My copy of Hager’s book has not arrived yet, so I haven’t read it!
But, from what I have gathered, the operation was given the go-ahead by Key himself.
If that was indeed the case, it seems inconceivable that he would not have been ‘fully’ briefed on the outcome of the raid, including that there were civilian deaths and injuries.
So, if a cover-up was ordered, isn’t it more than possible it originated from the 9th floor of the Beehive?
We need an independent investigation to determine ‘where the buck stops’!
Riverton’s Heritage Harvest Festival on this weekend; the hall and marquees are chocka with fruit and vegetables, preserves and people (or they will be as soon as the sun comes up 🙂 and the workshops are almost full already, the most popular so far being the seaweed foraging, with herb growing not far behind. I’m doing an interview on RadioLive at 8:00 and there are tours of my forest garden at 4:30 today and tomorrow. It’s going to be a big two days!
Kirsty Johnston, in the NZ Herald today, reports that a UN Report in 2011 came to similar conclucions to the book Hit and Run, about the same or a similar incident in 2010 in the same area of Afghanistan.
Although the incident sounds very similar to the book’s description of the SAS raid, the Weekend Herald has not been able to verify that both accounts are about the same event.
“International military forces conducted an investigation into an air strike on 22 August in Tala Wa Barfak district in Baghlan province that caused six civilian deaths and four injuries,” the report said.
…
The report was issued jointly by the Human Rights Unit of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA Human Rights) with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in 2011.
It reported that during 2010 there were 2777 civilians killed in Afghanistan, with 2080 attributed to Anti-Government Elements, and 440 deaths to Pro-Government Forces.
The UN recommended international military forces undertake thorough, impartial and transparent investigations into all incidents involving civilian casualties, and take any disciplinary action necessary.
Technically, “insurgents” come from outside a particular area, so includes AQ international migrants but also folk whose cultural area overflows the artificial or ill-defined national borders.
Then the “Taliban” isn’t very hierarchical as an organisation, but is a conglomeration of regional groups frequently controlled by charismatic leadership rather than a formal structure. These groups vary significantly in their religious and cultural zealotry. David Adams went to Afghanistan to do a documentary when it was under Taliban control and found that some “Taliban” commanders even wanted their picture taken, whereas others barely tolerated his presence and were very strict about not filming people.
And finally the actual logistical support and even ambushes can be subcontracted to unemployed locals as one-off jobs.
So, basically, anyone shooting at or bombing government forces and their allies.
President Trump has just killed the vote on his health reforms.
That is one huge campaign promise probably fully dead.
After his bodacious-scale brinkmanship to demand all Republicans vote for it and that he would “go after them” if they didn’t , they stared him down. They won, and he looks really weak as a result. I don’t think this will come to a vote again.
For a multiple of reasons, Donald Trump is looking like the best broad voter lesson against the Republicans in many, many years.
He should have been the great uniting force that brought all the Congress majority, all the Senate majority, all the Republican state legislatures, all the Republican governorships, into one grand front, unite the party, and roll out a full and comprehensive reform programme.
Instead we have total chaos in government across Washington – all inside around 100 days since he was inaugurated.
I was always pretty confident Trump is so fundamentally incompetent that this kind of debacle would be a regular feature. But there was always the nagging doubt in my judgement and that maybe Trump had actual abilities he was cleverly hiding.
Pence is now the big worry. He looks like he’s treading the fine line of keeping enough separation from Trump’s screwups but still being seen to be a team player. So when Trump’s gone, Pence seems more much more likely to have the skills to get these things through.
For the sake of the stability of US politics, I would hope that the Republican leadership and the White House now have a bit of a cup of tea together and figure out what they should have figured out before Trump was elected:
a policy platform and legislative agenda that they agree on achieving together.
My other, minor instinct is to watch the Republicans draining their own swamp simply by pulling their own plug while swimming in it, and while flapping about, take the knives to each other in righteous blame and disembowel each other.
The latter however is the Bannon view: burn the system down and let the market of ideas and populism and commercial power run cross the land unfettered. Great theatre, but very bad for the world.
To Ad: There are important reasons why Trump’s reforms, health care bill etc will not pass through the lower house. One only needs to look at the people who have taken control of the Republican Party, know their political aims and as a result a good number of Republican members will take that second sober look and not follow Donald Trump, Some of the rich and influential personalities, pulling the Republican Party towards the far right are Robert and Rebekka Mercer.
Sure, you can look in it as a failure caused by specific individuals, or Ryan as Speaker, but in the end it’s absolutely the biggest shock to a new US government we’ve ever seen.
Why is it that a fully stacked deck of Republicans can go backwards faster than Obama – in control of almost nothing – went forwards?
That’s not just a few individuals.
That’s a really deep sickness inside the entire Republican movement.
To Ad: “Why is it that a fully stacked deck of Republicans can go backwards faster than Obama – in control of almost nothing – went forwards?” Perhaps you need to reread my comment again. I’ll put it in simpler terms. Many moderate Republicans will not support the scrapping of Obama’s Affordable Care Act and leave some 24 million voters without insurance. That would have meant committing possible political suicide for many moderate Republicans.
I don’t see that at all. Getting rid of Obamacare was a common Republican promise across all layers of power for Republicans.
From the commentary from the Freedom Republicans it looked much more like there was insufficient eradication of abortion funding, plus the fear that the Koch brothers would de-fund the mid-term campaign of any Republican member who voted for it.
IF I had been Sean Spicer that’s the line I would have run a little further on: he’s already commented today that
“we don’t live in a dictatorship”, and the constitutional levers are working in that a Republican lock isn’t running over the whole country.
Sorry to disagree. Don’t know what you mean by getting rid of Obamacare.
Moderate Republicans and Democrats are happy to modify the Affordable Care Act.
My understanding is that the Koch Brothers did not like it and flexed their muscle as the owners of most of the Republican politicians. The Koch Brothers are the ones who really run the Republican party.
A network of top Republican donors, led by the Koch brothers, are launching an 11th hour bid to sink the health care bill with a new fund for the 2018 midterms available only to members who vote “No”.
Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners announced the “seven-figure fund” on Wednesday night. They oppose the bill because it falls short of a full Obamacare repeal.
I wonder which little NGO in Wellington could have had the focus and intellectual grunt to assist the Maori Party to fight solely on the point of GMO Ministerial call-ins?
Sure as hell this is the first time in a long time a significant change has been made between second and third readings of a bill.
Has anyone seen exactly what is in the agreement that the Maori Party say they have achieved with the Govt on the RLM Bill ? It is the GMO Ministerial call-ins that have been the sticking point ….. but I cannot find anything which clarifies whether the Maori Party succeeded in preventing these Miniserial call-ins.
Does anyone know ?
The Freshwater and Natural Resources Iwi Leaders Groups supports the gains that the Maori Party has achieved to amend the Resource Management Act this week.
… Selwyn Parata, Chair of the Natural Resources Iwi Leaders group, “Mana Whakahono a Rohe agreements and the other gains made by the Maori Party provide a new platform for iwi and hapu to engage with Councils that will support Councils to have clarity over how tangata whenua want to be engaged with and to encourage the wealth of knowledge held by Maori communities to be better shared to protect our natural environments for all New Zealanders for today and for tomorrow”.
Even if you read through all the papers, including Section D360 in full you would not know what Maori have agreed to or achieved. Unless there is a philosophical agreement on grounds of water being made a profitable avenue for the benefit of the few? Lets see what is happening in another 5 years time – wondering whether there is some handshaking going on that will be to the detriment to all.
The RMA has been of great benefit to Maori but of cause when money is at play things change and everything has a price and is for sale after all.
The death knell of the Maori Party as it has decided to support massively developer-friendly and landscape inimical reforms proposed by its National Party mates.
The RMA has been gutted now. The checks and balances of the right to appeal to the Environment Court has been largely removed for the public, though not for developers of course.
Its not all about votes Ad. Labour and the Greens should campaign hard on reversing the latest RMA changes which have nothing to do with solving the housing crisis and everything to do with lining developers pockets.
I agree it is complicated and so difficult to put across in a campaign but when people in Wanaka (for instance) see intrusive subdivisions and lakeside building monstrosities rammed through degrading the landscape with no chance to to make public submissions or appeal to the court they are going to be up in arms.
“Labour has withdrawn support for the Point England Development Enabling Bill that would allow the government to sell nearly 12ha of public land in east Auckland to Ngāti Pāoa as part of its Treaty settlement.”
Ngāti Pāoa Iwi Trust chief executive Hauauru Rawiri said without the land there would be no Treaty settlement.
“By opposing the legislation, Labour is opposing a Treaty settlement bill for the first time in the history of the Treaty settlement process,” Mr Rawiri said.
Labour was suggesting Ngāti Pāoa was being “duped” by the government to advance its housing programme.
“This is a supremely patronising and condescending attitude that reflects poorly on its proponents.”
Mr Rawiri said the iwi deliberately sought the land for housing because it was close to its marae site.
He called Labour’s stance hypocritical as it did not oppose the transfer of reserve land in Takapuna to a hapū five years ago as part of a Treaty settlement.
The argument other land was available was not true, he said.
“Tamaki Regeneration Company land is not Crown land and is not available for Treaty redress.”
jeepers how are those non-placing on the list looking now – some drips of cold sweat slowly sliding down the brow methinks.
And the spin from The Māori Party is scathing
“This week the leader of Labour relegates all his Māori MPs off the party list to avoid their humiliation of being named at the bottom of it, and today the Labour Party denies Ngāti Paoa their right to settle part of their treaty claims through the Pt England Enabling Bill.”
“It is a betrayal of the support that Māori have given to Labour and our people of the Tamaki Mākaurau electorate and all other electorates need to remember this come September 23,” says Māori Party Co-Leader, Te Ururoa Flavell…
…“Particularly given the housing shortage in Auckland, Labour’s opposition is especially abhorrent. For Labour to bemoan the housing crisis for Auckland, and then deny iwi an opportunity to play a part in sorting the issues of housing shortages through plans to develop on their whenua, just shows how desperate Labour is to govern at the expense of our people.”
I suppose – and does it show that the Labour Māori seats and their Members of Parliament have been cut loose? Or is it that there are more important issues for Labour to worry about? or is it that Little’s Labour are floundering around like a fish on the beach?
Giving free shots is not the way to win imo – I despair for the left with this shit going down
That is a bad move by Labour. It seems that the Iwi has been quite pragmatic about this, and utilising the opportunity to get useful land for their chosen purposes and Labour is unwilling to support it and is sacrificing this fine opportunity for the Iwi so they can fire a few brickbats at Gnashional. Bad, stupid idea!
Maori have always had trouble with housing because of their refusal to mortgage their land to gain funds for housing provision. If they have funds or a scheme that enables house building on this land, and it is close enough to the marae to enable services and for it to be a centre for Maori to enhance their cultural and social life, it should be a no-brainer. Who or what directs what passes for thinking and strategy with Labour?
