Child bride activist Nada Al Ahdal aged 11 – Escaped child marriage after making a harrowing two minute video appealing against her forced child marriage that went viral on you tube. Now leads an international movement against child marriage.
However, voting – AFAIK – at 16 isn't legal in any of the countries those teens come from.
Your point seems to be demonstrating that it is perfectly possible and valid for teens to be activists – and potentially change their societies – without being eligible to vote.
Likewise, it would be perfectly possible for women everywhere to be activists – and potentially change their societies -without being eligible to vote.
"Your point seems to be demonstrating that it is perfectly possible and valid for teens to be activists – and potentially change their societies – without being eligible to vote." Belladonna
Many of the same Right Wing talking points being trotted out against enfranchising young people, are a retread of similar talking points that were argued against extending the franchise to women.
In fact you could extend these same right wing anti-democratic arguments to everyone.
If the franchise was removed from everyone, people could still potentially change their societies – without being eligible to vote.
Not really. Although there are plenty of examples both from our own history, and current events elsewhere, which actually do demonstrate that being eligible to vote is not essential for activism.
The difference between sex and age as criteria for voting, is, that one never changes [or, at least absent extensive surgical intervention, doesn't change], while the other is simply a matter of time.
Waiting a couple of years to exercise your right to vote doesn't appear to be a major issue.
And, of course, shifting the voting age, will simply create the same sense of dis-enfranchisement from the younger cohort of voters.
Given the examples above I would argue that it not be arbitrary. That the age of franchise should be set is where it is determined that social awareness and political activism generally begins.
The ability to be able to read and write and use and interact through social media might be another non-arbitrary point of reference to determine the age of franchise.
“Social media saved my life,” Nada Al Ahdal
Through the use of social medial Nada Al Ahdal escaped two wedding pacts arranged by her parents. and has since pledged to protect others from being sold 'like sheep'
She forced to sign a document banning comments about child marriage in the press or on social media.
"…..the head of the school said that I, being famous for showing social media about child marriage, would brainwash the other girls. She told me to study at home but I refused,” Nada Al Ahdal
Yes it is arbitrary. Can you point to any actual hard evidence that 16 is a more valid age than 18 (or for that matter 14)?
If you want to argue for the use of social media as a qualifying factor – then you would need to be open to 12-year-olds – and even younger – as voters. Plenty of them are very active social media users.
Your criteria is also arbitrary.
"That the age of franchise should be set is where it is determined that social awareness and political activism generally begins."
Who decides? I can assure you, that the majority of kids in my teens school, even at the senior levels are *not* particularly politically active or even politically aware. The exceptions are the outliers that we see in the media. Equally, I know of much younger children who have made moral or ethical life choices (to be vegetarian, for example), and are deeply aware of the political implications of their choice.
Your suggested additional qualifier of use of social media is also arbitrary. How much use qualifies? Do you have to be active in social areas – or does posting TikTok videos count? Who gets to judge?
Just as an aside, that criteria would also drop off voters at the other end – not many people over 70 (yes, there are some) – who are active social media users. And there are a tranche of people who deliberately choose not to engage on social media at all – should they be disenfranchised also?
Very good potted history on why we are in the situation we are with crime and poverty. A breath of fresh air cutting through all the tough on crime rhetoric
Ok, this might need a thread.
When Jenny Shipley rolled Bolger and became our first female PM, she took Ruth Richardson to her bosom (metaphorically, I assume) and began a spiteful reign of terror over the poor, solo parents and beneficiaries…
I'd query the targeting. In our local area – it's not only – or even predominantly – highly taxed pleasure shops which are being targeted – it's just ordinary run-of-the-mill ones – where, in many cases, they've taken only minor amounts of money and/or goods – while causing tens-of-thousands-of-dollars worth of damage.
The driver appears to be the thrill of destruction, combined with the excitement of notoriety (TikTok, etc.)
While I can understand (though not approve of) stealing vapes, alcohol and cigarettes – or even high-end fashion goods; there is no rational excuse for targeting the local Malaysian cafe, Subway franchise, or stationery shop (doesn't sell vapes or cigarettes).
Be interesting (if data makes it possible) to see if big excise tax increases correlate with a rise in ram raid type crime targeting Tobacco and Alcohol.
Ad, I would recomend looking at this article from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Study. It links childhood self control (or its absence) to all sorts of negative life outcomes, including crime. Poor self control at three years of age predicts these outcomes even when controlled for socio economic status and IQ.
This in my opinion should be the basis for how to bring the crime rate down.
"childhood self-control is signficantly correlated with adult self-control but shows much more room for change. The fact that a child with low self-control can still become an adult with high self-control indicates that self-control may be a more malleable and teachable characteristic than IQ. Scores are normalized around a mean of 0"
I'd be loathe to ascribe any kind of single-factor causal relationship towards criminal conviction records. Certainly be surprised if the Dunedin study did that.
Doesn't account for the 2021-22 spike in ram raids, gun warfare, and school delinquency. But it does correlate really well with COVID and the tobacco and alcohol excise taxes going up by a big jump two budgets ago.
That would be something you would need to discuss with the researchers of the Dunedin study Ad.
I think it is hopeful that the authors acknowledge self control is malleable. It is something that can be taught, but it needs to be done early.
The Dunedin study is outstanding for all sorts of reasons including it being prospective and also having such a high retention rate.
Their self control finding is gold. A single casual factor that is found across a range of negative outcomes. I have some friends who are early childhood teachers and they haven’t heard of this study or it’s outcomes. This seems like a missed opportunity to me
No Swordfish, no ideological CRT or squeals of “its all colonisation. Just good science. These scientists found an outcome they weren’t expecting
We have known the importance of this Dunedin study for ages. Hell I think I commented on it in detail here years back. From memory they could by the age of 3 categorise children into five social styles with about 7% of children in a 'aggressive and disruptive' group who – we at the highest risk of going on to very poor outcomes with violence and crime.
The most vital stage of their lives is between age 4 – 7yrs old when they have the chance to learn how to moderate they behaviour in rough and tumble play with other children and especially their fathers. This is how they learn the boundaries of what is a good game and what is hurtful or out of bounds. They don't learn from being lectured or moralised to – they learn from the physical experience of play. They are typically very kinetic, energetic and physical kids, and if they learn this moderating ability at this age will grow into fine capable adults.
But if they lacked positively engaged fathers, siblings and others they could literally bounce off – or worse if they encountered sustained abuse of any form – their teenage and adult outcomes were almost certain to be terrible.
Requiring such young children (often boys, with tremendous amounts of physical energy) to conform to the confined and restrained behaviour expected in a classroom environment actively fails them.
Not only do they not have that level of self-management, they often gain a reputation for disruption that is difficult to leave behind.
