As we all know, the private sector is always better than the public one… (Sarc)
The private sector doesn’t seem to being to well in the fight against climate change.
In the same vein, maybe government’s of the day should have left the private sector to prosecute the war against fascism, instead of nationalising whole tranches of industry for the war effort, like they did.
What if you compared western democratic (private sector) countries efforts in climate change and ecology in general against socialist and communist countries (government owned) efforts and see how it stacked up
You’ll have to allocate each country to your preferred private sector/government owned categories. But the US at 50% more per capita emissions than Russia might give a clue as to how the scenarios might pan out……….
I don’t know, though. You tell me. Then I can critique your methodology, figures and
conclusions. 🙂
You might even find more current world stats. This reference is from 2015.
And I wonder who on earth Chris73 is yapping on about. The USSR dissolved before the real fight against Climate Change; China remains a dictatorship, but is no longer communist or even socialist. It is simply as authoritarian as it always was, when powerful. Russia is now far from socialist.. So who are these evil powers, Chris73? Cuba?
Have you any understanding of history and politics?
@Herodotus. Pathetic solution. Shows the government is still firmly in the badly run business pockets and doesn’t understand the problem.
So 15000 new migrant workers into Auckland and another 15000 apprentices with the migrant workers on $20 p/h and probably the apprentices on less and probably not able to survive with the Auckland costs, taking up 3000 low cost houses immediately, at the age of starting families when there is a major shortage of maternity services in Auckland and teachers, hospitals and congestion on the rise, and all so developers can profit more when they build expensive mansions, hotels, and apartments to sell to the Singapore and other foreign buyers because they know that people on $20 p/h can’t afford them so only non residents or new residents which they need to bring in to buy them can…. driving up house prices and speculation even further and lowering wages while immediately taking up houses…
Warning, it’s the social issues and bizarre laws that need to be addressed first, adding more people who will also suffer from the social afflictions and poor workplaces and government attitudes in NZ and take up more social support in the end is not the answer. Solve the exisiting problems, without adding more people to them who need to be helped!
100% correct savenz it’s a scam and developers are only interested in building for top dollar luxury foreign buyers. tax the fuckers to death unless they build proper houses for Kiwis to live in first
That looks to be at least a half-decent compromise Herodotus, on paper anyway. The housing situation needs to be sorted ASAP so a deal such as this may be an option if the positives outweigh the negatives.
I expect as usual the devil will be in the details and how employers respond to it. I can’t see (m)any of them being happy with a 1:1 ratio or paying the living wage to a new migrant worker, that’s a bit of a curve ball for them.
The living wage is unliveable in Auckland. To give you an example one of the luxury hotel developments has just applied for hundreds of painter/decorator/plasterer types into Auckland at $20p/h.
The price is more like $35 – $50+ p/h for those experienced trades.
$20 p/h was the rate charged about 15 years ago. Trouble is, we ain’t got house prices from 15 years ago, we ain’t got power and water and food and rates from 15 years ago.
So all that’s going to happen is that the apprentices if they even last, will not be able to survive on $20p/h so the Ponzi will continue… the foreign worker is coming under false pretences aka human trafficking style being fed a myth they will go home with lots of savings, or they are planning to try and get permanent residency… all in all, the people most benefiting is the foreign hotel billionaire developers and people least benefiting NZ low income workers who are all competing for lower priced rental accomodation in a city that’s not building any but luxury ones, and NZ experienced tradies who might as well throw in the towel and go on the dole and certainly not bother to train anybody – how will they compete for the contracts on that rate!
You’re overreacting. $20hr is very livable for a single young person starting out, even in Auckland. That’s $678 per week in the hand, more than enough to get by.
@DH, They want to pay $20p/h for experienced people not the apprentices. Generally the experienced people at some point, settle down want to have a family and buy a house, that’s where the problem lies in NZ….
Rents are $400p/w in Auckland. So that $278 of your livable wage to buy food, transport, power, water, internet, save for a better life… as soon as they have a child they need working for families so the taxpayers are subsidising that and accomodation benefit.
Same happens for the truck drivers, if you are earning $20 p/h and they hire people at $16 p/h and you will still be on that in real terms in a decade… already happening. Wages are effectively going down hence the decline of social mobility in the west.
Pandering to it, is making it worse for the working poor and the beneficiaries who are between a rock and a hard place in this country.
$20hr is starting wages and the migrant workers will be single. Yes it’s undercutting local tradesmen but I doubt the migrant’s trade qualifications would be valid here in NZ anyway so they’d likely be virtual apprentices.
I don’t particularly like it, I’d rather they got off their arse and trained up our unemployed, but this at least is better than what National were offering. For every new migrant worker there will be a new local apprentice. In theory anyway.
Not really alike at all.
Our recent budget wasn’t intended to set the stage for an election campaign, there are still 2budgets in the term to do that.
Malcolm’s tax cuts however, are absolutely designed to position the Coalition for an election campaign and there has been talk in Canberra that he might be getting ready to go early depending on the outcome of the 5 by-elections set down for July 28.
Looks like voters in Australia have twigged to the swindle that Malcolm’s trying to pull over them – 10 bucks a week for workers as a fig leaf for massive cuts to corporate taxes and, learned from bitter experience that tax reductions always mean cuts to social services in order to pay for them.
“The Government has been admirably open about the economic impacts of its proposed Zero Carbon Bill, but people haven’t absorbed what the “stark” cost figures mean, says Bell Gully partner Simon Watt.”
….and in that he is correct….but then the conflation….
“The discussion document addresses adaptation and highlights the need for it but it doesn’t feature in the economic modelling, so what people may not appreciate is that the cost of carbon needed to achieve the emissions targets, which the modelling suggests would have 0.2 per cent annual impact on GDP to 2050, on top of that is the cost of adaptation. So adapting to extreme weather events, the cost of relocating and protecting infrastructure, roads, airports, railways, the cost of moving houses inland: those are costs the economy is going to have to bear in addition to adjusting to get to zero emissions.”
Hard to condemn for its pollution while admiring its McKenzie Basin high tech.
There’s a curious anomaly in the set up at Simons Pass station. When it begins operation this spring it will be one of the most modern farms in the country – energy efficient, hi-tech. The tractors will be driverless electric ones, the cows will come in to the robotic milkers whenever they feel like it. The fences will be virtual – GPS-controlled collars the animals wear will ensure they stay within allocated boundaries.
Good question included. Would there be the same concern if the farm was horticultural?
What a bargain, displace exisiting vulnerable tenants, then build loads of houses of which less than half are actually the state houses???
Would it be more efficient to just have 23,600 state houses so that they can ensure they are affordable, and actually build them themselves so that they don’t have to pay for a private companies profit margin?
And adding more people into Auckland and selling the newly build apartments to foreigners and new residents like the select committee recommends , displaces existing poorer residents and displaces those residents to other towns…. like Tauranga for example who then displaces others and the Ponzi continues…
It’s a Ponzi of slavery so that employers can keep wages below living costs. Seriously, you would not be able to have a family in Auckland on $20p/h! And the fixed costs are rising monthly, from food to transport to power and water and rates, all going up to pay for the infrastructure for all the new housing & transport that people on average wages can’t afford!
What is the use of a cycle lanes & transport in central Auckland where the houses cost 1.5 million and the apartments cost $650,000+ with rising body corporate costs of $6000+pa and you will probably be in for remedial work within 10 years because our generous bankruptcy laws give shoddy developers and poor workmanship a free ride?
State houses = IRRS which they probably can’t afford the subsidy.
If they add a nice round 10,000 State Houses as IRRS increases lockstep with market rate that will be roughly 400/WK /house.
Assumes some tenants have income that reduces the IRRS.
So 10000 * 400/WK = roughly 4million each week.
I don’t see IRRS here long term as it is the second most unsustainable item behind pensions. They can’t just keep adding to their forward liability indefinitely.
And yeah…wtf with gifting? Logic would keep the land and lease back. Fucking corruption.
If you just build 23000 state houses you end up with ghettos of highly deprived (in the technical term) people. Areas that become no-go for everyone else and policed by a hostile force that doesn’t live there. So the current idea is to sprinkle state houses amongst the middle classes.
That would be all well and good, but the deal seems to involve giving away the land to the developers so they get ‘middle classes’. Wouldn’t care if they kept it, cheap lease hold but nope sounds like they are privatising the land.
Aren’t teachers and police middle classes, wouldn’t it be easier to just have cheap rents for those people, who can then afford to live in Auckland and save to buy their own house…. The rents pay for the builds over time….
In other countries they make all the developers have affordable housing as a percentage of the plans in the planning!
In NZ they give away the land to developers to make houses than most people who live there can’t afford and now they are recommending allowing foreigners to land bank them to keep the developer happy with high prices!
Thing about the NZ middle classes is that they prefer to have a mortgage than a rent. So if you make rental the rule, you end up with a slightly lower-dep ghetto than if it were just social housing.
The other thing is that the land is essentially payment for the developers to build. If the government kept the land, they’d have to finance the build some other way. No doubt you have some ideal-world theories on how that could be done, but in the real world what other options are there?
I was thinking upon Trump and kids being taken away from their parents when I thought, hey, don’t we put mothers in prison and separate them from their kids? I remember the Northland woman Kelly van Gaalen who was sentenced to two years in prison for cannabis possession which was later commuted to community service, but it turns out other women end up going to prison and being separated from their children. In some cases they lose contact with their children as the story below highlights
“Rebecca was a solo mum to five kids. Her youngest was 5, just getting into the swing of school life and her eldest fast approaching 18. Rebecca was their world, their only provider – the only parent they had known properly.And then, she was gone.
She was arrested, charged with criminal offending and remanded in custody to await a trial. That was a year ago, and Rebecca has only just been able to get contact again with her brood. The youngest four are split between two Oranga Tamariki carers and the now 18-year-old is fending for herself. Until recently, Rebecca had no idea where her little ones were.”
well its not only women in prison who are separated from their children, so are the men. And in the end it does not matter if one goes to prison for murder, p-cooking or weed peddling. Crime is crime and one goes to Prison. Fact is if she would have not have had weed on her, she would not have gone to prison.