And a pdf from the Whangarei District Council: (Note the meaning of papakainga – ‘a nurturing place to return to’. Planning for Papakainga Housing – Whangarei District Council
wdc.govt.nz/CommunitySafetyandSupport/Housing/…/Papakainga-housing-brochure….
literal meaning of Papakainga housing is, ‘a nurturing place to return to’. … District Council and Maori Land Court so it has been difficult … Advice/Funding. http://wdc.govt.nz/CommunitySafetyandSupport/Housing/Documents/Papakainga-housing-brochure.pdf
(This does not have a discernable date! Surely a serious error for those seeking relevant timely info.)
That non-list malarkey was always only a desperate (and bloody stupid) move. (I believe you previously commented in a similar vein).
Unless there are seven high list places for Maori on the list, then Labour runs the real risk of becoming markedly less representative than it already is…and the knock on effect of that is that parliament as a whole also becomes less representative than it already is.
But then, when all you want to do is eat everything to your left…
It’s a personal perspective (obviously) – but if someone attempted those stand over/ fear tactics on me, I’d quite happily pick up a shovel, dig them a hole and get on the phone to book some bands for a party.
move the middle means getting them to vote for you when last time they voted for someone else – ultimately focusing on self centred issues for that middle and showing how a vote for the preferred party will either give them more of what they want and less of what they don’t want.
I get you. I wouldn’t term that ‘moving the middle’ is all – more ‘contesting the middle’ to my way of looking at things. (Meaning no movement; stagnation coming off the back of a process that diminishes options)
“Unless there are seven high list places for Maori on the list, then Labour runs the real risk of becoming markedly less representative than it already is…”
If the Labour candidates were high on the Labour Party list, then a vote for mana or the Maori Party could result in two Maori mps being returned to parliament for each contested electorate where Labour lose the electorate. (And depending on list placings, regardless of whether Labour win or lose those electorates) That’s pretty straight forward.
If no Maori are high on the Labour list, then no matter what, only one Maori mp gets returned for each electorate contest.
If no Maori are high on the Labour list ,and Labour lose all those electorates, then the Labour caucus will have fewer Maori mps than if they hadn’t pulled this silly stunt.
And if there are Maori mps placed high up on the list, then this silly stunt wasn’t just just silly but fucking dishonest.
Davis said the ‘two for one’ deal was ending. Kind of is, kind of isn’t. Karen linked to a piece below indicating high list places for Maori. So we have a clutch of experienced Labour mps potentially hitting the bin? Hey – ho.
Two for one is about being able to seat vote Mana and party vote Labour (it’s vastly stupid phrase given MMP and we all have two votes). That’s what Labour are wanting to undermine. I don’t think they’ve been dishonest about that part.
“So we have a clutch of experienced Labour mps potentially hitting the bin? Hey – ho.”
I’m not sure that’s what’s going to happen. We don’t yet know how many Māori will be on the list or what placing. I guess Jackson will be put into the top 30, but I don’t know who else, or even which other current Māori but non-Māori seat MPs will be on the list or where. Pretty hard to speculate much until that is known (although I am appreciating Karen’s input on this.
Two for one is… Uh-huh. And Davis implied something quite different – ie, that the choice was to vote Labour and only Labour because no-one would be coming in off the Labour list.
That’s the dishonest part given that Maori will be on the list (just not those who are contesting the electorates)
The “I’m not sure that’s going to happen” is an odd way to respond to a comment that revolved around the word “potentially”. But anyway.
Which just demonstrates how stupid the whole thing is. I’ve been hearing commentators use a different definition, but it’s certainly unclear. I think this is seat specific i.e. the voters are looking at their electorate vote in ways that most Pākehā don’t because we don’t really have that kind of representation.
“The “I’m not sure that’s going to happen” is an odd way to respond to a comment that revolved around the word “potentially”. But anyway.”
That was me being polite. That Labour would lose all the Māori seats is so far out in terms of probability that it’s probably not even worth considering 😉
Two for one is a message from previous elections that you can have Labour in govt *and a Mana MP. Labour are saying nope, if you want Davis as an MP you have to vote for him on the electorate vote, and if you want us in govt, you have to party vote Labour.
“In the Maori seats there is something very special going on and Labour’s Maori MPs are standing there saying vote for us, vote for our voice, we’ve got a track record and it’s better than anything any other party can offer,” he said.
The policy is a direct challenge to the alliance that has formed between the Maori Party and Mana Party and their decision not compete against each other for the Maori seats.
Labour currently hold six Maori seats, with the seventh held by Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.
Hauraki-Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta said the message was simple.
“We are eliminating the two-for-one message because in order to get us into government you need to be able to vote for our party as well,” she said.
Huge assumption there, Bill. You don’t think the Māori electorate MPs are capable of making decisions for themselves?
Also, I’d suggest you go and look at the candidates so far – I think you will see quite a bit of diversity. We need to wait till the list comes out to get an idea of how it will look post election.
Huge assumption there, Bill. You don’t think the Māori electorate MPs are capable of making decisions for themselves?
Not this shit again? Nowhere have I said or implied that the decision wasn’t made by the Maori electorate mps. The assumptions being made are all your own.
” if someone attempted those stand over/ fear tactics on me, I’d quite happily pick up a shovel, dig them a hole and get on the phone to book some bands for a party.”
I based my comment on this – it seems I have misinterpreted what you meant by this so for that I apologise.
As to the number of Māori MPs post election – the Māori Party have not announced their candidates for two seats so I will leave them out of my calculation for now. I am sure Te Uroroa Flavell will win his seat and the MP will get enough party votes to get Marama Fox (at least) in on the list. I don’t think Hone will win TTT because Kelvin has decided to go list only and (in spite of what many here believe) he has significantly increased his support in the electorate since the last election. They won’t want to lose him. Personally I have a lot of time for Hone and I’d like a resurgence of Mana but I don’t see it happening this election.
My prediction is Labour will get at least 4 and probably 6 of the electorate seats. Paul Eagle and Louisa Wall are in very safe Labour seats so they will definitely be there. I expect Kiri Allen, Willie Jackson, Willow Jean Prime and Tamati Coffey to all be given high placings, but I may be wrong – we will have to wait for the list to come out.
So there is a strong possibility there will be 12 Māori MPs in the caucus and there could be more if Labour does well. It will become clearer in a couple of months time.
If it’s still not entirely clear, I meant that’s how I’d react as a voter. (By way of reacting to Kelvin Davis declaring that peeps electorate vote Labour or lose Labour’s Maori mps)
Very talented young Māori guy has been chosen as Labour’s candidate in your old seat (now Northcote and a lot bigger than in your day). Unseating Coleman would be a difficult task (unless something really damning comes out of the NZDF enquiry) but I’m hoping he gets a list placing that puts him in with a chance if Labour does a lot better than in 2014.
This is a lot more complicated story than this suggests Marty. Ngāti Paoa are not even mentioned in the bill and it didn’t go to the Māori Select Committee as Treaty Settlements usually do. Also Ngāti Paoa only get 20% of the development but are likely to get all the backlash from the community at the loss of open space in what is about to become one of the most intensive housing areas – this is a not a good deal for Ngāti Paoa. There was an opportunity for them to get a share of the Tamaki Regeneration land (in spite of what Hauauru says) and this was what should have happened. Obviously there will need to be another solution found now , but the Flavell wading in isn’t going to be helpful.
Have a look at Peeni’s twitter feed before you decide how he feels.
Peeni Henare
@PeeniHenare
@Ellipsister when we advised Paoa of our decision my tuakana took the decision with integrity and class now this
BTW at the 2014 election Peeni, Rino Tirikatene and Adrian Ruawhe all decided not to be on the list and seek the support of their electorate only – the only thing that is new is the all Māori electorate MPs decided to make a united statement of their intent to remove their names from the list.
You also may want to look at Denny Paoa’s twitter feed – he’s been campaigning against this deal for some time.
DenPaoa @DennyPaoa 2h2 hours ago
More
@DennyPaoa The Negotiators have abandoned their Fiduciary Duty to the iwi by misleading them. No Minutes taken at Special Meeting(s)!
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
DenPaoa @DennyPaoa 2h2 hours ago
More
The Wharepaku Maori Party get it wrong again!Its not a Treaty Settlement!Its a commercial arrangement btw iwi&Crown http://ln.is/www.waateanews.com/w/2eCHn …
not sure the last post was posted. see http://www.saveourreserves.org.nz for more on this complicated stuff. but found the pointengland page to explain the bill part well.
Graeme Edgeler has an important view on the question of Hit and Run Inquiry or Police Prosecution.
” And this is the problem with all the calls for an inquiry to date. Lots of people are saying that there appear to be war crimes. No-one appears to have appreciated what that means. It means we need an investigation into war crimes. In New Zealand, this is a job for the Police.”…..
“But holding an inquiry is not enough for New Zealand to meet its obligation to investigate allegations of war crimes. Holding an inquiry, while not conducting an investigation would compound any breach of international humanitarian law. The independent commission of inquiry Hager seeks would have the power to demand documents, and summon witnesses. But Commissions of Inquiry have limited purposes….”
It appears they have got this spot on. The truth matters, especially given it is the first casualty of any war. I want to defend the writers’ honour. These men have produced a fine piece of investigative journalism.
Don’t let your prejudice get in the way of what I believe is a very dark and devious cover-up by our Defence Force and a complicit Government.
He also praises Wayne Mapp….
…but then goes on to praise John key as an excellent PM. Seems it goes back to Garner spending a “night on the town” with Key soon after Key became National leader. And that for me points to a major problem.
I’m not surprised he’s gone. I spent a night on the town with him 10 years ago after he became National’s leader and he told me then he’d like to do three terms and then pack it in. He also floated the idea that night that Bill could take over.
I rate Key and before him, Helen Clark, as our two best prime ministers ever.
Both read the public mood well, both understood MMP, both had a killer instinct and both were overwhelmingly pragmatic.
Key could have done more with his political capital – but being popular mattered above all else in the end.
He had his critics and haters. But the reality is we are still an overwhelmingly successful country with a strong economy where hundreds of thousands of immigrants are banging down the door to get in.
I constantly read from the getgo, what a good PM Key would be. This seemed to come from journos who got too close to Key, and somehow saw in him a guy they’d like to have a beer with.
This says more about the journos than any objective understanding of Key the politician. They saw something in him that reflected their values. Somehow the divided country with increasingly visible homelessness, and people struggling, does not compute with those that see a successful economy under Key.
To me, watching him in the media, Key always looked like a slippery used car salesman. And, on the ground, I’ve seen first hand the state of some over-priced rental flats, along with the stagnant incomes for the least well-off.
Steve Braunias: The final Secret Diary of John Key ends on this note that Duncan should read.
