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.
The way our PM keeps literally smiling and communicating through a 5.8 magnitude earthquake is a symbol of her capacity to deal with crises, period. https://t.co/uDLoDcAucH
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
Those busting at the seams airports have come back to bite them on the arse.
Trump botched Oval address announcing Europe travel restrictions, leading many US citizens to believe they were about to be locked out of country. Air travel surged – from 30K on 3/11 to 45K on 3/12. Many carried infection, reentered country w/ no medical checks.
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.
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Gil-galad is an Elven Chad Gil-galad is an Elven Chad But Celebrimbor makes them mad Digesting leaks from Amazon Of Isildur and Pharazôn. The hair is short? The knives are keen. The beardless face of Dwarven Queen? With meteor and man-not-named The fandom temper is inflamed. Of Annatar ...
From the desk of Keir "Patriotic Duty" Starmer:“We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes to go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government have failed to engage in any negotiations.“However, we also must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded ...
Has swapping Scott Morrison for Anthony Albanese made any discernible difference to Australia’s relations with the US, China, the Pacific and New Zealand ? Not so far. For example: Albanese has asked for more time to “consider” his response to New Zealand’s long running complaints about the so called “501” ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The Biden administration in April 2021 dramatically ratcheted up the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledge under the Paris target, also known as its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The Obama administration in 2014 had announced a commitment to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels ...
Something I missed: the Central African Republic has abolished the death penalty: The National Assembly of the Central African Republic (CAR) passed a law abolishing the death penalty in the CAR on May 27, 2022. Once CAR President Touadéra promulgates the bill, the CAR will become the 24th abolitionist ...
Walking On Sunshine: National’s Sam Uffindell cantered home in the Tauranga By-Election, but the Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Sue Grey attracted an ominous level of support.THE RIGHT’S gadfly commentator, Matthew Hooton, summed up the Tauranga by-election in his usual pithy fashion. “Tonight’s result is poor for the National Party, catastrophic for ...
Te reo Māori is Dr. Anaha Hiini’s life purpose. Raised by his grandparents, Kepa and Maata Hiini, Anaha of Ngāti Tarāwhai, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue descent made a promise at the age of six to his late grandmother, Maata Hiini. “I’ve always had a passion for Māori culture. My first inspiration ...
Dr Carwyn Jones’ vision is to see Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the law given equal mana. Carwyn who holds a PhD in law and society and currently teaches Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa after 15 years at Victoria University of Wellington has devoted ...
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to attend the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Spain – but to skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda – symbolises the changes she is making to New Zealand foreign policy. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) starts today in ...
The outlook does not look that promising. Forecasting an economy is a mug’s game. The database on which the forecasts are founded is incomplete, out-of-date, and subject to errors, some of which will be revised after the forecasts are published. (No wonder weather-forecasting is easier.) One often has to adopt ...
by Don Franks It seems that almost each day now another ram raid shatters someone’s shop front and loots the premises. Prestigious Queen street is not immune, while attacks on small dairies have long stopped being headline news. Those of us not directly affected are becoming numbed to this form ...
It’s hard to believe that when we created Sciblogs in 2009, the iPhone was only two years old, being a ‘Youtuber’ wasn’t really a thing and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok didn’t exist. But Science blogging was a big thing, particularly in the United States, where a number of scientists had ...
For 13 years, Sciblogs has been a staple in New Zealand’s science-writing landscape. Our bloggers have written about a vast variety of topics from climate change to covid, and from nanotechnology to household gadgets.But sadly, it’s time to close shop. Sciblogs will be shutting down on 30 June.When ...
Radical Options: By allocating the Broadcasting portfolio to the irrepressible, occasionally truculent, leader of Labour’s Māori caucus, Willie Jackson, the Prime Minister has, at the very least, confirmed that her appointment of Kiri Allan was no one-off. There are many words that could be used to describe Ardern’s placement of ...
A Delicate Juggler? The new Chief Censor, Ms Caroline Flora, owes New Zealand a comprehensive explanation of how she sees, and how she proposes to carry out, her role. Where, for example, is her duty to respect and protect the citizen’s right to freedom of expression positioned in relation to ...
Good grief. Has foreign policy commentary really devolved to the point where our diplomatic effort is being measured by how many overseas trips have been taken by our Foreign Minister? Weird, but apparently so. All this week, a series of media policy wonks have been invidiously comparing how many trips ...