Whoaaaaa there !!!, affluent Pakeha Woke dogmatists have assured me the neighbourhood terrorism being perpetrated by violent, out-of-control anti-socials indiscriminately dumped in Kainga Ora housing is all down to "Post Colonial Traumatic Stress Disorder"
(Admittedly the well-to-do power-wielding Critical Theory Cult members who angrily demand we all accept this theory without demur courageously ensure they're living as far away as possible from the Nightmare situations they've cheerfully facilitated … though we should, of course, bear in mind that they possess “uniquely-refined moral sensibilities”)
"Courageously ensure they're living as far away as possible from the Nightmare situations"
Yes but interestingly enough when the parliament protestors littered their work environment the howls of protest from the parliamentarians and their workforce couldn't have been louder about the "river of filth!' Where were their cries of "Post Colonial Traumatic Stress Disorder", when they called for the army and Costers force to remove these scum? And on the last day, when it was mainly Maori men left rioting in the streets of Wellington, where were the defenders of those anti social Kainga Ora tennants? Somehow the PCTSD diagnosis didn't apply then
Yeah, you are quite right, Anker … what the Dunedin study found is well-established in the international literature … after the age of 4, anti-social children (or to use a technical term: conduct-disordered children) tend to turn into anti-social adolescents who, in turn, become anti-social & criminal adults.
The literature in Psychology suggests the vast majority of those 2 year olds who are unusually aggressive (most of them male) are reasonably well-socialised / domesticated by the age of 4 (with the intervention of parents, teachers & peers) … and aided, as Redlogix says, by rough & tumble play.
They've learnt how to regulate their innate aggression.
But that minority of aggressive, anti-social kids who haven't been properly socialised by 4 tend to be hyper-aggressive for the rest of their lives.
As adults, they are generally very low in trait Agreeableness & trait Conscientiousness (in terms of Psychology's Big Five Personality Traits) … so they're bordering on Sociopath / Psychopath territory.
Characterised by Predatory Aggression (low agreeableness) in contrast to those with Paternal Sympathy (high agreeableness)
Chronically aggressive children, as they become adults, lack empathy, are suspicious, narcissistic & highly self-centered.
There is a substantial literature on trying to rectify the behaviour of anti-social children after the age of 4 … and the findings suggest it's very difficult. Few interventions are helpful.
And if these unusually aggressive, anti-social adults (again, largely males) find themselves in the underclass, at the bottom of the social hierarchy (as they so often do), they will seek to achieve status by dominating their immediate environment – their local neighbourhood – through violence & extreme anti-social behaviour … which, of course, points to the nightmare situation dumped on my elderly parents & their neighbours & street … along with hundreds, perhaps thousands of others around New Zealand.
The article I posted is an interesting read. I am so impressed by the Dunedin Study. Ideology free. Just good science.
They do say in that article some programmes teaching self control really early on have shown promise, so I feel somewhat encouraged by this. But of course everyone is barking up the wrong tree with this. Marama Davison and the Greens for one.
The poor self control thing absolutely makes sense to me. They also found it predicted people with gambling problems in their 30s.
The sad thing is these people with poor self control show very poor parenting skills and so the circle continues (and you have spoken about this with your parents tormenter and their child apeing his behaviour). It is too late for this anti social tennant. Across NZ people like this are making other peoples lives hell. Anti social PD's are deeply problematic. But they are likely beyond help and they should be given the message that their shitty behaviour is not tolerated. This was what was lacking in their upbringing. Good clear boundaries and consequences.
I know of the OCEAN stuff. It is a great little formula.
This also applies to the assessment of the problems. We need to be able to clearly determine the factors that may lead to the current behaviour, rather than use past understanding to define the causes.
There have been significant societal disruptors over the last two decades, there should be no automatic assumptions regarding causes.
The studies do appear to show that early intervention is critical, however we appear to be opposed to intervention…go figure.
As to what to do about those beyond that point Id suggest we can neither afford to excuse the behaviour but neither do we have the resources to provide the comprehensive oversight required.
It is a question of scale and we have allowed the problem to become too large….like many of our problems.
Your lack of argument in your comment, for starters. You made the claim – the problem cannot be solved or dealt with adequately or even appropriately because it is too large – you argue for it, or not. Are you a fatalist?
ah your sensibilities are upset because you dont wish to acknowledge that there is a problem of scale and resource….this attitude is reminiscent of the 'care in the community" proponents of mental health care….great in theory and absolutely useless in practice due to the complete lack of resource able to be applied and yet the policy was rolled out anyway.
Except for a bunch of bullet points without commentary that look like they come straight from the National Party Speaking Points Sheet – Executive Summary you have offered nothing, not a single decent argument that’s worthy of debate. Your skin is apparently too thin to point out this inconvenient truth to you. You seem to think that your comments are only read by a couple of commenters on this site, which is why they often lack clarity and explanation and why you tend to resist having to explain yourself in layman terms that are easy to understand for a more general audience. If I didn’t think you couldn’t do any better I’d not even bother trying to tease out a more meaningful comment from you. Your concern for me has been noted.
This is why so much crime "debate" is offering nothing.
We instantly switch on our fixed settings, our preconceptions, to put new events in a context we understand, which is outdated.
e.g.
Long-standing assumption: crims do not want to be seen. Cameras are their enemy. Use CCTV. Makes sense.
New reality: some (especially young) do want to be seen. Cameras are their friend. Get on Tik-tok. Makes no sense.
Churning out old reckons from people who grew up before mobile phones is the opinion that dominates the "debate". Not even close to understanding what is going on, because we never imagined doing it.
there is zero causality to the 1990s structural adjustment
The "zero" is a big call – "no obvious" might be closer to the mark because there's always the argument to be made about hyper-individualism, loss of empathic community relationships etc. etc. I get though that you are trying to kick people out of helplessly whining about the past and instead thinking about action in the present.
Yes, in the old days Peter it was the children of bath tub gin imbibers, they ended up in Reform Schools or Borstals.
Now we have the children of Poverty and drink/meth intoxicated by internet algorithms and copycat behaviour. That is why it is about the act not the booty.
We've also just gone through a period in our history where a section of society, led by some political leaders, rebelled against the rule of law and society, saying 'fuck you Society and Government, I'll do what I want to do and not what you tell me, fuck off…'
It's not surprising that societal engagement rubs off on youth who say ' fuck you, I'll do what I bloody well like and take whatever I like, fuck off..'
Societal disengagement has become normalised, the kids are only following adult leadership. And having a ball.
It's one of the reasons why I believe building strong community is an imperative at this point in time, including with people who think differently from us or who we dislike. We can't mend what's happened since the Shipley years unless there is a major political shift, but we can rebuild locally.
People rebelled because among other important things, they had lost personal autonomy over their health, jobs, movement and essentially their lives. This wasn't rebelling against rules just for the hell of it.
Something tells me that school shutdowns, disrupted education, health requirements to participate in class and in school sports, are going to have a larger detrimental effect on young people. We have let down young people badly in these last few years, isn't the mark of a good society how they treat their young.
I stumbled across this graph inadvertantly in the last week or so. Passing a lot of time on line as I recover from Covid (sick for two weeks now!).
What I found fascinating was that Maori rates of child homicide shot up from 1991 onwards (they had been the same as non Maori up till then). I hadn't heard or seen this figure before (maybe it is generally known). But I think it could do with some unpicking. The obvious conclusion is that the welfare reforms and Rogernomics play a role in this statistic. I would be surprized if there hasn't been some good research methods applied to confirm if this is the case. I realize it fits with what I recall of an ever increasing number of homicide victims that are Maori children.