I agree with you that at some stage it would really be nice if we in this country could have a grown up conversation about drugs, drug use, resulting healthcare needs and decriminalizing of weed. But alas we are not there.
This is however not the same as in the US where people are told that they babies are gonna go for a bath just to not be returned. Where children are locked up hundreds or thousands of miles away from their parents without the parents even knowing where the children are.
Where people are told that if they give up their legal right to claim asylum they may get their kids back.
Where people have been deported without their children.
Where people have had their non verbal children taken without any ‘receipt’ that would help to re-unite.
This women here in NZ never lost parental rights, and as you yourself state she is now back with her kids.
I would not compare this. Rebecca fucked up by herself, she did not loose her children at the border while trying to claim asylum.
No matter how much we want weed to be legal, atm it is not, and being caught with weed will get you in trouble with the law. She would have known that, she took the risk, and she did not think much about her kids before taking the risk.
then why did she offend in the first place, as at that time she was living with the kids?
Personally i think she should have never gone to prison for weed. But the laws are what they are.
Did she really think that having kids will prevent her from going to prison? Or did she really think that making her home a prison (home D is effectively making the family home a prison for everyone living there ) is worth it all?
I don’t get that. Break the law, go to prison, do not collect 200 while passing start.
Sabine your attitude ‘if you don’t want the time, don’t do the crime’ is fine, but it’s rather simple thinking when there are children of the criminal who will be serving the time just as the parent does.
That is the issue
I simply responded that the story about the women in prison in NZ is not comparable to the refugee seekers in the US that have their children stolen from them.
I made it clear that i do not condone anyone going to prison for weed.
I made it clear that sending someone on home d is equivalent to sending the whole family on home d.
But i agree with you that the women should have thought first about the well being for her children rather then ‘being cought in possesion’.
Cause yes, parents have responsabilities, and one of these is to ask yourself what risk you would take and is that risk worth taking if you can loose your children for it.
So excuse me if my pity train for her and others that find that the law applies to them and is applied to them is a bit short.
As for home d, one of my partners dumb relatives was on home d in the property we rented for his kids in AKL. He could not leave, he had to have food brought to him, he was inspected by some dudes showing up randomly, drug tests etc, one fail and of to prison you go. And those that live with these guys live with Home D and the lack of privacy that comes with it.
And every time an Parents fucks up it is generally the kids paying the bills. So what say you, we can’t lock them up cause the children?
Really?
Personally for me she would never have been in trouble as I would like to see weed de-criminalized. And i am sure, one day we have a government with guts rather then just pretty words. Alas at the moment, yes she should have thought what would happen if she gets caught, and what would happen to her children. The fact that she did not think about that at all seems to be overlooked.
Apparently there is a massive increase in women going to prison.
The separation of kids from their parents is a hard one. The best thing is to try to stop the offending before it starts, aka exactly what we are not doing, because in NZ we short change young people and think their education is a commodity and tell them to suck it up when they are expected to compete against 100,000+ new workers being recruited into the country so that employers don’t have to employ new workers (nobody says that employers are the new snowflakes..)
The other day an article about how aged care in NZ are demanding the right to recruit an overseas low paid care worker, because the 75 people who applied ‘did not have the right fit’. OK then, being a low waged slave who can’t speak much English so less likely to be able to become a whistleblower in the industry then?
On the Trump side, the latest, in the saga…
“US quits UN human rights council
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and America’s UN envoy, Nikki Haley, made the announcement at a joint news conference in Washington.
Ms Haley last year accused the council of “chronic anti-Israel bias” and said the US was reviewing its membership.”
What a bizarre world with bizarre leaders with bizarre policy and bizarre decision making chains we live in!
I’m actually amazed that they managed to keep those planes flying 60 bloody years. They should have been replaced thirty years ago.
And I still say that we should be producing our own military equipment including planes. Producing them ourselves from our own resources is part of the national security aspect of the military.
They should have and both parties are to blame on that but hopefully something will now get done
“And I still say that we should be producing our own military equipment including planes. Producing them ourselves from our own resources is part of the national security aspect of the military.”
Just how much would it cost to start up the infrastructure need to produce the required items and then what would we do with the same infrastructure once the items are produced
Just how much would it cost to start up the infrastructure need to produce the required items and then what would we do with the same infrastructure once the items are produced
Not much really. It’s fairly old tech after all and much of it could be maintained the same way as before:
The Shot Tower marks the site of the former Colonial Ammunition Company (CAC).
CAC was formed in 1885, by Major John Whitney and W H Hazard. This was at the time of the “Russian Scare” when Tsar Alexander brought some of his naval fleet into the North Pacific to Vladivostok and it was feared that he was about to expand his empire. Fortifications were built with all haste and the need for ammunition independent of the supplies from Britain became urgent. CAC was the first munitions factory in Australasia and later established a factory in Melbourne.
CAC prospered and apart from the needs of the military, they provided bullets for hunters and shot gun cartridges for duck shooters.
Much of it is already in place and needs expanding. This applies to ships and aircraft.
I’d just have it as fully government owned to supply the military as needed but also providing guns and ammo for hunting.
And then your question involves a fallacy. That fallacy is that because infrastructure is made it must therefore be used all the time and produce a profit when it doesn’t. Maintained certainly but it doesn’t have to be used and it most definitely doesn’t have to make a profit. This especially applies to military production and R&D. The military should be considered as a necessary expense and its production facilities to go along with it.
Yes the poor buggers had to pull something out of the hat, when the “No Mates Party” slice 25% off the Defence budget in the 90’s and change the Defence Capital Equipment Procurement rules and Defence accounting rules.
This action by the numptie Neo- Cons in the 90’s has caused long term damage to the NZDF as it toss out any long term planning IRT to equipment replacement and turn it into a ad-hoc Procurement process which in turned seen equipment get used well beyond its use by date or capabilities run into the ground or worse capabilities lost as the NZDF could afford replacements under the “No Mates Party”.
Which was to rare it’s ugly head during the Bosnia Peacekeeping deployment, later the INTERFET/ Peacekeeping deployment to ET, during the on-going deployments to the MER and it finally blew up in Labour’s face when it did the Re- Capitaliizse of Defence Equipment aka Project Protector, the NH-90’s, Air Strike Wing, LAV’s, the Armoured Pinz’s vehicles, C-130’s, P3 and B757 upgrades.
DTB making our own planes for the military.
The last time we built planes fo the airfarce was in the early 1970’s the airtrainer a turbo prop single engine.
Our manufacturing capabilities don’t exist.
To build modern war planes we are way out of our depth.
A plane to replace the Orion p3, will cost up to $400million per plane.
For an adapted Boeing 737.
Are their other options out there yes but to work in with the US and Australia we have to have the same equipment.
The only real other option that is available to RNZAF is the P1 from Japan and to work within the 5E’s would mean either swapping a few black boxes out or adding a few in. Which is really not much work for erk’s, just pain in ass for them swapping them in and out all the time.
My Uncle (Ex Strike Wing SNCO Tech and lead SNCO Tech or team member for a number Projects – both A4 and Bunty replacement projects and few minor ones before retirement 3yrs ago) said he would rather have the P1 than the P8 as the Yanks are getting pretty tight on what you can and can’t do IRT upgrades on US built Military equipment as that’s where the money is long term especially when you have smart ass countries like NZ doing some wonderful upgrades over the yrs.
Airbus in the Pacific operates a one-stop aeronautical design and manufacturing facility. We specialise in delivering ad hoc or short run design and manufacturing solutions in support if major airframe assembly, maintenance and modification programmes.
That was Safe Air before it got sold.
Are their other options out there yes but to work in with the US and Australia we have to have the same equipment.
No we don’t. There would have to be standards for fuel and to be able to communicate but it doesn’t have to be the same equipment.
“60 bloody years”.
Is that all. They are only just out of childhood.
The B52 has already racked up 65 years in service and is slated to remain operational until about 2050! That is almost 100 years.
I suspect they must be a bit like my Grandfather’s axe. It is now 80 years old and is as good as new. I have replaced the head twice and the handle four times but it is still his axe. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-b-52-air-force-20180215-story.html
Well the yanks aren’t actually short of spare parts for the old B52 bomber and just google the boneyard to understand why. But only problem they facing atm is engines as the design of them are even older and if memory serves me correctly those engines as base around the old Bristol Sapphire engines that were built under license by the yanks in the 50’s. As the Sapphire and RR Avon jet engines while the only good engines the west had at the time apart from the Canadian Orenda Iroquois engine and the British Olympus engines underwhich were under development for the CF-105 and TSR2 Projects.
Mind if the Kahu 2 Project went a head for the A4’s instead of the F-16’s the RNZAF would’ve needed a new engine as there is plenty of spare fames etc to go around, but bugger all engines.
The B52 has already racked up 65 years in service and is slated to remain operational until about 2050!
I note a few differences:
1. The US produces the planes themselves and can probably produce new parts for it at will. NZ can’t (although there was the case a few years ago when SafeAir was contracted to rebuild the centre wings (Hence proving that we can already do this stuff) – massive metal fatigue had made the planes almost unflyable).
2. Out of 742 built there’s some 75 still in service. I suspect it’s been a case of removing the older ones with more flight time on them as each modification came through.
3. Unlike us the US doesn’t screw around with their defence forces. Sure, the private sector system is probably a rort of several billion per year but their defence forces are well maintained.
It is now 80 years old and is as good as new.
No, it really isn’t. It obviously hasn’t been sharpened every year for 80 years else there’d be nothing left. And sharpening that has be done has removed steel.
No, it really isn’t. It obviously hasn’t been sharpened every year for 80 years else there’d be nothing left. And sharpening that has be done has removed steel.
Way to miss the point – the axe head has been replaced twice and the handle four times, but it is still his grandfather’s axe.
I.e. the planes might have been flying for 60 years, but whether any gauge, rivet or spar has been in the plane that long is another matter.
Really? It’s the same axe been in inventory all that time, with regular maintenance along the way (preventing catastrophic failure), sitting on the same hook in the shed when not being used.
