Wow Cactus Kate is seeking to stand for the ACT party. She would actually bring something to the party, the ability to argue coherently.
It would be a shame though if she replaced Hillary Calvert. That particular combination of blind prejudice, sense of superiority and lack of empathy would be difficult to recreate.
Perhaps Heather Roy feels that Don Brash has more chauvinistic attitudes to women than the previous leader, Alasdair Thompson’s recent sweeping generalisation being a final warning.
Now let’s see, why was 9 years such a wonderful cut-off point? That’s it, she will qualify for all the travel perks but even better whe will get that gilt edged pension while the rest of us will see our GSF and similar schemes tampered with and reduced. Makes you sick.
(Now how can the rest of us get our noses into that trough?)
All we need is the Queen of Thorns standing for Mana, and Imperator fish for Labour, for some brilliant debates and a much more interesting election campaign this year.
disclaimer
Not claiming QoT actually supports Mana.
>Brash should then seek three top drawer candidates for ACT to make a strong team of six first rate potential MP’s.
Here is where I will differ from I suspect his viewpoint and state this does NOT under ANY circumstances include John Banks. Brash needs three list candidates without the baggage Banks brings. Banks is just awful. He makes you want to consider voting Len Brown. Two time losing Mayoral candidate Banks is political desperation at its finest. He’s horrible and awkward, moreso around women. I am extremely tolerant of male idiosyncrasy and even I find Banks the pits. His political philosophy isn’t even close to ACT’s. He’s toyed once with ACT and didn’t have the metal. Banks would be a Shakespearian re-run of the return of Douglas.
Plenty more in there, like how the list needs to avoid giving loud mouthed political shit stirrers high placings just because they fill some gender or ethnic demographic niche.
Global finance and tax haven huge use by UK and USA. Look for book called ‘Treasure Island’ from Nicholas Shaxson. On Radionz on Replay Sat 25/6 bit after 8am in dense and probing discussion with Kim.
Says Ireland has been and still is a tax haven and that caused the conditions resulting in the name of Celtic Tiger for them, which have now spiralled into them being one of the PIGS group. He says that tax havens have led the move to compete by states to have lower company taxes.
Confirms with details what thinking and worried people on this blog realise and argue about.
Our own financiers Fay and Richwhite and others tried out the Cook Islands as a tax haven. I remember that a Cook Island politicians meeting was said to have been paused while some document connected with the foreign financiers was signed. Joky Hen has suggested some such role for us. I am sure that his financial background would fit him to introduce this.
Shaxson says that the havens are servile entities to the tax avoiders/evaders so allowing them to virtually write enabling legislation. At home these would meet democratic procedures, some debate, so better to go where the entity is Free to do what they like. ‘Freedom is another word, for nothing left to lose’? (Me and Bobby McGee)
An emailer to the radio pointed out that in the 90’s here the government decided to drop taxation for overseas companies, but not nz ones. Others would know how this works and the arguments for it. Probably one is that we need investment cash. But what do we get from that cash? A number of poorly paid jobs for the locals in the main?
The next speaker is Irishman Philip Lane on economic vulnerability – so listen on for another facet to this hard flawed diamond of world financial practice.
Oh oh I put gummint and got into moderation – have corrected but hope this comes out before the radio interview with Lane is over.
Others would know how this works and the arguments for it. Probably one is that we need investment cash. But what do we get from that cash? A number of poorly paid jobs for the locals in the main?
Actually, we don’t even get poorly paid jobs – foreign investment usually results in employment going down as the foreign rentiers seek more profit.
Things are going to be very ugly when this happens. All I can see coming from this policy is more homelessness, and more mothers and babies crammed into seedy boarding houses. One of the reasons why the ’35-’49 Labour government introduced state housing was because of the state of the slums in Auckland. Now a National government with no memory of what life was like pre 1935 is hell bent on bringing the back.
Housing NZ has been a landlord with variable concern for its tenants for some time. The government has been unwilling to invest in more state housing but opened the rental market for low income prospective tenants by providing accommodation allowances which provide a reliable subsidy to the property owner, and that has helped fuel the housing bubble. The government providing state housing at an affordable rate for a beneficiary at a top of one/third of
the benefit would have acted as a price floor for private owners, but government brought its own rentals up to market levels some years back.
If housing start accounts were set up whereby government meets in some proportion, the amount that savers put in, and then gives an extended, say ten year, period of set affordable interest rates say 5% on a low-price house or apartment mortgage to those savers, there would be less people wasting overseas exchange by buying imported consumer stuff, but putting that money into things for their house and their own betterment.
The inability to get rid of tenants who create a noisy, unsafe or negative environment is probably fuel to Housing NZ changes. The women with Mongrel Mob connections have cost the country considerable money because Housing NZ wants them out because they are not good tenants with their circle of friends and family presumably making the neighbourhood unpleasant and unsafe. Perhaps the Mongrel Mob can get community money to put up its own houses to cater for its polygamous-like culture.
I live in an old part of Auckland that could be described as up-market. In amongst the privately owned homes are pockets of state housing that were probably built between the 1950s and 70s in the main. I have noticed in the past 12 months that many of them have been sitting empty for a long time now. They are in good condition and seem to have been freshly painted but no sign of any tenants. I’ve come to the conclusion the NAct govt. is planning to sell them after the election.
First they take away peoples’ jobs, and now they plan to take away the chance of a decent roof over their heads.
Re the NACT government’s lack of investments and support to generate a more diverse economy for jobs:
– this also means that the government is pushing out our friends, newly made redundant work mates, siblings to Australia and overseas countries.
Our children will be pushed out next.
At this rate with this government, don’t even think of having your next two generations in this country.
I think that the govenment need to be very clear on what they are proposing to do with the accommodation supplement before the election. If anything the amount needs to be increased, there is no way that a person on a low income can afford a mortgage.
Ironically it was the previous National Gov. that replaced the 4% housing corp mortgages (one of which Paula Bennett got) with the accomodation supplement. It effectively replaced a programme which was designed to be a genuine hand up to help people to independence (and which was successful at it to boot), and replaced it with a state handout.
Concise critique of the rhetorical phrase “politics of envy” from the blog of the UK protest group Art Uncut:
Why is the phrase ‘politics of envy’ deemed acceptable?
14th March
Quick blog to register hatred of the regressive phrase ‘politics of envy’. If an individual realises that those in the socio-economic group they were born into die a decade younger on average, or that their children’s life chances are significantly less than the children of those who can afford private education, or that the wages of those in ‘higher’ socio-economic groups have risen many, many times faster in the last thirty years than the wages of those in their own, and as a result of this realisation gets a bit angry, I think that we should call this ‘legitimate grievance’ rather than ‘petty jealousy’. The phrase ‘politics of envy’ is very ugly indeed. I hope in the future this phrase is deemed unacceptable in the way that racist or homophobic terms are now deemed unacceptable.
Sick? Then you don’t need food? How about you dance for your food?
Welcome to NZ. Future Focus policy means the sick will be threaten
with the reduction and cessation of money to by food, health care, pay
rents. Zeit Heil.
Doctors may if patients don’t take their medicine stop feeding
them hospital food, if they are too poor to have relatives bring
them food, how is that the Doctors problem?
What happens if a country defaults on its financial obligations? Iceland though having only 330,000 population did so and fed up with the mainstream parties elected some Bob and Ben likeness instead.
What would happen if Greece or Portugal or Ireland took the same stand? What would happen if Bill English dealt with NZ needs rather than that of the Credit Agencies.
Iceland bears watching. (And they promised a polar bear in their zoo.) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10734332
the main threat is that NZ would no longer be able to access borrowed hard foreign currency for which to pay for critical overseas imports incl. fuel, drugs, machine parts, information technology.
Travel overseas would become near on impossible as the value of the NZ dollar collapses. A simple Big Mac in Sydney would end up costing NZ$30 or NZ$40, if you could get anyone to change your NZD to begin with.
In this capitalist international game it is always better to be a net lender rather than a net borrower.
As long as you don’t lend to basket case countries of course. French and Germany banks who were lending ginourmous sums of money into Greece would have known looking at Greece’s national income, that those loans could not be paid back in any kind of commercially acceptable timeframe.
There was a country that tried this policy of Autarky and look what happened to Albania, they regressed more so than any other East European country. Turkey may yet have to follow this policy just to keep the $$ flowing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky
As some have commented regarding petro-chemicals – for this group of products the policy could become a reality by default. Hate to see all our earnings being spent on debt servicing and oil !!
Iceland unilaterally told their creditors where to go and for the moment, it seems to be working better as an approach than what Spain and Greece have done.
Iceland did display boldness that has ben lacking elsewhere. But when you live in a country that has everything now going its way (Once Global Warming really takes off, and we see a replay of the early 2nd millenium) and that it has eyjafjallajokull that can stop Europe in its tracks whenever it so desires !!
I cannot see how Greece can solve its financial issues, like America all that happens is a build up of pressure until it finally blows up (with a few growing excedingly wealthy at the expense of the masses). That is the problem with what Greece gave us, democracy. We the voter will not vote for pain (Turkeys and Christmas) and the pollys have no idea or fortitude re the (painful) cure.
On a side issue Icelands demise resulted in my team relagated to the 1st division, so there was some paid experienced 🙂
Question is, is the pain proposed being evenly shared?
How is it for instance that in the case of Greece, none of the bondholders/big investment banks are being asked to share the pain, say by taking 25% haircuts?
It seems that it’s only ordinary Greek citizens and Greek workers being asked to suffer.
This to me seems like a replay of Muldoonism or a poorly semi managed Economy. Where our living stds are propped up by borrowings, we (in this case Greece) has been very generous to its citizens given what it was able to earn. We, as most 1st world countries are in various forms are in the same boat, one day we will come to reality and have to accept dramatic decrease in living stds. Just as well as the filthy rich (many faceless individuals and families that the popularis has no idea who they are ) have their nest egg to “Go Private” when the crap hits the spinning thingy.