“I turned at the door and took a last look around to see if I’d left anything behind, maybe something of value. But the room was bare. It was like I’d never been there.”
Wicked? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11824754
where hundreds of thousands of immigrants are banging down the door to get in…. yep millennials with a level 5 qualification in cookery and willing to work below minimum wages in petrol stations… possibly NZ is the only country willing to take anybody this poorly qualified for migration.
We really are attracting the best and brightest. sarc.
I think you are incorrect to some degree. But as with all emotional statements, reason goes out the window.
Yes, there are some that take advantage by means of student entries and we had a fair share of news about these issues.
But what is not mentioned is, that many immigrants have established businesses and/or working in employment contributing to the wider NZ community and pay their fair share on taxes (unlike those faceless multinationals). It is well known that farmers would have difficulties to get the harvest in without workers from overseas as kiwis do not want to do that kind of work. I had recently a conversation with kiwis returning to NZ and they are not impressed with the attitudes they encounter.
Productivity gain can only be achieved by higher output with less resource. So either automation (which will happen) or very low pay. It remains to be seen whether the conventional economic model actually works as NZ has finite resources and land.
Just some small fact: a very large proportion of people coming to NZ are returning citizen.
The conventional economic model does not work because it is based on exploitation and environmental destruction. And every problem is made more acute when we jam more and more people into our small country.
Productivity gain can only be achieved by higher output with less resource
What bullshit is this. We don’t need more productivity, we are drowning in fucken productivity. Our Cows are super productive. Our landfills are overflowing with plastic crap. Our roads are clogged with metallic instruments of social destruction.
We need more equity and proper redistribution of wealth. We need to stop the Aussie banks taking $30 billion out of the NZ economy every year. We need to totally reform the tax system and throw some rich prick financiers in jail, like Mark Hotchin. We need to give the SFO some teeth and OIO some balls to stop the fire sale of NZ. Increasing productivity has just made things worse. We need an increase in justice.
Ropata, the comment I made about productivity was not one for it, but rather in response to the assertion what SaveNZ made:
“No wonder our productivity is so low”.
Yes, the productivity mantra I S what I referred to in what is currently the orthodoxy:
My comment “It remains to be seen whether the conventional economic model actually works as NZ has finite resources and land”
Please re read my comment and you will see that your anger is misdirected.
PS.: Immigration is not the cause but its exploitation is adding to the problem.
FJK’s charisma did not make up for his dirty politics, doing nothing about inequality, and flogging public assets to his rich mates. Garner and the rest of our media were seduced by Key’s dubious charm and wealth. Kiwis were all sucked in and are worse off for it.
Trouble in the new Waterview Tunnel motorway ? A 3 month delay for opening day according to NZ Herald this morning. Issues with sprinklers and ventilation. I remember at the very beginning when construction was just beginning that the public raised concerns about ventilation and the shafts.
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu: The relationship between power, policy, environment, and the inclusiveness of growth
What are the implications of challenging policy-making, the assumptions we make; the powerful actors’ we disturb? Are we better to focus on writing our own policy, or on how policy is made? The social implications of markets organized in favour of those ‘at the table’, are exaggerated by unequal environments. Unequal environments enable inequality of access to information, to opportunity, to influence.
These are the underlying concerns of ‘governance’ – how governments, citizens and communities interact to design and implement policy. An increasingly interdependent global economy faces challenges from automation, artificial intelligence, sharpening public opinion and voter behaviour. And we start in an unequal position! How do these challenges impact our ability to restore an inclusive, equitable and sustainable economy? Chris Mahony responds to these questions based on his work confronting similar assumptions at the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Program.
When
March 27th, 2017 6:30 PM through 8:00 PM
Location
12 Grafton Road
Business School
Owen Glenn Building, University of Auckland
Auckland, AUK
New Zealand
Keep ignoring the facts and cherry picking rubbish that barely supports your claim. That poll is one of the “rate these in importance” types. Not very accurate and that government / public policy / housing is a pretty broad brush stroke
Confidence in the government is still higher than most of last year. At 62%, almost two thirds of the country think the government is doing the right thing. How’s your mandate?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
These were replies to OAB’s comments which were also off topic. So another commentor is allowed head off topic but only the replies to those comments get moved? I think ruins to continuity of the argument and tells commenters like OAB that it’s ok to run off topic.
I can’t put the link up because it is from facebook but if you search for Marae the program and find this
“Willie Jackson goes toe to toe with Rahui Papa and Tukoroirangi Morgan in the second part of our debate. Will Kingi Tuheitia’s endorsement of Rahui Papa be able to change the minds of voters in the Hauraki-Waikato electorate?”
you will see the video.
I recommend it to those who wonder what the attributes of Māori politics are. Many of those attributes are displayed in this debate/interview and it is a delight to watch – the lines, the counters, the coming together and pulling apart, the laughter and serious bits – it is all there in microcosm.
Read an interesting snippet in The Insider column of The Business in the Herald on Friday 24th.
“Parliamentary Service is seeking registrations of interest in its “quest” to replace the Beehive lifts, which have been the source of much embarrassment over the years. The elevator shafts are quite small by modern standards, and the lifts are not capable of carrying great weights. There have been a number of stand-offs when larger-than-usual politicians or bureaucrats have triggered the overweight alarms and someone has had to get off”.
First thoughts come to mind, as the Government is so hell-bent on austerity and making a lot of people’s lives a misery, they should leave the existing lifts in situ and suggest that people who are over weight should use the stairs to get some of the excess off. Secondly maybe Bellamy’s should be replacing the current menu with more healthy weight-reducing meals for the culprits. Thirdly maybe their gym they have in the Parliamentary Building should be made a mandatory part of their job description – such as an hour a day. Way to go.
Big Gerry probably needs the entire lift to himself and there are some pretty weighty ladies who sit in the House that I can think of who would benefit from the gym and stair walking – Pulla is one of them.
Ad – are you saying I am shaming them for being over-weight – well you may be right there. I am of the opinion that if you are representing the country you should set an example, trying to get kids to eat healthily is hard enough without those in control of our affairs not leading the way. Airlines are now finding passengers in the obese area are far too overweight and others have to pay for it with spillage over the sides of the seats next to them. When its all going to end – somebody has to start making the hard choices about our rampant weight problem which is world wide. Of course I am being tough – an old doctor once said to me “there is only one way to keep the weight off ‘ stop putting so much food in your mouth” – simple really – the staff at the Parliament Building are on a whacking good income and can afford to eat healthy and keep the excess off. Its always the way – do as I say not do as I do” – easy way out which is typical of people in control of our lives.
What is wrong with fat shaming – pity more people didn’t do it.
Whether people are overweight or not has nothing to do with their ability as an MP.
Whether you think people are overweight has nothing to do with whether those people are healthy or not. And no, you don’t get to decide that.
Whether people can get on an airline or not has nothing to do with their ability as an MP.
Whether MPs eat healthily or not may well affect how you vote for them. But if you are voting for people on that basis, out the door goes Norman Kirk, David Lange, Richard Seddon, and for the hellavit almost all Maori and Pacific Island MPs I have ever seen.
No, you’re not “being tough”. You are being an asshole.
Parliament is not a health camp. It’s the only place where the entire population gets represented. Of all shapes, abilities, ethnicities, and beliefs. It’s called Parliament.
In your thoughts you can judge people how you like. But by expressing how you judge people with such blatant disregard for human rights, you yourself illustrate the values you stand for.
Ad – wow you sure have your knickers in a twist. You are most certainly entitled to your own opinion as I am mine. Obesity is a massive problem in this country, diabetes is costing this country a fortune, as is heart disease. It is stretching the health budget and making life at the coal face of medicine extremely difficult. Schools struggle to teach kids to eat well and keep their weight under control. Waiting lists are long and dialysis is extremely costly and ongoing. Have you ever known anybody who has died from Type 2 Diabetes – I have and its a terrible chronic disease to eventually die from . Its mostly a dietary problem (belly fat) and it can be kept at bay. Medical Specialists reiterate in journals how difficult it is for them manage the massive problem that is looming in the future. Your tax payer money (if you pay any) has to contribute to all this expensive and often unnecessary intervention and in a perfect world it would not have to be.
I didn’t say that MP’s would lack ability in their job if they were over weight, I just stated that they should set an example right from the top. As for being called an asshole – its a first time for me but hey that’s life. I can live with it – just keep your cool and relax.
I see where you all are coming from with fat shaming.
Cigarette smoking also is correlated with poverty but we shame smokers by raising the tax on cigarettes to an almost impossible cost for the poor. We ban them outside from clubs and bars and treat their smoking like it is leprosy. For a smoker it can be humiliating for them to be treated so. We shame drinkers who imbibe and raise the taxes on their drinking habits. As for recreational drug use, that enjoyment is now just a figment of the imagination for some. A lowly toke can now make a person unemployable – hows that not shaming for them.
Obesity is just as serious a health problem as all of the above but people who ask the obese to own their problem are reviled and called fat shamers. You state that there are illnesses that cause obesity – it will be a very small percentage of the entire obesity statistics. Ask any first responder in the health industry be it GP or A & E Department and they will say that obesity is a massive problem for this country – a ticking time bomb for Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease. It’s also very hard on the backs of our nursing staff as an aside – ask any nurse who has had to handle an obese patient. We now have children presenting with symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes which has always been considered a chronic illness of the middle-aged and upwards.
It’s time this country had a mature conversation about the rising obesity rates which are not accepted by the health industry but are considered as fat shaming and insulting – it’s a problem which isn’t going to go away anytime soon.
An attitude to life which seeks fulfilment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth – in short, materialism – does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle.while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited.
Already, the environment is trying to tell us that certain stresses are becoming excessive. As one problem is being ‘solved’, ten new problems arise as a result of the first ‘solution’….the new problems are not the consequences of incidental failure but of technological success,
In reality the issue is that 50% of the population has only 4% of the nation’s wealth, while 10% have 60% of it. This can be corrected easily by some reasonably modest redistribution. The inequality effect on people’s lives is far greater than that caused by 1% vs 2% economic growth etc.
This rubbish from Labour is very weak and disappointing!
Not at all – notice I said nothing about the nats in my comment. I despise the attitude and cuts of the nats.
My concern is that Labour is singing from the same song sheet as national, particularly on the broad framing of the situation. It is the overall neoliberal worldview that is totally wrong – and Labour remains locked within it, even if their intentions are better.
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
The Ombudsman has been surveying people about their knowledge of the OIA and the right to information. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that widespread:The Chief Ombudsman says too many New Zealanders were in the dark over their right to access official information. Peter Boshier said an independent survey released yesterday on ...
In the wake of last Friday's climate strike, Peter McKenzie had an article in The Spinoff about protest strategies. The school strike movement is "polite" and cooperates with those in power because that's its kaupapa - its led by schoolkids who understandably don't want to risk arrest. But there's more ...