“There’s a reason why we don’t take guns from 80 years ago onto the modern battle field just like we don’t dig trenches like we used to.”
Well you better pop over to Afghanistan and tell the locals that they shouldn’t be using their Martini Henry’s, Lee Mountford’s, Lee Enfield’s, Mauser K98 rifles and god knows what else they are using from the days of British Raj along with all the left over small arms from the Soviet era and current Western Governments.
The use of trenches and construction of field fortifications etc are still being taught and use today in modern armies. I’ve dug a few stage 3 pits/ bunker complex’s over the last 19 odd yrs around airfields.
I’ve found that allegory doesn’t communicate well a lot of the time. Some folks ain’t in the right headspace at the time, others simply don’t get it or have the time or cultural references to get it in a timely manner, and then some might fixate on it as a means to avoid the actual point.
Fwiw, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of any particular b52’s airframe and skin is original from its first flight.
Alwynger the p3 orion the p8posiedon have nothing to do with high altitude heavy bombers.
Have herd of corrosion alwynger.
Naval reconnaissance and submarine busters.
These planes fly at low levels picking sea spray.
The b52s fly at high altitude for mainly carpet bombings
Foot in Mouth again alwynger.
The B52 did revert to low level flying once it became known that Soviet SAM base Air Defence was actually quite good, but the B52 had a lot of flex in the aircraft which is not good for it compared to the likes the mighty Vulcan or the Victor which were built like an Aussie outback brick dunny and they could the pounding that comes with low level flying.
What has saved the B52 from the scrap heap is the use of stand off weapons systems which means it doesn’t have fly low level anymore there by increasing its fatigue life and by using stand off wpns it can stay out of the enemies Intergrated Air Defence System (IADS).
We have a B52 here in Darwin at the Air museum and where get up close to it you see all the stress ripples throughout Aircraft so this old lady had a fairly hard servcie life before she retired. Also we about 2-3 B52 rotations a year here in Darwin thank to the Brits in 50’s and 60’s when the RAF’s Far East Airforce deployed its V Forces bombers to Darwin.
Yes the Vulcan was an amazing Aircraft along with the Victor from Handley Page which was equally good to the Vulcan if not better apart from it couldn’t really be adapted to the low level flying without destroying it’s fatigue life unlike the mighty Vulcan which took to low level flying like a duck to water.
It was a shame that some the planned updates for the Vulcan over its service life never happened. As it had few party tricks up its sleeve like it low radar cross section which the crews used it very well when played OFOF in the NORAD Ex’s to a point the Yanks said piss off as we don’t with you anymore. Bolton Paul in the 50’s develop a RAM and they apply it to a Canberra Bomber and it reduced its cross section by 3/4’s. So think if they did apply that to the Vulcan and the HS2 scanner from WW2 was still being use until the Vulcan retired from service.
It was very useful in a dogfight as a few of the dumb knuckle heads (fighter pilots) found out during the red flag ex’s when they thought they had a kill at low level. Mind you the old F1-11 flew by RAAF did the same thing.
Would’ve like to seen the Vulcan B2 phase 6 get up and she would’ve a monster and a half with buckets load power to boot. I was in hants Uk called Whitchurch about 10yrs ago when it screamed over a Mates house at low level. The power and noise it made unreal as I almost shit myself and I’ve seen/ been in some low flying in some big aircraft, but this was special.
The planned updates to the Victor by Handley Page was truly amazing for that era also, but the way the British Labour Government at the time treated the company was quite frankly bloody disgusting as they were aerospace industry leaders in composite fibres before they become trendy and a few other things which I can’t remember atm.
These three books that are worth the read during a NZ winter:
Vulcan’s Hammer V-Force Projects and Weapons since 1945, by Chris Gibson.
Black Box Canberras British Test and Trials Canberras 1951-1994, by Chris Forster
British Secret Projects No2 Jet Bombers since 1949, by Tony Buttler (get the updated one as it new interesting information on some projects) he also done one onthe Miles M.52 and it’s worth while reading Capt Eric “Winkle” Brown book as well he was the only test pliot that could’ve fitted into the cockpit. To form your opinion if the could’ve broken the sound barrier before the yanks.
“mighty Vulcan which took to low level flying like a duck to water”.
Not quite always so successful at low altitudes. Do you remember the one that was at the opening of Wellington Airport in 1959? It hit the end of the runway and almost crashed. Mind you it wasn’t the only near crash that day. A flying boat (Sunderland I think) also managed to hit the runway during a low pass. I was there that day, as a school boy visiting my sister in Wellington. I didn’t see the Vulcan mishap but I did see the flying boat. https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/73052311/Wellington-Airports-1959-gala-opening-a-bumpy-ride-150-Years-of-News
I’m a 73 vintage, but I’ve seen footage and photos from the 1959 air show.
Ground and low level flying of aircraft don’t mix very well and when my uncle was liney at 75SQN and 14SQN, he some interesting stories of some of knuckle heads bring back bits of trees, plam trees, antenna wire/ signal rope from ships and yes even about 200m of electric fence that a Skyhawk knuckle head picked up from somewhere in the Nth Island which was imbedded into the wing of his A4.
If old Ronnie manages to get of the stupid Defence accounting rules IRT Defence Capital Equipment procurement that “No Mates Party” brought in with Treasury backing in the 90’s as we are the Nation within 5Eyes and in the OECD to have such stupid/ idiotic accounting rules IRT to Defence procurements.
And people wonder why the NZDF/MOD have so many cost blow outs over the last two decades, but saying that we are not as bad as the pork barrel politics of Australia or the US and the cost blows are quite small compared to the Canadian and UK MOD. But any cost blow out IRT to Defence Procurement in NZ is bad a enough as it reduces spending in other areas within Defence etc.
If Ronnie gets the P3 replacement, the C-130 over the line and the Defence accounting rules overhaul IRT Defence Capital Equipment procurements then well done Ronnie as you will make a few people within Cabinet look rather amateurish ATM.
Ronnie has put a lot of hard yards in to his portfolio unlike a few within Cabinet atm and unlike the last 3 muppets/ numpties of the previous Government who were just seat warmers and he is asking the a lot of hard questions from funding to capability issues/ shortfalls, climate change/ long term tends in the Asia-Pacific region, welfare of all personal- Civilians and uniform.
My contacts are saying he is up there with Mapp and Roy team before they got dumped, Phil Goff fixing up Burton’s **** ups and if he pulls this off along with few other projects in the couple of years he will be the best MoD in decades.
Yes, Ronnie does have has work cut out atm. A mate was having few quite amber ale’s with him late last yr and he said funding/ the way Defence is force to do its accounting and procurements are his biggest headache as we are the only nation to do it that way. ( See above) If he can sort that then a lot of things will full into place rather quickly and for some on left too fast compared to other departments like health, education, housing etc.
The other thing is he understands the Defence, Foreign Affairs, Aid and Trade go hand in hand with each other especially now with Climate Change and the possibility of the Strategic outlook in the South Pacific/ Antarctic regions slowly changing from the so-called “Benign Environment” that’s including the greater Asia- Pacific Region.
Once everyone understands that Climate Change and the Strategic Outlook is slowly changing in our sleepy little back water as are they biggest game changers atm facing NZ.
More mush from the economists, I’m surprised he didn’t mention if people didn’t cut out smashed Avocados then they could buy a house…
“If you want to put more money in people’s pockets, it’s not just about raising wages, we’ve got to find a way of driving a bit more competitive pressure into the economy.”
Same messages from the same people, government should top up people’s wages with subsidies not expect poor employers to pay higher wages. The results will mean the same results we have in NZ increasing inequality, prisons, Lower and lower OECD outcomes in social areas, more government spending on spiralling social spending rather than improving outcomes and services…
30 years of competition and now people live in cars and a significant portion need government benefits like WFF to top up their meagre wages…. productivity is flat, but wait it’s not a rip off that our banking sector earn 15% more profits after tax, and our construction sector is way higher, than OZ.
Just bring in more competition as it’s not about raising wages, it’s about increasing scale and completion (which just happens to help banks to profit more) … trickle down theory one point one still alive and well and our dominant economic discourse.
NZ has insufficient ‘genuine’ competition due to our small size as a market and the geographic challenges of distribution across that small population.
Those 30 years have been spent flogging off public assets to mates, consolidating markets via comm comm rubber stamps and pretending there’s competition when in fact it’s a cosy cartel or a few incumbents tossing off market share between each other.
Power, Telco, Building supplies and supermarkets are just a few where we got reamed as consumers.
Modern forms of competition being beneficial are a construct. People are naturally kind and social, this idea that we are all selfish beings out to profit is creating a reality that is not a nice one and benefiting the worst of society, hence rise of mental illness and health disorders like Obesity…. when profit from food is more acceptable and the goal in modern society than nutritious healthy food… Priorities are skewered the wrong way.
@Maui, I think they have found it easier to move the employee’s from offshore here, because the NZ government via local taxpayers pays their health care, benefits and tops up their wages to keep them healthy enough to keep working, while keeping corporate welfare and deregulation going as they strip natural resources…
There are also great grants to get… Mediaworks got millions from creative NZ as well as that free loan from the Natz, Property development companies getting free and cheap land from the state and local government, even the little companies like Gameloft, which after getting 3.5 million in grants and importing a lot of foreign workers rather than hiring local ones and training them has now popped off to exploit new opportunities in Nigeria… leaving the NZ taxpayers to pay the dole to those left in the lurches. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/295245/bid-to-'claw-back'-gameloft-grant
In the Gameloft company, knew one of the people working there who was a migrant, and they said that every time the company advertised a new role, it was at a lower salary than the last, so even though they themselves were a migrant they knew there was no future in working for the company as how can you get ahead as your wages are static (or even being lowered) and you fear for your job security and your expenses are rising yearly?
Migrants and Kiwis face the same issues in the end. And we can only solve our problems by solving the underlying issues in NZ that have come about by bad government policy and direction in particular around employment and training.