This also displays the weakness of the EU in that here are the rules e.g deficits, current accs and who followed them and who policed them? Now we have G.B. being asked to assist in the bailout and they are not even part of the Eurozone. http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-uk-bail-out-2011-6
Greece has had a massive problem with tax evasion and corruption for years. No doubt about that.
Question remains, are ordinary Greeks and Greek workers going to be the only ones who suffer for the foolishness of their elites consorting with the investment banking and international finance types.
one day we will come to reality and have to accept dramatic decrease in living stds.
And to repeat the question again in a different way: who is this “WE” you are talking about who is going to have to “accept dramatic decreases in living standards”?
Is it just the ordinary workers and people again? How about the richest 2% of NZ society, are they going to accept dramatic decreases in THEIR living standards?
Or are they, as the pattern is emerging, just going to use the rest of us as a buffer to keep the status quo for themselves.
Note that National did not cut MP’s own super schemes when they cut KiwiSaver. Another example of the pain not being evenly shared.
My referring to “We” are all those who do not have enough to not care less because most 90%+ require the benefit of the collective not to live off our”success”.
And re Greece there was from my reading a wide acceptance of tax evasion, yet again we see who benefits from all this speculation and not paying their social contributions for all. AND WE STILL BAIL THEM OUT !!! http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/20/greece-promises-crack-down-on-tax-evasion
Yes re Nat agreed yet Lab were the same in power remember the 2-4% pay rises we all got (most years behind inflation and further behind the real cost of living increases) and the PM and MPs being in double digit pay rises and blaming the detached, impartial system (that they set up)?And they increased their tax free allowances to over $13k no basis for it just another (elephant in the room )perk. At least in old NZ it was far more egalitarian when blue/white/Mp’s/City councilors and the chiefs of industry did intermingle at baches, sports and schools. Now (technically NZ is not a class society yet by acedamic definition) we are progressing into a well divided society, with all the infighting and positioning from those groups who are all losing out and going backwards, bar the top 2-5% of the pop. and very few can see it.
ianmac and c.v.
I just wonder if those big producer economies would actually let New Zealand become a basket case. They would also have too much to lose. We are a good and reliable market. New Zealand has always been a first world country. I cannot believe that forces within the producer industries would let their governments let NZ go down the plug. They might force austerity measures on us, but the minions might also demand a re-dividing of the cake. I think the likes of the absentee investors in our economy are the ones who have the most to lose. We are an energy rich nation, and we would be able to take back ownership of our resources… begins to sound better all the time… yep let’s default and take our nation back.
Blithering old Alisdair Thompson is not the only powerful bully confronted by Helen Kelly in the last twelve months. Please enjoy this blast from the recent past…
Helen Kelly: “Peter Jackson is a spoilt brat.”
October 20th, 2010 by Altaira
Ataahua, one of our Kiwi connections, just posted on our Hobbit discussion board that Helen Kelly, president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) has just been interviewed on Newstalk ZB. Highlights:
The move offshore is financially-driven, not actor-driven
“The issue is that countries are offering double the tax breaks (of New Zealand). Warners are in the process of doing as much damage as they can (to the NZ film industry) to get what they want. “New Zealand can compete on films if the tax system is right. We have to have the right financial conditions to compete.” She said New Zealand competes on talent and skills and we shouldn’t have to accept lower overseas conditions to be competitive.
A resolution was close
“We’re working with SPADA. Warners is fully aware that we’re within an inch of resolving this but they’re deciding to go this way. “The union is the way to unionise the film industry, and what is the problem with this? We have manufacturing and call centres going offshore, and are you suggesting that our actors shouldn’t be unionised?”
PJ’s role in the dispute
“Peter Jackson is a spoilt brat, and saying that in this country I know is sacriligious. He organised a meeting last night through Weta Workshop and wound those technicians up with false information. They were played like a fiddle and took the bait. He shared information that we’re forbidden from sharing and said it’s the performers’ request to meet that has hurt The Hobbit. It is the fault of Three Foot Seven to move the movie to film The Hobbit.”
Well now you come to mention it Murray, I have to say that I recall Alisdair’s behavior towards Helen Kelly during one TV interview as especially sneering and demeaning to her as a woman. It stuck in my memory as an interesting moment, revealing the man’s inner convictions in all their retro-ugliness.
So yes Murray.. it’s transpired an arse got kicked alright.. and it hasn’t been Helen Kelly’s.
It was Peter Jackson that looked and sounded utterly out of his depth through that fiasco. He usually sat glumly and pathetically, while his terrifying minder and spokeswoman Philippa Boyens did all the talking.
In stark and telling contrast to Jackson, Helen Kelly was articulate and strong throughout that unpleasant confrontation.
“the main threat is that NZ would no longer be able to access borrowed hard foreign currency for which to pay for critical overseas imports incl. fuel, drugs, machine parts, information technology.
Travel overseas would become near on impossible as the value of the NZ dollar collapses. A simple Big Mac in Sydney would end up costing NZ$30 or NZ$40, if you could get anyone to change your NZD to begin with.”
This assumes of course that other countries will no longer wish to buy our products. This seems unlikely given that food shortages seem to be looming. In fact a slight drop in the dollar would probably be beneficial. And, let’s face it, default on our part would probably lead to a large reduction in payments for “invisibles”.
– Yes we will still sell a lot overseas, but when you look at the balance of payments you can see that we will be shortages of hard foreign currency fairly fast.
– A slight drop in the dollar to say 70c would be hugely beneficial for NZ industry. I was really talking of say a 90% (or larger) drop, which would occur after a loan default.
None of this is unmanageable of course, Iceland and Argentina are still around, and those are only a few recent examples.
Yes KJT… it’s astounding how many folk have no idea about this fundamental structural imbalance in our economy. The root cause is simple:
Far too much of the NZ economy has been sold to overseas owners
Now there is nothing wrong with some direct foreign investment as long as it meets two conditions:
1. It actually creates new wealth and opportunity, as distinct to merely capturing existing assets to rent back to us.
2. It is balanced by a similar level of FDI by New Zealand overseas; in other words the investment flows in and out of the country roughly balance each other over the medium term.
NZ has categorially failed on both counts. As a result something in the order of 7-9% of our GDP dissapears offshore EVERY year. This is one of the most important reasons why NZ has failed to meet it’s potential in the last 30 years or so, and why the extreme neo-liberal, free market experiment inflicted on this country was completely wrong.
Fear and insecurity for state servants, fear and insecurity for solo mums, fear and insecurity for earthquake victims. The National Party do fear and insecurity very well, choose a group within society and pick on that group. Provides distractions for their real business which goes on in back-rooms and involves shady deals.
A private consultant awarded a $54,135 contract for two months’ work says he was given the job because of “staffing gaps” at the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry.
Found this in the on-line comments of NZH and a follow-up reply from Josh – thank you Josh.
Just Me (North Shore City)
09:05 AM Friday, 27 May 2011
No, no change in my vote.
At least National will make some money off the sales, unlike Labour who sold Tranz Rail to Toll for $1. Yes, not a typo, One Dollar. And then they bought it back for $665 million minus the profitable road transport division.
35 likes
Josh (New Zealand)
10:31 AM Friday, 27 May 2011
Uhh, actually Toll sold the tracks to the Government for a dollar. New Zealand Rail Ltd was sold in 1993 to Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation and two other investment groups who proceeded to strip it of valuable assets in order to pay down debt and lease costs that were unaffordable. TheGovernment then purchased the company back in 2008 for $665 million dollars to avoid the complete destruction of NZ’s railway system, and to prevent the continued degradation of services.
31 Likes
Just more Crosby and Textor John Key clones peddling their lies on national media. Surely the Herald picked up on it. If they did and left it in the comments then that makes liars of them and their foreign owners too. We had enough nasty lying against Labour in the 2008 election. This year NActMU will do whatever it takes. Labour, Progressive, Greens don’t turn your backs on anyone remotely like a NActMU MP or party follower. They are patently dangerous to New Zealanders wanting to retain what is left of an egalitarian society.
What a joke, toll were even less constructive than Tranz Rail. David Richwhite gave rail a Chance, they tried and tested whether the freight system was any use, invested in a lot of new track and fast wagons in 1993-8, ran the freight trains at maximum speed, even tried to make the long distance passenger trains which labour under Kirk, Freer, Douglas and Prebble would never spend any real money or new investment on, work. Clark and Ron Donald just scrapped them. Eay Richwhite brought the second hand Brit rail carriages and the Perth units that gave passenger rail a chance in this country.
The toll trains cruised around this counry in Australain national war bonnet colors. They were basically Australain corporate mafia who never invested a cent of real money in NZ. Jum get back to Sth London and Cameron and Borris will treat slum dwellers like you in the appropriate manner
Robert M said “Jum get back to Sth London and Cameron and Borris will treat slum dwellers like you in the appropriate manner”
And why would you think I would be needing to go back to South London? I’d much rather stay here and highlight your idiocy, you nasty little creature.
Public transport is a public good for the use of New Zealanders who need to get from A to B without a car. You bxstards are so selfish and greedy that you have no empathy for those people.
The issue is never about making a profit; your idiot Key/Joyce government is deliberately under-resourcing rail in favour of road. Fay/Richwhite were two of the criminal class that ripped all New Zealanders off; Bolger’s government sold Rail in 93 and we lost a useful apprenticeship scheme.
The best result that occurred was Cullen buying it back; it made no difference in the end what we paid for it because whatever money was left was given by your idiot Key/English government to rich pricks.
“Thousands to come off housing list” By Simon Collins Saturday Jun 25, 2011
________________________________________________________________
“With the continuation of Auckland’s serious housing crisis and families still languishing in sheds, garages and overcrowded and sub-standard accommodation, including those left homeless in Christchurch – the last thing any decent Government should be doing is privatising the state housing stock, using charities such as the Salvation Army and ‘trusts’ in a mixed economy to do it,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby.
