the covid payments.
I would like to know what he says about a spike in Rheumatic Fever cases in Wellington.
I heard something about that this morning – how big is it?
Stuff have been sold by nine. Be very interesting to see if they are going to try to be genuinely NZ or whether this is a front for a wealthy individuals. Hoping for the former, be wise for the government to now bung them a relief package ., heck I'd subscribe again if they stopped being a Nact mouthpiece
Reports say for $1. I am thinking they owe a bit.
This sounds like a potentially great news story.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121615231/stuff-boss-sinead-boucher-i-asked-myself-what-i-wanted-for-the-business
Seeing the way staff produced quality editorial content, took a pay cut and the demand for content influenced the decision.
Those busting at the seams airports have come back to bite them on the arse.
https://twitter.com/gregpmiller/status/1264309638964617217
Siebert arrived at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago three days later as the new U.S. restrictions — including mandatory medical screenings — went into effect. He encountered crowds of people packed in tight corridors, stood in lines in which he snaked past other travelers for nearly five hours and tried to direct any cough or sneeze into his sleeve.
When he finally reached the coronavirus checkpoint near baggage pickup, Siebert reported his prior symptoms and described his exposure in Spain. But the screeners waved him through with a cursory temperature check. He was given instructions to self-isolate that struck him as absurd given the conditions he had just encountered at the airport.
“I can guarantee you that people were infected” in that transatlantic gantlet, said Siebert, who tested positive for the virus two days later in Chicago. “It was people passing through a pinhole.”
http://archive.li/nD49i
Just listened to the end of Stolid Todd's Media on the reshuffle of spoke persons.
Amy Adams is back as No 3 and funnily enough she is far better at speaking than Stolid Todd. Succinct. Informed and credible up to a point of course.
And after 25 minutes Todd looks a bit rattled.
Live https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12334590
Todd's a good frontman. He can put words together to make sentences. Simon struggled with that.
You made through 25 minutes of him? Well done!
David Slack – as always – comes up with a gem:
David Slack
A thorn in the new boy's side.
https://www.twitter.com/henrycooke/status/1264751244645564417
Jack Tame looking stunned at how fucking stupid Todd Muller really is!
Todd is new to being in the hot seat and gosh, it's hot.
He is yet to learn the 5 go to sentences to parrot if you don't know what to say.
Jack Tame had him over a barrel when he asked the question about there being no-one of Maori descent in his Shadow Cabinet. He didn't see it coming and tried to cover up by extolling the virtues of Shane Reti who comes in at 16 on the list.
How astounding that he didn't even consider how it would look having only pale, stale Pakehas in his line-up.
I don't think he's a nasty guy Anne….but yeah, he's among a crew with cards up their sleeves. "What Chinese donor?"
I'm not sure if he is our next PM or a nightwatchman.
But whatever his calibre, he's a Honda Step-thru racing a Katana.
Q & A interview? Yeah, that was painful. Todd, toast.
As I said on Friday, Muller did well in his first round of interviews on Day 1, but now we've got past the soft "introduce yourself" and moved on to "what are your policies?".
His policy platform appears to be "saying Amy Adams a lot".
Yes. Watching the whole of Todd;s responses to Jack's questioning and it was worse even than earlier speeches. I know I am biased but truly I was expecting Todd to be able telling us that since the Government is failing, he could offer a light on how he would rescue the Small Business owners. He could only repeatedly tell us how wonderful Amy Adams is but no specifics – at all. Jack tried but it was a no show.
And these folk have been beavering away at this plan for months and should be ready to Wow.
The panel was much more illuminating.
Wish I had of watched it! Have just listened to his interview with Kathryn Ryan this morning and what a bore he is. One of these "we could do it better" with no good evidence for why. And it turns out they don't have a plan. He will begin to sound very boring and arrogant soon……..How long will Amy think it ok to play second fiddle to him and and wait, what! more excitement… Simon's back! Happy days
I guess Todd is obliged to give it a jolly good go but if I was him I'd find it hard not to feel like a caretaker, a guy to wave the flag until Florence Nightengale wanes.
The Q+A interview was disastrous for Todd Muller. Lots of waffle and no substance. Todd is a bumbling idiot under pressure.
The question about the disappearance of Maori faces from his team slayed him.
The Q+A interview can be viewed here.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/todd-muller-commits-nationals-pledge-raise-superannuation-age-bring-back-oil-and-gas-exploration
I wonder if Jacinda has positioned us to be global destination darlings.
We haven't found a vaccine for the common cold. We suppress Aids, we're yet to find a vaccine, I'm not holding my breath for the arrival of a Covid-19 job.
Looking at the complexity of mutations to date, looks like a moving target to me.
I think the healing component most likely to become fail-safe first are speedy accurate testing regimes.
If we have none here and we have a speedy 100% accurate test at our borders. It's the 60+ that have big holiday $ to spend. The most Covid threatened.
I think we could easily make it to the top of many dream destination wish-lists around the world. Not kids in a van pooing in our carparks. Those that pay $200 for a personal guided tour of a marae.
Wish I had of watched it! Have just listened to his interview with Kathryn Ryan this morning and what a bore he is. One of these "we could do it better" with no good evidence for why. And it turns out they don't have a plan. He will begin to sound very boring and arrogant soon……..How long will Amy think it ok to play second fiddle to him and and wait, what! more excitement… Simon's back! Happy days
Two TV interviews, two leaders, same location, same day.
Todd Muller can't answer questions or keep cool during an interview.
Jacinda Ardern answers questions and keeps cool during … an earthquake.
Everyone has nice scenery. We have lots of it but it's not special.
What makes NZ unique is Maori.
I think the rebuild of an elevated $ return per guest tourism industry should revolve around them. With a 60+ punter, they're over being drunk and chasing skirt, they want to taste the culture.
I think it would be a nice way for us of a colonial extraction to say "Thanks for sharing."
First impressions count, an amazing kapa haka performance for every incoming flight and each performer paid $80k a year.
Make the most of what we've got.
Huawei are running utube videos featuring US executives that sing their praises.
As the world slides over to 5G….
The thrust of the argument being put forward by this American Huawei executive was "We are a private company, the Chinese government have nothing whatsoever to do with our business."
A few weeks ago I watched an interview with the American manager of a 3M factory in China. They make masks for their parent company, the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. 3M, those guys on the board at Wall Street. They were visited and informed "All of your output will stay here in China."
When the largest company in China says "Oh no, we have nothing to do with the CCP.",,,, oxymoron.
Huawei + global 5G = all over everyone's shit.
Aren't the Germans good at this stuff?
hold on carmel sepuloni is reforming the welfare system.After the election,so in the mean time all you unemployed can look on the new unemployed with envy and imagine if the government treated everyone fairly.