Where we've been Time flies. This coming summer will mark 15 years of Skeptical Science focusing its effort on "traditional" climate science denial. Leaving aside frivolities, we've devoted most of our effort to combatting "serious" denial falling into a handful of broad categories of fairly crisp misconceptions: "radiative physics is wrong,""geophysics is ...
Mercenary army of bogus skeptics on parade Because they're both squarely centered in the Skeptical Science wheelhouse, this week we're highlighting two articles from our government and NGO section, where we collect high-quality articles not originating in academic research but featuring many of the important attributes of journal publications. Our mission ...
In the latest episode of AVFA Selwyn Manning and I discuss the evolution of Latin American politics and macroeconomic policy since the 1970s as well as US-Latin American relations during that time period. We use recent elections and the 2022 Summit of the Americas as anchor points. ...
The Scottish government has announced plans for another independence referendum: Nicola Sturgeon plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence in October next year if her government secures the legal approval to stage it. Angus Robertson, the Scottish government’s constitution secretary, said that provided ample time to pass ...
So far, the closer military relationship envisaged by Jacinda Ardern and Joseph Biden at their recent White House meeting has been analysed mainly in terms of what this means for our supposedly “independent” foreign policy. Not much attention has been paid to what having more interoperable defence forces might mean ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters For those puzzling over the various hurricane computer forecast models to figure out which one to believe, the best answer is: Don’t believe any of them. Put your trust in the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, forecast. Although an individual ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Scott Denning The excellent Julia Steinberger essay posted at this site in May provides a disturbing window into the psychology of teaching climate change to young people. It’s critically important to talk with youth about hard topics: love and sex, deadly contagion, school shootings, vicious ...
By Imogen Foote (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) A lack of consensus among international conservation regimes regarding albatross taxonomy makes management of these ocean roaming birds tricky. My PhD research aims to generate whole genome data for some of our most threatened albatrosses in a first attempt ...
Well, if that’s “minor” I’d be interested to see what a major reshuffle looks like.Jacinda Ardern has reminded New Zealand of the steel behind the spin in her cabinet refresh announced today. While the Prime Minister stressed that the changes were “triggered” by Kris Faafoi and Trevor Mallard and their ...
A company gives a large amount of money to a political party because they are concerned about law changes which might affect their business model. And lo and behold, the changes are dumped, and a special exemption written into the law to protect them. Its the sort of thing we ...
Active Shooters: With more than two dozen gang-related drive-by shootings dominating (entirely justifiably) the headlines of the past few weeks, there would be something amiss with our democracy if at least one major political party did not raise the issues of law and order in the most aggressive fashion. (Photo ...
Going Down? Governments also suffer in recessions and depressions – just like their citizens. Slowing economic activity means fewer companies making profits, fewer people in paid employment, fewer dollars being spent, and much less revenue being collected. With its own “income” shrinking, the instinct of most government’s is to sharply ...
In the 50 years since Norm Kirk first promised to take the bikes off the bikies, our politicians have tried again and again to win votes by promising to crack down on gangs. Canterbury University academic Jarrod Gilbert (an expert on New Zealand’s gang culture) recently gave chapter and verse ...
Misdirection: New Zealanders see burly gang members, decked out in their patches, sitting astride their deafening motorcycles, cruising six abreast down the motorway as frightened civilians scramble to get out of their way, and they think these guys are the problem. Fact is, these guys represent little more than the misdirection ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to announce its support urgently for a moratorium on deep sea mining under the high seas, after Pacific nations joined forces this week to demand change. ...
We’re committed to ensuring that there is every opportunity for women and girls to succeed in Aotearoa New Zealand, with fewer barriers. Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to support women and girls, by improving services like healthcare and tackling issues like the gender pay gap. Here are just ...
Political pressure from the Green Party has pushed the Government to supply free masks to kids and teachers in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the European Greens have published a joint statement calling for the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement to support climate action, phase out fossil fuel subsidies, cut agriculture emissions, protect human rights, and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to guarantee that it will complete light rail and improve walking, cycling, and bus journeys across Wellington before digging new high-carbon tunnels. ...
The Green Party is urging Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker to commit to stronger ocean protection around Aotearoa and on the high seas while at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Portugal this week. ...
A strong Green voice in Parliament has helped reduce the influence large secret money will have in future elections and finally ensured overseas New Zealanders will retain the right to vote even while stranded by the Pandemic. But, the Government needs to go further to ensure our democracy works for ...
A new poll shows that the majority of people back the Greens’ call on the Government to overhaul the country’s criminally punitive, anti-evidence drug law. ...
