Open mike 25/07/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, July 25th, 2019 - 96 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

96 comments on “Open mike 25/07/2019 ”

    • marty mars 1.1

      So amazing. Did mindfulness last night looking at the photos below – so many layers of beauty out there and in there.

      https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/macro-photographs-highlight-intricate-beauty-butterfly-wings?

      • Robert Guyton 1.1.1

        Oh my goodness!!

      • ianmac 1.1.2

        Those butterflies are incredible artists! Texture, colour and balance. And to think that the human race is blundering around and destroying so much.

      • vto 1.1.3

        Brilliant. Supports the truth that the truth is found as easily within a single atom as it is within the entire universe.

        • One Two 1.1.3.1

          truth supports truth

          easily

          single atom

          entire universe

          Are you able to explain?

          • Incognito 1.1.3.1.1

            A kōan cannot be explained; it has to be experienced by the individual. A crude analogy is trying to explain a joke to someone who does not get it.

            • vto 1.1.3.1.1.1

              Well put thanks Incognito – was wanting to respond something along those lines but the brain cells weren't up to the connections this morning …

              • Robert Guyton

                Really? I didn't even think your comment was obscure, vto; quite prosaic and pithy in fact. It interests me, the various ways people "hear" what others have said. I mean no criticism of you, One Two; this happens all the time in the council I sit on and sometimes I just can't fathom the wide variance of meaning taken, or not taken, from seemingly simple statements.

                • One Two

                  Whenever I read the word truth…I am usually intrigued to understand more about the use…hence the request for explanation

                  Council sessions have the benefit of sight and sound, Robert…and even with sensory advantage … well…you've signalled what can eventuate…

                  I'd have preferred to read what else vto had in response to my query…

                • Dennis Frank

                  I think I know why this stuff happens (but am probably kidding myself). All meaning is relative to context. That's just Einstein's relativity principle generalised (in physics, measurements are relative to the user's frame of reference, so I generalised measurements into meaning, then jumped it outside of physics as a general principle).

                  And of course in the psyche of the individual, reality is socially constructed as well as learnt from experience. So our right-brain hemisphere relates info to prior learning to contextualise it. Since we all have a different learning trajectory, different unique natures, and emanate from different social niches, we all interpret the info somewhat differently. That's how human nature works.

                  To get onto the same page, we must transcend the idiosyncratic take we make from the info. There's a discipline mentally imposed to simulate such objectivity – some are good at that, others not. If we feel the necessity, we discuss the info to form common ground…

  1. marty mars 2

    RIP Rutger Hauer

    “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/24/rutger-hauer-an-icily-elegant-presence-with-a-touch-of-self-aware-drollery

  2. Rosemary McDonald 3

    Brief mention on Natrad this morning about an issue that was raised here about a week ago. https://thestandard.org.nz/labour-to-repeal-ban-on-family-caregivers-seeking-justice/#comment-1636088

    The Government has got the numbers wrong (again!!!) and has not allocated enough funding to honour its promise to end discrimination against family carers.

    Another brilliant headline for the Coalition that fades under the most superficial of inspections.

    No doubt this will go the way of Kiwibuild and it will be back to the drawing board.

    Despite the fact that ALL the relevant information and data are right there and available.

    And to be honest, it may not cost that much more. Furthermore…

    In the event that the Tribunal’s decision were to encourage others in need to apply for their support entitlements, then while this may be fiscally expensive, this reflects neither a change in the policy framework nor the Tribunal’s decision but a reduction in the failure of delivery coverage within the framework.

    https://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/2008/10/evidence-to-the-human-rights-review-tribunal/

    There is absolutely excuse for yet another bunch of politicians to run around like headless chickens trying to work this out, and frame a narrative to justify the expense.

    This work has already been done.

    Just get on with it.