So, the latest ruminations on the gnews from Westminster (Again, sorry; I'll stop making that pun right now). This follows on from, and likely repeats bits of, my last post, on the suggestion that a Government of National Unity (GNU) should be set up and then oversee a referendum before ...
New Zealand likes to think of itself as not a racist country (despite being founded on the racist dispossession and subjugation of Maori). But for years, we've had a racist refugee policy, which basicly excludes refugees from Africa and the Middle East unless they already have relatives here. Now, the ...
Several people have asked me whether a particular repeat litigant could be declared a vexatious litigant, in light of their recent decision to appeal an adverse High Court ruling. My nascent tweet thread was getting ridiculously long, so it became this blog post instead.The short answer is: no. The particular ...
Appealing To The Past: Action Zealandia, like so many of the organisations springing up on the far-Right, across what they call the “Anglosphere”, is born out of the profound confusion over what a man is supposed to be in the twenty-first century and, more importantly, what he is supposed to do.THE STATUE OF ...
The attempts of anti-democratic transactivists to (often violently) disrupt women’s rights organising is largely ignored by those sections of the left most prone to misogyny and authoritarianism in New Zealand. In Britain, however, scores of trade union and left activists added their names to a letter in July, defending ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill. The Bill would establish an independent, quasi-judicial body to investigate and review potential miscarriages of justice, and refer them back to the Court of appeal if required. It would be a vital backstop to our judiciary, help ...
by The Spark On September 14, a total of 22 drones and cruise missiles struck two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. Abqaiq is the largest oil production facility in the world. For a few days afterwards, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi national ...
How much will NeoLiberal irregulation of the building sector and subsequent leaky homes crisis cost us? $47 billion, according to a new book:The total cost to fix all of New Zealand's leaky homes would be $47 billion, probably. The estimate comes from a new book, Rottenomics written by journalist Peter ...
Below is the start of another excellent article on the Freer Lives blog. Click onto the link at the end of this extract to read the full article. The punch-a-terf, kill-a-terf message pervades social media, always righteously delivered, chin held high. By contrast, the dehumanised “terfs” themselves, that is gender-critical ...
The Reserve Bank is currently planning tighter banking regulation, requiring banks to hold enough local capital to survive a 1-in-200 year financial crisis in order to protect consumers. The big Aussies banks, those foreign leeches who suck $5 billion in profit out of our economy every year, don't like that, ...
Its the usual story: a police officer beats a handcuffed suspect so hard they break one of their own fingers. The IPCA investigates and concludes that the use of force was unlawful. And the police refuse to do anything about it:A man punched repeatedly in the face by a police ...
From time to time we add links to our blogroll. The latest blog we have added is Freer Lives. This is a Marxist gender-critical blog, based in Melbourne, Australia. On it you will find a bunch of excellent articles which use the tools of Marxist analysis to critique the rise ...
Last Friday say the largest protest in a generation, as 170,000 people joined the school strike and marched to demand real action on climate change. The demands of the school strike were simple and clear: declare a climate emergency, set a climate target of net-zero by 2040, impose a total ...
Labour is a rather middle of the road capitalist party and earlier this year we discussed how far from being ‘transformative’, Ardern’s government is. An article published this week in the Guardian, by Bryce Edwards (political scientist and commentator at Victoria University), looks at Ardern’s business as usual performance. Where ...
In the hours since my last interminable wittering about the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain, there has been a slight maybe development:A Corbyn-led caretaker government could then sit for several months while it enacted and delivered a referendum with the support of smaller parties and ...
Jeremy Clarkson says much like Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank “didn’t like what was going on”, but “she didn’t have a tantrum about it.” Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has offered praise to historical figure Anne Frank, comparing her favourably to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he attacked in ...
Press release by Speak Up For Women Lesbians from women’s rights group Speak Up For Women are furious at reports that Rainbow Tick are threatening Massey University with the removal of their ‘tick’ if they let the group’s event go ahead. The group has been under attack from trans ...
By Duncan Garner Before you jump down my throat, nobody cares about the environment more than me. I have a garden, and since my wife and I broke up, I’ve let it grow wildly out of control, so please don’t tell me I’m not doing enough for plants. They’re ten ...
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Another busy week, from speaking with world leaders on the world stage about climate change, to equipping our school leavers with everything they need to get ahead in life. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says Air New Zealand has "an obligation to look after Kiwis", and urged the national carrier not to hike up their prices after Jetstar airline announced their withdrawal from regional flights this week. The Provincial Champion also expressed his disappointment at Jetstar’s decision on ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will help fund a new dredge for the Port of Greymouth to ensure the regional fishing fleet have a reliable and productive harbour, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today “Last year the movements of ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves tomorrow for Dubai, London and Berlin for a series of meetings to advance New Zealand’s trade interests. In Dubai he will visit New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 where construction is underway. There he will meet Minister of State for International Cooperation, Her ...
Confirmation that PHARMAC will fund two new cancer drugs is further evidence of the good progress the Government is making to improve the treatment of New Zealand’s leading cause of death, Health Minister David Clark says. From 1 December PHARMAC will fund alectinib (Alecensa) for ALK positive advanced non-small cell ...
An additional $2.7 million has been announced for the Government Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation on the first anniversary of the strategy’s launch. Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson gave the opening address to the first Sport NZ Women + Girls Summit in Wellington today, ...
As part of its work to ensure businesses can get the skilled workers they need, the Coalition Government is re-opening and re-setting the Parent Category visa programme, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. The move will: support skilled migrants who help fill New Zealand’s skills gaps by providing a pathway for ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has today announced Major General Evan Williams of the New Zealand Defence Force has been selected as the commander of a significant, longstanding peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. In December, Major General Williams takes over as Force Commander for the Multinational Force and Observers ...
A record number of nurses are now working to deliver health services to New Zealanders as the Government’s increased funding and new initiatives rebuild key workforces start to show results, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. • 1458 more DHB nurses since the Government took office • 106 more midwives ...
Farmer and former Nuffield scholar Mel Poulton has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, announced today. The position supports key Government objectives, including raising the value of New Zealand agricultural goods and services. Mel is ...
New Zealand’s Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage is acknowledged and celebrated today as waka of the Tuia 250 voyage flotilla arrive in Tūranga / Gisborne. “Today we celebrate Tangata Whenua, the first people of Aotearoa, and the triumphs of the voyaging tradition that brought our ancestors here from Polynesia 1000 ...
“Fijian Language Week starts on Sunday and the theme reminds us how important it is that we each have something to anchor ourselves to, something that can help us pause and feel in control in a rapidly changing world,” says Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “Family, culture, faith, ...
The Government is establishing an Airspace Integration Trials Programme to support the safe testing and development of advanced unmanned aircraft and accelerate their integration into the aviation system, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods announced today. The Government will work with leading, innovative aviation industry partners to test and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The last PM shock jock Alan Jones slapped down was Jacinda Ardern. His language was particularly offensive, advertisers deserted his program and he apologised to New Zealand’s leader. But at least Ardern didn’t have to ...
By Michael Andrew and Sri Krishnamurthi The true story of one of the Pacific’s great waka builders and sailor has been captured in a stirring and visually gripping documentary. Loimata: The Sweetest Tears follows the final years of Ema Siope, a Samoan born kiwi who endured a tumultuous past ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Cowie, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Around one-third of Australians living with hepatitis C have been cured in the last four years. Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C is ...
New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Image AsiaPacificReport.nz/RNZ.Commentators across the political spectrum seem to agree – the Labour-led Government’s popularity is being damaged by its failure to deliver in Jacinda Ardern’s self-proclaimed “Year of Delivery”. Instead, the delivery of bad news to Labour and the Government has come in ...
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Polls Richard Harman (Politik): Ardern now dependent on Peters Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern still standing, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Austin, Professor UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW This is part of a new series looking at the national security challenges facing Australia, how our leaders are responding to them and how these measures are impacting society. Read other stories in the series ...
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...
The increased presence of anti-trans and white supremacist stickers around the University of Auckland campus is proof that inaction is enabling hate groups, write Anisha Sankar and Max Whitehurst.Anisha Sankar is a Chennai-born, Te Awakairangi-raised, South Indian Tamil studying at the University of Auckland. Max Whitehurst is a transgender Pākehā ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Following the Christchurch mosque shootings, the New Zealand government’s first response was to ban the firearms the alleged gunman had used to murder 51 people. Seven months later, the second tranche of this process ...
The nine members for the next three year term of the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) for Auckland have been appointed by the statutory Selection Body. Their appointments begin on 1 November 2019 and continue to 31 October 2022. Mana Whenua ...
“If we are truly to solve the challenge of poverty within the Te Ao Maori world we must lift our people from the low wage and low skills growth side of the economy. At the same time we must continue to ensure our people, no matter where they are, ...
Alex Casey asks Rose Stewart from Family Planning every single question she can think of about New Zealand’s new free IUDs. Listen up, womb-owners who love free shit and long-term contraceptive options: Pharmac announced that they will be fully funding two new long-lasting, reversible contraceptives in New Zealand from November 1, ...
Patients are increasingly being turned away for treatment and there can be no more excuses from the Government over properly funding district health boards to boost specialist numbers in public hospitals, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the ...
Today’s Council of Trade Unions’ report, Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness , provides a much-needed pathway to fair wages and conditions across several major industries, and the Government must deliver on its promise to introduce FPAs ...
The Speaker has limited the number of questions Simon Bridges can ask in the House as a punishment for the National Party defying Trevor Mallard by not pulling down their attack ads. ...
Sunshine capital? Check. Rich artisan tradition? Check. Incredible sausages? That’s a big check. We’ve put together a list of all you need to know before you explore the truly gorgeous Nelson region this summer. If you’ve got friends or relatives visiting Aotearoa, top of their list should be sorting out their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University In the four years since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, countries have debated the fine print of how emissions reduction should be tracked and ...
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...
In recent weeks Responsible Campers Association Incorporated (RCAi) has become involved in some high level discussions about our right to camp. This began out of discussion about the disabled who which to participate in Sport and Recreation activities. ...
In their quest for a cashless society the Japanese have beaten New Zealand to its own next-gen shopping experience.New Zealanders are missing out to the Japanese on a Kiwi technology that is set to eliminate supermarket queues.The first store to implement the SmartCart cashierless shopping system will be in Osaka, ...
If you don’t like Shortland Street, or you’re unconvinced that Michael Galvin actually is a doctor, does that mean all New Zealand television is rubbish? Some say yes. Tara Ward says an emphatic no. The world is our TV oyster, but lately it seems not everyone in Godzone is feeling the ...