The US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion is a reminder that we must take nothing for granted in Aotearoa, the Green Party says. “Aotearoa should be a place where everyone, no matter where they are from, or who they love, can choose what is right for their body and their ...
We’re proud to have delivered on our election commitment to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki. For the first time this year, New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own. ...
Proposed new legislation to reduce the risk that timber imported into Aotearoa New Zealand is sourced from illegal logging is a positive first step but it should go further, the Green Party says. ...
On World Refugee Day, the Green Party is calling on the new Minister for Immigration, Michael Wood to make up for the support that was not provided to people forced to leave their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This week, we’ve marked a major milestone in our school upgrade programme. We've supported 4,500 projects across the country for schools to upgrade classrooms, sports facilities, playgrounds and more, so Kiwi kids have the best possible environments to learn in. ...
We’ve delivered on our election commitment to make Matariki a public holiday. For the first time this year, all New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own with family and friends. Try our quiz below, then challenge your whānau! To celebrate, we’ve ...
The Green Party says the removal of pre-departure testing for arrivals into New Zealand means the Government must step up domestic measures to protect communities most at risk. ...
The long overdue resumption of the Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota must be followed by an overhaul of the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme, says the Green Party. ...
Lessons must be learned from the Government's response to the Delta outbreak, which the Ministry of Health confirmed today left Māori, Pacific, and disabled communities at greater risk. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to withdraw the proposed Oranga Tamariki oversight legislation which strips away independence and fails to put children at the heart. ...
European Commission President von der Leyen and Prime Minister of New Zealand Ardern met in Brussels on 30 June 2022. The encounter provided an opportunity to reaffirm that the European Union and Aotearoa New Zealand are longstanding partners with shared democratic values and interests, aligned positions on key international and ...
Export revenue to the EU to grow by up to $1.8 billion annually on full implementation. Duty-free access on 97% of New Zealand’s current exports to the EU; with over 91% being removed the day the FTA comes into force. NZ exporters set to save approx. $110 million per annum ...
57,000 EVs and Hybrid registered in first year of clean car scheme, 56% increase on previous year EVs and Non Plug-in Hybrids made up 20% of new passenger car sales in March/April 2022 The Government’s Clean Car Discount Scheme has been a success, with more than 57,000 light-electric and ...
Police Minister Chris Hipkins congratulates the newest Police wing – wing 355 – which graduated today in Porirua. “These 70 new constables heading for the frontline bring the total number of new officers since Labour took office to 3,303 and is the latest mark of our commitment to the Police ...
Members with a range of governance, financial and technical skills have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Board as part of the shift to strengthen the Bank’s decision-making and accountability arrangements. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 comes into force on 1 July 2022, with the establishment of ...
New Zealand to remain at Orange as case numbers start to creep up 50 child-size masks made available to every year 4-7 student in New Zealand 20,000-30,000 masks provided a week to all other students and school staff Extra funding to schools and early childhood services to supports better ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will join Ukraine’s case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which challenges Russia’s spurious attempt to justify its invasion under international law. Ukraine filed a case at the ICJ in February arguing Russia has falsely claimed genocide had occurred in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as ...
The Government has taken another step forward in its work to eliminate family violence and sexual violence with the announcement today of a new Tangata Whenua Ministerial Advisory Group. A team of 11 experts in whānau Māori wellbeing will provide the Government independent advice on shaping family violence and sexual ...
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women’s Employment Action Plan was launched today by Minister for Women Jan Tinetti – with the goal of ensuring New Zealand is a great place for women to work. “This Government is committed to improving women’s working lives. The current reality is that women have ...
The food and fibre sector acknowledged its people and leadership at last night’s 2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards, a time to celebrate their passion towards supporting employees by putting their health, welfare and wellbeing first,” Acting Minister of Agriculture Meka Whairiti said. “Award winners were selected from an extraordinary ...
Kia ora koutou katoa. It is a rare thing to have New Zealand represented at a NATO Summit. While we have worked together in theatres such as Afghanistan, and have been partners for just on a decade, today represents an important moment for our Pacific nation. New Zealand is ...
Te Arataki mō te Hauora Ngākau mō ngā Mōrehu a Tū me ō rātou Whānau, The Veteran, Family and Whānau Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy Framework “We ask a lot of those who serve in the military – and we ask a lot of the families and whānau who support ...
Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio has been appointed by the United Nations and Commonwealth as Aotearoa New Zealand’s advocacy champion for Small Island States. “Aotearoa New Zealand as a Pacific country is particularly focused on the interests of Pacific Small Island Developing States in our region. “This is a ...