I don't, but I would also look at whether Māori were disproportionately affected by the mass redundancies in the 80s thanks to ACTLabour (I will guess they were). So many things took at dive at the point, and then National in the 90s just cemented the neolib project in. Mental health, job security, employment conditions, union power, benefit rates, health system, on and on. I don't think younger people can probably appreciate just how massive a societal change it was.
My mother was a social worker in the 90s and she said it would take generations to recover from what they were doing.
Yes indeed re the generations comment. I worked in South Auckland car industry for 20 years, 70s to early 90s, and the workforce was mainly brown apart from admins and managers, industry deregulated and mostly gone well before end of 90s. Provincial county councils with their own works departments–contracted out, Manufacturing had the pin pulled, including footwear, clothing and textiles. With that unskilled but full time work, there were thousands of associated support workers and suppliers.
So perhaps Rogernomics greatest shame remains discarding people via macro economic decisions that they had no immediate control over, and then abandoning them. And to rub it in–demonising them as dole bludgers, market rents for state housing and the Richardson MOAB was the final straw. If you want to know who ram raiders are–they are the grand children of Roger and Ruth.
“What Rogernomics did, among other things, was to eradicate a lot of jobs. And we know that Māori were affected more than non-Māori. Māori health deteriorated and Māori mortality rose during the Rogernomics era quite against the long term trend. Moreover the Rogernomic policies were deliberately biased against the poor and therefore disproportionally hit Māori.
So, when we get through that period, what have we got? We’ve got a large, young population — it’s younger than the national average — and it’s an unskilled population. It’s not ready for the high-skilled jobs that are being created in the economy.”
I don't, but I would also look at whether Māori were disproportionately affected by the mass redundancies in the 80s thanks to ACTLabour (I will guess they were).
The redundancies in the late 1980s pulled the 'guts out' of the ability to work for large employers in predominantly Maori communities for labouring type jobs. So Forestry went, MOW local branches went etc etc.
Local branches for many govt depts went, where these branches were located in Maori areas this meant people had less chance of being able to live locally. With all of the Govt Depts retreating from small town NZ and even small city NZ eg Napier and Gisborne had no branches left in the Govt dept I worked for, all run from Wellington as was Whanganui & Palmerston North.
In the small town I grew up in it not only destroyed jobs but what I call the Maori middle class, those whose children went away to boarding schools such as Hato Petera, Te Aute, St Stephens, Queen Vic, Hukarere just as their mothers and fathers had or to the same schools that we also went to. Some families schooled their children locally and then sent them to boarding schools in the last two years of secondary school.
After the 1987 environmental restructuring followed by that of MOW, I think it was MOW that was asked to do a social impact report on the reforms and this was hurriedly pulped/withdrawn (from my recollection) after it was clear that not much good had resulted from these reforms and huge dislocation costing $$$$, careers, loss of retirement savings, and heartbreaking mental and social effects were the main results.
EA has brought out a consultancy paper ,for the management of winter 2023 tight generation periods.
This is not because demand is behind installed generation capacity (demand is down and will be around 1500 gwh on 2021) it is by the changes in the generation mix,and the high cost imposed by the necessary use of thermal generation for peak loads.
A key reason for this divergence between available and installed generation capacity relates to the increased role of intermittent generation and the growing cost of gas, coal and carbon emissions.
Intermittency from NI wind (over 1 gw) is dependent on near real time forecasting which is constrained to 5 day windows at the 60% probability window,and 1 day at the 90%.
This is with additional lessening of load,with the closure of Marsden point,and Norsk paper (around 100mw)
Peak load demand needs to be lessened substantially North of Taupo,for the winter months.
Where is the workers central labour organisation (NZCTU) today? I checked their FB Together and www, little on the RB OCR hike. The economist is no doubt beavering away, but there should have been heavy fire back on that, and to the Natzos claims about migrant workers on RNZ this morning.
Really–there is a classic contradiction between the RB and Employers arguments. Unemployment must rise says the RB, where as employers are desperate for more workers via migrant labour and want easing up on entry and residency. Translation–break down the growing workers action for higher wages, and use cheaper imported labour. NZ National have said that migrant workers should not be paid the median wage.
To paraphrase Marx… “wage rises generally happen in the track of previous price rises” – it’s a catch-up response, not due to ‘excessive’ and unrealistic demands for higher wages by workers. Second, it is not wage rises that cause rising inflation. Many other things affect price changes, Marx argued: namely “the amount of production (growth rates), the productive powers of labour (productivity growth), the value of money (money supply growth), fluctuations of market prices which happens constantly anyway, and “different phases of the industrial cycle” (boom or slump).
The claim that there is a wage-price spiral and that wage rises cause price rises is an ideological smokescreen to protect profitability.
It takes time to write something decent and also to get it published but I'm sure it's a high priority for CTU.
The November Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) has some quite good commentary on wages from page 33 including how different Stats NZ wage measures apply to different ways of obtaining pay rises. RBNZ agree with you and Marx that wages usually catch up to CPI and are forecasting that. What they are trying to avoid isn't the catch-up to CPI in and of itself, it's going too far past that (whatever that looks like), "forcing" prices up which in turn forces wages up more etc.
Recently I commented on David Seymour using the Ellerslie jeweller's store robbery for publicity. He even stood in Parliament to announce he'd been there.
I considered posting yesterday that he'd be disappointed that the tragic Sandringham incident wasn't in his electorate. I pulled my head in.
Seymour didn't disappoint though. The headline today is "Act Party criticises PM Jacinda Ardern for not supporting local community after stabbing."
It's appropriate to mention talk about 16 year olds getting the vote. That's the level Seymour is operating at and the level of the intellectually disadvantaged in that cohort he seeks to appeal to. (With due apologies to 16 year olds with a modicum of intelligence and class.)
It's a long-running trope that they love: "PM should not be in A, she should be in B".
If she's at APEC she should be at COP. If she's at COP she should be at APEC. If she's in NZ she should be overseas, if she's overseas she should be in NZ, if she's in Auckland she should be in Wellington, if she's anywhere it's a photo op, if she's not there she's hiding … zzzzzzzz.
It's a free hit because it can't be wrong. By definition, she is not somewhere. Infantile and idiotic, but Seymour gonna Seymour, he knows his fan base and their obsessive hatred.
But the comments already aren't, and won't be (though they are usually closed/deleted later).
Any Stuff article that mentions the PM gets the same comments. Doesn't matter if the subject is rugby or water or weather or tax or music or recipes with fish.
Yes, they've closed comments, and deleted some previous ones.
The Stuff moderation policy is daft. If they don't want the comments (which as I've stated are entirely predictable) then they shouldn't open an article for them … and then close them when the predictable happens. Leave them open and allow for rebuttal and free debate. Or, don't open them. Either is fine.
The article itself is fine, an overview of Chatham Island issues, no problem.
Davids been doing this since forever. Its reminiscent of his weird election ads where he was popping out from behind bushes. Is it mostly spin? Or are the voters of Epsom regularly left wondering just how long their MP has been hanging out there.
Heather Stupidity-Allen, in her creepy voice, was asking Chris Hipkins why the PM wasn't on the street corner outside the Rose Cottage. He must have thought it was Halloween again.
I admire these ministers who have to tread so carefully through the mire of malevolent idiocy which is right wing media.