The National Party is accusing the Immigration Minister of a "Sroubek 2.0" after revelations he granted residence to a man with multiple drink-driving convictions. ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu urges the Crown to ensure that the Establishment Board of the newly formed Institute of Skills and Technology meets its Treaty obligations and addresses the statutory role of iwi as Treaty partners in redesigning the education ...
The top-selling food magazine in New Zealand is closing its print operation. Niki Bezzant, Healthy Food Guide‘s former editor, reflects on the challenges the title faced.The news that after 14 years and 176 issues Healthy Food Guide magazine is closing its print operation came as a shock to some. It ...
A unique deal saw Sky buy the rugby rights and sell some of itself to NZ Rugby. Trevor McKewen breaks down what it all means.The news came thick and fast over a remarkable five-day corporate slugfest, starting last Thursday. First, Spark Sport struck, gobbling up New Zealand Cricket’s domestic broadcasting ...
In what’s thought to be the last piece of writing Peter Wells completed before he died, he wonders about his great-grandfather, and the locket he wore all his life. ‘The Story of a Locket’ is published in part here, and features in the extraordinary collection of essays Queer Objects, released this ...
Relationship expert Holly Dixon explains why the entire Married at First Sight franchise is based on bunk science.As the third MAFS NZ season has come to an end, I thought it relevant to answer the question upon which the entire MAFS enterprise is built: Is it possible to predict attraction and ...
SkyCity Casino workers will be on strike and picketing today as Rob Campbell, the Chair of SkyCity Casino talks to other employers about making pay fair at a “Wellbeing at Work” conference today. ...
He was the prototypical high school nerd, hanging on Don Brash’s every word. Then the financial world turned upside down. This is the story of how Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr became a most unconventional economist.In 2008, Jarrod Kerr was working at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia when the global financial crisis ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriela D’Souza, Affiliate, Monash department of business statistics and econometrics, Monash University For most people the second week in October probably doesn’t hold much promise. Longer days for some, perhaps. But for those is us in the economics profession, come the second ...
One of the important parameters of the agreement’s aims was to ensure there was no threat to food production from the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. ...
A monument to Winston Peters and Think Big projects would both boost the economy, but Argentina learned the hard way they can also impoverish a nation, writes Tony Burton.Everyone who loves New Zealand should visit Argentina. There are more similarities than you might think – large areas of wild natural ...
The Salvation Army foodbank in Waitakere ran out of food last week; an indication of the strain many New Zealand whanau are under as they struggle to afford the cost of living. Wednesday, October 16 is World Food Day, and as demand for services offered ...
Phil Goff was re-elected by a huge margin on Saturday. How will he put that mandate to use this term? Hayden Donnell asks the questions.Phil Goff is once again Auckland’s mayor. Preliminary local election results show him with a lead of nearly 100,000 votes over his nearest challenger, John Tamihere. ...
Catherine Bindon from Ban the Boom has created these colourful and positive posters for you to use to show you don't support the use of fireworks in your neighbourhood over the next few weeks distressing our animals and birds. ...
On Tuesday morning the Operation Burnham inquiry hearing resumed after it was suspended three weeks ago. The hearing is being held at Royal Society of New Zealand, 11 Turnbull St, Thorndon, Wellington on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Lecturer in Critical Thinking; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland It’s not uncommon for science and religion to be framed as two opposing forces. The Catholic church has famously struggled to accommodate scientific research in its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cat Pausé, Senior Lecturer in Human Development, Massey University The British Psychological Society is calling for changes for how we talk about fatness, suggesting we should no longer use the phrase “obese people”, but instead, “people with obesity” or “people living with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The federal government’s much-vaunted Snowy Hydro expansion is supposed to smooth out the bumps in electricity supply as Australia transitions to renewables. But not only is the project a bad deal for taxpayers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By María Yanotti, Lecturer of Economics and Finance Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania The housing market is moving again. In the past month, national prices have climbed 0.9%. What matters most to buyers (and especially to investors), along with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, University of Melbourne It seems appropriate that a painting titled Feng Shui dominates the new exhibition of Guan Wei’s work ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Matthews, Lecturer in Digital Media and Popular Culture Researcher, Auckland University of Technology According to a recent study, the sixth leading cause of death for young men in the United States is the warranted and unwarranted use of police force. With ...
The Council of Trade Unions has today released its report - Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness . The report details the six key principles needed for Fair Pay Agreements to deliver real change for working people, and democratic agreements ...
Too many New Zealanders endure poor working conditions in jobs that don’t pay enough and offer few opportunities for career progression, and the union movement is calling for change. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the latest polls which show a drop in support for Labour are not a concern when it comes to forming a government. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: A pair of polls put pressure on the Labour Party, a wild night of weather in the North Island, and Shane Jones snapped brandishing a semi-automatic.Parliament resumes today after a fortnight recess, and MPs were given a welcome-back present in ...
Mandy Hager, the newly elected head of the New Zealand Society of Authors, is lobbying the government to improve the lot of writers - to no avail, despite the Prime Minister's championing of the arts. ...
Given the vast impacts that poor diet have had on global health, a deficit in nutrition education in medicine represents a big problem, writes Dr Jennifer Crowley. ...
Any time Olympian Luuka Jones needs advice or encouragement in her pursuit of more canoe slalom success, she doesn’t have to look far. Jones’ coach, Campbell Walsh, is also her partner. ...
Competition for the rights to broadcast sports matches involving NZ’s top teams has produced a bonanza for the sporting bodies, forcing media companies to be a lot more innovative. ...
The Wellington suburb’s successful opposition to a proposed Bottle-O shows how the system is biased towards communities with the organisation, capacity and resources to protest effectively, says Jenesa Jeram.For those unfamiliar with Wellington geography, Khandallah is a Very Nice place to live (Aucklanders: think Remuera). So when it was reported ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission conducted an inquiry into mortgage pricing as recently as last year. Now Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has asked it to do another, broader one, in order to ensure the banks’ ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe results of the local government elections appear to show that New Zealanders are generally supportive of a more diverse range of representatives, having voted in greater numbers for candidates from traditionally under-represented groups. The elections have therefore modernised our councils in a small but very significant ...
The Inquiry has today published Minute No 21. This Minute sets out how the Inquiry intends to proceed given that the Attorney-General the Hon David Parker has agreed to extend the Inquiry’s reporting date by three months to 31 March 2020. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grace Skrzypiec, Senior Lecturer, Flinders University Many Australian students don’t know the difference between banter and bullying, with some saying they joke about wishing their friend would “drown” or “die in a car crash”. More than 800 Australian students aged 11-16 took ...
But he did play a crucial role in helping journeyman Andy Foster knock over Justin Lester. Team Gone By Lunchtime size up the local elections, gaze plaintively at the dramas in the NZ First Party, and ask how bad the new poll is for Jacinda Ardern.Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and ...
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ben Reid, executive director of the AI Forum, about the role of government in embracing and regulating AI.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Henry Cooke (Stuff): How to lose an election: Over-promise or under-deliver Simon Collins ...
By RNZ Pacific A Solomon Islands province has agreed to lease a large island to a Chinese developer to develop into a special economic zone, weeks after the country opened diplomatic ties with China. But already cracks abound; there has been no official announcement and the provincial premier says the ...
Open Mike 25/03/2017 
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...8 hours ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...9 hours ago
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...10 hours ago
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...15 hours ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...4 days ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...5 days ago
https://mailchi.mp/7d9133add053/closing-the-gap-october-2019-newsletter ...5 days ago
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...6 days ago
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...2 weeks ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...10 hours ago
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...11 hours ago
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The last PM shock jock Alan Jones slapped down was Jacinda Ardern. His language was particularly offensive, advertisers deserted his program and he apologised to New Zealand’s leader. But at least Ardern didn’t have to ...3 hours ago
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...6 hours ago
The proceeds from the sale of Trump-style "Make Ardern Go Away" hats are being used to promote far right Facebook pages. ...7 hours ago
Support has risen for the general arming of police officers in the wake of March 15, but the police minister is opposed. ...8 hours ago
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...8 hours ago
The increased presence of anti-trans and white supremacist stickers around the University of Auckland campus is proof that inaction is enabling hate groups, write Anisha Sankar and Max Whitehurst.Anisha Sankar is a Chennai-born, Te Awakairangi-raised, South Indian Tamil studying at the University of Auckland. Max Whitehurst is a transgender Pākehā ...8 hours ago
Information spread by the Coalition of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) and picked up by ACT’s David Seymour is incorrect. ...9 hours ago
The Speaker has limited the number of questions Simon Bridges can ask in the House as a punishment for the National Party defying Trevor Mallard by not pulling down their attack ads. ...10 hours ago
The real estate market has sprung back into life, but national sales volumes were flat. ...10 hours ago
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...11 hours ago
Mandy Hager, the newly elected head of the New Zealand Society of Authors, is lobbying the government to improve the lot of writers - to no avail, despite the Prime Minister's championing of the arts. ...18 hours ago
An ancient Polynesian form of resource management is helping rejuvenate areas in the Cook Islands. ...19 hours ago
Competition for the rights to broadcast sports matches involving NZ’s top teams has produced a bonanza for the sporting bodies, forcing media companies to be a lot more innovative. ...19 hours ago
Ongoing drama surrounds the Māui and Hector's dolphin threat management plan, with worries key information is not being made public promptly. ...19 hours ago
Is Jacindamania dead and buried? Not quite yet, but the Prime Minister has good cause for concern. ...1 day ago
My copy of Hager’s book has not arrived yet, so I haven’t read it!
But, from what I have gathered, the operation was given the go-ahead by Key himself.
If that was indeed the case, it seems inconceivable that he would not have been ‘fully’ briefed on the outcome of the raid, including that there were civilian deaths and injuries.
So, if a cover-up was ordered, isn’t it more than possible it originated from the 9th floor of the Beehive?
We need an independent investigation to determine ‘where the buck stops’!
If Key gave the go ahead then the buck stops at Key.
That said, it will also involve a lot of other higher-ups across the bureaucracy.
Riverton’s Heritage Harvest Festival on this weekend; the hall and marquees are chocka with fruit and vegetables, preserves and people (or they will be as soon as the sun comes up 🙂 and the workshops are almost full already, the most popular so far being the seaweed foraging, with herb growing not far behind. I’m doing an interview on RadioLive at 8:00 and there are tours of my forest garden at 4:30 today and tomorrow. It’s going to be a big two days!
Kirsty Johnston, in the NZ Herald today, reports that a UN Report in 2011 came to similar conclucions to the book Hit and Run, about the same or a similar incident in 2010 in the same area of Afghanistan.
The UN has killed and debilitated more people, then civilians killed in or injured in Afghanistan.
https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sgsm18323.doc.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_cholera_outbreak
And 2 wrongs do not make 1 right.
Carolyn. Who are Anti-Government Elements?
I guess “insurgents”, which are largely Taliban, but may include some Al Qaeda (at least in 2010).