    • Rosemary McDonald 3.1

      Piece on Natrad…

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018705686

      Moves boost the number of family carers paid to look after disabled relatives could be kneecapped by a funding shortfall. From next year the government plans to allow partners and spouses of a disabled adult and parents caring for a disabled child under the age of 18 to claim funded family care. But RNZs analysis shows there won't be enough money to properly pay the 600 new families that are expected to join the scheme

      Whoops

      • alwyn 3.1.1

        They don't really care Rosemary. As with so many of their stories they get a great big headline about how caring they are, and how terrible National were supposed to have been, and then they just forget about it.

        The MSM may give a tiny little mention to it but they certainly aren't going to give it anything like the original splash in the news.

        Business as usual for the CoL. All hat and no cattle as a Texan might say.

        • Rosemary McDonald 3.1.1.1

          Correction there alwyn, as bad a National were.

          And Labour before them.

          SSDD

          • Molly 3.1.1.1.1

            Not good to hear, Rosemary.

            I was hoping your reserved optimism at the initial news would be rewarded.

  3. johnm 4

    The social evil of the Rentier capitalist: the modern cult of landlordism:

    Governments have built a heaven for landlords and a hell for tenants. It’s time to change the system. ( Where is a CGT!? with some bite? 60%)

    By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 17th July 2019

    I have a friend who works almost every waking hour, mainly to pay the rent. Her landlord lives on a beach, 4000 miles away. He seldom responds to her requests, and grudgingly pays for the minimum of maintenance. But every so often, he writes to inform her that he is raising the rent. He does not have to work, because she and other tenants work on his behalf. He is able to live the life of his choice, because they give their time to him. As there is an absolute shortage of accessible housing, they have no choice but to pay his exorbitant fees.

    Rents charged at such rates – far beyond the costs of capital and maintenance – are, in these circumstances, a form of private taxation, levied by the rich on the poor. The penalty for failing to pay this tax is arguably greater than the penalty for failing to pay taxes owed to the state: eviction and homelessness. People say “I work for Tesco” or “I work for Deliveroo”, but the reality for many is that they work for their landlord. While the average mortgaged household spends 12% of its income on housing, the average renting household spends 36%. I have met plenty of people who hand over 50% or more. https://www.monbiot.com/2019/07/19/private-taxation/

  4. Morrissey 5

    "Don't let them intimidate you."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n5YiCRIujo

  5. ObseRver Tokoroa 6

    The Guffaw

    The Right, both in Gods own mess in New Zealand and Australia, and in the United Kingdom, has been given the means to crush the people who do the work – in town and in the slums and in the farms.

    The Obscene laughter around every Right Oval Table – is full of clotted Laughter of how the slaves work like niggers, with scarcely any money or food – fot the benefit of the Monarchy, The House of Lords, the Corrupts of Bankers and spoilt children of the Posh.

    The meanest of mean persons is the make up of the Blighted Kingdom. The Filthiest Nation on the Planet.

    • vto 6.1

      Correct. Is why so many our ancestors fled those horrid lands as refugees.

      Fled.

      Escaped.

  6. Kay 7

    The battle is finally over and it looks like from October 1 I will be paying full price to continue taking the same brand of medication I've been taking for over 20 years that keeps me alive. The so called 'application for special circumstances funding' (which even Pharmac strongly hinted I apply for in correspondence with them) is actually a completely rigged system in their favour where they pretty much decline almost all the applications, even the clinically valid ones submitted by specialists. To the point where said Specialists aren't even bothering to write the applications because they know they'll be declined.

    On the positive side- for once I have something nice to say about a huge Big Pharma company: they could've quite easily pulled this brand out of NZ after it was delisted, as happens frequently, but they haven't, so at least it's still accessible to the many of us who need to stay on it. And I've learned just how pissed off a lot of medical specialists are with the way Pharmac are behaving.