“It is totally unacceptable to have Government policies in the 21st century that create instability, transience and homelessness.
There are several other aspects that are very concerning:
The ‘housing crisis’ will not be fixed by taking people off the waiting list.
Prime Minister John Key promised that there would be no asset sales in this first term of government. This is what John Key promised on 14 April 2008:
“Transcript: Agenda IV’s John Key
Monday, 14 April 2008, 10:57 am
Article: Agenda
GUYON Alright you rightly point out it was sold by the National government in 1998 now that brings us to this position. What is your position now as a National Party on state asset sales?
JOHN Well National’s had some time to reflect on that and the position that we’ve decided to have is the following one. That in the first term of the National government there will be no state assets that will be sold either partially or fully.
GUYON So no state assets, you’re completely firm on that?
JOHN That’s right.”
________________________________________________________________
“But Housing Minister Phil Heatley has said ‘some iwi groups wanted to take over managing state houses rather than buying them, but the Government wanted to sell them.’
Prime Minister John Key is breaking this promise.
The proposed sale of any state housing stock must cease forthwith.”
Housing Lobby Spokesperson Sue Henry drew attention to what Prime Minister John Key had stated on 12 March 2007 – that he didn’t ‘ favour a move back to market-related rents.’
Before the 2008 election, National’s stated policy on housing, as declared by Phil Heatley on 22 July 2008, included the following:
National Party promised to keep at least the existing number of state houses if it wins this year’s election.
National would not sell state houses to outside investors, as it did in the 1990s, and would use the proceeds of sales to tenants to buy or lease new state houses.
“We won’t be running down the state housing stock. We acknowledge that we need it.”
Mr Heatley said the party would now keep Labour’s policy of fixing state house rents at only 25 per cent of the tenants’ incomes except for tenants on high incomes.
“This will be yet another broken promise,” says Ms Henry.
“Why then would the ‘social housing unit’ (which should also be scrapped forthwith because it has no public mandate), be asked to ‘propose a new system of subsidising housing costs to replace the income-related rent subsidy for state houses?,” she continued.
[He [Housing Minister Phil Heatley] told the Weekend Herald that the new social housing unit, due to start in the Department of Building and Housing on July 1, would be asked to propose a new system of subsidising housing costs to replace the current income-related rents for state houses and accommodation supplement for the private sector within the next six to 12 months.’]
“This is ludicrous.
The Income Related Rent Subsidy (IRRS) works extremely well for tenants trying to manage on a low income.
The system is not broken.
It doesn’t need to be tampered with by vested interests,” concluded Ms Henry.
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As the debate over assisted dying rages in the run-up to the referendum at the election on September 19, a persistent problem continues to dog the discussions. That is to say, a prominent spokesperson for a particular group takes a strong public stand in opposition without acknowledging that they don’t ...
No Other Suspects? The mainstream news media was willing to print and broadcast harsh Opposition criticism of the Government, even though they knew that the source of the leaked information was a National Party MP. Even though, by pushing the story up towards the top of every news bulletin they were ...
Sacrificial Lamb: If the stories about Mr Taogaga and the unauthorised release of confidential medical data had been deliberately orchestrated by Labour’s political opponents, their deflection of the news media’s attention away from the Prime Minister’s address to the Labour Party Congress could hardly have been more successful.THE LABOUR PARTY ...
The East is Rent: The consequences of unleashing the young against the old; of elevating ideological rigor above reasoned debate; and of setting the present against the past; was a decade of unprecedented social stress and tension, interspersed with explosions of murderous mob violence and tragic material destruction. More than ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa-New Zealand could go from helping Jacinda Ardern run the country, to being turfed out of Parliament altogether in ten weeks. And that could see the end of Labour in government. Without them, Labour would likely have to do what no party has done since the ...
Remember the government's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill? Remember how it was rammed through Parliament, with a four-day submission period and a select committee process that was a democratic fraud? At the time, the government gave the impression that there was an urgent need for this legislation, that a ...
Attack journalist - Tova O'BrienWe all know that much of the mainstream media in New Zealand is terribly biased. They are in effect another branch of the National Party, and can often be even more prejudiced than their right wing bosses.In fact many right wing politicians moonlight as journalists and ...
Former National Party President - Michelle BoagAfter the complete botch job Hamish Walker made of leaking the private details of COVID-19 patients to the mainstream media last week, the best-case scenario for Todd Muller and the National Party would be if the news cycle went quiet about their involvement.But unfortunately ...
One of the challenges of working on illegal wildlife markets, is you don’t really have scope to talk about your research into illegal wildlife markets. There is some stuff though that willbe coming out on Asiatic black bears in China, and before Covid19, I was delving more into rhinos. Which ...
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...
Michelle Boag - Former National Party PresidentWhen Todd Muller decided not to discipline Hamish Walker for his horribly racist press release last week, you had to wonder if his lack of proper leadership had something to do with a shared belief system? After all, the whiteness of the blue “team” ...
On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhat was the climate and sea level like at times ...
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters The massive dust storm that formed over the Sahara Desert in mid-June invaded the southeastern U.S. June 25-28, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution, low visibility, and colorful sunsets. The air pollution event over parts of Texas and the Gulf ...
In 1987, as a British Labour MP, I was elected to the Shadow Cabinet by my colleagues and was asked by the party leader to direct Labour’s campaign in the general election of that year. The election was to take place at the height of Mrs Thatcher’s dominance and we ...
National MP Nicola WillisHousing, which I would argue is a fundamental human right, has long been a problem in New Zealand. Not only do we have some of the most overpriced houses in the entire world, much of the housing stock is substandard and therefore affects not just people’s health ...
If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...
Associate Professor Sara WaltonAt the heart of the discussion on opening up our borders is the dichotomy of health and the economy – both of which are actually intertwined, like many things with our economy, as this epidemic has shown.If we think about our country as a system, ...
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Josh Gabbatiss This year will see the largest ever drop globally in both investment and consumer spending on energy as the coronavirus pandemic hits every major sector, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The crisis is accelerating the shutdown of older fossil-fuelled ...
A short opinion piece – Friday 26th June 2020 Whilst our Government has treated many financial victims of the current Covid-19 virus with appropriate generosity, the same cannot be said for those of the two earlier “epidemics” in NZ. The “Covid-84” virus (also called “Rogernomics”) spread systemic greed, with the ...
Everyone deserves a a decent life. We know this is possible with a fairer approach to income support and tax Read the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Poverty Action Plan here ...
After a long break, the government is back inserting secrecy clauses in legislation. This time its the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3), which in its clause allowing Ministers to exempt purchasers of farm land from the usual rules also allows them to exempt an exemption from the publication requirement: ...
Over the past two years the government has repeatedly delayed a scheme to put cameras on boats to monitor Mew Zealand's pervasively criminal fishing industry. But it turns out that the industry actually wants cameras: Three of the country's biggest seafood companies have broken ranks with the rest of the ...
Louise Delany (public health lawyer)Health and emergency laws have played a critical role in this country’s successful elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog details key aspects of the legislation and comments on issues around testing, payments by incoming travellers for quarantine costs, and mask use. ...
I like Andrew Curry’s succinct and insightful futures blog The Next Wave. His most recent post is about social change. In particular, the decadal-long periods usually required for changes in values. He highlights a 2016 paper by Inglehart and Norris, who examined whether economic insecurity or a “cultural backlash” ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Stop making sense: why it's time to get emotional about climate changeThe science has been settled to the highest degree, so now ...
MONDAY JULY 6Washington (History, Sky 073, 7.30pm). The brilliant Doris Kearns Goodwin is the executive producer of this six-part series about America's first president. It combines interviews with live action and is narrated by Jeff Daniels. It's engaging, said Salon.TUESDAY JULY 7The ABC Murders (Prime, 8.30pm). Sarah Phelps has done incredible things with ...
I think we can all agree that the mainstream media in New Zealand has a very different set of rules for the right wing compared to the left. While Labour and Green Party politicians don’t seem to be able to fart without it becoming a sackable offence, National and Act ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 28 through Sat, July 4, 2020Editor's Choice'2040': A funny, entertaining, upbeat climate documentaryA timely Australian documentary takes a 'solutions' approach, with the filmmaker inspired by visions of ...
Racist National MP Hamish WalkerEven before Todd Muller's coup ousted Simon Bridges by a single vote, it was patently obvious that the National Party promotes and stands for white privilege. In fact they’ve always worked to ensure the discriminatory status quo in New Zealand doesn’t change.So it’s no surprise that ...
Dave HeatleyZero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an attractive situation, at least compared to much of the world. The situation could be robust and enduring – or it might be fragile, just one border incursion away from a “second ...
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...
I wrote earlier in the week about the Scientology front organisations Drug Free World and Drug Free Ambassadors and their quite prominent role in anti-cannabis reform "coalition" assembled by Family First and a newloca branch of the American prohibitionist organisation SAM.It turns out Family First aren't the only ones helping ...
Nik GreenMuch of the public debate about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on the extent to which government regulations have restricted personal and business activity.Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government Here in New Zealand, the question of when to change Alert Levels dominated the ...
James Higham, University of OtagoUnprecedented border closures and the domestic lockdown have paralysed New Zealand’s $40.9 billion a year tourism industry. In the process, the vulnerability of the sector to external shocks and the tenuous nature of tourism employment have been exposed. While New Zealand’s handling of the pandemic ...
Raising The Bar: Would that the Prime Minister and her colleagues would listen as intently to what the people – as opposed to the power elites – are saying as the Greens. Were they so disposed, the popular clamour for a transformational post-Covid reset would be loud in their ears. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters acknowledged today the heavy price of trying to lead the National Party today. ‘One’s sympathy goes out to Todd Muller and his family. Todd is a good man, unlike most of his colleagues he does ...