At present the government seems to be making it worse by giving in to bad employers to prop up a system that will result in a much bigger mess to NZ than address the problems now. And sending the message from the best of the best leaving this country or the workforce who if they stay have a good chance of being exploited or just being considered a replaceable commodity and wages don’t matter.
hey, Key was useless, no PM has become more dated faster, wrong side of history, sure every govt makes concessions. The problem is the same old tired press faces talk blandly around the issues and drop hold govt to account. At the basis of that, is the senatorical system we have, not enough representative each vying forpoint of difference. We’re hindered in nz by the bottleneck of 120 people who are there far longer than elsewhere, chosen by the same people…
so get your head out… we need change andthe current one is the most progressive we’ve had in long time.
Many many years ago, there was a post on this site that contained a graph and supporting text on how the countries GDP share of wages/companies profits had changed with a dramatic lift in what companies share of retained GDP at the expense of the wager earner.
But I did find this, which covers the same terrain. https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/14/real-wages-the-brutal-truth/
Of course since MBIE seems to have MAJOR numeracy and truth issues, hot on the treasury getting it’s figures 25% out… you have to wonder, maybe it’s government advisors giving fake and misleading advice, not the government that is the issue…
MBIE under-reported spending on contractors and consultants by $38m
Giving away free public land seems to be a trend… like the water, when it comes to educating people though, happy to destroy 40 jobs in a university library which are probably jobs hard to recreate in music and arts, against public outcry.
“Dodgy as hell
That’s the only way to describe Horowhenua District Council’s plan to give council assets to a private “economic development” trust:
There should be criminal charges for public figures ‘giving away’ land with few conditions… ok, it might fill up the prisons but I’d gladly put a few councillors and politicians away for gross negligence, rather than that women with the kids and a bag of weed.
Don’t forget a corporation managed to kill 29 people at Pike River and work safe let him get away with a fine and no criminal charges as yet… but a bag of weed sounds like will get you locked up probably if you are the wrong race aka Maori. I think workspace are presently trying to bang up somebody whose tree fell down in a child centre which seems a bit more like an act of god than no safety equipment, no rescue attempt and one exit in a dangerous mine.
Weird too, the so many people seem to think the treaty was giving away all that land to Maori, yet the councils like Auckland and Horowhenua, seem to be giving it away like hot cakes because they don’t feel they can do a good enough job themselves. If only they would just fire themselves, and let someone else who is competent take over at council not needing a private trust arrangement to give themselves land and salaries under secrecy like pigs in mud!!!
anti abortionist believes it’s a man’s right to harness a women for pregnancy for 9 months, risk death, psychological harm, infertility, then years of crying, demanding, milk sucking… …only a person who believes women have no life could argue they are pro-life.
Exactly. That is the question. You can’t seriously tell me that a woman at 40 weeks pregnancy should be able to treat her situation as purely a medical condition that has having an abortion as an option outside an extreme life threatening scenario can you?
You’re seriously positing the scenario that a woman will go through that shit for 38 weeks and then opt for a termination through simple lack of impulse control?
Entirely possible? Given that an abortion without good reason after 39 weeks of putting up with pregnancy is a logical contradiction, it’s not possible.
Late term abortions are possible, and always the least-worst medical outcome for a tragic situation that you’re using for political masturbation.
Describe, precisely, what you think “it” is, please. Because I think you’re deliberately inventing a bullshit bogeyman in order to deny people urgent, albeit exceptionally rare, medical care. And I really hope there is an afterlife where you can reap the “moral consequences” of that.
Yes otherwise there is all sorts of legal issues around premature babies. Ultimately the State has to decide at which point the Woman has the right to control the life of her baby and at which point it has rights of it’s own.
So what would your forced-birthing State do about these ‘viable’ fetus now they are in the world? Would your State support these people to raise their forced-birth?
I think the problem starts before the foetus is formed in the womb. It takes 2 to make a baby. If too many men persist in spilling their seed wherever and however they want, the state needs to step in and take away their bodily autonomy.
So, I propose a bill requiring men must apply for a fucking permit from their doctor and local council if they wish to have heterosexual sex. They would need to provide medical evidence that their health will be compromised if they do mot have heterosexual intercourse.
Exkiwiforces Ron Mark will be long gone before these upgrades are delivered if the defence force get all the planes, that’s up to $4 billion cost over 6 to 10 years.
New frigates $8 billion new patrol boats
Defence spending to late to order when war breaks out.
These platforms are critical for the South Pacific/ Antarctic reset for MFAT, Aid and the NZDF MAP to the South Nations
The P3 replacement
The B757/C-130 replacement
The third OPV design for the Southern Ocean, as the other two OPV’s have some major design limitations for use in the Southern Ocean.
A new Dive ship/ Mine Counter Measure/ Hydrographic Ship this Project got can with cost blow out the ANZAC Frigate upgrade, but the British MOD are having a fire sale of RN ships so a suitable one maybe there or a commercial ship from the oil and gas industry which the last dive ship was an Ex North Sea oil/ gas support vessel.
HMNZS Canterbury’s mid life refit.
The ANZAC replacements are about 10-15 yrs away at least, but if the Strategic Environment does change for the worst, which I think is going to happen then it may have to be brought forward as NZ economic wealth is export lead which in turn means it needs Secure Sea Lanes of Communication IOT Export and Import of goods to generate its economic wealth without it we are stuff.
Good morning The AM Show has Winston missed his morning interview with the AM Show Duncan well you have to remember he was at Kororo Wetere tangi .
Tawhirir has been going hard it’s cold and wet. I don’t think I bullied seenothing ECO Maori just told it like I seen it with the show.
Ka pai Phil Goff yes we need to fix the Auckland waste water problems it show you how some people treat public putea they just waste it with no concerns at all or is it lining their m8s hip pocket. My point is Auckland water testing of our beaches was a helicopter fly out to the site to take a sea water sample and 2 days later they have there results to late and a waste of public putea. This type of behavior will be happening throughout our public government systems left over by shonky .
With Prefabricated building the quality will be better than the way we build now there are many innovative ways to save money on these houses. Ka kite ano
Sara Huckabee Sanders if you have a public profile and the public disagree with yours or your bosses views on his on how the Papatuanukue should behave / treat other human beings well if the public don’t let you know that they disagree with what’s is happening than how will you know what you /he is doing wrong. That’s how a democracy works te tangata let you know when they are not happy with the path that we are heading down Ka kite ano P.S I say we need more people to stand up and voice there consenrns
Wairarapa local MP for the nationals party allistair scott says he cannot see why the government is in the business of owning schools and hospitals. well I am sorry if he cant see what is in front of his nose. The people want the government to own them. They do not trust private ownership of these vital parts of society and if scott wants to keep his seat he should pull his head in. even his rural constituency wont wear this sort of nonsense.
he makes the mistake of assuming the objective of schools and hospitals is to provide private profit not provide a necessary public service, as you note, he appears somewhat confused
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
As a young gymnast, Aimee Didierjean was always conscious of making sure her underwear wasn’t showing on the competition floor. A peek of a bra strap, or briefs if a leotard rode up, would cost a gymnast points in her routines. “When I was growing and going through puberty, it ...
Jubi/West Papua Daily Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion. There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement ...
As we all know, the private sector is always better than the public one…
“…EAST COAST MAIN LINE RETURNS TO PUBLIC OWNERSHIP AFTER ‘TOTAL FAILURE OF PRIVATISATION’…”
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/east-coast-main-line-renationalised-public-ownership-rail-virgin-trains-franchise-failure-lner-a8414056.html
The only thing the private sector is better at is rorting the public.
The private sector doesn’t seem to being to well in the fight against climate change.
In the same vein, maybe government’s of the day should have left the private sector to prosecute the war against fascism, instead of nationalising whole tranches of industry for the war effort, like they did.
What if you compared western democratic (private sector) countries efforts in climate change and ecology in general against socialist and communist countries (government owned) efforts and see how it stacked up
Why don’t you do your own heavy lifting?
A variant of whatboutism: whatifism.
You left off the question mark at the end of your garbled sentence.
If countries’ efforts are measured by per capita production of CO2 emissions then, Chris73, go to this website.
https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/each-countrys-share-of-co2.html#.WzAH8i2B3aY
You’ll have to allocate each country to your preferred private sector/government owned categories. But the US at 50% more per capita emissions than Russia might give a clue as to how the scenarios might pan out……….
I don’t know, though. You tell me. Then I can critique your methodology, figures and
conclusions. 🙂
You might even find more current world stats. This reference is from 2015.
Chris73, here’s an interesting comparison.
US fuel consumption is being trumpeted for achieving its highest economy rate- 24.7 mpg (US) which converts to 9.5 litres per 100 kms.
In China, they have set a target of 5 litres per 100 km for their new car fleets by 2020, down from the current 6.9 litres.
Of course my caveat about methodology, figures and conclusions applies to myself. 🙂
“…which converts to 9.5 litres per 100 kms.”
About the same as NZ’s fleet which is around 9.25
Given that those western private companies consumed the world into the mess were in….
And I wonder who on earth Chris73 is yapping on about. The USSR dissolved before the real fight against Climate Change; China remains a dictatorship, but is no longer communist or even socialist. It is simply as authoritarian as it always was, when powerful. Russia is now far from socialist.. So who are these evil powers, Chris73? Cuba?
Have you any understanding of history and politics?
The private sector has a huge number of initiatives around climate change.
https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/metadata/portals/unfccc-database-of-private-sector-initiative-on-adaptation
Huge being the operative word ?
Koch bros have huge plans around climate change.
Why do some businesses expect the govt to “import” answers to our issues, yet offer no long term solutions in response ?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104863218/government-set-to-greenlight-skilled-foreign-workers-for-construction-sector
Did not pre election last year, Labour in return to aiding a shortage of skilled workers “Construction firms will be exempt from applying the existing labour market test to bring in up to 1,500 foreign tradespeople at any one time if employers promise to take on a local apprentice for every migrant under a new ‘KiwiBuild Visa’ proposed by Labour.”
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/88240/labours-immigration-policy-targets-kiwibuild-workers-and-apprentice-boost-aims-cut-20000
Rubbish unrecycleable are best returned directly to shareholders front lawns.