Wikipedia on insurgence in Afghanistan following US-led invasion of 2001
Complicated question.
Technically, “insurgents” come from outside a particular area, so includes AQ international migrants but also folk whose cultural area overflows the artificial or ill-defined national borders.
Then the “Taliban” isn’t very hierarchical as an organisation, but is a conglomeration of regional groups frequently controlled by charismatic leadership rather than a formal structure. These groups vary significantly in their religious and cultural zealotry. David Adams went to Afghanistan to do a documentary when it was under Taliban control and found that some “Taliban” commanders even wanted their picture taken, whereas others barely tolerated his presence and were very strict about not filming people.
And finally the actual logistical support and even ambushes can be subcontracted to unemployed locals as one-off jobs.
So, basically, anyone shooting at or bombing government forces and their allies.
E.coli discharged into Tukituki River from sewage plant was seven times over limit
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/90706509/ecoli-discharged-into-tukituki-river-from-sewage-plant-was-seven-times-over-limit
President Trump has just killed the vote on his health reforms.
That is one huge campaign promise probably fully dead.
After his bodacious-scale brinkmanship to demand all Republicans vote for it and that he would “go after them” if they didn’t , they stared him down. They won, and he looks really weak as a result. I don’t think this will come to a vote again.
For a multiple of reasons, Donald Trump is looking like the best broad voter lesson against the Republicans in many, many years.
He should have been the great uniting force that brought all the Congress majority, all the Senate majority, all the Republican state legislatures, all the Republican governorships, into one grand front, unite the party, and roll out a full and comprehensive reform programme.
Instead we have total chaos in government across Washington – all inside around 100 days since he was inaugurated.
“He should have been the great uniting force…”
Out of curiosity, did you think that was ever going to be possible?
I was always pretty confident Trump is so fundamentally incompetent that this kind of debacle would be a regular feature. But there was always the nagging doubt in my judgement and that maybe Trump had actual abilities he was cleverly hiding.
Pence is now the big worry. He looks like he’s treading the fine line of keeping enough separation from Trump’s screwups but still being seen to be a team player. So when Trump’s gone, Pence seems more much more likely to have the skills to get these things through.
Definitely.
Still plenty of policy areas left in the tank for them to focus their collective minds on.
Does that mean you see this as a failure of politics rather than an issue of general competency?
For the sake of the stability of US politics, I would hope that the Republican leadership and the White House now have a bit of a cup of tea together and figure out what they should have figured out before Trump was elected:
a policy platform and legislative agenda that they agree on achieving together.
My other, minor instinct is to watch the Republicans draining their own swamp simply by pulling their own plug while swimming in it, and while flapping about, take the knives to each other in righteous blame and disembowel each other.
The latter however is the Bannon view: burn the system down and let the market of ideas and populism and commercial power run cross the land unfettered. Great theatre, but very bad for the world.
I was thinking more about what’s possible rather than what we might hope for 🙁
To Ad: There are important reasons why Trump’s reforms, health care bill etc will not pass through the lower house. One only needs to look at the people who have taken control of the Republican Party, know their political aims and as a result a good number of Republican members will take that second sober look and not follow Donald Trump, Some of the rich and influential personalities, pulling the Republican Party towards the far right are Robert and Rebekka Mercer.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/23/jane_mayer_on_robert_mercer_the
also: Jane Mayer on Robert Mercer & the Dark Money Behind Trump and Bannon
Sure, you can look in it as a failure caused by specific individuals, or Ryan as Speaker, but in the end it’s absolutely the biggest shock to a new US government we’ve ever seen.
Why is it that a fully stacked deck of Republicans can go backwards faster than Obama – in control of almost nothing – went forwards?
That’s not just a few individuals.
That’s a really deep sickness inside the entire Republican movement.
To Ad: “Why is it that a fully stacked deck of Republicans can go backwards faster than Obama – in control of almost nothing – went forwards?” Perhaps you need to reread my comment again. I’ll put it in simpler terms. Many moderate Republicans will not support the scrapping of Obama’s Affordable Care Act and leave some 24 million voters without insurance. That would have meant committing possible political suicide for many moderate Republicans.
I don’t see that at all. Getting rid of Obamacare was a common Republican promise across all layers of power for Republicans.
From the commentary from the Freedom Republicans it looked much more like there was insufficient eradication of abortion funding, plus the fear that the Koch brothers would de-fund the mid-term campaign of any Republican member who voted for it.
I see Democracy is alive and well in the USA.
IF I had been Sean Spicer that’s the line I would have run a little further on: he’s already commented today that
“we don’t live in a dictatorship”, and the constitutional levers are working in that a Republican lock isn’t running over the whole country.
LIpstick on a pig.
Sorry to disagree. Don’t know what you mean by getting rid of Obamacare.
Moderate Republicans and Democrats are happy to modify the Affordable Care Act.
Which moderate Republicans in Senate or Congress have said they would prefer to reform Obamacare rather than repeal it? Or are they dog whisperers?
…your reason(s) for Trump’s health bill not passing is…..?
My understanding is that the Koch Brothers did not like it and flexed their muscle as the owners of most of the Republican politicians. The Koch Brothers are the ones who really run the Republican party.
Deep pockets.
A network of top Republican donors, led by the Koch brothers, are launching an 11th hour bid to sink the health care bill with a new fund for the 2018 midterms available only to members who vote “No”.
Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners announced the “seven-figure fund” on Wednesday night. They oppose the bill because it falls short of a full Obamacare repeal.
https://www.axios.com/koch-bros-announce-2018-fund-reserved-for-health-care-holdouts-2325630078.html
Govt’s RMA proposal set to go ahead
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/327292/govt's-rma-proposal-set-to-go-ahead
Democracy as horse trading.
I wonder which little NGO in Wellington could have had the focus and intellectual grunt to assist the Maori Party to fight solely on the point of GMO Ministerial call-ins?
Sure as hell this is the first time in a long time a significant change has been made between second and third readings of a bill.
Any guesses people?
Has anyone seen exactly what is in the agreement that the Maori Party say they have achieved with the Govt on the RLM Bill ? It is the GMO Ministerial call-ins that have been the sticking point ….. but I cannot find anything which clarifies whether the Maori Party succeeded in preventing these Miniserial call-ins.
Does anyone know ?
these people have outlined their view of where they see the wins from the Māori Party
http://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_story_id/MTU5NDk=/National/Freshwater-Iwi-Leaders-Group-welcomes-the-Maori-Party-support-of-changes-to-the-RMA
an interesting perspective
http://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_story_id/MTU5NDk=/National/Freshwater-Iwi-Leaders-Group-welcomes-the-Maori-Party-support-of-changes-to-the-RMA
Please note I am not necessarily agreeing with this group just putting up a different view for contrast.
Even if you read through all the papers, including Section D360 in full you would not know what Maori have agreed to or achieved. Unless there is a philosophical agreement on grounds of water being made a profitable avenue for the benefit of the few? Lets see what is happening in another 5 years time – wondering whether there is some handshaking going on that will be to the detriment to all.
The RMA has been of great benefit to Maori but of cause when money is at play things change and everything has a price and is for sale after all.
The death knell of the Maori Party as it has decided to support massively developer-friendly and landscape inimical reforms proposed by its National Party mates.
The RMA has been gutted now. The checks and balances of the right to appeal to the Environment Court has been largely removed for the public, though not for developers of course.
+1 Bearded Git
Are there really any election votes that would change over this bill?
Its not all about votes Ad. Labour and the Greens should campaign hard on reversing the latest RMA changes which have nothing to do with solving the housing crisis and everything to do with lining developers pockets.
I agree it is complicated and so difficult to put across in a campaign but when people in Wanaka (for instance) see intrusive subdivisions and lakeside building monstrosities rammed through degrading the landscape with no chance to to make public submissions or appeal to the court they are going to be up in arms.
Edge of Lake Te Anau included in Govt tenders for oil and gas block exploration
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/90756740/edge-of-lake-te-anau-included-in-govt-tenders-for-oil-and-gas-block-exploration?cid=facebook.post.90756740
As the leader does so the followers follow
“Labour has withdrawn support for the Point England Development Enabling Bill that would allow the government to sell nearly 12ha of public land in east Auckland to Ngāti Pāoa as part of its Treaty settlement.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/327431/labour-'supremely-patronising'-over-iwi's-housing-plan
jeepers how are those non-placing on the list looking now – some drips of cold sweat slowly sliding down the brow methinks.
And the spin from The Māori Party is scathing
http://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_story_id/MTU5NTA=/National/x_story/Labour-abandons-M%C4%81ori-again
Not as if Labour was ever going to win Pakuranga anyway, so what was the point?
I suppose – and does it show that the Labour Māori seats and their Members of Parliament have been cut loose? Or is it that there are more important issues for Labour to worry about? or is it that Little’s Labour are floundering around like a fish on the beach?
Giving free shots is not the way to win imo – I despair for the left with this shit going down
That is a bad move by Labour. It seems that the Iwi has been quite pragmatic about this, and utilising the opportunity to get useful land for their chosen purposes and Labour is unwilling to support it and is sacrificing this fine opportunity for the Iwi so they can fire a few brickbats at Gnashional. Bad, stupid idea!
Maori have always had trouble with housing because of their refusal to mortgage their land to gain funds for housing provision. If they have funds or a scheme that enables house building on this land, and it is close enough to the marae to enable services and for it to be a centre for Maori to enhance their cultural and social life, it should be a no-brainer. Who or what directs what passes for thinking and strategy with Labour?
There are quite a few google entries for Maori housing (papakainga). This is one link to the legal situation:
http://www.hobec.co.nz/news-resources/content/posts/environment-resource-mangement/papakainga-development.aspx
And a pdf from the Whangarei District Council: (Note the meaning of papakainga – ‘a nurturing place to return to’.
Planning for Papakainga Housing – Whangarei District Council
wdc.govt.nz/CommunitySafetyandSupport/Housing/…/Papakainga-housing-brochure….
literal meaning of Papakainga housing is, ‘a nurturing place to return to’. … District Council and Maori Land Court so it has been difficult … Advice/Funding.
http://wdc.govt.nz/CommunitySafetyandSupport/Housing/Documents/Papakainga-housing-brochure.pdf
(This does not have a discernable date! Surely a serious error for those seeking relevant timely info.)
This is Pt England which is in the Maungakiekie electorate. I thought you were an Aucklander?
That non-list malarkey was always only a desperate (and bloody stupid) move. (I believe you previously commented in a similar vein).
Unless there are seven high list places for Maori on the list, then Labour runs the real risk of becoming markedly less representative than it already is…and the knock on effect of that is that parliament as a whole also becomes less representative than it already is.
But then, when all you want to do is eat everything to your left…
It’s a personal perspective (obviously) – but if someone attempted those stand over/ fear tactics on me, I’d quite happily pick up a shovel, dig them a hole and get on the phone to book some bands for a party.