“I considered posting yesterday that he'd be disappointed that the tragic Sandringham incident wasn't in his electorate. I pulled my head in. “- what a vile thing to think – someone was murdered, and you think of this. Says a lot about your character rather than pre supposing on someone else's.
Seymour literally said that Ardern needed fear of Covid for political gain, so when he's effectively accused her of hoping for Kiwi deaths, Peter's assessment is not wrong.
Peter assessment is a pig of a thing to even consider yet alone to publish, and with NO basis. So now can we Boise and extend our thoughts and assign them to others ??
There are some unglued people out there and more than enough who totally support this site that fall into this category, and even more who find it acceptable as long as they are for Labour imo Peter is still a pig to pass on his thoughts and apply them to someone else, or can/ should we now dedicate comments in this fashion moving forward??
Perhaps if the govt had thought post announcement of the $6m with follow up question to both officials and store owners/workers then deficiencies and improvements be made. But once announced, the govt moves on to the next crisis, and now we see after this avoidable death that ministers want a review ?? Shouldn’t that have been in progress following the initial commitment to see if it was effective and fit for purpose ?? Guess such follow up is beyond these guys
The core question from this thread that I commented on is "I considered posting yesterday that he'd be disappointed that the tragic Sandringham incident wasn't in his electorate. I pulled my head in."
Why don't you address this then ?? And where can you or anyone else derive support in Peters comment this out of anything on the subject ?? There is nothing out there to suggest this. Just yours and others acceptance of CRAP behaviour.
BUT he DID post it !!!!! So your argument is negated. Still no one able to link anything that supports this …. Still waiting or is making unsubstantiated comments now accepted ???
and observer don’t look in the mirror you may not like what you see looking back. You definitely are not a green supporter, at least they know there standards and when they swallow a rat they know and admit that it is against what they stand for.
If we all got hauled over the coals for everything we "considered posting" [but didn't] there would probably be lifetime bans for all of us.
David Seymour is an MP and party leader. I'd suggest his behaviour is more relevant and worth more of your indignation than somebody commenting on a blog. But each to his own. It's Friday night, I'm out, have a good one.
Peter's comment was an opinion, a personal appraisal of David Seymour, so doesn't require a link supporting it. The evidence is Seymour's grandstanding over crime which he delights making political hay from. Peter did provide a link for that.
I don't think Seymour is disappointed it didn't happen in Epsom but if it did he'd certainly not let it go to waste.
His answers, told to his fluffer Heather Stupidity-Allen, are:
To increase hard security tech in presumably every corner shop in the country and presumably at the taxpayers' expense (hence my comment above). I think proper staff training would be far more effective. First lesson might be not to follow a dangerous individual out of the shop.
To use Oranga Tamariki to incarcerate youth offenders so they are not delivered back to the address from which they committed the offence. This would have to be a borstal or juvenile detention because how are you going to keep them there?
David Seymour is a student politician and an idiot.
Next best thing for dear David would be to get headlines in the Herald. Oh dear. He has.
The Act Party is criticising Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for not being with members of her electorate who were grieving after a man was stabbed to death by a thief who had stolen a cash register from the dairy the man was managing.
I thought that Jacinda visited shops and spoke to the locals in Sandringham the day after the murder according to a TV news item that I caught the end of. Seymour is a dickhead BTW.
According to this article – she hasn't been (Ardern gives her reasons – but there is no claim that she's already visited the community)
"It is my local community, so I will be looking to be present there as soon as I'm able to but I'm also very aware there's a family grieving, and there's a police active investigation into a homicide," she said.
I expected Seymour to use the incident to play a vile game. It was vile thinking he would?
He did not disappoint. The reason that he does it and his particular mode of fomenting negativity and hate flourishes is that it's not called for what it is.
I know everyone has whinge hysteria mode turned up to the max – I can see the political vultures like Sunny Kaushal and David Seymour sitting on the powerlines in Fowlds Ave from my house – but from my positive RAT test to the delivery of anti-viral pills took less than two hours, whilst after registering my test result I got calls from my GP and PMO nurse within 24 hours. All free. The system does work if you want it to.
Nightime temperatures in Ukraine are below -0c and videos are emerging of entire squads of Russian mobiks huddled together out in the open or in their dugouts either dead or so hyperthermic they're unable to move.
Little wonder Poots has boosted spending on domestic security.
Could someone please explain what this black friday is all about? Are we really so dumb that we allow ourselves to get sucked into this American commercial bullshit?
Yes apparently so. We have already tucked into our Thanksgiving dinners…….what you don't celebrate Thanksgiving? For shame. /sarc
As I said last night Black Friday used to be any Friday that fell on the 13th of the month – when you didn't walk under a ladder with a black cat in your arms, or step on the cracks in the pavement, perhaps I have that a bit mixed up.
Oh yes, I remember the ladder thing. Everyone scrupulously avoided walking under the ladders. It was a good lurk to stop people being hurt from falling ladders. 😉
I thought it was the black cat walking across in front of you which was supposed to bring bad luck. Poor harmless pussy. 🙂
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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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It was once legal for a man to beat his wife.
It was only recently that we made it illegal for parents to beat their children.
Youth are disempowered in many ways
Voting empowers
We are afraid of empowering young people, especially girls
For a reason
Climate activist Greta Thunberg aged 15 – Launched 'School Strike for the Climate' a movement that became global.
Education activist Malala Yousafzai aged 15 – Survived attempted assassination by the Taliban for demanding education for girls.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24379018
Child bride activist Nada Al Ahdal aged 11 – Escaped child marriage after making a harrowing two minute video appealing against her forced child marriage that went viral on you tube. Now leads an international movement against child marriage.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/arab-showcase/2022/11/24/the-yemeni-child-bride-activist-leading-the-fight-against-the-scourge-of-early-marriage/
However, voting – AFAIK – at 16 isn't legal in any of the countries those teens come from.
Your point seems to be demonstrating that it is perfectly possible and valid for teens to be activists – and potentially change their societies – without being eligible to vote.
Likewise, it would be perfectly possible for women everywhere to be activists – and potentially change their societies -without being eligible to vote.
"Your point seems to be demonstrating that it is perfectly possible and valid for teens to be activists – and potentially change their societies – without being eligible to vote." Belladonna
Many of the same Right Wing talking points being trotted out against enfranchising young people, are a retread of similar talking points that were argued against extending the franchise to women.
In fact you could extend these same right wing anti-democratic arguments to everyone.
If the franchise was removed from everyone, people could still potentially change their societies – without being eligible to vote.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolpuddle_Martyrs
Not really. Although there are plenty of examples both from our own history, and current events elsewhere, which actually do demonstrate that being eligible to vote is not essential for activism.
The difference between sex and age as criteria for voting, is, that one never changes [or, at least absent extensive surgical intervention, doesn't change], while the other is simply a matter of time.
Waiting a couple of years to exercise your right to vote doesn't appear to be a major issue.
And, of course, shifting the voting age, will simply create the same sense of dis-enfranchisement from the younger cohort of voters.
You earlier argued that the age of franchise is arbitrary.
“Any voting age is an arbitrary cut-off point – with no way to justify it…” Belladonna
.https://thestandard.org.nz/the-politics-of-the-voting-age-change/#comment-1922761
Given the examples above I would argue that it not be arbitrary. That the age of franchise should be set is where it is determined that social awareness and political activism generally begins.