Sorry, I just had to. Our man from Epsom follows [*Image may offend*]
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2018/06/dancing-with-the-stars-nz-judges-ruin-david-seymour-s-birthday-after-total-bummer-routine/_jcr_content/par/video/image.dynimg.1280.q75.jpg/v1529831096051/v2-David-Seymour-DWTS-1120.jpg
I’m telling you that man missed his calling in film and television.
A slight hair mod he would be right at home driving The Mystery Machine and eating Scoobie snacks.
Where was the obligations that our Govt was placing on industries (specifically Construction) that in return for allowing overseas workers in to fill a gap in the shortage of skilled workers, to up skill the domestic labour force.
All it appears to me, that we import short term solutions to fulfil ongoing needs ??
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104863218/government-set-to-greenlight-skilled-foreign-workers-for-construction-sector
https://www.labour.org.nz/immigration
Residential construction firms could hire a skilled tradesperson on a three-year work visa without having to meet the Labour Market Test if they pay a living wage and take on an apprentice for each overseas worker they hire. The number of places will be limited to 1,000 to 1,500 at a given time, which we expect will be additional to the construction work visas issued under the existing rules.
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/88240/labours-immigration-policy-targets-kiwibuild-workers-and-apprentice-boost-aims-cut-20000
@Herodotus. Pathetic solution. Shows the government is still firmly in the badly run business pockets and doesn’t understand the problem.
So 15000 new migrant workers into Auckland and another 15000 apprentices with the migrant workers on $20 p/h and probably the apprentices on less and probably not able to survive with the Auckland costs, taking up 3000 low cost houses immediately, at the age of starting families when there is a major shortage of maternity services in Auckland and teachers, hospitals and congestion on the rise, and all so developers can profit more when they build expensive mansions, hotels, and apartments to sell to the Singapore and other foreign buyers because they know that people on $20 p/h can’t afford them so only non residents or new residents which they need to bring in to buy them can…. driving up house prices and speculation even further and lowering wages while immediately taking up houses…
What a solution…
Warning, it’s the social issues and bizarre laws that need to be addressed first, adding more people who will also suffer from the social afflictions and poor workplaces and government attitudes in NZ and take up more social support in the end is not the answer. Solve the exisiting problems, without adding more people to them who need to be helped!
From gold medallist to homeless: Auckland woman fearing for life
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12076034
Holy shit.
There but for the grace of God
100% correct savenz it’s a scam and developers are only interested in building for top dollar luxury foreign buyers. tax the fuckers to death unless they build proper houses for Kiwis to live in first
That looks to be at least a half-decent compromise Herodotus, on paper anyway. The housing situation needs to be sorted ASAP so a deal such as this may be an option if the positives outweigh the negatives.
I expect as usual the devil will be in the details and how employers respond to it. I can’t see (m)any of them being happy with a 1:1 ratio or paying the living wage to a new migrant worker, that’s a bit of a curve ball for them.
The living wage is unliveable in Auckland. To give you an example one of the luxury hotel developments has just applied for hundreds of painter/decorator/plasterer types into Auckland at $20p/h.
The price is more like $35 – $50+ p/h for those experienced trades.
$20 p/h was the rate charged about 15 years ago. Trouble is, we ain’t got house prices from 15 years ago, we ain’t got power and water and food and rates from 15 years ago.
So all that’s going to happen is that the apprentices if they even last, will not be able to survive on $20p/h so the Ponzi will continue… the foreign worker is coming under false pretences aka human trafficking style being fed a myth they will go home with lots of savings, or they are planning to try and get permanent residency… all in all, the people most benefiting is the foreign hotel billionaire developers and people least benefiting NZ low income workers who are all competing for lower priced rental accomodation in a city that’s not building any but luxury ones, and NZ experienced tradies who might as well throw in the towel and go on the dole and certainly not bother to train anybody – how will they compete for the contracts on that rate!
You’re overreacting. $20hr is very livable for a single young person starting out, even in Auckland. That’s $678 per week in the hand, more than enough to get by.
@DH, They want to pay $20p/h for experienced people not the apprentices. Generally the experienced people at some point, settle down want to have a family and buy a house, that’s where the problem lies in NZ….
Rents are $400p/w in Auckland. So that $278 of your livable wage to buy food, transport, power, water, internet, save for a better life… as soon as they have a child they need working for families so the taxpayers are subsidising that and accomodation benefit.
Same happens for the truck drivers, if you are earning $20 p/h and they hire people at $16 p/h and you will still be on that in real terms in a decade… already happening. Wages are effectively going down hence the decline of social mobility in the west.
Pandering to it, is making it worse for the working poor and the beneficiaries who are between a rock and a hard place in this country.
$20hr is starting wages and the migrant workers will be single. Yes it’s undercutting local tradesmen but I doubt the migrant’s trade qualifications would be valid here in NZ anyway so they’d likely be virtual apprentices.
I don’t particularly like it, I’d rather they got off their arse and trained up our unemployed, but this at least is better than what National were offering. For every new migrant worker there will be a new local apprentice. In theory anyway.
Why don’t we train our own people ?
the racist Barr has dropped – now she’s the victim – file under cowardly t.rump right wing whiners.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/104972855/roseanne-barr-says-i-made-myself-a-hate-magnet
Not even a squeak in the polls for Malcom after passing his 144 billion dollar tax cuts.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/fairfax-ipos-poll-the-pm-s-144-billion-tax-cut-offer-seems-to-have-fallen-flat-20180624-p4zner.html
Labor still holds a 2 party preferred lead of 6 points over the Coalition, 53% to 47%.
Kind of like what happened to the current NZ Government after the budget then.
Not really alike at all.
Our recent budget wasn’t intended to set the stage for an election campaign, there are still 2budgets in the term to do that.
Malcolm’s tax cuts however, are absolutely designed to position the Coalition for an election campaign and there has been talk in Canberra that he might be getting ready to go early depending on the outcome of the 5 by-elections set down for July 28.
Looks like voters in Australia have twigged to the swindle that Malcolm’s trying to pull over them – 10 bucks a week for workers as a fig leaf for massive cuts to corporate taxes and, learned from bitter experience that tax reductions always mean cuts to social services in order to pay for them.
Hannah Gadsby’s Nannette (on Netflicks) is recommended viewing. Just a bit o’locker room banter, lads, don’t get all het up.
Trailer looks good.
https://youtu.be/5aE29fiatQ0
*Nanette 😳
Wow that is a must watch for everyone. Made me laugh and cry and really think. Thanks for the link and recommendation mate.
“The Government has been admirably open about the economic impacts of its proposed Zero Carbon Bill, but people haven’t absorbed what the “stark” cost figures mean, says Bell Gully partner Simon Watt.”
….and in that he is correct….but then the conflation….
“The discussion document addresses adaptation and highlights the need for it but it doesn’t feature in the economic modelling, so what people may not appreciate is that the cost of carbon needed to achieve the emissions targets, which the modelling suggests would have 0.2 per cent annual impact on GDP to 2050, on top of that is the cost of adaptation. So adapting to extreme weather events, the cost of relocating and protecting infrastructure, roads, airports, railways, the cost of moving houses inland: those are costs the economy is going to have to bear in addition to adjusting to get to zero emissions.”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/06/24/128724/zero-carbon-costs-confronting
Hard to condemn for its pollution while admiring its McKenzie Basin high tech.
Good question included. Would there be the same concern if the farm was horticultural?
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/06/24/128713/a-curious-anomaly-in-the-mackenzie-basin
I’m guessing the land is not lease held by the government, because if it is not, then isn’t that just giving away free prime land to developers?
Housing: Auckland getting 23,600 new residences on state-owned land
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12071219
What a bargain, displace exisiting vulnerable tenants, then build loads of houses of which less than half are actually the state houses???
Would it be more efficient to just have 23,600 state houses so that they can ensure they are affordable, and actually build them themselves so that they don’t have to pay for a private companies profit margin?
And adding more people into Auckland and selling the newly build apartments to foreigners and new residents like the select committee recommends , displaces existing poorer residents and displaces those residents to other towns…. like Tauranga for example who then displaces others and the Ponzi continues…
It’s a Ponzi of slavery so that employers can keep wages below living costs. Seriously, you would not be able to have a family in Auckland on $20p/h! And the fixed costs are rising monthly, from food to transport to power and water and rates, all going up to pay for the infrastructure for all the new housing & transport that people on average wages can’t afford!
What is the use of a cycle lanes & transport in central Auckland where the houses cost 1.5 million and the apartments cost $650,000+ with rising body corporate costs of $6000+pa and you will probably be in for remedial work within 10 years because our generous bankruptcy laws give shoddy developers and poor workmanship a free ride?
State houses = IRRS which they probably can’t afford the subsidy.
If they add a nice round 10,000 State Houses as IRRS increases lockstep with market rate that will be roughly 400/WK /house.
Assumes some tenants have income that reduces the IRRS.
So 10000 * 400/WK = roughly 4million each week.
I don’t see IRRS here long term as it is the second most unsustainable item behind pensions. They can’t just keep adding to their forward liability indefinitely.
And yeah…wtf with gifting? Logic would keep the land and lease back. Fucking corruption.
If you just build 23000 state houses you end up with ghettos of highly deprived (in the technical term) people. Areas that become no-go for everyone else and policed by a hostile force that doesn’t live there. So the current idea is to sprinkle state houses amongst the middle classes.
That would be all well and good, but the deal seems to involve giving away the land to the developers so they get ‘middle classes’. Wouldn’t care if they kept it, cheap lease hold but nope sounds like they are privatising the land.
Aren’t teachers and police middle classes, wouldn’t it be easier to just have cheap rents for those people, who can then afford to live in Auckland and save to buy their own house…. The rents pay for the builds over time….
In other countries they make all the developers have affordable housing as a percentage of the plans in the planning!
In NZ they give away the land to developers to make houses than most people who live there can’t afford and now they are recommending allowing foreigners to land bank them to keep the developer happy with high prices!
Thing about the NZ middle classes is that they prefer to have a mortgage than a rent. So if you make rental the rule, you end up with a slightly lower-dep ghetto than if it were just social housing.
The other thing is that the land is essentially payment for the developers to build. If the government kept the land, they’d have to finance the build some other way. No doubt you have some ideal-world theories on how that could be done, but in the real world what other options are there?