    It's a huge chunk out of my food budget but I'm sure all the politicians out there who refuse to increase the Pharmac budget and increase disability benefits will be extremley pleased at the sacrifices a lot of us will be making (and the many who already are- we're not the first this is happened to and won't be the last) to use what little money we have to save the hard working tax payers massive hospital bills. /sarc

    • Rosemary McDonald 7.1

      I'm sure all the politicians out there who refuse to increase the Pharmac budget and increase disability benefits will be extremely pleased at the sacrifices a lot of us will be making …

      My thinking is that they have ascribed to the 'what doesn't kill them makes them stronger' philosophy. Ipso facto Kay, they are actually doing you a favour. /sarc

  7. Adrian Thornton 9

    Mueller's Seven-Hour Testimony Changed Nothing…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3fC2GI_KK0

    • Sabine 9.1

      i don't think it was to change something……

      however i liked his answer as to 'can a president charged for crimes once his tenure has ended', Mr. Mueller "Yes". And i guess that is what the orange shitgibbon takes offense to. 🙂

      • Adrian Thornton 9.1.1

        " i don't think it was to change something " I am pretty sure it was to change something, it was conducted to somehow bring impeachment against Trump, something that will never happen, and of course keep fanning the fires of the Russiagate conspiracy, which needs constant fanning because it has been exposed as being such a load of bullshit that now only the most extreme believers still push it.

        Couple of those extremists still lurk around on this site I believe.

        • Andre 9.1.1.1

          Still pushing your Repug talking points?

          • Sam 9.1.1.1.1

            Yknow what's more annoying than people who speak in statistics? It's people who speak in academic talk. It's amazing how people can construct such technically sound and pretty looking comments, Y'know with links and quotes and grammar and shit, and be totally and utterly wrong. It's fucken amazing.

          • Adrian Thornton 9.1.1.1.2

            No just pushing the facts, what you are pushing is a free ride for Trump to the Whitehouse in 2020.

            Also you might want to keep in mind you are in effect being used as a FBI mouthpiece right now.

          • Professor Longhair 9.1.1.1.3

            ????

            • Andre 9.1.1.1.3.1

              Adrian's comments about "Russiagate conspiracy" could have come straight from the likes of Louie Gohmert or Devin Nunes or any other Drumpfkin desperate to deflect from the huge amount of evidence that Russia did indeed indulge in election fuckery to benefit the Dork from New York, and that the loofah-faced shitgibbon's campaign eagerly welcomed that fuckery and openly encouraged more of it.

              That Mueller's team didn't feel they found enough evidence to establish a chargeable conspiracy is down to extreme prosecutorial caution. Plus successful obstruction, incompetence, and sheer dumb luck on the part of the campaign members involved.

              • Poission

                Well Mueller previous statements to the house said there was evidence of WMD in Iraq and the supply to terrorists was a clear and present danger.

                https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1154022466345476097

                • McFlock

                  Well Mueller previous statements to the house said there was evidence of WMD in Iraq and the supply to terrorists was a clear and present danger.

                  That's not actually what Mueller said, in the clip, though. He said that Powell had presented evidence Iraq had failed to disarm its WMD (he had. Turned out to be faked). He then said the FBI's concern was WMD going to terrorists from Iraq. Nor did he say "clear and present danger" (thanks, Tom fucking Clancy).

                  Iraqi WMD wasn't his problem. After 911, US domestic terrorists getting WMD was his problem.

                  • Poission

                    So he spread false news on WMD (he had the same access to information that powell had)

                    Chief Judge Learned Hand … interpreted the [clear and present danger] phrase as follows: 'In each case, [courts] must ask whether the gravity of the "evil", discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger.' We adopt this statement of the rule. As articulated by Chief Judge Hand, it is as succinct and inclusive as any other we might devise at this time. It takes into consideration those factors which we deem relevant, and relates their significances. More we cannot expect from words.

                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_and_present_danger

                    • McFlock

                      I know the term "clear and present danger". I also know when it became popular outside of polsci or cspan conferences.

                      He did not spread false news on WMD. He said that someone in another job presented evidence to do with their job. His job was to figure out how those claims impacted on his patch, not second-guess the intelligence agencies that deal with other nations.

                    • Sam

                      Links! We need more links for those assertions! the goal posts! they are shifting! Quick some one find a quote! the tone of the debate is falling! the standard faces legal dilemmas. LMFAO!!!