The ability to be able to read and write and use and interact through social media might be another non-arbitrary point of reference to determine the age of franchise.
“Social media saved my life,” Nada Al Ahdal
Through the use of social medial Nada Al Ahdal escaped two wedding pacts arranged by her parents. and has since pledged to protect others from being sold 'like sheep'
She forced to sign a document banning comments about child marriage in the press or on social media.
"…..the head of the school said that I, being famous for showing social media about child marriage, would brainwash the other girls. She told me to study at home but I refused,” Nada Al Ahdal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQszkZVNeFA
Yes it is arbitrary. Can you point to any actual hard evidence that 16 is a more valid age than 18 (or for that matter 14)?
If you want to argue for the use of social media as a qualifying factor – then you would need to be open to 12-year-olds – and even younger – as voters. Plenty of them are very active social media users.
Your criteria is also arbitrary.
Who decides? I can assure you, that the majority of kids in my teens school, even at the senior levels are *not* particularly politically active or even politically aware. The exceptions are the outliers that we see in the media. Equally, I know of much younger children who have made moral or ethical life choices (to be vegetarian, for example), and are deeply aware of the political implications of their choice.
Your suggested additional qualifier of use of social media is also arbitrary. How much use qualifies? Do you have to be active in social areas – or does posting TikTok videos count? Who gets to judge?
Just as an aside, that criteria would also drop off voters at the other end – not many people over 70 (yes, there are some) – who are active social media users. And there are a tranche of people who deliberately choose not to engage on social media at all – should they be disenfranchised also?
Very good potted history on why we are in the situation we are with crime and poverty. A breath of fresh air cutting through all the tough on crime rhetoric
https://twitter.com/k_t_pi/status/1595692454686388224
If long term poverty was a crime-driver we'd see burglaries up over a decade, and ramraids of supermarkets. We never have.
Until COVID all crime was down and staying down.
Ramraiders are targeting highly taxed pleasure shops: tobacco, vapes and alcohol.
Crime especially all kinds of assault is still down. It needs its own post but there is zero causality to the 1990s structural adjustment.
I'd query the targeting. In our local area – it's not only – or even predominantly – highly taxed pleasure shops which are being targeted – it's just ordinary run-of-the-mill ones – where, in many cases, they've taken only minor amounts of money and/or goods – while causing tens-of-thousands-of-dollars worth of damage.
The driver appears to be the thrill of destruction, combined with the excitement of notoriety (TikTok, etc.)
While I can understand (though not approve of) stealing vapes, alcohol and cigarettes – or even high-end fashion goods; there is no rational excuse for targeting the local Malaysian cafe, Subway franchise, or stationery shop (doesn't sell vapes or cigarettes).
If I get a couple of hours on the weekend I'll do a post on crime.
I'm not an expert on it but the graphed public reports are solid and far and away beat the anecdotes and bleed-lead cycles.
Be interesting (if data makes it possible) to see if big excise tax increases correlate with a rise in ram raid type crime targeting Tobacco and Alcohol.
https://dunedinstudy.otago.ac.nz/files/1571970023782.pdf
Ad, I would recomend looking at this article from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Study. It links childhood self control (or its absence) to all sorts of negative life outcomes, including crime. Poor self control at three years of age predicts these outcomes even when controlled for socio economic status and IQ.
This in my opinion should be the basis for how to bring the crime rate down.
"childhood self-control is signficantly correlated with adult self-control but shows much more room for change. The fact that a child with low self-control can still become an adult with high self-control indicates that self-control may be a more malleable and teachable characteristic than IQ. Scores are normalized around a mean of 0"
I'd be loathe to ascribe any kind of single-factor causal relationship towards criminal conviction records. Certainly be surprised if the Dunedin study did that.
Doesn't account for the 2021-22 spike in ram raids, gun warfare, and school delinquency. But it does correlate really well with COVID and the tobacco and alcohol excise taxes going up by a big jump two budgets ago.
We have known the importance of this Dunedin study for ages. Hell I think I commented on it in detail here years back. From memory they could by the age of 3 categorise children into five social styles with about 7% of children in a 'aggressive and disruptive' group who – we at the highest risk of going on to very poor outcomes with violence and crime.
The most vital stage of their lives is between age 4 – 7yrs old when they have the chance to learn how to moderate they behaviour in rough and tumble play with other children and especially their fathers. This is how they learn the boundaries of what is a good game and what is hurtful or out of bounds. They don't learn from being lectured or moralised to – they learn from the physical experience of play. They are typically very kinetic, energetic and physical kids, and if they learn this moderating ability at this age will grow into fine capable adults.
But if they lacked positively engaged fathers, siblings and others they could literally bounce off – or worse if they encountered sustained abuse of any form – their teenage and adult outcomes were almost certain to be terrible.
I'd add a further point:
Requiring such young children (often boys, with tremendous amounts of physical energy) to conform to the confined and restrained behaviour expected in a classroom environment actively fails them.
Not only do they not have that level of self-management, they often gain a reputation for disruption that is difficult to leave behind.
.
Whoaaaaa there !!!, affluent Pakeha Woke dogmatists have assured me the neighbourhood terrorism being perpetrated by violent, out-of-control anti-socials indiscriminately dumped in Kainga Ora housing is all down to "Post Colonial Traumatic Stress Disorder"
(Admittedly the well-to-do power-wielding Critical Theory Cult members who angrily demand we all accept this theory without demur courageously ensure they're living as far away as possible from the Nightmare situations they've cheerfully facilitated … though we should, of course, bear in mind that they possess “uniquely-refined moral sensibilities”)
"Courageously ensure they're living as far away as possible from the Nightmare situations"
Yes but interestingly enough when the parliament protestors littered their work environment the howls of protest from the parliamentarians and their workforce couldn't have been louder about the "river of filth!' Where were their cries of "Post Colonial Traumatic Stress Disorder", when they called for the army and Costers force to remove these scum? And on the last day, when it was mainly Maori men left rioting in the streets of Wellington, where were the defenders of those anti social Kainga Ora tennants? Somehow the PCTSD diagnosis didn't apply then
Strange that…
.
Yeah, you are quite right, Anker … what the Dunedin study found is well-established in the international literature … after the age of 4, anti-social children (or to use a technical term: conduct-disordered children) tend to turn into anti-social adolescents who, in turn, become anti-social & criminal adults.
The literature in Psychology suggests the vast majority of those 2 year olds who are unusually aggressive (most of them male) are reasonably well-socialised / domesticated by the age of 4 (with the intervention of parents, teachers & peers) … and aided, as Redlogix says, by rough & tumble play.
They've learnt how to regulate their innate aggression.
But that minority of aggressive, anti-social kids who haven't been properly socialised by 4 tend to be hyper-aggressive for the rest of their lives.
As adults, they are generally very low in trait Agreeableness & trait Conscientiousness (in terms of Psychology's Big Five Personality Traits) … so they're bordering on Sociopath / Psychopath territory.
Characterised by Predatory Aggression (low agreeableness) in contrast to those with Paternal Sympathy (high agreeableness)
Chronically aggressive children, as they become adults, lack empathy, are suspicious, narcissistic & highly self-centered.