I was thinking upon Trump and kids being taken away from their parents when I thought, hey, don’t we put mothers in prison and separate them from their kids? I remember the Northland woman Kelly van Gaalen who was sentenced to two years in prison for cannabis possession which was later commuted to community service, but it turns out other women end up going to prison and being separated from their children. In some cases they lose contact with their children as the story below highlights
“Rebecca was a solo mum to five kids. Her youngest was 5, just getting into the swing of school life and her eldest fast approaching 18. Rebecca was their world, their only provider – the only parent they had known properly.And then, she was gone.
She was arrested, charged with criminal offending and remanded in custody to await a trial. That was a year ago, and Rebecca has only just been able to get contact again with her brood. The youngest four are split between two Oranga Tamariki carers and the now 18-year-old is fending for herself. Until recently, Rebecca had no idea where her little ones were.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12029653
Don’t quite get the point you are trying to make
You think we shouldn’t have women’s prisons?
Do you think women with children shouldn’t go to prison?
If so does this apply to men who are solo fathers?
well its not only women in prison who are separated from their children, so are the men. And in the end it does not matter if one goes to prison for murder, p-cooking or weed peddling. Crime is crime and one goes to Prison. Fact is if she would have not have had weed on her, she would not have gone to prison.
I agree with you that at some stage it would really be nice if we in this country could have a grown up conversation about drugs, drug use, resulting healthcare needs and decriminalizing of weed. But alas we are not there.
This is however not the same as in the US where people are told that they babies are gonna go for a bath just to not be returned. Where children are locked up hundreds or thousands of miles away from their parents without the parents even knowing where the children are.
Where people are told that if they give up their legal right to claim asylum they may get their kids back.
Where people have been deported without their children.
Where people have had their non verbal children taken without any ‘receipt’ that would help to re-unite.
This women here in NZ never lost parental rights, and as you yourself state she is now back with her kids.
I would not compare this. Rebecca fucked up by herself, she did not loose her children at the border while trying to claim asylum.
No matter how much we want weed to be legal, atm it is not, and being caught with weed will get you in trouble with the law. She would have known that, she took the risk, and she did not think much about her kids before taking the risk.
There is no better rehab than keeping contact with kids IMHO.
Glad you brought it up.
then why did she offend in the first place, as at that time she was living with the kids?
Personally i think she should have never gone to prison for weed. But the laws are what they are.
Did she really think that having kids will prevent her from going to prison? Or did she really think that making her home a prison (home D is effectively making the family home a prison for everyone living there ) is worth it all?
I don’t get that. Break the law, go to prison, do not collect 200 while passing start.
Sabine your attitude ‘if you don’t want the time, don’t do the crime’ is fine, but it’s rather simple thinking when there are children of the criminal who will be serving the time just as the parent does.
That is the issue
I simply responded that the story about the women in prison in NZ is not comparable to the refugee seekers in the US that have their children stolen from them.
I made it clear that i do not condone anyone going to prison for weed.
I made it clear that sending someone on home d is equivalent to sending the whole family on home d.
But i agree with you that the women should have thought first about the well being for her children rather then ‘being cought in possesion’.
Cause yes, parents have responsabilities, and one of these is to ask yourself what risk you would take and is that risk worth taking if you can loose your children for it.
So excuse me if my pity train for her and others that find that the law applies to them and is applied to them is a bit short.
As for home d, one of my partners dumb relatives was on home d in the property we rented for his kids in AKL. He could not leave, he had to have food brought to him, he was inspected by some dudes showing up randomly, drug tests etc, one fail and of to prison you go. And those that live with these guys live with Home D and the lack of privacy that comes with it.
And every time an Parents fucks up it is generally the kids paying the bills. So what say you, we can’t lock them up cause the children?
Really?
Personally for me she would never have been in trouble as I would like to see weed de-criminalized. And i am sure, one day we have a government with guts rather then just pretty words. Alas at the moment, yes she should have thought what would happen if she gets caught, and what would happen to her children. The fact that she did not think about that at all seems to be overlooked.
” So what say you, we can’t lock them up cause the children? ”
Where did I say that?
Depends on just how badly they treated the kids doesn’t it sleepy.
Apparently there is a massive increase in women going to prison.
The separation of kids from their parents is a hard one. The best thing is to try to stop the offending before it starts, aka exactly what we are not doing, because in NZ we short change young people and think their education is a commodity and tell them to suck it up when they are expected to compete against 100,000+ new workers being recruited into the country so that employers don’t have to employ new workers (nobody says that employers are the new snowflakes..)
The other day an article about how aged care in NZ are demanding the right to recruit an overseas low paid care worker, because the 75 people who applied ‘did not have the right fit’. OK then, being a low waged slave who can’t speak much English so less likely to be able to become a whistleblower in the industry then?
On the Trump side, the latest, in the saga…
“US quits UN human rights council
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and America’s UN envoy, Nikki Haley, made the announcement at a joint news conference in Washington.
Ms Haley last year accused the council of “chronic anti-Israel bias” and said the US was reviewing its membership.”
What a bizarre world with bizarre leaders with bizarre policy and bizarre decision making chains we live in!
Spanish Portuguese kids have never be taken from their parents and put into American camps without family, like granny, or uncles as they are here.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104965447/defence-minister-ron-mark-one-step-closer-to-replacing-old-military-planes
Well, grudgingly, good on him if he can get this across
I’m actually amazed that they managed to keep those planes flying 60 bloody years. They should have been replaced thirty years ago.
And I still say that we should be producing our own military equipment including planes. Producing them ourselves from our own resources is part of the national security aspect of the military.
They should have and both parties are to blame on that but hopefully something will now get done
“And I still say that we should be producing our own military equipment including planes. Producing them ourselves from our own resources is part of the national security aspect of the military.”
Just how much would it cost to start up the infrastructure need to produce the required items and then what would we do with the same infrastructure once the items are produced
What would you give up to pay for it
Not much really. It’s fairly old tech after all and much of it could be maintained the same way as before:
Much of it is already in place and needs expanding. This applies to ships and aircraft.
I’d just have it as fully government owned to supply the military as needed but also providing guns and ammo for hunting.
And then your question involves a fallacy. That fallacy is that because infrastructure is made it must therefore be used all the time and produce a profit when it doesn’t. Maintained certainly but it doesn’t have to be used and it most definitely doesn’t have to make a profit. This especially applies to military production and R&D. The military should be considered as a necessary expense and its production facilities to go along with it.
Yes the poor buggers had to pull something out of the hat, when the “No Mates Party” slice 25% off the Defence budget in the 90’s and change the Defence Capital Equipment Procurement rules and Defence accounting rules.
This action by the numptie Neo- Cons in the 90’s has caused long term damage to the NZDF as it toss out any long term planning IRT to equipment replacement and turn it into a ad-hoc Procurement process which in turned seen equipment get used well beyond its use by date or capabilities run into the ground or worse capabilities lost as the NZDF could afford replacements under the “No Mates Party”.
Which was to rare it’s ugly head during the Bosnia Peacekeeping deployment, later the INTERFET/ Peacekeeping deployment to ET, during the on-going deployments to the MER and it finally blew up in Labour’s face when it did the Re- Capitaliizse of Defence Equipment aka Project Protector, the NH-90’s, Air Strike Wing, LAV’s, the Armoured Pinz’s vehicles, C-130’s, P3 and B757 upgrades.
DTB making our own planes for the military.
The last time we built planes fo the airfarce was in the early 1970’s the airtrainer a turbo prop single engine.
Our manufacturing capabilities don’t exist.
To build modern war planes we are way out of our depth.
A plane to replace the Orion p3, will cost up to $400million per plane.
For an adapted Boeing 737.
Are their other options out there yes but to work in with the US and Australia we have to have the same equipment.
The only real other option that is available to RNZAF is the P1 from Japan and to work within the 5E’s would mean either swapping a few black boxes out or adding a few in. Which is really not much work for erk’s, just pain in ass for them swapping them in and out all the time.
My Uncle (Ex Strike Wing SNCO Tech and lead SNCO Tech or team member for a number Projects – both A4 and Bunty replacement projects and few minor ones before retirement 3yrs ago) said he would rather have the P1 than the P8 as the Yanks are getting pretty tight on what you can and can’t do IRT upgrades on US built Military equipment as that’s where the money is long term especially when you have smart ass countries like NZ doing some wonderful upgrades over the yrs.
Except for the fact that they do:
That was Safe Air before it got sold.
No we don’t. There would have to be standards for fuel and to be able to communicate but it doesn’t have to be the same equipment.
“60 bloody years”.
Is that all. They are only just out of childhood.
The B52 has already racked up 65 years in service and is slated to remain operational until about 2050! That is almost 100 years.
I suspect they must be a bit like my Grandfather’s axe. It is now 80 years old and is as good as new. I have replaced the head twice and the handle four times but it is still his axe.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-b-52-air-force-20180215-story.html
Well the yanks aren’t actually short of spare parts for the old B52 bomber and just google the boneyard to understand why. But only problem they facing atm is engines as the design of them are even older and if memory serves me correctly those engines as base around the old Bristol Sapphire engines that were built under license by the yanks in the 50’s. As the Sapphire and RR Avon jet engines while the only good engines the west had at the time apart from the Canadian Orenda Iroquois engine and the British Olympus engines underwhich were under development for the CF-105 and TSR2 Projects.
Mind if the Kahu 2 Project went a head for the A4’s instead of the F-16’s the RNZAF would’ve needed a new engine as there is plenty of spare fames etc to go around, but bugger all engines.
I note a few differences:
1. The US produces the planes themselves and can probably produce new parts for it at will. NZ can’t (although there was the case a few years ago when SafeAir was contracted to rebuild the centre wings (Hence proving that we can already do this stuff) – massive metal fatigue had made the planes almost unflyable).
2. Out of 742 built there’s some 75 still in service. I suspect it’s been a case of removing the older ones with more flight time on them as each modification came through.
3. Unlike us the US doesn’t screw around with their defence forces. Sure, the private sector system is probably a rort of several billion per year but their defence forces are well maintained.