An estimated 100,000 low income households will be eligible for increased support to pay their council rates, with changes to the rates rebate scheme taking effect from 1 July. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced increases to both the maximum value of the rates rebate, and the income threshold ...
A long-standing physical activity programme that focuses on outcomes for Maori has been expanded to four new regions with Government investment almost doubled to increase its reach. He Oranga Poutama is managed by a combination of hapū, iwi, hauora and regional providers. An increase in funding from $1.8 million ...
The Government is progressing a preferred option for LGWM which will see Wellington’s transport links strengthened with light rail from Wellington Station to Island Bay, a new tunnel through Mt Victoria for public transport, and walking and cycling, and upgrades to improve traffic flow at the Basin Reserve. “Where previous ...
To Provost Muniz, to the Organisers at the Instituto de Empresa buenas tardes and as we would say in New Zealand, kia ora kotou katoa. To colleagues from the State Department, from Academia, and Civil Society Groups, to all our distinguished guests - kia ora tatou katoa. It’s a pleasure ...
On June 28, 2022, a meeting took place in Madrid between the President of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting Spain to participate in the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as one ...
A six-fold increase in the Aotearoa New Zealand-Spain working holiday scheme gives a huge boost to the number of young people who can live and work in each other’s countries, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. Jacinda Ardern and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón made the Working Holiday/Youth Mobility Scheme announcement ...
A significant barrier has been removed for people who want to stand in local government elections, with a change to the requirement to publish personal details in election advertising. The Associate Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has taken the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Bill through its final stages in Parliament ...
New financial conduct scheme will ensure customers are treated fairly Banks, insurers and non-bank deposit takers to be licensed by the FMA in relation to their general conduct Sales incentives based on volume or value targets like bonuses for selling a certain number of financial products banned The Government ...
Legislation that bans major supermarkets from blocking their competitors’ access to land to set up new stores paves the way for greater competition in the sector, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The new law is the first in a suite of measures the Government is ...
The Government has announced an end to the requirement for border workers and corrections staff to be fully vaccinated. This will come into place from 2 July 2022. 100 per cent of corrections staff in prisons, and as of 23 June 2022 97 per cent of active border workers were ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has concluded a visit to Rwanda reaffirming Aotearoa New Zealand’s engagement in the Commonwealth and meeting with key counterparts. “I would like to thank President Kagame and the people of Rwanda for their manaakitanga and expert hosting of this important meeting,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “CHOGM ...
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty officially launched the new Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting (MAR) Centre at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) today. The Government has stood up the centre in response to recommendations from the 2018 Ministerial Review following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and 2017 Port Hills fire, ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has welcomed the announcement that a 110km/hr speed limit has been set for the SH1 Waikato Expressway, between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. “The Waikato Expressway is a key transport route for the Waikato region, connecting Auckland to the agricultural and business centres of the central North ...
Following feedback from the sector, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti, today confirmed that new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me te pāngarau standards will be aligned with wider NCEA changes. “The education sector has asked for more time to put the literacy and numeracy | te reo ...
$4.5 million to provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal equipment and supplies such as medical kit for the Ukrainian Army Deployments extended for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) intelligence, logistics and liaison officers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium Secondment of a senior New Zealand military officer to support International ...
Changes to electoral law announced by Justice Minister Kiri Allan today aim to support participation in parliamentary elections, and improve public trust and confidence in New Zealand’s electoral system. The changes are targeted at increasing transparency around political donations and loans and include requiring the disclosure of: donor identities for ...
The Labour government has announced a significant investment to prevent and minimise harm caused by gambling. “Gambling harm is a serious public health issue and can have a devastating effect on the wellbeing of individuals, whānau and communities. One in five New Zealanders will experience gambling harm in their lives, ...
The Government has widened access to free flu vaccines with an extra 800,000 New Zealanders eligible from this Friday, July 1 Children aged 3-12 years and people with serious mental health or addiction needs now eligible for free flu dose. From tomorrow (Tuesday), second COVID-19 booster available six months ...
The Government is investing to create new product categories and new international markets for our strong wool and is calling on Kiwi businesses and consumers to get behind the environmentally friendly fibre, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said today. Wool Impact is a collaboration between the Government and sheep sector partners ...
At today’s commemoration of the start of the Korean War, Veterans Minister Meka Whaitiri has paid tribute to the service and sacrifice of our New Zealand veterans, their families and both nations. “It’s an honour to be with our Korean War veterans at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park to commemorate ...