There is a substantial literature on trying to rectify the behaviour of anti-social children after the age of 4 … and the findings suggest it's very difficult. Few interventions are helpful.
And if these unusually aggressive, anti-social adults (again, largely males) find themselves in the underclass, at the bottom of the social hierarchy (as they so often do), they will seek to achieve status by dominating their immediate environment – their local neighbourhood – through violence & extreme anti-social behaviour … which, of course, points to the nightmare situation dumped on my elderly parents & their neighbours & street … along with hundreds, perhaps thousands of others around New Zealand.
The article I posted is an interesting read. I am so impressed by the Dunedin Study. Ideology free. Just good science.
They do say in that article some programmes teaching self control really early on have shown promise, so I feel somewhat encouraged by this. But of course everyone is barking up the wrong tree with this. Marama Davison and the Greens for one.
The poor self control thing absolutely makes sense to me. They also found it predicted people with gambling problems in their 30s.
The sad thing is these people with poor self control show very poor parenting skills and so the circle continues (and you have spoken about this with your parents tormenter and their child apeing his behaviour). It is too late for this anti social tennant. Across NZ people like this are making other peoples lives hell. Anti social PD's are deeply problematic. But they are likely beyond help and they should be given the message that their shitty behaviour is not tolerated. This was what was lacking in their upbringing. Good clear boundaries and consequences.
I know of the OCEAN stuff. It is a great little formula.
It outlines the duality of the problem….the solutions for the future anti socials is at odds with the solutions for the current anti socials.
We need to stop/slow the creation of future problem while addressing the current
This also applies to the assessment of the problems. We need to be able to clearly determine the factors that may lead to the current behaviour, rather than use past understanding to define the causes.
There have been significant societal disruptors over the last two decades, there should be no automatic assumptions regarding causes.
Id suggest the problems concerning wider society are self evident even if the causes are not
@pat
I agree.
When I said problems, I meant problem with assuming causes (admittedly unclear).
If causes are incorrectly identified, then solutions may not only be ineffective now, but create issues in the long term.
In short: what you said.
Meanwhile the problems (existing) must be addressed
@pat.
I agree.
Yes Pat, I agree. What to we do to try and prevent this and if we go by the Dunedin study, it is intervene very, very early as in about 3 years old.
I am at a lost to know what to do when people reach adolecences or older. I am not up with the play about what works.
The studies do appear to show that early intervention is critical, however we appear to be opposed to intervention…go figure.
As to what to do about those beyond that point Id suggest we can neither afford to excuse the behaviour but neither do we have the resources to provide the comprehensive oversight required.
It is a question of scale and we have allowed the problem to become too large….like many of our problems.
Nope, scale is not the issue at all and you cannot argue this.
Indeed!….and your basis for that assertion?
Your lack of argument in your comment, for starters. You made the claim – the problem cannot be solved or dealt with adequately or even appropriately because it is too large – you argue for it, or not. Are you a fatalist?
8,600 in prison
5,800 electronically monitored
2,500 501 deportees
5,200 in care and protection with OT
7,700 listed gang members (not including associates)
156,000 children living in poverty
How many required to provide wrap around services for this volume of people?
@Incognito
ah your sensibilities are upset because you dont wish to acknowledge that there is a problem of scale and resource….this attitude is reminiscent of the 'care in the community" proponents of mental health care….great in theory and absolutely useless in practice due to the complete lack of resource able to be applied and yet the policy was rolled out anyway.
Nah, you don’t appreciate the nature and complexity of those societal problems which is why you need to dumb it down to: too big, too hard, can’t do.
Lol…no need to stoop to abuse. Im a little concerned about you incognito, you appear under significant stress of late.
Except for a bunch of bullet points without commentary that look like they come straight from the National Party Speaking Points Sheet – Executive Summary you have offered nothing, not a single decent argument that’s worthy of debate. Your skin is apparently too thin to point out this inconvenient truth to you. You seem to think that your comments are only read by a couple of commenters on this site, which is why they often lack clarity and explanation and why you tend to resist having to explain yourself in layman terms that are easy to understand for a more general audience. If I didn’t think you couldn’t do any better I’d not even bother trying to tease out a more meaningful comment from you. Your concern for me has been noted.
This is why so much crime "debate" is offering nothing.
We instantly switch on our fixed settings, our preconceptions, to put new events in a context we understand, which is outdated.
e.g.
Long-standing assumption: crims do not want to be seen. Cameras are their enemy. Use CCTV. Makes sense.
New reality: some (especially young) do want to be seen. Cameras are their friend. Get on Tik-tok. Makes no sense.
Churning out old reckons from people who grew up before mobile phones is the opinion that dominates the "debate". Not even close to understanding what is going on, because we never imagined doing it.
The "zero" is a big call – "no obvious" might be closer to the mark because there's always the argument to be made about hyper-individualism, loss of empathic community relationships etc. etc. I get though that you are trying to kick people out of helplessly whining about the past and instead thinking about action in the present.
The children of the 'Mother of all Budgets" are with us. They've given birth to another generation who are out and about.
We tell women to not drink alcohol while pregnant because of, amongst other things, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Foetal Richardson Syndrome.
Yes, in the old days Peter it was the children of bath tub gin imbibers, they ended up in Reform Schools or Borstals.
Now we have the children of Poverty and drink/meth intoxicated by internet algorithms and copycat behaviour. That is why it is about the act not the booty.
Really?
1991 is 31 years ago.
The spike we are seeing in truancy, ram raids and gun violence is in the last 2 years.
The ages suggest most were born just after or during the GFC
Are you proposing that criminals are born because of economic crisis?
We've also just gone through a period in our history where a section of society, led by some political leaders, rebelled against the rule of law and society, saying 'fuck you Society and Government, I'll do what I want to do and not what you tell me, fuck off…'
It's not surprising that societal engagement rubs off on youth who say ' fuck you, I'll do what I bloody well like and take whatever I like, fuck off..'
Societal disengagement has become normalised, the kids are only following adult leadership. And having a ball.
It's one of the reasons why I believe building strong community is an imperative at this point in time, including with people who think differently from us or who we dislike. We can't mend what's happened since the Shipley years unless there is a major political shift, but we can rebuild locally.
People rebelled because among other important things, they had lost personal autonomy over their health, jobs, movement and essentially their lives. This wasn't rebelling against rules just for the hell of it.
Something tells me that school shutdowns, disrupted education, health requirements to participate in class and in school sports, are going to have a larger detrimental effect on young people. We have let down young people badly in these last few years, isn't the mark of a good society how they treat their young.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/graph/29237/child-homicide-rates-for-maori-and-non-maori
I stumbled across this graph inadvertantly in the last week or so. Passing a lot of time on line as I recover from Covid (sick for two weeks now!).
What I found fascinating was that Maori rates of child homicide shot up from 1991 onwards (they had been the same as non Maori up till then). I hadn't heard or seen this figure before (maybe it is generally known). But I think it could do with some unpicking. The obvious conclusion is that the welfare reforms and Rogernomics play a role in this statistic. I would be surprized if there hasn't been some good research methods applied to confirm if this is the case. I realize it fits with what I recall of an ever increasing number of homicide victims that are Maori children.
Anyone know more about this?