We're keeping New Zealand moving, one progress-packed week at a time. Read below to find out how we're creating jobs, protecting the environment, looking out for the health of New Zealanders', and upgrading our critical infrastructure - and that's only this week. ...
We're keeping New Zealand moving, one progress-packed week at a time. Read below to find out how we're creating jobs, protecting the environment, looking out for the health of New Zealanders', and upgrading our critical infrastructure - and that's only this week. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund is providing up to $19.5 million to boost innovative primary sector businesses and create training and job opportunities for Northland locals through the construction of an innovation and enterprise park at Ngawha, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones ...
The Green Party is today unveiling part one of its plan for a fossil-fuel free Aotearoa, including an immediate ban on new industrial coal boilers. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First leader Winston Peters today scoffed at suggestions that a team of six political operatives have been dispatched to New Zealand to assist his campaign. ‘As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘there they go again.’ ‘The clickbait journos can’t ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce Jenny Marcroft as the party’s election 2020 candidate for the Auckland Central electorate. Jenny spent years working in Auckland Central, having spent a vast proportion of her broadcasting career there. She says she, "knows the place and knows the people." Ms Marcroft says ...
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
A package of wellbeing infrastructure investments in Kaipara which focuses on improving the lives of the elderly and upgrading the iconic Kauri Museum has been announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones today. “These shovel-ready projects will have significant benefits for their respective communities and I’m pleased this funding ...
More support is rolling out for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the COVID Response and Recovery Fund, to help them adapt and innovate to deal with the impact of the virus. The Ministers for Economic Development and Small Business have announced a further $40 million for the Regional Business ...
Stephen Clark, Māori Land Court Judge of Hamilton has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to be based in Hamilton, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Judge Clark graduated with an LLB from Auckland University in 1988 and was admitted to the Bar in the same year. ...
The Crown will provide a loan to Hawke’s Bay Airport to ensure it can trade through COVID-19 economic impacts, support the region’s recovery and protect up to 200 jobs. The Crown has a 50 percent shareholding in Hawke’s Bay Airport Limited (HBAL), with Napier City Council holding 26 percent and ...
Four celebrated Māori and Pasifika events will receive up to $100,000 each in funding from the new Creative and Cultural Events Incubator fund, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. The four events that were successful in the inaugural funding round are: Kia Mau Festival, Wellington Māoriland Film Festival, Otaki ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio is pleased to announce the inaugural launch of Kiribati Language Week as part of the 2020 Pacific language Weeks programme. “I am so pleased that this year we are able to provide resourcing support to the Kiribati community in Aotearoa which will ...
Wildlife institutions affected by a loss of visitor revenue during the COVID-19 lockdown are set to receive government support with nearly $15 million of funding available announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. “Eco-sanctuaries, zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, and wildlife rescue, hospital and rehabilitation facilities provide crucial support for the recovery ...
The Government is expanding and accelerating frontline mental health and wellbeing services at tertiary education institutes (TEI) to help students manage ongoing stresses related to COVID-19. “The lockdown has been hugely disruptive for students. Many of them have had to relocate and move to online learning, isolating them from their ...
The Minister of Police says a major operation against the Mongrel Mob in Waikato will make a big dent in drug harm and violent offending linked to organised crime networks. “Senior leadership of the Waikato Mongrel Mob has been taken out as a result of Operation Kingsville, which resulted in ...
The Government is extending the border exception criteria to enable some offshore victims and support people of the Christchurch mosque attacks to attend the sentencing of the accused beginning on 24 August2020, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “We want to support our valued Muslim brothers and sisters who were directly ...
A project to support volunteer efforts to look after streams and rivers is getting a boost thanks to support from DOC’s Community Conservation Fund announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “The government is backing efforts to look after waterways with $199,400 for the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust from ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter today announced that funding for the COVID-19 Community Fund for women and girls will be doubled, as the first successful funding applications for the initial $1million were revealed. “Women and girls across the country have suffered because of the effects of COVID-19, and I ...
The Government’s books were better than forecast with a higher GST take as the economy got moving again after lockdown, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Crown Accounts for the 11 months to the end of May indicate the year end results for tax revenue will be stronger than forecast. ...
A plan to revitalise New Zealand’s strong wool sector and set it on a new, more sustainable and profitable path was unveiled today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The newly-released report - Vision and Action for New Zealand’s Wool Sector - was developed by the Wool Industry Project Action Group ...
Community efforts to create a Predator Free Whangārei will receive a $6 million boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The new funding, through Government company Predator Free 2050 Ltd, will create around 12 jobs while enabling the complete removal of possums over ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced that the New Zealand Government is reviewing the settings of its relationship with Hong Kong. “China’s decision to pass a new national security law for Hong Kong has fundamentally changed the environment for international engagement there,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand remains deeply ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced details of a multimillion-dollar investment in Whangārei for infrastructure projects that will help it recover from the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200 jobs are expected to be created through the $26 million investment from the Government’s rejuvenation package ...
Following a second incident in which a person escaped from a managed isolation facility, security is being enhanced, including more police presence onsite, Minister Megan Woods said. “The actions of some individuals who choose to break the very clear rules to stay within the facilities means that more resourcing is ...
Waste reduction and recycling programmes in Kaipara are set to get a boost with Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announcing a $361,447 grant from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) Sustainable Kaipara. “The new funding will allow Sustainable Kaipara to partner with local schools, kura, community ...
The Government will support the Southland economy in the wake of multinational mining company Rio Tinto’s decision to follow through with its long signalled closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. “This day has unfortunately been on the cards for some time now, but nevertheless the final decision is a ...
New tools being developed to help boost Aotearoa’s Predator Free 2050 effort were unveiled today by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. A new rat poison, a camera with predator recognition software to detect and report predators, a new predator lure and a ...
The Coalition Government has approved the purchase of a fleet of Bushmaster vehicles to replace the New Zealand Army’s armoured Pinzgauers, Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced today. The new fleet of 43 Australian-designed and built Bushmaster NZ5.5 will provide better protection for personnel and improved carrying capacity. “The age ...
The Government’s three prevention frameworks to reduce family violence in Aotearoa were launched this week by Associate Minister for Social Development Poto Williams. The frameworks were developed in partnership with communities around New Zealand, and build on the work the Government has already begun with its new family violence prevention ...
The Government is pleased to confirm funding for improvements to radiology and surgical services at Hawke's Bay DHB, Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. "The Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson and former Health Minister Dr David Clark approved funding for Hawke's Bay DHB’s redevelopment of their radiology facilities ...
• New funding for four beds at Napier’s Springhill Residential Addiction Centre • A new managed withdrawal home and community service, and peer support before and after residential care at Tairāwhiti DHB • A co-ordinated network of withdrawal management services throughout the South Island • Peer support in Rotorua and ...
Introduction, seafarers and POAL Good morning everyone, I am delighted to be online with you all today. Before I begin, I have to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disrupted the maritime sector on an unprecedented scale. The work of seafarers and the maritime industry is keeping many economies around the world ...
A $13 million investment from Government will create jobs and improve the resilience of the rail connection between Christchurch and the West Coast, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones and Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau say. The funding comes from the tagged contingency set aside in Budget 2020 for infrastructure projects ...
The Government is investing $761 million to assist local government upgrade under-pressure water services across the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The announcement was made at the site of the water bore that was found to be the source of the fatal ...
Recognised Seasonal Employers and migrant seasonal workers stranded in New Zealand will be able to continue working and supporting themselves with more flexible hours and roles, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The time-limited visa changes are: Stranded RSE workers will be able to work part-time (a minimum of 15 hours ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ross Tapsell, Senior Lecturer in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific., Australian National University The recent police interrogations of six Al Jazeera journalists in Malaysia – five of whom are Australian – was not about ...
ANALYSIS:By Liam Hehir The detailed reasons for opposition National Party leader Todd Muller’s shock resignation are something we are not yet given to know. At this point, anything other than the statement made by Muller himself is nothing more than speculation. The announcement was a bolt from the blue ...
The rich become that way because they work hard to provide the everyday things that our nation needs. So runs the story that underpins the economic system we live under. Its something that is so taken for granted, it often goes uncommented upon. It seems ...
In every discussion about who could lead the National Party since John Key resigned in 2016, one name has always figured high in speculation: Judith Collins.The controversial yet popular MP for Papakura has put her name forward twice – losing to Bill English and Simon Bridges. Since then, Collins has ...
Maternal mental health is far more complex than most realise, and for many women,problems start well before the baby is born. Here, four women share their experiences of perinatal distress – and how to get through it. Josie Gritten has three littlies and she is a perpetual motion machine, a superwoman. One ...
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger says the National Party needs to choose a new leader who is bold enough to talk publicly about tax increases and New Zealand's post-Covid economic future. ...
At last Pretty Penny has met its judicial fate and been sent packing from New Zealand. Debtfix co-founder, Christine Liggins says; “Far from ‘helping everyday people’ as their tagline states, Pretty Penny was a thorn in the side of those who deal with ...
Analysis - The National Party has been thrown into utter confusion by Todd Muller's resignation and now the caucus has to find someone prepared to take a hospital pass, writes Peter Wilson. ...
“The Council has been using the water crisis as an excuse to prime Auckland ratepayers for a painful 3.5% increase in rates. Supposedly, the crisis has introduced $239 million in new costs.” “However, the Government has now announced $196 million ...
Todd Muller's resignation now puts Jacinda Ardern in the awkward position of having to say what she really, really wants to do with her second term. Bernard Hickey analyses her choices. Jacinda Ardern is reputed to have played a few Spice Girls tracks as a DJ at the Morrinsville College after-ball ...