Minister of Tourism Stuart Nash and Associate Minister of Tourism Peeni Henare announced the sixth round of recipients of the Government’s Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF), which supports local government to address tourism infrastructure needs. This TIF round will invest $15 million into projects around the country. For the first time, ...
Matariki tohu mate, rātou ki a rātou Matariki tohu ora, tātou ki a tātou Tīhei Matariki Matariki – remembering those who have passed Matariki – celebrating the present and future Salutations to Matariki I want to begin by thanking everyone who is here today, and in particular the Matariki ...
Oho mai ana te motu i te rangi nei ki te hararei tūmatanui motuhake tuatahi o Aotearoa, Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki, me te hono atu a te Pirīmia a Jacinda Ardern ki ngā mahi whakanui a te motu i tētahi huihuinga mō te Hautapu i te ata nei. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker will represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the second United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, which runs from 27 June to 1 July. The Conference will take stock of progress and aims to galvanise further action towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, to "conserve and sustainably use ...
The Government is boosting its partnership with New Zealand’s dairy sheep sector to help it lift its value and volume, and become an established primary industry, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “Globally, the premium alternative dairy category is growing by about 20 percent a year. With New Zealand food ...
The Government is continuing to support the Buller district to recover from severe flooding over the past year, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today during a visit with the local leadership. An extra $10 million has been announced to fund an infrastructure recovery programme, bringing the total ...
“The Government has undertaken preparatory work to combat new and more dangerous variants of COVID-19,” COVID-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall set out today. “This is about being ready to adapt our response, especially knowing that new variants will likely continue to appear. “We have undertaken a piece of work ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh White, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Testing Washington: Chinese President Xi Jinping. Li Gang/Xinhua via AP How can Australia navigate the tough and dangerous strategic environment in Asia today with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kaufman, Research Fellow, Vaccine Uptake Group, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Engin Akyurt/Unsplash The federal government has released a new A$11 million ad campaign urging Australians to “take on winter” by getting COVID boosters and influenza vaccines, as well as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Macintosh, Professor and Director of Research, ANU Law School, Australian National University Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen is today expected to announce a much anticipated review of Australia’s carbon credit scheme, known as the Emissions Reduction Fund. In March, we exposed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Esmé Louise James, Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Melbourne Netflix After a month of waiting, the season finale of Stranger Things season 4 has almost arrived on Netflix. This season, along with the nightmarish arch-villain Vecna, we have been ...
More than 91 percent of tariffs will be removed the day the deal comes into effect, while the value of NZ exports to the EU are estimated to increase by $1.8b a year by 2035. ...
RNZ News New Zealand has designated US groups the Proud Boys and The Base as terrorist entities. Set down in the government’s official journal of record — the Gazette — last Monday, 20 June, it was published publicly a week later but with no wider dissemination. The move — authorised ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra David Pocock, the progressive independent who broke the Liberals’ stranglehold on one of the two ACT Senate seats, wouldn’t have expected to find himself allied with Pauline Hanson before even being sworn in. But, ...
Tabloid Jubi The Civil Organisations Solidarity for Papua Land has condemned Indonesia’s Papua expansion plan of forming three new provinces risks causing new social conflicts. And the group has urged President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to cancel the plan, according to a statement reports Jubi. The group — comprising the Papua ...
RNZ Pacific Palau, Fiji, and Samoa have announced their opposition to deep-sea mining, calling for a moratorium on the emerging industry amid growing fears it will destroy the seafloor and damage biodiversity. The alliance was announced just as a United Nations Oceans Conference began in Portugal this week. The moratorium ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has just spoken to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone, expressing solidarity and support for his country. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA The art of concealing or misrepresenting one’s identity in the physical world has long been practised by spies engaged in espionage. In response, intelligence agencies ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Homeowners will face mortgage rates near 5.5% in a little over a year, according to a survey of 22 leading Australian economists. The ...
Guest column by Nicholas Kerr Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s comments about the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling on abortion inadvertently help explain why the court was right to overturn Roe v. Wade and return the issue to the states. She noted that New Zealand ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mona Nikidehaghani, Lecturer in Accounting, University of Wollongong From Monday July 4 2022, Australian job seekers face a new social security system to police eligibility for support payments. It replaces the “Jobactive” system that required the “mutual obligation” of applying for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn Gulliver, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Queensland A man who drove through a climate protest blocking the Harbour Tunnel this week has copped a A$469 fine, while multiple members of the activist group were arrested. The protest was among a ...