I don't, but I would also look at whether Māori were disproportionately affected by the mass redundancies in the 80s thanks to ACTLabour (I will guess they were). So many things took at dive at the point, and then National in the 90s just cemented the neolib project in. Mental health, job security, employment conditions, union power, benefit rates, health system, on and on. I don't think younger people can probably appreciate just how massive a societal change it was.
My mother was a social worker in the 90s and she said it would take generations to recover from what they were doing.
Weka, agree. It didn't just start with Ruth Richardson
Yes indeed re the generations comment. I worked in South Auckland car industry for 20 years, 70s to early 90s, and the workforce was mainly brown apart from admins and managers, industry deregulated and mostly gone well before end of 90s. Provincial county councils with their own works departments–contracted out, Manufacturing had the pin pulled, including footwear, clothing and textiles. With that unskilled but full time work, there were thousands of associated support workers and suppliers.
So perhaps Rogernomics greatest shame remains discarding people via macro economic decisions that they had no immediate control over, and then abandoning them. And to rub it in–demonising them as dole bludgers, market rents for state housing and the Richardson MOAB was the final straw. If you want to know who ram raiders are–they are the grand children of Roger and Ruth.
Economist Brian Easton said in 2018…(full article linked)
https://e-tangata.co.nz/korero/brian-easton-maori-have-been-trapped-in-a-poverty-cycle/
“What Rogernomics did, among other things, was to eradicate a lot of jobs. And we know that Māori were affected more than non-Māori. Māori health deteriorated and Māori mortality rose during the Rogernomics era quite against the long term trend. Moreover the Rogernomic policies were deliberately biased against the poor and therefore disproportionally hit Māori.
So, when we get through that period, what have we got? We’ve got a large, young population — it’s younger than the national average — and it’s an unskilled population. It’s not ready for the high-skilled jobs that are being created in the economy.”
thank-you, really good comment. Rage inducing stuff.
The redundancies in the late 1980s pulled the 'guts out' of the ability to work for large employers in predominantly Maori communities for labouring type jobs. So Forestry went, MOW local branches went etc etc.
Local branches for many govt depts went, where these branches were located in Maori areas this meant people had less chance of being able to live locally. With all of the Govt Depts retreating from small town NZ and even small city NZ eg Napier and Gisborne had no branches left in the Govt dept I worked for, all run from Wellington as was Whanganui & Palmerston North.
In the small town I grew up in it not only destroyed jobs but what I call the Maori middle class, those whose children went away to boarding schools such as Hato Petera, Te Aute, St Stephens, Queen Vic, Hukarere just as their mothers and fathers had or to the same schools that we also went to. Some families schooled their children locally and then sent them to boarding schools in the last two years of secondary school.
After the 1987 environmental restructuring followed by that of MOW, I think it was MOW that was asked to do a social impact report on the reforms and this was hurriedly pulped/withdrawn (from my recollection) after it was clear that not much good had resulted from these reforms and huge dislocation costing $$$$, careers, loss of retirement savings, and heartbreaking mental and social effects were the main results.
People forget what a nasty bit of work Shipley is and was.
EA has brought out a consultancy paper ,for the management of winter 2023 tight generation periods.
This is not because demand is behind installed generation capacity (demand is down and will be around 1500 gwh on 2021) it is by the changes in the generation mix,and the high cost imposed by the necessary use of thermal generation for peak loads.
https://www.ea.govt.nz/assets/dms-assets/31/Driving-efficient-solutions-to-promote-consumer-interests-through-winter-2023.pdf
Intermittency from NI wind (over 1 gw) is dependent on near real time forecasting which is constrained to 5 day windows at the 60% probability window,and 1 day at the 90%.
This is with additional lessening of load,with the closure of Marsden point,and Norsk paper (around 100mw)
Peak load demand needs to be lessened substantially North of Taupo,for the winter months.
Where is the workers central labour organisation (NZCTU) today? I checked their FB Together and www, little on the RB OCR hike. The economist is no doubt beavering away, but there should have been heavy fire back on that, and to the Natzos claims about migrant workers on RNZ this morning.
Really–there is a classic contradiction between the RB and Employers arguments. Unemployment must rise says the RB, where as employers are desperate for more workers via migrant labour and want easing up on entry and residency. Translation–break down the growing workers action for higher wages, and use cheaper imported labour. NZ National have said that migrant workers should not be paid the median wage.
To paraphrase Marx… “wage rises generally happen in the track of previous price rises” – it’s a catch-up response, not due to ‘excessive’ and unrealistic demands for higher wages by workers. Second, it is not wage rises that cause rising inflation. Many other things affect price changes, Marx argued: namely “the amount of production (growth rates), the productive powers of labour (productivity growth), the value of money (money supply growth), fluctuations of market prices which happens constantly anyway, and “different phases of the industrial cycle” (boom or slump).
The claim that there is a wage-price spiral and that wage rises cause price rises is an ideological smokescreen to protect profitability.
It takes time to write something decent and also to get it published but I'm sure it's a high priority for CTU.
The November Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) has some quite good commentary on wages from page 33 including how different Stats NZ wage measures apply to different ways of obtaining pay rises. RBNZ agree with you and Marx that wages usually catch up to CPI and are forecasting that. What they are trying to avoid isn't the catch-up to CPI in and of itself, it's going too far past that (whatever that looks like), "forcing" prices up which in turn forces wages up more etc.
Recently I commented on David Seymour using the Ellerslie jeweller's store robbery for publicity. He even stood in Parliament to announce he'd been there.
I considered posting yesterday that he'd be disappointed that the tragic Sandringham incident wasn't in his electorate. I pulled my head in.
Seymour didn't disappoint though. The headline today is "Act Party criticises PM Jacinda Ardern for not supporting local community after stabbing."
It's appropriate to mention talk about 16 year olds getting the vote. That's the level Seymour is operating at and the level of the intellectually disadvantaged in that cohort he seeks to appeal to. (With due apologies to 16 year olds with a modicum of intelligence and class.)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/act-party-criticises-pm-jacinda-ardern-for-not-supporting-local-community-after-stabbing/6ZWMISM6TZHX3BC672R6ITRS5A/
It's a long-running trope that they love: "PM should not be in A, she should be in B".
If she's at APEC she should be at COP. If she's at COP she should be at APEC. If she's in NZ she should be overseas, if she's overseas she should be in NZ, if she's in Auckland she should be in Wellington, if she's anywhere it's a photo op, if she's not there she's hiding … zzzzzzzz.
It's a free hit because it can't be wrong. By definition, she is not somewhere. Infantile and idiotic, but Seymour gonna Seymour, he knows his fan base and their obsessive hatred.
Right on cue. Article: Chathams.
Comments on article … not. It's the Daily Cindy-Hate, given a platform by Stuff.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130579894/jacinda-ardern-visits-the-chathams-a-less-usual-and-much-farther-new-zealand-trip
At least she didn't take Mahuta down there.
Out of curiosity what what is there about the article that leads you to call it the "Daily Cindy-Hate"?
I cannot see anything there that falls into that category. What do you see?
In the article: nothing. It's about the Chathams.
But the comments already aren't, and won't be (though they are usually closed/deleted later).
Any Stuff article that mentions the PM gets the same comments. Doesn't matter if the subject is rugby or water or weather or tax or music or recipes with fish.