Latest from the Beehive – While National’s Todd Muller was thinking hard about his future as leader, the government was getting on with the job of governing and redistributing taxpayers’ money. At least, we presume that’s what Muller was doing . He was also giving a highly instructive lesson in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey University And then there was none. Early this morning the National Party caucus awoke to a nightmare. Todd Muller, their newly minted leader of some 53 days, had resigned his position. This is not just another ...
After Todd Muller’s shock resignation, a crushing electoral defeat for National looks all but assured. But is a historically weak opposition really something for the left to celebrate, asks Danyl Mclauchlan. It probably doesn’t matter who takes over as leader of the National Party. Todd Muller’s sudden resignation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Audrey Courty, PhD candidate, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University Amid claims of social media platforms stifling free speech, a new challenger called Parler is drawingattention for its anti-censorship stance. Last week, Harper’s Magazine published an open letter ...
So is the election now a foregone conclusion? With Jacindamania still raging, and the National Party shattered by its own shambolic performance, it looks like a walk in the park for the Labour Party and its coalition partners. Certainly NZ First leader Winston Peters wasn’t slow to rub salt into ...
Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas reel at the announcement that Todd Muller has resigned as leader of the opposition. At 7.30am, just 53 days after he replaced Simon Bridges as leader of the National Party, Todd Muller announced his immediate resignation from the job.How did it come to this, ...
The Minister of Immigration has dropped another bombshell today relating to temporary visa holders and their families, says Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment (NZAMI). Having granted an automatic six-month extension ...
A success story of the New Zealand Made Products Facebook page, this Christchurch start-up has grown from a backyard workshop to a centre for sustainable architecture and building all in the space of a few months.Two Christchurch guys needed a table for their flat. So they built one out of ...
Power Play - Who will seize the day now National is a party looking for a leader? RNZ political editor Jane Patterson takes a look at a party that was supposed to be settling in to fight its election campaign. ...
An announcement today that three Police raids of firearm licence holders following the Christchurch Mosque shootings were illegal, raises questions about Police over-reacting to what people say on social media, according to the Council of Licenced Firearms ...
Just over seven weeks after he rolled Simon Bridges to become leader of the opposition, and with under 10 weeks to go to the election, Todd Muller has quit. Here’s a reminder of how it unfurled – and unravelled.May 21A Colmar Brunton poll for TVNZ puts National at 29%. It’s ...
Todd Muller's stint as National leader has been cut short by a commendable decision to put his own wellbeing first - but now the party must try to find a path forward to September 19 For all that National’s critics claimed to predict it, the news was a shock. Just ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found three searches conducted by Police following the 15 March Mosque attacks were unlawful. Following the attacks, Police identified people of interest to national security and set up an operation aimed ...
CEAC want Gov’t to protect communities using ‘OECD/WHO/EU standards traffic noise for residential traffic noise Confirmation of reports to urban residents both from NZTA/Transit-NZ acoustical consultants have since 2001 warned residents that ...
“What a mess” said Hannah Tamaki. “Todd Muller’s resignation this morning is a further indication of the insidious problems hidden in the belly of New Zealand politics. With all three major political parties under investigation by the Serious ...
A recent media story highlighting the fact that a convicted paedophile has worked on a popular New Zealand children’s tv show reveals the serious inadequacies of current legislation which is supposed to protect our children, according to Safeguarding ...
The country's electoral donation laws are being questioned with a third major political party now the subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. ...
Mistrust in the government and generational trauma mean Māori communities are more at risk of falling victim to conspiracies relating to the 5G spectrum. Alice Webb-Liddall finds out what needs to be done to combat this dangerous misinformation.The real danger of conspiracy theories can sometimes be hard to grasp. When ...
Nearly two months ago Todd Muller stepped up to wrestle the leadership of the National Party from Simon Bridges, he won. But after just 53 days, he has resigned. Here's a quick look at his background. ...
Greenpeace NZ is challenging Coca Cola to face up to its embarrassing contribution to ocean pollution for Plastic Free July. Coca Cola Amatil floods NZ with hundreds of millions of plastic bottles annually - the majority of which end up in landfill ...
With just over two months to go before the election, National suddenly, shockingly finds itself in need of a new leader. Who are the potential candidates?Late leadership changes before an election aren’t unheard of in politics. The current prime minister is living proof of that, taking over from Andrew Little ...
Source: Statement by Todd Muller – New Zealand National Party I have taken time over the weekend to reflect on my experience over the last several weeks as Leader of the Opposition. It has become clear to me that I am not the best person to be Leader of the Opposition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Audrey Courty, PhD candidate, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University Amid claims of social media platforms stifling free speech, a new challenger called Parler is drawingattention for its anti-censorship stance. Last week, Harper’s Magazine published an open letter ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Hocking, Emeritus Professor, Monash University Forty-five years after they were written, hundreds of previously secret letters between the queen and the governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, relating to the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 will be released in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thea van de Mortel, Professor, Nursing and Deputy Head (Learn & Teaching), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University The recent lockdown of nine social housing towers in Melbourne’s north to contain the spread of COVID-19 led to widespread concerns for residents’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesco Paolucci, Associate Professor of Health Economics, University of Bologna, and Professor of Health Economics, University of Newcastle Australia has fared better than most countries in reducing its COVID-19 cases to very low numbers. However, on June 15, new clusters of infection ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Burke, Associate Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Putting a price on carbon should reduce emissions, because it makes dirty production processes more expensive than clean ones, right? That’s the economic theory. Stated baldly, it’s obvious, but there ...
Politics editor Justin Giovannetti reports from Wellington.National Party leader Todd Muller has resigned citing health reasons, only 53 days after he rolled Simon Bridges to take over the largest party in New Zealand’s parliament. The next general election is in 66 days.Muller’s short leadership was marked by disarray within the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona David, Visiting Fellow, University of Western Australia In previous recessions in Australia, far larger numbers of men than women lost their jobs. This reflected realities at that time. Men had higher levels of workforce participation than women, and the construction and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon O’Connor, Associate Professor in American Politics at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney Curtis Sittenfeld has a knack of putting her readers in uncomfortable places in her fiction. In her short story Gender Studies she puts you in the ...
After just over a month in the job, National leader Todd Muller has stepped aside National leader Todd Muller has resigned from the role a little over a month after deposing Simon Bridges, citing the heavy toll the job has taken on him and his family. In a brief statement, ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Serious Fraud Office announces investigation into donations made to Labour, deportations from Australia to resume, and retail businesses up against it on rent.In a short statement released yesterday afternoon, the Serious Fraud Office made it clear that donations to the ...
The 2020 longlist for the APRA Silver Scroll Awards – New Zealand’s premiere songwriting awards – have just been announced. Here’s the full list of the 20 finalists, with the songs themselves to listen to.This morning saw the announcement of the longlist for the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand’s most ...
It was claimed as a win but last week’s court decision on tahr control was mostly legal shots thumping harmlessly into a wall. David Williams reports ANALYSIS: Last Friday, hunting groups welcomed a “landmark” High Court decision, “halting” a controversial plan to “exterminate” all tahr in national parks and sharply ...
The closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has left the door open for another electricity-intensive project to take its place at the south tip of the South Island. ...
A complaint has been made to the Department of Internal Affairs against a book of short stories How do you know you’ve “made it” as a writer? Is it, as one friend recently commented on a photo of me holding my new book, when Facebook refuses to allow you to ...
Terminally ill man Stuart Armstrong responds to a first-person piece on assisted dying Newsroom ran last week, arguing people should have the option to choose a death that reflects their life and beliefs This week Serena Jones wrote an article describing her position on the upcoming referendum on the End ...
What New Zealand must do to play virtual host to APEC next year is something perhaps never attempted before. The rewards could be big. Virtual hosting of 2021 APEC: a rewarding challenge for NZ New Zealand’s confirmation that it will proceed with hosting APEC in 2021, using virtual digital platforms, ...
A major infrastructure announcement by the National Party slated to take place today needs to defy stereotypes about what they are all about. COMMENT: It didn't take a genius to realise that a major infrastructure announcement down south by the National Party would turn out to be a road of ...
LISTEN: In our podcast, A Neesh Audience, Black Cap Jimmy Neesham talks to playmakers who'll be part of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand. In this episode, he chats with White Ferns captain Sophie Devine. Sophie Devine has been on a roll of late. Whether it be ...
There’s concern the Department of Conservation’s assessment of proposed changes to a yet-to-be-constructed hydro scheme underestimates their potential impact A West Coast small hydro scheme’s proposed new pipeline path could require over 1000 native trees be felled on public conservation land. What was supposed to be a thin pipe lying on top ...
Dr Neal Curtis explains why we shouldn't simply dismiss people trying to resist discrimination by calling them anti-democratic You may have heard a lot about ‘cancel culture’ recently, not least because of the 150 signatories to the Harper’s Magazine letter last week that supposedly cancelled cancel culture. ‘Cancelling’ is a ...
If there’s any time for ambitious, agenda-setting policy ideas, it’s now, write Max Harris and Laura O’Connell Rapira. Here are seven suggestions that might just transform New Zealand for the better.In a pre-budget speech, finance minister Grant Robertson said it was time to “address long-term issues”, but then when the ...
The SpinoffBy Max Harris and Laura O'Connell Rapira
St John Ambulance is paying wages on borrowed money - and that can't keep happening. Most people would say there are three branches of emergency services in New Zealand: police, fire, and ambulance. Police are fully funded by the government. Fire and Emergency New Zealand is funded through an ...
By Jimmy Kalebe in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea police have intercepted and confiscated almost K200,000 (about NZ$90,000) in K2 and K5 notes hidden in a container on a ship which arrived at the Lae wharf in a suspected money laundering case. The cash, packed into three boxes inside the ...
National MP Amy Adams has apologised for wrongly claiming one of her party's candidates is Chinese. Catherine Chu was born and raised in Christchurch and her parents are from South Korea. ...