“Less than a month ago Floyd Du Plessis, the President of the Corrections Association (CANZ), wrote a letter to the Chief Executive warning of more assaults against prison officers if things didn’t change,” says Darroch Ball Leader of Sensible Sentencing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ritesh Chugh, Associate Professor – Information and Communications Technology, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock While manufacturers have successfully increased the water-repelling nature of smartphones, they are still far from “waterproof”. A water-resistant product can usually resist water penetration to some extent, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suze Wilson, Senior Lecturer, School of Management, Massey University Phil Walter/Getty Images The US Supreme Court’s recent ruling to throw out Roe v Wade is an issue of relevance to political leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand. The decision was ...
New Zealand will present its legal view on Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations' international court, contesting the Kremlin's claim of genocide. ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Government has declared or reiterated three bold ambitions, one of them (the elimination of family violence) probably unachievable. Whether progress is being made towards the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Price, Team Leader / Senior Research Officer, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Shutterstock Most new parents and caregivers will know the phrase “put your baby down when drowsy but awake”. But some parents may find this just doesn’t work for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Stavrou, English Language Instructor, University of Cyprus, and PhD Graduate, Charles Sturt University Traditional approaches to adult language teaching often use resources such as textbooks and generic learning materials that are less than inspiring for learners. New research shows ...
Accompanied by a giant albatross sculpture made of reclaimed plastic bottles, Greenpeace has delivered a 100,000-strong petition to parliament calling on the Government to ban single-use plastic bottles and incentivise reusable and refillable alternatives. ...
Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall says the country needs to remain at the orange traffic light setting as case numbers are starting to "creep up". ...
Our Annual plan 2022/23 was presented to the House of Representatives today. This annual plan is a key accountability document for our Office. It describes the discretionary work we consider will help us to achieve our ultimate outcome – that Parliament ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre; Associate Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Arts, Monash University AAP Image/Supplied by Department of Justice In 2020 the killing of Hannah Clarke and her three children – Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University The election of the Albanese Labor government brings an opportunity to end one of the most detrimental elements of Australian refugee law and policy in the past decade: the use of temporary ...
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has welcomed the launch of the Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women's Employment Action Plan today. For too long, women have been disadvantaged in the world of work. While many improvements have been made over ...
The experimental weekly series provides an early indicator of employment and labour market changes in a more timely manner than the monthly employment indicators series. Key facts The 6-day series includes jobs with a pay period equal to or less than ...
Statement from Auckland Transport Interim Chief Executive Mark Lambert: Auckland Transport is proud to support the New Statement of Ambition being launched tonight by the Climate Leaders Coalition. We’re delighted that AT’s work to achieve the ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa, SAFE, Animals Aotearoa, SPCA, and the New Zealand Animal Law Association have joined forces to call for an end to intensive winter grazing through the Government’s Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare review. The coalition says that as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Swift, Educational Experiences team lead (Senior Lecturer), ANU School of Cybernetics, Australian National University Shutterstock I love writing code to make things: apps, websites, charts, even music. It’s a skill I’ve worked hard at for more than 20 years. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Baillie, Professor of Allied Health, University of Sydney Shutterstock COVID might be the largest mass casualty event in Australian history. And with one in 20 people with COVID still experiencing symptoms three months later, long COVID might even become Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick O’Connor, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide A tiny parasitic mite that lives on the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) has breached Australia’s border quarantine and been detected in managed bee hives in New South Wales. This is bad news for Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Main, Visiting Scholar, Australian National University Shutterstock The COVID pandemic slowed mining activity across the Pacific. But as economic activity returns, an Australia-based company is poised to pursue what would be the largest mine in Papua New Guinea’s history. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachele Sloane, Graduate Researcher and Tutor – Master of Education, Student Wellbeing Specialisation (MGSE), The University of Melbourne Shutterstock New Child Safe Standards come into effect in Victoria this Friday, July 1. The set of 11 standards builds on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Morag Kobez, Associate lecturer, Queensland University of Technology shutterstock When the temperature drops in the southern hemisphere, you might like to stave off the chill with a big steaming pot of mulled wine, and fill your home with the comforting aroma ...
Russia's actions in Ukraine are an affront to the world but mustn't be allowed to create a more polarised, dangerous world, the prime minister says. ...
Russia's actions in Ukraine are an affront to the world but mustn't be allowed to create a more polarised, dangerous world, the prime minister says. ...
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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 ☺️
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.
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.
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.