No, it really isn’t. It obviously hasn’t been sharpened every year for 80 years else there’d be nothing left. And sharpening that has be done has removed steel.
Way to miss the point – the axe head has been replaced twice and the handle four times, but it is still his grandfather’s axe.
I.e. the planes might have been flying for 60 years, but whether any gauge, rivet or spar has been in the plane that long is another matter.
At that point it’s not 80 year old axe.
Parts can be replaced (We’ve done it) but eventually you need to replace so much at one time that it’s cheaper and better to buy a new one.
Really? It’s the same axe been in inventory all that time, with regular maintenance along the way (preventing catastrophic failure), sitting on the same hook in the shed when not being used.
Listen you noddies.
I still have a 1970s VW. The dipstick is original.
There’s a reason why we don’t take guns from 80 years ago onto the modern battle field just like we don’t dig trenches like we used to.
“There’s a reason why we don’t take guns from 80 years ago onto the modern battle field just like we don’t dig trenches like we used to.”
Well you better pop over to Afghanistan and tell the locals that they shouldn’t be using their Martini Henry’s, Lee Mountford’s, Lee Enfield’s, Mauser K98 rifles and god knows what else they are using from the days of British Raj along with all the left over small arms from the Soviet era and current Western Governments.
The use of trenches and construction of field fortifications etc are still being taught and use today in modern armies. I’ve dug a few stage 3 pits/ bunker complex’s over the last 19 odd yrs around airfields.
@McFlock.
Well thank goodness somebody got the point of that hoary old comment.
Do I really have to explain such references in future do you think?
I’ve found that allegory doesn’t communicate well a lot of the time. Some folks ain’t in the right headspace at the time, others simply don’t get it or have the time or cultural references to get it in a timely manner, and then some might fixate on it as a means to avoid the actual point.
Fwiw, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of any particular b52’s airframe and skin is original from its first flight.
Alwynger the p3 orion the p8posiedon have nothing to do with high altitude heavy bombers.
Have herd of corrosion alwynger.
Naval reconnaissance and submarine busters.
These planes fly at low levels picking sea spray.
The b52s fly at high altitude for mainly carpet bombings
Foot in Mouth again alwynger.
The B52 did revert to low level flying once it became known that Soviet SAM base Air Defence was actually quite good, but the B52 had a lot of flex in the aircraft which is not good for it compared to the likes the mighty Vulcan or the Victor which were built like an Aussie outback brick dunny and they could the pounding that comes with low level flying.
What has saved the B52 from the scrap heap is the use of stand off weapons systems which means it doesn’t have fly low level anymore there by increasing its fatigue life and by using stand off wpns it can stay out of the enemies Intergrated Air Defence System (IADS).
We have a B52 here in Darwin at the Air museum and where get up close to it you see all the stress ripples throughout Aircraft so this old lady had a fairly hard servcie life before she retired. Also we about 2-3 B52 rotations a year here in Darwin thank to the Brits in 50’s and 60’s when the RAF’s Far East Airforce deployed its V Forces bombers to Darwin.
Fellow plane spotter the Vulcan is an amazing plane for its era the British were good at developing new technology back in the day.
Yes the Vulcan was an amazing Aircraft along with the Victor from Handley Page which was equally good to the Vulcan if not better apart from it couldn’t really be adapted to the low level flying without destroying it’s fatigue life unlike the mighty Vulcan which took to low level flying like a duck to water.
It was a shame that some the planned updates for the Vulcan over its service life never happened. As it had few party tricks up its sleeve like it low radar cross section which the crews used it very well when played OFOF in the NORAD Ex’s to a point the Yanks said piss off as we don’t with you anymore. Bolton Paul in the 50’s develop a RAM and they apply it to a Canberra Bomber and it reduced its cross section by 3/4’s. So think if they did apply that to the Vulcan and the HS2 scanner from WW2 was still being use until the Vulcan retired from service.
It was very useful in a dogfight as a few of the dumb knuckle heads (fighter pilots) found out during the red flag ex’s when they thought they had a kill at low level. Mind you the old F1-11 flew by RAAF did the same thing.
Would’ve like to seen the Vulcan B2 phase 6 get up and she would’ve a monster and a half with buckets load power to boot. I was in hants Uk called Whitchurch about 10yrs ago when it screamed over a Mates house at low level. The power and noise it made unreal as I almost shit myself and I’ve seen/ been in some low flying in some big aircraft, but this was special.
The planned updates to the Victor by Handley Page was truly amazing for that era also, but the way the British Labour Government at the time treated the company was quite frankly bloody disgusting as they were aerospace industry leaders in composite fibres before they become trendy and a few other things which I can’t remember atm.
These three books that are worth the read during a NZ winter:
Vulcan’s Hammer V-Force Projects and Weapons since 1945, by Chris Gibson.
Black Box Canberras British Test and Trials Canberras 1951-1994, by Chris Forster
British Secret Projects No2 Jet Bombers since 1949, by Tony Buttler (get the updated one as it new interesting information on some projects) he also done one onthe Miles M.52 and it’s worth while reading Capt Eric “Winkle” Brown book as well he was the only test pliot that could’ve fitted into the cockpit. To form your opinion if the could’ve broken the sound barrier before the yanks.
“mighty Vulcan which took to low level flying like a duck to water”.
Not quite always so successful at low altitudes. Do you remember the one that was at the opening of Wellington Airport in 1959? It hit the end of the runway and almost crashed. Mind you it wasn’t the only near crash that day. A flying boat (Sunderland I think) also managed to hit the runway during a low pass. I was there that day, as a school boy visiting my sister in Wellington. I didn’t see the Vulcan mishap but I did see the flying boat.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/73052311/Wellington-Airports-1959-gala-opening-a-bumpy-ride-150-Years-of-News
I’m a 73 vintage, but I’ve seen footage and photos from the 1959 air show.
Ground and low level flying of aircraft don’t mix very well and when my uncle was liney at 75SQN and 14SQN, he some interesting stories of some of knuckle heads bring back bits of trees, plam trees, antenna wire/ signal rope from ships and yes even about 200m of electric fence that a Skyhawk knuckle head picked up from somewhere in the Nth Island which was imbedded into the wing of his A4.
If old Ronnie manages to get of the stupid Defence accounting rules IRT Defence Capital Equipment procurement that “No Mates Party” brought in with Treasury backing in the 90’s as we are the Nation within 5Eyes and in the OECD to have such stupid/ idiotic accounting rules IRT to Defence procurements.
And people wonder why the NZDF/MOD have so many cost blow outs over the last two decades, but saying that we are not as bad as the pork barrel politics of Australia or the US and the cost blows are quite small compared to the Canadian and UK MOD. But any cost blow out IRT to Defence Procurement in NZ is bad a enough as it reduces spending in other areas within Defence etc.
If Ronnie gets the P3 replacement, the C-130 over the line and the Defence accounting rules overhaul IRT Defence Capital Equipment procurements then well done Ronnie as you will make a few people within Cabinet look rather amateurish ATM.
I’m not keen on NZFirst or Ron Mark but if he manages this then yes he’ll deserve all the kudos he’ll get
This is your core business, Pucky?
Well its in the general ballpark
Aviation. Airforce. Aerodrome.
REMF (and proud of it 🙂 )
Somebody has to assume the position…
Its interesting what you can get used to..
Ronnie has put a lot of hard yards in to his portfolio unlike a few within Cabinet atm and unlike the last 3 muppets/ numpties of the previous Government who were just seat warmers and he is asking the a lot of hard questions from funding to capability issues/ shortfalls, climate change/ long term tends in the Asia-Pacific region, welfare of all personal- Civilians and uniform.
My contacts are saying he is up there with Mapp and Roy team before they got dumped, Phil Goff fixing up Burton’s **** ups and if he pulls this off along with few other projects in the couple of years he will be the best MoD in decades.
Thats way above my pay grade 🙂
That’s good to hear, although they are so run down he’s got his work cut out.
Yes, Ronnie does have has work cut out atm. A mate was having few quite amber ale’s with him late last yr and he said funding/ the way Defence is force to do its accounting and procurements are his biggest headache as we are the only nation to do it that way. ( See above) If he can sort that then a lot of things will full into place rather quickly and for some on left too fast compared to other departments like health, education, housing etc.
The other thing is he understands the Defence, Foreign Affairs, Aid and Trade go hand in hand with each other especially now with Climate Change and the possibility of the Strategic outlook in the South Pacific/ Antarctic regions slowly changing from the so-called “Benign Environment” that’s including the greater Asia- Pacific Region.
Once everyone understands that Climate Change and the Strategic Outlook is slowly changing in our sleepy little back water as are they biggest game changers atm facing NZ.
More mush from the economists, I’m surprised he didn’t mention if people didn’t cut out smashed Avocados then they could buy a house…
“If you want to put more money in people’s pockets, it’s not just about raising wages, we’ve got to find a way of driving a bit more competitive pressure into the economy.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12074444
Same messages from the same people, government should top up people’s wages with subsidies not expect poor employers to pay higher wages. The results will mean the same results we have in NZ increasing inequality, prisons, Lower and lower OECD outcomes in social areas, more government spending on spiralling social spending rather than improving outcomes and services…
30 years of competition and now people live in cars and a significant portion need government benefits like WFF to top up their meagre wages…. productivity is flat, but wait it’s not a rip off that our banking sector earn 15% more profits after tax, and our construction sector is way higher, than OZ.
Just bring in more competition as it’s not about raising wages, it’s about increasing scale and completion (which just happens to help banks to profit more) … trickle down theory one point one still alive and well and our dominant economic discourse.
NZ has insufficient ‘genuine’ competition due to our small size as a market and the geographic challenges of distribution across that small population.
Those 30 years have been spent flogging off public assets to mates, consolidating markets via comm comm rubber stamps and pretending there’s competition when in fact it’s a cosy cartel or a few incumbents tossing off market share between each other.
Power, Telco, Building supplies and supermarkets are just a few where we got reamed as consumers.