National MP Amy Adams has apologised for wrongly claiming one of her party's candidates is Chinese. Catherine Chu was born and raised in Christchurch and her parents are from South Korea. ...
Pacific Media Watch Host Oscar Perress talked to contributing editor of Pacific Media Watch Sri Krishnamurthi today about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government rejecting a licence for the country’s biggest radio and TV network ABS-CBN. Its 25-year-old franchise expired in May but the majority of legislators refused to renew in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Jensen, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra “Fake news” is not just a problem of misleading or false claims on fringe websites, it is increasingly filtering into the mainstream and has the potential to be ...
Around the world, western governments are re-calibrating their foreign policy, strategic and economic settings to China. Tomorrow the British Cabinet will review and probably revoke an earlier decision to allow Huawei Technologies Co into the next 5G network over security concerns. NZ and Australia have already taken this step. Over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Becky Freeman, Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney From next year, access to e-cigarettes and related products containing liquid nicotine will require a doctor’s prescription. This is to ensure liquid nicotine is handled like the poisonous, addictive substance it is and not ...
Open mike 25/06/2011 
Todd Muller - National Party MPTodd Muller’s shock resignation today really only points to one possible conclusion; there’s further damning evidence linking him directly to National’s latest dirty political episode that will likely be unearthed during an official inquiry.Obviously Muller being directly involved in the leaking of COVID-19 patient’s private ...2 hours ago
Ten days ago we learned that the Australian government was attempting to prosecute Australian journalists for exposing Australian war crimes in Afghanisatan. Meanwhile, today we have news of another war crime - a massacre of civilians by Australian special forces: Australian special forces killed up to 10 unarmed Afghan civilians ...4 hours ago
. . The last 24 hours in Aotearoa’s New Zealand’s politics has provided more drama than a week’s worth of “Shortie Street” episodes combined and binge-watched. It began approximately around 5.30 last night (7 July) with a disclosure by Clutha-Southland MP, Hamish Walker that he had leaked a list of ...8 hours ago
Read our latest newsletter here ...1 day ago
Dr Kim Handley, University of Auckland Just how do cyanobacteria live in their natural habitat, and how do they coexist with other bacteria and microbial life forms? And what difference will knowledge on this bacteria have on maintaining New Zealand’s water quality? One of the consequences of declining water quality ...1 day ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Global temperatures could exceed crucial 1.5 C target in the next five years In this aerial view ...1 day ago
National has a problem. And it’s time they said it out loud. It can’t be dismissed as a one-off anymore or excused because ‘everyone does it’. No, it cuts deeper than that. National has an ethics problem. Especially when it comes to privacy and using ordinary people as pawns in ...2 days ago
The Council of Disobedient Women There is a regular segment in the Speak Up For Women podcasts called “Absolutely Blasted Mad Moment of the Week”. Each podcast the speaker and the host discuss a recent event that is the most insane thing they have seen in the gender critical space ...3 days ago
TUESDAY JULY 14Yorkshire Airport (Prime, 7.30pm). Bloomin’ ’eck, behind the scenes at Leeds Bradford Airport. Apparently, there is plenty of “northern charm”, although reaction in the UK ranged from “brilliant” to “patronising”. It is narrated by Hugh Dennis, whose middle name might be “Arch”.WEDNESDAY JULY 15Queen: Live at Wembley (Prime, ...3 days ago
Simon Bridges must be the unluckiest person in New Zealand politics. When he was elected as leader of the National party, he also became Leader of the Opposition – a position, he was entitled to assume, that would require him to “oppose”. But the government he set out to oppose ...3 days ago
Check out Speak Up For Women’s new podcasts: Episode 3 In this episode Speak Up For Women spokeswoman Ani O’Brien (@aniobrien) is joined by Beth Johnson (@beth_nosnhoj) to discuss the proposal from Statistics NZ to change standard data collection policy to “gender by default” rather than sex. They discuss why the ...4 days ago
Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...4 days ago
Today’s content Tiwai Point to close Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Government subsidising practically everything plays hardball with Rio Tinto (paywalled) Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Sudden closure of aluminium smelter worst outcome for jobs, consumers and the environment Brian Fallow (Herald): Tiwai closure sad news – and an opportunity for the environment (paywalled) Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Rio ...4 days ago
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...4 days ago
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...6 days ago
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters acknowledged today the heavy price of trying to lead the National Party today. ‘One’s sympathy goes out to Todd Muller and his family. Todd is a good man, unlike most of his colleagues he does ...7 hours ago
We're keeping New Zealand moving, one progress-packed week at a time. Read below to find out how we're creating jobs, protecting the environment, looking out for the health of New Zealanders', and upgrading our critical infrastructure - and that's only this week. ...1 day ago
The Green Party is today unveiling part one of its plan for a fossil-fuel free Aotearoa, including an immediate ban on new industrial coal boilers. ...2 days ago
A package of wellbeing infrastructure investments in Kaipara which focuses on improving the lives of the elderly and upgrading the iconic Kauri Museum has been announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones today. “These shovel-ready projects will have significant benefits for their respective communities and I’m pleased this funding ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ross Tapsell, Senior Lecturer in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific., Australian National University The recent police interrogations of six Al Jazeera journalists in Malaysia – five of whom are Australian – was not about ...19 mins ago
The rich become that way because they work hard to provide the everyday things that our nation needs. So runs the story that underpins the economic system we live under. Its something that is so taken for granted, it often goes uncommented upon. It seems ...35 mins ago
In every discussion about who could lead the National Party since John Key resigned in 2016, one name has always figured high in speculation: Judith Collins.The controversial yet popular MP for Papakura has put her name forward twice – losing to Bill English and Simon Bridges. Since then, Collins has ...40 mins ago
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger says the National Party needs to choose a new leader who is bold enough to talk publicly about tax increases and New Zealand's post-Covid economic future. ...1 hour ago
Todd Muller's resignation now puts Jacinda Ardern in the awkward position of having to say what she really, really wants to do with her second term. Bernard Hickey analyses her choices. Jacinda Ardern is reputed to have played a few Spice Girls tracks as a DJ at the Morrinsville College after-ball ...2 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive – While National’s Todd Muller was thinking hard about his future as leader, the government was getting on with the job of governing and redistributing taxpayers’ money. At least, we presume that’s what Muller was doing . He was also giving a highly instructive lesson in ...3 hours ago
So is the election now a foregone conclusion? With Jacindamania still raging, and the National Party shattered by its own shambolic performance, it looks like a walk in the park for the Labour Party and its coalition partners. Certainly NZ First leader Winston Peters wasn’t slow to rub salt into ...4 hours ago
Todd Muller's stint as National leader has been cut short by a commendable decision to put his own wellbeing first - but now the party must try to find a path forward to September 19 For all that National’s critics claimed to predict it, the news was a shock. Just ...5 hours ago
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After just over a month in the job, National leader Todd Muller has stepped aside National leader Todd Muller has resigned from the role a little over a month after deposing Simon Bridges, citing the heavy toll the job has taken on him and his family. In a brief statement, ...8 hours ago
It was claimed as a win but last week’s court decision on tahr control was mostly legal shots thumping harmlessly into a wall. David Williams reports ANALYSIS: Last Friday, hunting groups welcomed a “landmark” High Court decision, “halting” a controversial plan to “exterminate” all tahr in national parks and sharply ...10 hours ago
The closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has left the door open for another electricity-intensive project to take its place at the south tip of the South Island. ...10 hours ago
A complaint has been made to the Department of Internal Affairs against a book of short stories How do you know you’ve “made it” as a writer? Is it, as one friend recently commented on a photo of me holding my new book, when Facebook refuses to allow you to ...10 hours ago
Terminally ill man Stuart Armstrong responds to a first-person piece on assisted dying Newsroom ran last week, arguing people should have the option to choose a death that reflects their life and beliefs This week Serena Jones wrote an article describing her position on the upcoming referendum on the End ...10 hours ago
What New Zealand must do to play virtual host to APEC next year is something perhaps never attempted before. The rewards could be big. Virtual hosting of 2021 APEC: a rewarding challenge for NZ New Zealand’s confirmation that it will proceed with hosting APEC in 2021, using virtual digital platforms, ...10 hours ago
A major infrastructure announcement by the National Party slated to take place today needs to defy stereotypes about what they are all about. COMMENT: It didn't take a genius to realise that a major infrastructure announcement down south by the National Party would turn out to be a road of ...10 hours ago
LISTEN: In our podcast, A Neesh Audience, Black Cap Jimmy Neesham talks to playmakers who'll be part of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand. In this episode, he chats with White Ferns captain Sophie Devine. Sophie Devine has been on a roll of late. Whether it be ...10 hours ago
There’s concern the Department of Conservation’s assessment of proposed changes to a yet-to-be-constructed hydro scheme underestimates their potential impact A West Coast small hydro scheme’s proposed new pipeline path could require over 1000 native trees be felled on public conservation land. What was supposed to be a thin pipe lying on top ...10 hours ago
NZ should be "in lockstep" with Five Eyes partners over national security law, Simon Bridges says. ...10 hours ago
Dr Neal Curtis explains why we shouldn't simply dismiss people trying to resist discrimination by calling them anti-democratic You may have heard a lot about ‘cancel culture’ recently, not least because of the 150 signatories to the Harper’s Magazine letter last week that supposedly cancelled cancel culture. ‘Cancelling’ is a ...10 hours ago
St John Ambulance is paying wages on borrowed money - and that can't keep happening. Most people would say there are three branches of emergency services in New Zealand: police, fire, and ambulance. Police are fully funded by the government. Fire and Emergency New Zealand is funded through an ...11 hours ago
The election of Ireland's ‘Prudent Paschal’ to head the Eurogroup is the worst possible start for Germany’s turn at the presidency of the EU. ...21 hours ago
Wow Cactus Kate is seeking to stand for the ACT party. She would actually bring something to the party, the ability to argue coherently.