                    • McFlock

                      Sambam, the link is in the comment of 2:48pm. That's Mueller saying pretty much what I put. He did not, in that link, present any evidence or claims of the existence of WMDs, he said that his interest was in regards to terrorists getting them.

                    • Sam

                      I am truely, sorry, Mc, Flock 😄

                      But I do not drink kool aid. LMFAO

                    • McFlock

                      Yeah, what he actually said in the clip vs what was said he said ain't koolaid.

                    • Sam

                      Evil is subjective. The concept of evil by George Bush and Saddam's standards has no value to your story or narrative.

                    • McFlock

                      Your comment has no relevance to the preceding discussion.

                    • Sam

                      Its not even necessary to meet your standards of relevance when you can't even articulate with as much precision as your extremely long arch that Russia did it. And now the whole backlash just goes poof. LMFAO

                    • McFlock

                      If you read the Mueller report, you didn't understand it.

                    • Sam

                      Yoire still drinking your own kool aid. LMFAO

                    • McFlock

                      Serious question: if you won't be persuaded by evidence or argument, is there any conceivable way you could discover that one of your many opinions is wrong?

                    • Sam

                      Thats just you looking for the easy way out in an attempt to appeal to authority and try and have me banned. You woke de woke Dee's are just so predictable. Y'know if you pile up all of Trumps Bodies it wouldn't even come close to either Saddam's, Bush or Obamas body count yet your backlash is far more precise for Trump and I'm just not going to sip from your kool aid.

                    • McFlock

                      You really do spend more time responding to your own delusions than you do to anything anyone else has written.

                    • Sam

                      That doesn't work against Trumo since he's utilizing zero percent or even negative interest rates. Your backlash would not be an advantage. Please don't take yourself to seriously.

                    • …evidence or argument…

                      Don't come round 'ere with yer evidence and argument, they're no match for Sam's sneers about 'woke' and 'kool aid.'

                    • solkta

                      I think Sam does quite well, for an eight year old.

                    • In Vino

                      Agree, PM. I wonder if SAM is an acronym… Smart Ass Mystifier?

                • Andre

                  Here's a piece discussing whether Mueller's involvement in the Iraq WMD bullshit discredits his Russia investigation (spoiler: it doesn't).

                  At the time he was FBI Director, which is domestic and has very limited overlap with any foreign operations which fall under CIA. the military and other agencies. He made it clear in that cherry-picked bit of his remarks he was relying on what was given to him by those other sources. For context, here's the prepared text of his testimony.

                  Finally, who popularised this particular bit of cherry-picked background and why? Interesting question

              • Morrissey

                Poor Adrian—you’ve just been savaged by a dead sheep.

        • Gabby 9.1.1.2

          You know, you can love Mother Russia and recognise the utter corruption of its rulers now ady. Nobody's going to put polonium in your samovar, probably.

          • Adrian Thornton 9.1.1.2.1

            Fuck off, I know critical thinking doesn’t come naturally to you Ruaaiagaters, but at least try and pretend.

          • Professor Longhair 9.1.1.2.2

            Pointing out the corruption and absurdity of the Democrat "leadership" is in no way to endorse "Mother Russia" or Donald Trump and his wacky gang.

            • joe90 9.1.1.2.2.1

              An actual Russian notes the comparison.

              https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1154065508720959491

              • Adrian Thornton

                " In the waning days of Russian democracy" exactly when was that?

                • joe90

                  When Putin fitted himself up as prime minister.

                  • Adrian Thornton

                    Really?, that is exactly not what historical fact say, but then is seems that facts are a mystery to you, unless they fit with your view of the world vis a vie The Gaurdian, TWP etc.

              • Morrissey

                But the Democrats are doing it to impress voters…

                Now there's a joke. If the Democrats cared about those deplorable voters, why did the corrupt and incompetent DNC, led by that masterly strategist and top thinker Debbie Wasserman Schultz, conspire in 2016 to shut out the most popular political candidate in the country and elect someone as toxic as this creature?