Ok. I misunderstood what you were complaining about and thought you meant the article.
They appear to have cut off the comments very quickly. There are only 3 at the moment which are 2/1 against her going.
Yes, they've closed comments, and deleted some previous ones.
The Stuff moderation policy is daft. If they don't want the comments (which as I've stated are entirely predictable) then they shouldn't open an article for them … and then close them when the predictable happens. Leave them open and allow for rebuttal and free debate. Or, don't open them. Either is fine.
The article itself is fine, an overview of Chatham Island issues, no problem.
Davids been doing this since forever. Its reminiscent of his weird election ads where he was popping out from behind bushes. Is it mostly spin? Or are the voters of Epsom regularly left wondering just how long their MP has been hanging out there.
Heather Stupidity-Allen, in her creepy voice, was asking Chris Hipkins why the PM wasn't on the street corner outside the Rose Cottage. He must have thought it was Halloween again.
I admire these ministers who have to tread so carefully through the mire of malevolent idiocy which is right wing media.
“I considered posting yesterday that he'd be disappointed that the tragic Sandringham incident wasn't in his electorate. I pulled my head in. “- what a vile thing to think – someone was murdered, and you think of this. Says a lot about your character rather than pre supposing on someone else's.
Seymour literally said that Ardern needed fear of Covid for political gain, so when he's effectively accused her of hoping for Kiwi deaths, Peter's assessment is not wrong.
Peter assessment is a pig of a thing to even consider yet alone to publish, and with NO basis. So now can we Boise and extend our thoughts and assign them to others ??
There are some unglued people out there and more than enough who totally support this site that fall into this category, and even more who find it acceptable as long as they are for Labour imo Peter is still a pig to pass on his thoughts and apply them to someone else, or can/ should we now dedicate comments in this fashion moving forward??
Perhaps if the govt had thought post announcement of the $6m with follow up question to both officials and store owners/workers then deficiencies and improvements be made. But once announced, the govt moves on to the next crisis, and now we see after this avoidable death that ministers want a review ?? Shouldn’t that have been in progress following the initial commitment to see if it was effective and fit for purpose ?? Guess such follow up is beyond these guys
No one has explained why it is up to the taxpayer to provide the cost of security to private business, and follow up no less.
Surely ACT is ideologically opposed to this type of idle dependence on government? Where will it end?
David Seymour must consider it an abomination…
What has your response got to do with my reaction to or Peters VILE comment ??
And no link from Peter to support his comment. Come on, time for you and others to display some decency, if you are able to
The core question here is: what is genuine concern, and what is shroud-waving and exploitation?
There's probably not much point debating that, most of us have formed a view on Seymour based on his previous behaviour.
No the core question is not …
The core question from this thread that I commented on is "I considered posting yesterday that he'd be disappointed that the tragic Sandringham incident wasn't in his electorate. I pulled my head in."
Why don't you address this then ?? And where can you or anyone else derive support in Peters comment this out of anything on the subject ?? There is nothing out there to suggest this. Just yours and others acceptance of CRAP behaviour.
And he did say he decided not to post but laid claim to thinking about it.
People do think 'unusual' and bad taste thoughts.
What would you have been like had he posted, they'd have had to disattach you from the ceiling after being airborne in an apoplectic rage.
Seymour is depressingly persistent in saying the PM should be here, there or anywhere rather than where she is.
.
BUT he DID post it !!!!! So your argument is negated. Still no one able to link anything that supports this …. Still waiting or is making unsubstantiated comments now accepted ???
and observer don’t look in the mirror you may not like what you see looking back. You definitely are not a green supporter, at least they know there standards and when they swallow a rat they know and admit that it is against what they stand for.
If we all got hauled over the coals for everything we "considered posting" [but didn't] there would probably be lifetime bans for all of us.
David Seymour is an MP and party leader. I'd suggest his behaviour is more relevant and worth more of your indignation than somebody commenting on a blog. But each to his own. It's Friday night, I'm out, have a good one.
Herodotus what is/was the significance of the word Boise in your post? Seems to have gone now?
Is this some new urban saying, I did look but can only find a ref to Boise Idaho and Bois for trees in French.
Peter's comment was an opinion, a personal appraisal of David Seymour, so doesn't require a link supporting it. The evidence is Seymour's grandstanding over crime which he delights making political hay from. Peter did provide a link for that.
I don't think Seymour is disappointed it didn't happen in Epsom but if it did he'd certainly not let it go to waste.
His answers, told to his fluffer Heather Stupidity-Allen, are:
David Seymour is a student politician and an idiot.
Need a link for that?
Next best thing for dear David would be to get headlines in the Herald. Oh dear. He has.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/act-party-criticises-pm-jacinda-ardern-for-not-supporting-local-community-after-stabbing/6ZWMISM6TZHX3BC672R6ITRS5A/
I thought that Jacinda visited shops and spoke to the locals in Sandringham the day after the murder according to a TV news item that I caught the end of. Seymour is a dickhead BTW.
According to this article – she hasn't been (Ardern gives her reasons – but there is no claim that she's already visited the community)
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/11/25/ardern-rejects-seymours-criticism-of-her-not-being-in-sandringham/
Apparently the people of the Chatham Islands should have suffered instead:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/11/auckland-dairy-stabbing-david-seymour-denounces-jacinda-ardern-s-chatham-islands-trip-as-givealittle-page-launched-for-victim-s-family.html
I expected Seymour to use the incident to play a vile game. It was vile thinking he would?
He did not disappoint. The reason that he does it and his particular mode of fomenting negativity and hate flourishes is that it's not called for what it is.
Aeromine Industries in Texas has developed bladeless wind energy solution that makes no sound. It can be linked to existing solar energy systems.
Sounds great? Can't link as found it on my cell phone.
I know everyone has whinge hysteria mode turned up to the max – I can see the political vultures like Sunny Kaushal and David Seymour sitting on the powerlines in Fowlds Ave from my house – but from my positive RAT test to the delivery of anti-viral pills took less than two hours, whilst after registering my test result I got calls from my GP and PMO nurse within 24 hours. All free. The system does work if you want it to.
Get well Sanctuary.
Nightime temperatures in Ukraine are below -0c and videos are emerging of entire squads of Russian mobiks huddled together out in the open or in their dugouts either dead or so hyperthermic they're unable to move.
Little wonder Poots has boosted spending on domestic security.
https://twitter.com/NoYardstick/status/1595244723865804801
Could someone please explain what this black friday is all about? Are we really so dumb that we allow ourselves to get sucked into this American commercial bullshit?
Yes apparently so. We have already tucked into our Thanksgiving dinners…….what you don't celebrate Thanksgiving? For shame. /sarc
As I said last night Black Friday used to be any Friday that fell on the 13th of the month – when you didn't walk under a ladder with a black cat in your arms, or step on the cracks in the pavement, perhaps I have that a bit mixed up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)
Typical US fashion, excuse the cynicism, it is all about shopping, money and retail.
Oh yes, I remember the ladder thing. Everyone scrupulously avoided walking under the ladders. It was a good lurk to stop people being hurt from falling ladders. 😉
I thought it was the black cat walking across in front of you which was supposed to bring bad luck. Poor harmless pussy. 🙂