It would be a shame though if she replaced Hillary Calvert. That particular combination of blind prejudice, sense of superiority and lack of empathy would be difficult to recreate.
Heather Roy IS standing down.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5191845/Roy-to-quit-on-her-own-terms
Perhaps Heather Roy feels that Don Brash has more chauvinistic attitudes to women than the previous leader, Alasdair Thompson’s recent sweeping generalisation being a final warning.
Now let’s see, why was 9 years such a wonderful cut-off point? That’s it, she will qualify for all the travel perks but even better whe will get that gilt edged pension while the rest of us will see our GSF and similar schemes tampered with and reduced. Makes you sick.
(Now how can the rest of us get our noses into that trough?)
All we need is the Queen of Thorns standing for Mana, and Imperator fish for Labour, for some brilliant debates and a much more interesting election campaign this year.
disclaimer
Not claiming QoT actually supports Mana.
http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2011/04/act-sequel.html
Plenty more in there, like how the list needs to avoid giving loud mouthed political shit stirrers high placings just because they fill some gender or ethnic demographic niche.
Bit of a problem there. No sane or honest person can work with Brash or his policies..
Global finance and tax haven huge use by UK and USA. Look for book called ‘Treasure Island’ from Nicholas Shaxson. On Radionz on Replay Sat 25/6 bit after 8am in dense and probing discussion with Kim.
Says Ireland has been and still is a tax haven and that caused the conditions resulting in the name of Celtic Tiger for them, which have now spiralled into them being one of the PIGS group. He says that tax havens have led the move to compete by states to have lower company taxes.
Confirms with details what thinking and worried people on this blog realise and argue about.
Our own financiers Fay and Richwhite and others tried out the Cook Islands as a tax haven. I remember that a Cook Island politicians meeting was said to have been paused while some document connected with the foreign financiers was signed. Joky Hen has suggested some such role for us. I am sure that his financial background would fit him to introduce this.
Shaxson says that the havens are servile entities to the tax avoiders/evaders so allowing them to virtually write enabling legislation. At home these would meet democratic procedures, some debate, so better to go where the entity is Free to do what they like. ‘Freedom is another word, for nothing left to lose’? (Me and Bobby McGee)
An emailer to the radio pointed out that in the 90’s here the government decided to drop taxation for overseas companies, but not nz ones. Others would know how this works and the arguments for it. Probably one is that we need investment cash. But what do we get from that cash? A number of poorly paid jobs for the locals in the main?
The next speaker is Irishman Philip Lane on economic vulnerability – so listen on for another facet to this hard flawed diamond of world financial practice.
Oh oh I put gummint and got into moderation – have corrected but hope this comes out before the radio interview with Lane is over.
Actually, we don’t even get poorly paid jobs – foreign investment usually results in employment going down as the foreign rentiers seek more profit.
I find this article about Housing NZ very disturbing
Things are going to be very ugly when this happens. All I can see coming from this policy is more homelessness, and more mothers and babies crammed into seedy boarding houses. One of the reasons why the ’35-’49 Labour government introduced state housing was because of the state of the slums in Auckland. Now a National government with no memory of what life was like pre 1935 is hell bent on bringing the back.
And Vicky32 – start worrying,
Housing NZ has been a landlord with variable concern for its tenants for some time. The government has been unwilling to invest in more state housing but opened the rental market for low income prospective tenants by providing accommodation allowances which provide a reliable subsidy to the property owner, and that has helped fuel the housing bubble. The government providing state housing at an affordable rate for a beneficiary at a top of one/third of
the benefit would have acted as a price floor for private owners, but government brought its own rentals up to market levels some years back.
If housing start accounts were set up whereby government meets in some proportion, the amount that savers put in, and then gives an extended, say ten year, period of set affordable interest rates say 5% on a low-price house or apartment mortgage to those savers, there would be less people wasting overseas exchange by buying imported consumer stuff, but putting that money into things for their house and their own betterment.
The inability to get rid of tenants who create a noisy, unsafe or negative environment is probably fuel to Housing NZ changes. The women with Mongrel Mob connections have cost the country considerable money because Housing NZ wants them out because they are not good tenants with their circle of friends and family presumably making the neighbourhood unpleasant and unsafe. Perhaps the Mongrel Mob can get community money to put up its own houses to cater for its polygamous-like culture.
Very interesting millsy.
I live in an old part of Auckland that could be described as up-market. In amongst the privately owned homes are pockets of state housing that were probably built between the 1950s and 70s in the main. I have noticed in the past 12 months that many of them have been sitting empty for a long time now. They are in good condition and seem to have been freshly painted but no sign of any tenants. I’ve come to the conclusion the NAct govt. is planning to sell them after the election.
First they take away peoples’ jobs, and now they plan to take away the chance of a decent roof over their heads.
Your conclusion is correct Anne.
Come the 28th of November, we are going to see the biggest mass evictions in this country’s history.
Re the NACT government’s lack of investments and support to generate a more diverse economy for jobs:
– this also means that the government is pushing out our friends, newly made redundant work mates, siblings to Australia and overseas countries.
Our children will be pushed out next.
At this rate with this government, don’t even think of having your next two generations in this country.
I think that the govenment need to be very clear on what they are proposing to do with the accommodation supplement before the election. If anything the amount needs to be increased, there is no way that a person on a low income can afford a mortgage.
Ironically it was the previous National Gov. that replaced the 4% housing corp mortgages (one of which Paula Bennett got) with the accomodation supplement. It effectively replaced a programme which was designed to be a genuine hand up to help people to independence (and which was successful at it to boot), and replaced it with a state handout.
What you say is important and people need to know this.
Oh look they are doing to the housing lists that they did for surgical waiting lists. You not urgent or dying then your off the list.
Actually, it was Labour that did that to the surgical waiting lists. National complained about it at the time.
.
—NASTY—
Kathleen Mcbride · Little Silver, New Jersey
THIS IS SOME REALLY SCARY STUFF….
· Reply · June 20 at 10:29pm
Sheri Arbit Harris
I do not like the looks of that!
· Reply · Tuesday at 12:08pm
Michelle Lipman Jeskie
Me neither.
· Reply · Tuesday at 6:29pm
Paige Harris Klein · Administrative Assistant at Paladin Academy
Not good…
· Reply · Wednesday at 5:35pm
Concise critique of the rhetorical phrase “politics of envy” from the blog of the UK protest group Art Uncut:
14th March
Quick blog to register hatred of the regressive phrase ‘politics of envy’. If an individual realises that those in the socio-economic group they were born into die a decade younger on average, or that their children’s life chances are significantly less than the children of those who can afford private education, or that the wages of those in ‘higher’ socio-economic groups have risen many, many times faster in the last thirty years than the wages of those in their own, and as a result of this realisation gets a bit angry, I think that we should call this ‘legitimate grievance’ rather than ‘petty jealousy’. The phrase ‘politics of envy’ is very ugly indeed. I hope in the future this phrase is deemed unacceptable in the way that racist or homophobic terms are now deemed unacceptable.
Like lawyers, you can always find a scientist who will disagree with you, and here’s one…….
And William, don’t you love the last sentence:
“The prime minister does not share the view of Mike Joy, and has no further comment to make.”
images of John in the office, fingers waggling above his head going nyah nyah nanaanyah
Sick? Then you don’t need food? How about you dance for your food?
Welcome to NZ. Future Focus policy means the sick will be threaten
with the reduction and cessation of money to by food, health care, pay
rents. Zeit Heil.
Doctors may if patients don’t take their medicine stop feeding
them hospital food, if they are too poor to have relatives bring
them food, how is that the Doctors problem?
What happens if a country defaults on its financial obligations? Iceland though having only 330,000 population did so and fed up with the mainstream parties elected some Bob and Ben likeness instead.
What would happen if Greece or Portugal or Ireland took the same stand? What would happen if Bill English dealt with NZ needs rather than that of the Credit Agencies.
Iceland bears watching. (And they promised a polar bear in their zoo.)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10734332
the main threat is that NZ would no longer be able to access borrowed hard foreign currency for which to pay for critical overseas imports incl. fuel, drugs, machine parts, information technology.
Travel overseas would become near on impossible as the value of the NZ dollar collapses. A simple Big Mac in Sydney would end up costing NZ$30 or NZ$40, if you could get anyone to change your NZD to begin with.
In this capitalist international game it is always better to be a net lender rather than a net borrower.
As long as you don’t lend to basket case countries of course. French and Germany banks who were lending ginourmous sums of money into Greece would have known looking at Greece’s national income, that those loans could not be paid back in any kind of commercially acceptable timeframe.
There was a country that tried this policy of Autarky and look what happened to Albania, they regressed more so than any other East European country. Turkey may yet have to follow this policy just to keep the $$ flowing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky
As some have commented regarding petro-chemicals – for this group of products the policy could become a reality by default. Hate to see all our earnings being spent on debt servicing and oil !!
Iceland unilaterally told their creditors where to go and for the moment, it seems to be working better as an approach than what Spain and Greece have done.
Iceland did display boldness that has ben lacking elsewhere. But when you live in a country that has everything now going its way (Once Global Warming really takes off, and we see a replay of the early 2nd millenium) and that it has eyjafjallajokull that can stop Europe in its tracks whenever it so desires !!
I cannot see how Greece can solve its financial issues, like America all that happens is a build up of pressure until it finally blows up (with a few growing excedingly wealthy at the expense of the masses). That is the problem with what Greece gave us, democracy. We the voter will not vote for pain (Turkeys and Christmas) and the pollys have no idea or fortitude re the (painful) cure.
On a side issue Icelands demise resulted in my team relagated to the 1st division, so there was some paid experienced 🙂
Question is, is the pain proposed being evenly shared?