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlz3-OzcExI

                • Andre

                  How the hell did "the most popular candidate in the country" lose to the toxic creature by more than 3.6 million freely cast votes (that's losing by more than 12%)? Amongst the small segment of the population self-selected to be politically closest to his views? Maybe he wasn't quite so popular after all?

  8. Herodotus 10

    So not only are the pay increase being delayed now schools will have to source out of their operating budget to fund some of the increases. Pity that this will result in students missing out.

    Hipkins "If there was a way to speed up the process, I'd make it happen. "As if Novopay and our bungling minister (and a Labour one at that 🤬) didn't realise that many of the changes that were agreed to were not signaled during the negotiations ?

    "Novopay said teachers would have to wait until mid-September to receive their pay rises, prompting NZEI to file legal action for compliance and penalties."

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/114491866/schools-stung-by-teacher-pay-shock

    • Sabine 10.1

      time to fire Novopay?

      • alwyn 10.1.1

        Fire the person responsible perhaps?

        Bye, bye Mr Hipkins. Why not just admit that, like so many actions of this Government they never allowed for the cost of their promises and they have simply fallen into the great big financial black hole that Stephen Joyce warned us about.

      • Herodotus 10.1.2

        Where was our leader in Ed ? Did he not inquire to those within the ministry and/or Novopay as to their ability to enact in a timely manner changes in pay rates, when the negotiations were in progress ?

        The "talks" were going on for over a year, remember teachers received a NIL pay rise from the time the last agreement lapsed and this one being implemented as of July 19.

        He is paid the big bucks to lead. Leadership is not JUST being important enough to be seen on the TV news.

        • In Vino 10.1.2.1

          All true, but I discussed the matter with an experienced finance lady in my school today, and she agreed with me that all previous salary providers were able to efficiently introduce new pay rises in time – because they had plenty of people to rise to the occasion and key it all in.

          Some IT moron convinced some moronic Govt that Novopay with far fewer people (big savings in salaries, but more unemployment?) could do the same job.

          A lie, of course, as current situation shows.

          Teacher unions, if there were any justice, should be able to take legal action against the guilty parties.

          But we know that there will be no justice..

          Asking schools to bear the burden temporarily is an act of bad faith that will be admired by neither teachers nor Boards of Trustees.

          • Herodotus 10.1.2.1.1

            The same is at many aged care facilities (those that are are profit driven vrs those that are "charities" ) as there is no drive for profit and on the face of it have greater staff nos and a more friendly environment.

            Not sure why the govt is protecting Novapay (Nats were the same) Wonder if there will be some profit ramifications for the provider for not delivering on what they are contracted to deliver 🤭. How we are being expected to accept poor delivery

            Many "bosses" appear to have the 1st call for action to reduce staff. All those MBA's and they address staff !!

          • McFlock 10.1.2.1.2

            Novopay was a basic 9-5 payroll system hacked into a multiuser schools payroll format, overseen by incompetent ministers at the client end. Every time something new is done with it, there will be a new problem come up because none of its original purpose involved an education-system level of diversity in roles, FTE time allocations, allowances, pay grades, schedules or anything else.

            Trouble is that the nats fully committed so that just reactivating the old system wasn't an option. Lots of money asnd would probably take longer to fix than Novopay itself – it's what happens when you burn business relationships in favour of a competitor, and then it falls through.

            Pisser was the Wellington Board of Education did exactly the same thing in 1993 when computerising their regional payroll system and the ensuing clusterfuck. Literally a textbook example on how not to implement a new computer system. Now the example is novopay lol.

  9. Morrissey 11

    More crazy conspiracy theory….

    This classic dates back to February, but it's still hilarious.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi5YYZ9eocU

  10. greywarshark 12

    Matthew Parris from UK on Johnson – Waste-no-time-wasting-Cabinet – PM.

    “Dominic Raab has been made Foreign Secretary, Raab the man who put Raab into rabies basically, he’s a really rabid Brexiteer. He’s a clever man, but it’s not the sort of steady hand you would expect.”

    This was a revenge re-shuffle, Parris says.