I suppose if you want the middle to move you focus energy on the middle – bit like a punch in the guts for some though…
Hmm. I’d have thought if the idea was to ‘move the middle’ then the positioning would be ‘over here’ with an invitation sent out, no?
Labour aren’t interested in moving the middle, and to be honest, I think they lack the imagination to envisage anything that isn’t middle.
Does this end well for Labour? I can’t see how.
move the middle means getting them to vote for you when last time they voted for someone else – ultimately focusing on self centred issues for that middle and showing how a vote for the preferred party will either give them more of what they want and less of what they don’t want.
I get you. I wouldn’t term that ‘moving the middle’ is all – more ‘contesting the middle’ to my way of looking at things. (Meaning no movement; stagnation coming off the back of a process that diminishes options)
“Unless there are seven high list places for Maori on the list, then Labour runs the real risk of becoming markedly less representative than it already is…”
How so?
If the Labour candidates were high on the Labour Party list, then a vote for mana or the Maori Party could result in two Maori mps being returned to parliament for each contested electorate where Labour lose the electorate. (And depending on list placings, regardless of whether Labour win or lose those electorates) That’s pretty straight forward.
If no Maori are high on the Labour list, then no matter what, only one Maori mp gets returned for each electorate contest.
If no Maori are high on the Labour list ,and Labour lose all those electorates, then the Labour caucus will have fewer Maori mps than if they hadn’t pulled this silly stunt.
And if there are Maori mps placed high up on the list, then this silly stunt wasn’t just just silly but fucking dishonest.
Ok, I thought you meant representation within Labour.
It’s extremely unlikely that Labour would lose all or even most of the Māori seats. They might lose TTT.
(btw, some of the Māori seat MPs weren’t on the list last time, by choice).
“And if there are Maori mps placed high up on the list, then this silly stunt wasn’t just just silly but fucking dishonest.”
Where’s the dishonesty? By high on the list, I assume you mean within the number of seats currently held (give or take).
Davis said the ‘two for one’ deal was ending. Kind of is, kind of isn’t. Karen linked to a piece below indicating high list places for Maori. So we have a clutch of experienced Labour mps potentially hitting the bin? Hey – ho.
As long as Davis is gone, I’ll be happy enough.
Two for one is about being able to seat vote Mana and party vote Labour (it’s vastly stupid phrase given MMP and we all have two votes). That’s what Labour are wanting to undermine. I don’t think they’ve been dishonest about that part.
“So we have a clutch of experienced Labour mps potentially hitting the bin? Hey – ho.”
I’m not sure that’s what’s going to happen. We don’t yet know how many Māori will be on the list or what placing. I guess Jackson will be put into the top 30, but I don’t know who else, or even which other current Māori but non-Māori seat MPs will be on the list or where. Pretty hard to speculate much until that is known (although I am appreciating Karen’s input on this.
Two for one is… Uh-huh. And Davis implied something quite different – ie, that the choice was to vote Labour and only Labour because no-one would be coming in off the Labour list.
That’s the dishonest part given that Maori will be on the list (just not those who are contesting the electorates)
The “I’m not sure that’s going to happen” is an odd way to respond to a comment that revolved around the word “potentially”. But anyway.
Which just demonstrates how stupid the whole thing is. I’ve been hearing commentators use a different definition, but it’s certainly unclear. I think this is seat specific i.e. the voters are looking at their electorate vote in ways that most Pākehā don’t because we don’t really have that kind of representation.
“The “I’m not sure that’s going to happen” is an odd way to respond to a comment that revolved around the word “potentially”. But anyway.”
That was me being polite. That Labour would lose all the Māori seats is so far out in terms of probability that it’s probably not even worth considering 😉
Two for one is a message from previous elections that you can have Labour in govt *and a Mana MP. Labour are saying nope, if you want Davis as an MP you have to vote for him on the electorate vote, and if you want us in govt, you have to party vote Labour.
“In the Maori seats there is something very special going on and Labour’s Maori MPs are standing there saying vote for us, vote for our voice, we’ve got a track record and it’s better than anything any other party can offer,” he said.
The policy is a direct challenge to the alliance that has formed between the Maori Party and Mana Party and their decision not compete against each other for the Maori seats.
Labour currently hold six Maori seats, with the seventh held by Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.
Hauraki-Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta said the message was simple.
“We are eliminating the two-for-one message because in order to get us into government you need to be able to vote for our party as well,” she said.
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=244752
Huge assumption there, Bill. You don’t think the Māori electorate MPs are capable of making decisions for themselves?
Also, I’d suggest you go and look at the candidates so far – I think you will see quite a bit of diversity. We need to wait till the list comes out to get an idea of how it will look post election.
Huge assumption there, Bill. You don’t think the Māori electorate MPs are capable of making decisions for themselves?
Not this shit again? Nowhere have I said or implied that the decision wasn’t made by the Maori electorate mps. The assumptions being made are all your own.
” if someone attempted those stand over/ fear tactics on me, I’d quite happily pick up a shovel, dig them a hole and get on the phone to book some bands for a party.”
I based my comment on this – it seems I have misinterpreted what you meant by this so for that I apologise.
As to the number of Māori MPs post election – the Māori Party have not announced their candidates for two seats so I will leave them out of my calculation for now. I am sure Te Uroroa Flavell will win his seat and the MP will get enough party votes to get Marama Fox (at least) in on the list. I don’t think Hone will win TTT because Kelvin has decided to go list only and (in spite of what many here believe) he has significantly increased his support in the electorate since the last election. They won’t want to lose him. Personally I have a lot of time for Hone and I’d like a resurgence of Mana but I don’t see it happening this election.
My prediction is Labour will get at least 4 and probably 6 of the electorate seats. Paul Eagle and Louisa Wall are in very safe Labour seats so they will definitely be there. I expect Kiri Allen, Willie Jackson, Willow Jean Prime and Tamati Coffey to all be given high placings, but I may be wrong – we will have to wait for the list to come out.
So there is a strong possibility there will be 12 Māori MPs in the caucus and there could be more if Labour does well. It will become clearer in a couple of months time.
If it’s still not entirely clear, I meant that’s how I’d react as a voter. (By way of reacting to Kelvin Davis declaring that peeps electorate vote Labour or lose Labour’s Maori mps)
I agree it is a risk – I don’t think it is a big one, but I could be wrong. I am continually getting surprised at how people vote.
In the Gisborne Herald today Meka Whaitiri has put forward her reasons for wanting to go list only:
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/opinion/2716615-135/labours-maori-caucus-united
+ 100 % Karen. That’s been my thinking as well – a Labour caucus with a strong Maori team within it. This is a smart move for Labour.
Very talented young Māori guy has been chosen as Labour’s candidate in your old seat (now Northcote and a lot bigger than in your day). Unseating Coleman would be a difficult task (unless something really damning comes out of the NZDF enquiry) but I’m hoping he gets a list placing that puts him in with a chance if Labour does a lot better than in 2014.
Forgot to include his name!
It’s Shanan Halbert but you probably already know.
This is a lot more complicated story than this suggests Marty. Ngāti Paoa are not even mentioned in the bill and it didn’t go to the Māori Select Committee as Treaty Settlements usually do. Also Ngāti Paoa only get 20% of the development but are likely to get all the backlash from the community at the loss of open space in what is about to become one of the most intensive housing areas – this is a not a good deal for Ngāti Paoa. There was an opportunity for them to get a share of the Tamaki Regeneration land (in spite of what Hauauru says) and this was what should have happened. Obviously there will need to be another solution found now , but the Flavell wading in isn’t going to be helpful.
Have a look at Peeni’s twitter feed before you decide how he feels.
Peeni Henare
@PeeniHenare
@Ellipsister when we advised Paoa of our decision my tuakana took the decision with integrity and class now this
BTW at the 2014 election Peeni, Rino Tirikatene and Adrian Ruawhe all decided not to be on the list and seek the support of their electorate only – the only thing that is new is the all Māori electorate MPs decided to make a united statement of their intent to remove their names from the list.
You also may want to look at Denny Paoa’s twitter feed – he’s been campaigning against this deal for some time.
DenPaoa @DennyPaoa 2h2 hours ago
More
@DennyPaoa The Negotiators have abandoned their Fiduciary Duty to the iwi by misleading them. No Minutes taken at Special Meeting(s)!
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
DenPaoa @DennyPaoa 2h2 hours ago
More
The Wharepaku Maori Party get it wrong again!Its not a Treaty Settlement!Its a commercial arrangement btw iwi&Crown http://ln.is/www.waateanews.com/w/2eCHn …
yep it certainly sounds complicated – I have gone and read some links
http://savepe.org.nz/
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/locals-plead-ngati-paoa-stop-development
Sadly everything gets used to further some political agenda these days.
+1. I also think that when you deny people and communities true agency and wellbeing they will fight over what they can get.
see here also for more info. http://www.saveourreserves.org.nz. But as has already been covered, it is complicated.
not sure the last post was posted. see http://www.saveourreserves.org.nz for more on this complicated stuff. but found the pointengland page to explain the bill part well.
Thanks for that. I made the links clickable.
Peeni
who???
Graeme Edgeler has an important view on the question of Hit and Run Inquiry or Police Prosecution.
” And this is the problem with all the calls for an inquiry to date. Lots of people are saying that there appear to be war crimes. No-one appears to have appreciated what that means. It means we need an investigation into war crimes. In New Zealand, this is a job for the Police.”…..
“But holding an inquiry is not enough for New Zealand to meet its obligation to investigate allegations of war crimes. Holding an inquiry, while not conducting an investigation would compound any breach of international humanitarian law. The independent commission of inquiry Hager seeks would have the power to demand documents, and summon witnesses. But Commissions of Inquiry have limited purposes….”
“…those implicated in the allegations contained in Hit & Run are going to get legal advice, and that advice will be very clear, especially for those on the ground who took part in the raids: shut up.”
https://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/a-war-crimes-inquiry-or-why-nicky-hager-is/
This op from Duncan Garner starts off well. He praises Hit and Run (whatever anyone thinks of Hager and Stephenson, Garner reckons the truth needs to be told.
He also praises Wayne Mapp….
…but then goes on to praise John key as an excellent PM. Seems it goes back to Garner spending a “night on the town” with Key soon after Key became National leader. And that for me points to a major problem.
I constantly read from the getgo, what a good PM Key would be. This seemed to come from journos who got too close to Key, and somehow saw in him a guy they’d like to have a beer with.
This says more about the journos than any objective understanding of Key the politician. They saw something in him that reflected their values. Somehow the divided country with increasingly visible homelessness, and people struggling, does not compute with those that see a successful economy under Key.
To me, watching him in the media, Key always looked like a slippery used car salesman. And, on the ground, I’ve seen first hand the state of some over-priced rental flats, along with the stagnant incomes for the least well-off.