Modern forms of competition being beneficial are a construct. People are naturally kind and social, this idea that we are all selfish beings out to profit is creating a reality that is not a nice one and benefiting the worst of society, hence rise of mental illness and health disorders like Obesity…. when profit from food is more acceptable and the goal in modern society than nutritious healthy food… Priorities are skewered the wrong way.
How many iconic kiwi companies have moved their production and jobs offshore in the last 30 years?
@Maui, I think they have found it easier to move the employee’s from offshore here, because the NZ government via local taxpayers pays their health care, benefits and tops up their wages to keep them healthy enough to keep working, while keeping corporate welfare and deregulation going as they strip natural resources…
There are also great grants to get… Mediaworks got millions from creative NZ as well as that free loan from the Natz, Property development companies getting free and cheap land from the state and local government, even the little companies like Gameloft, which after getting 3.5 million in grants and importing a lot of foreign workers rather than hiring local ones and training them has now popped off to exploit new opportunities in Nigeria… leaving the NZ taxpayers to pay the dole to those left in the lurches. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/295245/bid-to-'claw-back'-gameloft-grant
In the Gameloft company, knew one of the people working there who was a migrant, and they said that every time the company advertised a new role, it was at a lower salary than the last, so even though they themselves were a migrant they knew there was no future in working for the company as how can you get ahead as your wages are static (or even being lowered) and you fear for your job security and your expenses are rising yearly?
Migrants and Kiwis face the same issues in the end. And we can only solve our problems by solving the underlying issues in NZ that have come about by bad government policy and direction in particular around employment and training.
At present the government seems to be making it worse by giving in to bad employers to prop up a system that will result in a much bigger mess to NZ than address the problems now. And sending the message from the best of the best leaving this country or the workforce who if they stay have a good chance of being exploited or just being considered a replaceable commodity and wages don’t matter.
hey, Key was useless, no PM has become more dated faster, wrong side of history, sure every govt makes concessions. The problem is the same old tired press faces talk blandly around the issues and drop hold govt to account. At the basis of that, is the senatorical system we have, not enough representative each vying forpoint of difference. We’re hindered in nz by the bottleneck of 120 people who are there far longer than elsewhere, chosen by the same people…
so get your head out… we need change andthe current one is the most progressive we’ve had in long time.
Just a theoretical chap, not someone to take seriously
Many many years ago, there was a post on this site that contained a graph and supporting text on how the countries GDP share of wages/companies profits had changed with a dramatic lift in what companies share of retained GDP at the expense of the wager earner.
But I did find this, which covers the same terrain.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/02/14/real-wages-the-brutal-truth/
Of course since MBIE seems to have MAJOR numeracy and truth issues, hot on the treasury getting it’s figures 25% out… you have to wonder, maybe it’s government advisors giving fake and misleading advice, not the government that is the issue…
MBIE under-reported spending on contractors and consultants by $38m
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/360232/mbie-under-reported-cost-of-contractors-and-consultants-by-38m
Giving away free public land seems to be a trend… like the water, when it comes to educating people though, happy to destroy 40 jobs in a university library which are probably jobs hard to recreate in music and arts, against public outcry.
“Dodgy as hell
That’s the only way to describe Horowhenua District Council’s plan to give council assets to a private “economic development” trust:
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/06/dodgy-as-hell.html
We really do have a bunch of muppets in Central & and Local Government.
The same council that had that massive blowout in the Levin library.
If they continue their fiscally irresponsibility Horowhenua is going the way of Kaipara.
There should be criminal charges for public figures ‘giving away’ land with few conditions… ok, it might fill up the prisons but I’d gladly put a few councillors and politicians away for gross negligence, rather than that women with the kids and a bag of weed.
Don’t forget a corporation managed to kill 29 people at Pike River and work safe let him get away with a fine and no criminal charges as yet… but a bag of weed sounds like will get you locked up probably if you are the wrong race aka Maori. I think workspace are presently trying to bang up somebody whose tree fell down in a child centre which seems a bit more like an act of god than no safety equipment, no rescue attempt and one exit in a dangerous mine.
Weird too, the so many people seem to think the treaty was giving away all that land to Maori, yet the councils like Auckland and Horowhenua, seem to be giving it away like hot cakes because they don’t feel they can do a good enough job themselves. If only they would just fire themselves, and let someone else who is competent take over at council not needing a private trust arrangement to give themselves land and salaries under secrecy like pigs in mud!!!
anti abortionist believes it’s a man’s right to harness a women for pregnancy for 9 months, risk death, psychological harm, infertility, then years of crying, demanding, milk sucking… …only a person who believes women have no life could argue they are pro-life.
At what stage of pregnancy would you make it difficult (if not illegal) to have an abortion?
At what stage of pregnancy do you regard it as anything other than a medical decision that’s none of your business?
Exactly. That is the question. You can’t seriously tell me that a woman at 40 weeks pregnancy should be able to treat her situation as purely a medical condition that has having an abortion as an option outside an extreme life threatening scenario can you?
You’re seriously positing the scenario that a woman will go through that shit for 38 weeks and then opt for a termination through simple lack of impulse control?
I’m providing a scenario which is an entirely possible one and therefore which the law needs to take in to account.
Entirely possible? Given that an abortion without good reason after 39 weeks of putting up with pregnancy is a logical contradiction, it’s not possible.
Late term abortions are possible, and always the least-worst medical outcome for a tragic situation that you’re using for political masturbation.
It is entirely possible. You just don’t like to think of the moral consequences.
Describe, precisely, what you think “it” is, please. Because I think you’re deliberately inventing a bullshit bogeyman in order to deny people urgent, albeit exceptionally rare, medical care. And I really hope there is an afterlife where you can reap the “moral consequences” of that.
Lol
I can seriously tell you that what your hypothetical woman does with her body is no-ones business but her own and her doctor.
You’re saying there IS a time in a women’s pregnancy that you would have the State take away her bodily autonomy.
Yes otherwise there is all sorts of legal issues around premature babies. Ultimately the State has to decide at which point the Woman has the right to control the life of her baby and at which point it has rights of it’s own.
So at what point would your State determine that an already living person has their rights ignored because of what they have in their womb?
At the point the fetus becomes viable for life (between 20 -24 Weeks).
At which point would you allow an abortion?
I don’t have a womb so I don’t have an opinion.
So what would your forced-birthing State do about these ‘viable’ fetus now they are in the world? Would your State support these people to raise their forced-birth?
What a cop out.
I think the problem starts before the foetus is formed in the womb. It takes 2 to make a baby. If too many men persist in spilling their seed wherever and however they want, the state needs to step in and take away their bodily autonomy.
So, I propose a bill requiring men must apply for a fucking permit from their doctor and local council if they wish to have heterosexual sex. They would need to provide medical evidence that their health will be compromised if they do mot have heterosexual intercourse.
Good idea! Long before ‘viability’.
and @Gosman it’s a cop-out to not answer my questions.
I would second such a bill.
Lets call it the ‘Men and their needs’ bill.
I think that, for a rational discussion of that proposal, only female legislators should be on the select committee that examines that legislation.
…it takes 2 to make a baby …
2 permits would be required for your proposal then eh…
Hope you’re ok, C_n…
That comment is far below your usual level of insight…
patronising and bullying – what a cad
Carylon Nth Gosamers not good enough
Exkiwiforces Ron Mark will be long gone before these upgrades are delivered if the defence force get all the planes, that’s up to $4 billion cost over 6 to 10 years.
New frigates $8 billion new patrol boats
Defence spending to late to order when war breaks out.
If Ronnie can sort this out then https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25-06-2018/#comment-1496937 a lot of the big tickets will fall into place especially if the NZG and future NZG’s are to looking to more involved in the Sth Pacific/ Antarctic Regions.
These platforms are critical for the South Pacific/ Antarctic reset for MFAT, Aid and the NZDF MAP to the South Nations
The P3 replacement
The B757/C-130 replacement
The third OPV design for the Southern Ocean, as the other two OPV’s have some major design limitations for use in the Southern Ocean.
A new Dive ship/ Mine Counter Measure/ Hydrographic Ship this Project got can with cost blow out the ANZAC Frigate upgrade, but the British MOD are having a fire sale of RN ships so a suitable one maybe there or a commercial ship from the oil and gas industry which the last dive ship was an Ex North Sea oil/ gas support vessel.
HMNZS Canterbury’s mid life refit.
The ANZAC replacements are about 10-15 yrs away at least, but if the Strategic Environment does change for the worst, which I think is going to happen then it may have to be brought forward as NZ economic wealth is export lead which in turn means it needs Secure Sea Lanes of Communication IOT Export and Import of goods to generate its economic wealth without it we are stuff.
Good morning The AM Show has Winston missed his morning interview with the AM Show Duncan well you have to remember he was at Kororo Wetere tangi .
Tawhirir has been going hard it’s cold and wet. I don’t think I bullied seenothing ECO Maori just told it like I seen it with the show.
Ka pai Phil Goff yes we need to fix the Auckland waste water problems it show you how some people treat public putea they just waste it with no concerns at all or is it lining their m8s hip pocket. My point is Auckland water testing of our beaches was a helicopter fly out to the site to take a sea water sample and 2 days later they have there results to late and a waste of public putea. This type of behavior will be happening throughout our public government systems left over by shonky .
With Prefabricated building the quality will be better than the way we build now there are many innovative ways to save money on these houses. Ka kite ano
Sara Huckabee Sanders if you have a public profile and the public disagree with yours or your bosses views on his on how the Papatuanukue should behave / treat other human beings well if the public don’t let you know that they disagree with what’s is happening than how will you know what you /he is doing wrong. That’s how a democracy works te tangata let you know when they are not happy with the path that we are heading down Ka kite ano P.S I say we need more people to stand up and voice there consenrns
Wairarapa local MP for the nationals party allistair scott says he cannot see why the government is in the business of owning schools and hospitals. well I am sorry if he cant see what is in front of his nose. The people want the government to own them. They do not trust private ownership of these vital parts of society and if scott wants to keep his seat he should pull his head in. even his rural constituency wont wear this sort of nonsense.
he makes the mistake of assuming the objective of schools and hospitals is to provide private profit not provide a necessary public service, as you note, he appears somewhat confused