    “He has kicked in the shins anyone who has ever kicked him in the shins and installed a whole lot of people who are going to be in favour of crashing out without a deal on the 31st of October if we have to do it.

    • McFlock 12.1

      lol "revenge re-shuffle".

      The old Yes Minister line about the PM's personal motto: "In defeat, malice. In victory, revenge!"

    • Dennis Frank 12.2

      Claire Trevett, from just in front of the pay-wall: "Johnson had once declared his chances of becoming Prime Minister "are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive"."

      Now that it has just happened, could be the next Mars lander will get a re-program, eh? I wonder if he will change his surname to Trump now. Johnson is so boring, really. The Don will be agonising over whether to despatch a hairdresser to Downing St, or send a case of brylcreem over, or both.

      • Andre 12.2.1

        He'll send over some of that off-colour spray-tan and some cut-in-half ping-pong balls to put over his eyes when he sprays it on.

    • ianmac 12.3

      Trump has surrounded himself by Yes men and Women who seem to be incompetent. Has Johnson done the same?

      • Anne 12.3.1

        Peas in a pod ianmac. One is a Yank and the other is a Pom and they play their games in a slightly different way.

        Between the two of them they should have no problem starting another war and thus keep the peasants’ minds away from the gross incompetence of their respective administrations.

  11. Observer Tokoroa 13

    Peas in a Pod Anne

    Well Spoken Anne. The two septic PlayBoys Mr Donald and Mr Boris, have united in the sacred bonds of war mongering. and each have announced that their respective Nations are about to be the Greatest Country ever to have been Conceived, Suckled and strewn on Planet Earth.

    They are both relatively unpopulated Nations given their land mass. England 60 millions. United States 308 millions.

    The Union of Europe (EU) – has 511 Millions.

    Mr Boris, a studied comedian, has already snubbed his nose at Europe and is going to fight EU into oblivion. – Using his Eccentric adoring 60 Million nicompoops. Capitan Boris, after Sex with the unbeloved– will put his sea boots on soonest. I think he may have kept Mrs Thatcher's under arm tuft of hair – as a Clutch.

    The Germans, The French, They of the Guillotine The Nordics, The Commonwealth, The Asians, The Indians – The Africans, Pakistans and all the other Stans – rather think the English are quaint. Mr Boris is quite like an inedible fish that wriggles unexpectedly.

    England – be grateful for what you get. After all, you asked for it.

  12. Eco maori 14

    Kia ora Newshub.

    Its not good that people who get a colonoscopy privately are going to live and the lower classes who can't afford the procedure will die is that a 2 class system or what.

    Awesome te Rangiti are not drinking as much as the last generation it actually give Eco Maori a sore face I say no more.

    Thanks to our government for increasing kindergarten teachers pay parity with their counterparts in primary and secondary schools teaches te mokopuna are very important to Eco Maori

    Its is climate change that is causing the heat wave over Europe and America at the minute but people like ——— are sceptical about our nuclear moments for our generation. HUMAN caused climate change is poking us in thee EYES .

    trump what about the institutional racism towards the African American and Hispanic tangata you muppet. Innocent people will die because of your policies .All so I know for a fact that not all police officers are honest and honorable people hence innocent people are going to die try putting yourself in their shoes

    Ka kite ano

  13. Eco maori 15

    Ka pai for Jacinda and her tangata whenua Mps for brokering a solution to the Ihumatau whenua issue in Auckland awesome. Thanks to Henare a Willy for going to Auckland to talk to the tangata about the issue they have with that whenua let's hope te tangata behave honorable to you.

    Its awesome that the whenua is being returned to Maori and they are going to build a education center up there by the old telescope is it to many people in my whare I missed the story + Eco Maori needs to learn Te reo.

    Ka kite ano

  14. Eco maori 16

    Its Its awesome to see the next generation of tangata whenua uniteing to fix the wrongs that have been served up to Maori

    Ka kite ano

  15. Eco maori 17

    Some Eco Maori music for the minute

    https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4

    Thanks for the MANA

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    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    11 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    14 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    14 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    16 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    16 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    19 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    15 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
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