Steve Braunias: The final Secret Diary of John Key ends on this note that Duncan should read.
“I turned at the door and took a last look around to see if I’d left anything behind, maybe something of value. But the room was bare. It was like I’d never been there.”
Wicked?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11824754
where hundreds of thousands of immigrants are banging down the door to get in…. yep millennials with a level 5 qualification in cookery and willing to work below minimum wages in petrol stations… possibly NZ is the only country willing to take anybody this poorly qualified for migration.
We really are attracting the best and brightest. sarc.
No wonder our productivity is so low.
I think you are incorrect to some degree. But as with all emotional statements, reason goes out the window.
Yes, there are some that take advantage by means of student entries and we had a fair share of news about these issues.
But what is not mentioned is, that many immigrants have established businesses and/or working in employment contributing to the wider NZ community and pay their fair share on taxes (unlike those faceless multinationals). It is well known that farmers would have difficulties to get the harvest in without workers from overseas as kiwis do not want to do that kind of work. I had recently a conversation with kiwis returning to NZ and they are not impressed with the attitudes they encounter.
Productivity gain can only be achieved by higher output with less resource. So either automation (which will happen) or very low pay. It remains to be seen whether the conventional economic model actually works as NZ has finite resources and land.
Just some small fact: a very large proportion of people coming to NZ are returning citizen.
The conventional economic model does not work because it is based on exploitation and environmental destruction. And every problem is made more acute when we jam more and more people into our small country.
What bullshit is this. We don’t need more productivity, we are drowning in fucken productivity. Our Cows are super productive. Our landfills are overflowing with plastic crap. Our roads are clogged with metallic instruments of social destruction.
We need more equity and proper redistribution of wealth. We need to stop the Aussie banks taking $30 billion out of the NZ economy every year. We need to totally reform the tax system and throw some rich prick financiers in jail, like Mark Hotchin. We need to give the SFO some teeth and OIO some balls to stop the fire sale of NZ. Increasing productivity has just made things worse. We need an increase in justice.
Ropata, the comment I made about productivity was not one for it, but rather in response to the assertion what SaveNZ made:
“No wonder our productivity is so low”.
Yes, the productivity mantra I S what I referred to in what is currently the orthodoxy:
My comment “It remains to be seen whether the conventional economic model actually works as NZ has finite resources and land”
Please re read my comment and you will see that your anger is misdirected.
PS.: Immigration is not the cause but its exploitation is adding to the problem.
FJK’s charisma did not make up for his dirty politics, doing nothing about inequality, and flogging public assets to his rich mates. Garner and the rest of our media were seduced by Key’s dubious charm and wealth. Kiwis were all sucked in and are worse off for it.
So. A Fixed Term Parliament Act.
It instantly kills all the strategic disagreement around whether ‘sitting at the cabinet table’ is selling out or the only way to get things done.
edit – Oops. The comment I was responding to has gone 🙂
Trouble in the new Waterview Tunnel motorway ? A 3 month delay for opening day according to NZ Herald this morning. Issues with sprinklers and ventilation. I remember at the very beginning when construction was just beginning that the public raised concerns about ventilation and the shafts.
Chris Mahony – If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu – AKL
Keep ignoring the facts and cherry picking rubbish that barely supports your claim. That poll is one of the “rate these in importance” types. Not very accurate and that government / public policy / housing is a pretty broad brush stroke
How about this from the same polling outfit
http://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll/new-zealand/nz-government-confidence
Confidence in the government is still higher than most of last year. At 62%, almost two thirds of the country think the government is doing the right thing. How’s your mandate?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
These were replies to OAB’s comments which were also off topic. So another commentor is allowed head off topic but only the replies to those comments get moved? I think ruins to continuity of the argument and tells commenters like OAB that it’s ok to run off topic.
H fee, cunliffe the messiah, allegedly dirty politics, the moment of truth….
All these opportunities to score and each time an own goal
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I can’t put the link up because it is from facebook but if you search for Marae the program and find this
“Willie Jackson goes toe to toe with Rahui Papa and Tukoroirangi Morgan in the second part of our debate. Will Kingi Tuheitia’s endorsement of Rahui Papa be able to change the minds of voters in the Hauraki-Waikato electorate?”
you will see the video.
I recommend it to those who wonder what the attributes of Māori politics are. Many of those attributes are displayed in this debate/interview and it is a delight to watch – the lines, the counters, the coming together and pulling apart, the laughter and serious bits – it is all there in microcosm.
ACT Party at lunch….
Read an interesting snippet in The Insider column of The Business in the Herald on Friday 24th.
“Parliamentary Service is seeking registrations of interest in its “quest” to replace the Beehive lifts, which have been the source of much embarrassment over the years. The elevator shafts are quite small by modern standards, and the lifts are not capable of carrying great weights. There have been a number of stand-offs when larger-than-usual politicians or bureaucrats have triggered the overweight alarms and someone has had to get off”.
First thoughts come to mind, as the Government is so hell-bent on austerity and making a lot of people’s lives a misery, they should leave the existing lifts in situ and suggest that people who are over weight should use the stairs to get some of the excess off. Secondly maybe Bellamy’s should be replacing the current menu with more healthy weight-reducing meals for the culprits. Thirdly maybe their gym they have in the Parliamentary Building should be made a mandatory part of their job description – such as an hour a day. Way to go.
Big Gerry probably needs the entire lift to himself and there are some pretty weighty ladies who sit in the House that I can think of who would benefit from the gym and stair walking – Pulla is one of them.
You ever head the term “fat shaming”?
Good alternative suggestions, Whispering Kate – and cost-free !
And I don’t agree this is fat-shaming. Its realistic.
Ad – are you saying I am shaming them for being over-weight – well you may be right there. I am of the opinion that if you are representing the country you should set an example, trying to get kids to eat healthily is hard enough without those in control of our affairs not leading the way. Airlines are now finding passengers in the obese area are far too overweight and others have to pay for it with spillage over the sides of the seats next to them. When its all going to end – somebody has to start making the hard choices about our rampant weight problem which is world wide. Of course I am being tough – an old doctor once said to me “there is only one way to keep the weight off ‘ stop putting so much food in your mouth” – simple really – the staff at the Parliament Building are on a whacking good income and can afford to eat healthy and keep the excess off. Its always the way – do as I say not do as I do” – easy way out which is typical of people in control of our lives.
What is wrong with fat shaming – pity more people didn’t do it.
Where to begin.
Whether people are overweight or not has nothing to do with their ability as an MP.
Whether you think people are overweight has nothing to do with whether those people are healthy or not. And no, you don’t get to decide that.
Whether people can get on an airline or not has nothing to do with their ability as an MP.
Whether MPs eat healthily or not may well affect how you vote for them. But if you are voting for people on that basis, out the door goes Norman Kirk, David Lange, Richard Seddon, and for the hellavit almost all Maori and Pacific Island MPs I have ever seen.
No, you’re not “being tough”. You are being an asshole.
Parliament is not a health camp. It’s the only place where the entire population gets represented. Of all shapes, abilities, ethnicities, and beliefs. It’s called Parliament.
In your thoughts you can judge people how you like. But by expressing how you judge people with such blatant disregard for human rights, you yourself illustrate the values you stand for.
Ad – wow you sure have your knickers in a twist. You are most certainly entitled to your own opinion as I am mine. Obesity is a massive problem in this country, diabetes is costing this country a fortune, as is heart disease. It is stretching the health budget and making life at the coal face of medicine extremely difficult. Schools struggle to teach kids to eat well and keep their weight under control. Waiting lists are long and dialysis is extremely costly and ongoing. Have you ever known anybody who has died from Type 2 Diabetes – I have and its a terrible chronic disease to eventually die from . Its mostly a dietary problem (belly fat) and it can be kept at bay. Medical Specialists reiterate in journals how difficult it is for them manage the massive problem that is looming in the future. Your tax payer money (if you pay any) has to contribute to all this expensive and often unnecessary intervention and in a perfect world it would not have to be.
I didn’t say that MP’s would lack ability in their job if they were over weight, I just stated that they should set an example right from the top. As for being called an asshole – its a first time for me but hey that’s life. I can live with it – just keep your cool and relax.
Do you think obesity is a personal choice for everyone?
Because if you accept that some people have genuine issues that give them a tendency to gain weight, then the lifts need an upgrade.
And as for airline seats, that’s the airlines packing ans many people in as possible. Same with buses.
Obesity often correlates with poverty and depression, fat shaming just makes it worse. Slow clap
I see where you all are coming from with fat shaming.
Cigarette smoking also is correlated with poverty but we shame smokers by raising the tax on cigarettes to an almost impossible cost for the poor. We ban them outside from clubs and bars and treat their smoking like it is leprosy. For a smoker it can be humiliating for them to be treated so. We shame drinkers who imbibe and raise the taxes on their drinking habits. As for recreational drug use, that enjoyment is now just a figment of the imagination for some. A lowly toke can now make a person unemployable – hows that not shaming for them.
Obesity is just as serious a health problem as all of the above but people who ask the obese to own their problem are reviled and called fat shamers. You state that there are illnesses that cause obesity – it will be a very small percentage of the entire obesity statistics. Ask any first responder in the health industry be it GP or A & E Department and they will say that obesity is a massive problem for this country – a ticking time bomb for Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease. It’s also very hard on the backs of our nursing staff as an aside – ask any nurse who has had to handle an obese patient. We now have children presenting with symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes which has always been considered a chronic illness of the middle-aged and upwards.
It’s time this country had a mature conversation about the rising obesity rates which are not accepted by the health industry but are considered as fat shaming and insulting – it’s a problem which isn’t going to go away anytime soon.
I like this from Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful:
An attitude to life which seeks fulfilment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth – in short, materialism – does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle.while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited.
Already, the environment is trying to tell us that certain stresses are becoming excessive. As one problem is being ‘solved’, ten new problems arise as a result of the first ‘solution’….the new problems are not the consequences of incidental failure but of technological success,
Sadly, Labour continues to promulgate the neoliberal lie that our lack of social spending is a function of the state of the economy:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/327447/strong-economy-allows-for-more-social-spending-labour
In reality the issue is that 50% of the population has only 4% of the nation’s wealth, while 10% have 60% of it. This can be corrected easily by some reasonably modest redistribution. The inequality effect on people’s lives is far greater than that caused by 1% vs 2% economic growth etc.
This rubbish from Labour is very weak and disappointing!
So you are happy to let the Nats keep cutting services in the name of your ideological purity? Give me a break
Not at all – notice I said nothing about the nats in my comment. I despise the attitude and cuts of the nats.
My concern is that Labour is singing from the same song sheet as national, particularly on the broad framing of the situation. It is the overall neoliberal worldview that is totally wrong – and Labour remains locked within it, even if their intentions are better.