How is it for instance that in the case of Greece, none of the bondholders/big investment banks are being asked to share the pain, say by taking 25% haircuts?
It seems that it’s only ordinary Greek citizens and Greek workers being asked to suffer.
This to me seems like a replay of Muldoonism or a poorly semi managed Economy. Where our living stds are propped up by borrowings, we (in this case Greece) has been very generous to its citizens given what it was able to earn. We, as most 1st world countries are in various forms are in the same boat, one day we will come to reality and have to accept dramatic decrease in living stds. Just as well as the filthy rich (many faceless individuals and families that the popularis has no idea who they are ) have their nest egg to “Go Private” when the crap hits the spinning thingy.
This also displays the weakness of the EU in that here are the rules e.g deficits, current accs and who followed them and who policed them? Now we have G.B. being asked to assist in the bailout and they are not even part of the Eurozone.
http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-uk-bail-out-2011-6
Greece has had a massive problem with tax evasion and corruption for years. No doubt about that.
Question remains, are ordinary Greeks and Greek workers going to be the only ones who suffer for the foolishness of their elites consorting with the investment banking and international finance types.
And to repeat the question again in a different way: who is this “WE” you are talking about who is going to have to “accept dramatic decreases in living standards”?
Is it just the ordinary workers and people again? How about the richest 2% of NZ society, are they going to accept dramatic decreases in THEIR living standards?
Or are they, as the pattern is emerging, just going to use the rest of us as a buffer to keep the status quo for themselves.
Note that National did not cut MP’s own super schemes when they cut KiwiSaver. Another example of the pain not being evenly shared.
My referring to “We” are all those who do not have enough to not care less because most 90%+ require the benefit of the collective not to live off our”success”.
And re Greece there was from my reading a wide acceptance of tax evasion, yet again we see who benefits from all this speculation and not paying their social contributions for all. AND WE STILL BAIL THEM OUT !!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/20/greece-promises-crack-down-on-tax-evasion
Yes re Nat agreed yet Lab were the same in power remember the 2-4% pay rises we all got (most years behind inflation and further behind the real cost of living increases) and the PM and MPs being in double digit pay rises and blaming the detached, impartial system (that they set up)?And they increased their tax free allowances to over $13k no basis for it just another (elephant in the room )perk. At least in old NZ it was far more egalitarian when blue/white/Mp’s/City councilors and the chiefs of industry did intermingle at baches, sports and schools. Now (technically NZ is not a class society yet by acedamic definition) we are progressing into a well divided society, with all the infighting and positioning from those groups who are all losing out and going backwards, bar the top 2-5% of the pop. and very few can see it.
ianmac and c.v.
I just wonder if those big producer economies would actually let New Zealand become a basket case. They would also have too much to lose. We are a good and reliable market. New Zealand has always been a first world country. I cannot believe that forces within the producer industries would let their governments let NZ go down the plug. They might force austerity measures on us, but the minions might also demand a re-dividing of the cake. I think the likes of the absentee investors in our economy are the ones who have the most to lose. We are an energy rich nation, and we would be able to take back ownership of our resources… begins to sound better all the time… yep let’s default and take our nation back.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/10/20/39350-ccu-spokesperson-helen-kelly-peter-jackson-is-a-spoilt-brat/
Blithering old Alisdair Thompson is not the only powerful bully confronted by Helen Kelly in the last twelve months. Please enjoy this blast from the recent past…
Helen Kelly: “Peter Jackson is a spoilt brat.”
October 20th, 2010 by Altaira
Ataahua, one of our Kiwi connections, just posted on our Hobbit discussion board that Helen Kelly, president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) has just been interviewed on Newstalk ZB. Highlights:
The move offshore is financially-driven, not actor-driven
“The issue is that countries are offering double the tax breaks (of New Zealand). Warners are in the process of doing as much damage as they can (to the NZ film industry) to get what they want. “New Zealand can compete on films if the tax system is right. We have to have the right financial conditions to compete.” She said New Zealand competes on talent and skills and we shouldn’t have to accept lower overseas conditions to be competitive.
A resolution was close
“We’re working with SPADA. Warners is fully aware that we’re within an inch of resolving this but they’re deciding to go this way. “The union is the way to unionise the film industry, and what is the problem with this? We have manufacturing and call centres going offshore, and are you suggesting that our actors shouldn’t be unionised?”
PJ’s role in the dispute
“Peter Jackson is a spoilt brat, and saying that in this country I know is sacriligious. He organised a meeting last night through Weta Workshop and wound those technicians up with false information. They were played like a fiddle and took the bait. He shared information that we’re forbidden from sharing and said it’s the performers’ request to meet that has hurt The Hobbit. It is the fault of Three Foot Seven to move the movie to film The Hobbit.”
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/10/20/39350-ccu-spokesperson-helen-kelly-peter-jackson-is-a-spoilt-brat/
Didn’t she get her arse kicked over that.
Well now you come to mention it Murray, I have to say that I recall Alisdair’s behavior towards Helen Kelly during one TV interview as especially sneering and demeaning to her as a woman. It stuck in my memory as an interesting moment, revealing the man’s inner convictions in all their retro-ugliness.
So yes Murray.. it’s transpired an arse got kicked alright.. and it hasn’t been Helen Kelly’s.
It was Peter Jackson that looked and sounded utterly out of his depth through that fiasco. He usually sat glumly and pathetically, while his terrifying minder and spokeswoman Philippa Boyens did all the talking.
In stark and telling contrast to Jackson, Helen Kelly was articulate and strong throughout that unpleasant confrontation.
I see the TTT byelection thread has disappeared. Hopefully it will be back after 7pm.
“the main threat is that NZ would no longer be able to access borrowed hard foreign currency for which to pay for critical overseas imports incl. fuel, drugs, machine parts, information technology.
Travel overseas would become near on impossible as the value of the NZ dollar collapses. A simple Big Mac in Sydney would end up costing NZ$30 or NZ$40, if you could get anyone to change your NZD to begin with.”
This assumes of course that other countries will no longer wish to buy our products. This seems unlikely given that food shortages seem to be looming. In fact a slight drop in the dollar would probably be beneficial. And, let’s face it, default on our part would probably lead to a large reduction in payments for “invisibles”.
– Yes we will still sell a lot overseas, but when you look at the balance of payments you can see that we will be shortages of hard foreign currency fairly fast.
– A slight drop in the dollar to say 70c would be hugely beneficial for NZ industry. I was really talking of say a 90% (or larger) drop, which would occur after a loan default.
None of this is unmanageable of course, Iceland and Argentina are still around, and those are only a few recent examples.
Mostly our real tradeables sector is in credit.
It is invisibles, mostly interest and profit repatriation which keep us in deficit.
A drop in the value of the dollar would help of course.
Thanks for the pointer. Nationalisation of a few banks might be handy too.
Yes KJT… it’s astounding how many folk have no idea about this fundamental structural imbalance in our economy. The root cause is simple:
Far too much of the NZ economy has been sold to overseas owners
Now there is nothing wrong with some direct foreign investment as long as it meets two conditions:
1. It actually creates new wealth and opportunity, as distinct to merely capturing existing assets to rent back to us.
2. It is balanced by a similar level of FDI by New Zealand overseas; in other words the investment flows in and out of the country roughly balance each other over the medium term.
NZ has categorially failed on both counts. As a result something in the order of 7-9% of our GDP dissapears offshore EVERY year. This is one of the most important reasons why NZ has failed to meet it’s potential in the last 30 years or so, and why the extreme neo-liberal, free market experiment inflicted on this country was completely wrong.
+1
Try and tell the politicians that though.
RL, I’d add a third condition which is really making part of 1. that you have already listed more explicit.
3. It brings new scientific, technological or process capabilities to New Zealand which add value to our economy and which we did not have before.
The public service is feeling the pain of all Bill’s cuts…
Ministry of fear and insecurity as state servants wait for axe
Fear and insecurity for state servants, fear and insecurity for solo mums, fear and insecurity for earthquake victims. The National Party do fear and insecurity very well, choose a group within society and pick on that group. Provides distractions for their real business which goes on in back-rooms and involves shady deals.
And at the same time there is work to be done. With staff gone, the jobs go to the friends of NAct . More money for those who already have plenty.
Found this in the on-line comments of NZH and a follow-up reply from Josh – thank you Josh.
Just Me (North Shore City)
09:05 AM Friday, 27 May 2011
No, no change in my vote.
At least National will make some money off the sales, unlike Labour who sold Tranz Rail to Toll for $1. Yes, not a typo, One Dollar. And then they bought it back for $665 million minus the profitable road transport division.
35 likes
Josh (New Zealand)
10:31 AM Friday, 27 May 2011
Uhh, actually Toll sold the tracks to the Government for a dollar. New Zealand Rail Ltd was sold in 1993 to Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation and two other investment groups who proceeded to strip it of valuable assets in order to pay down debt and lease costs that were unaffordable. TheGovernment then purchased the company back in 2008 for $665 million dollars to avoid the complete destruction of NZ’s railway system, and to prevent the continued degradation of services.
31 Likes
Just more Crosby and Textor John Key clones peddling their lies on national media. Surely the Herald picked up on it. If they did and left it in the comments then that makes liars of them and their foreign owners too. We had enough nasty lying against Labour in the 2008 election. This year NActMU will do whatever it takes. Labour, Progressive, Greens don’t turn your backs on anyone remotely like a NActMU MP or party follower. They are patently dangerous to New Zealanders wanting to retain what is left of an egalitarian society.
What a joke, toll were even less constructive than Tranz Rail. David Richwhite gave rail a Chance, they tried and tested whether the freight system was any use, invested in a lot of new track and fast wagons in 1993-8, ran the freight trains at maximum speed, even tried to make the long distance passenger trains which labour under Kirk, Freer, Douglas and Prebble would never spend any real money or new investment on, work. Clark and Ron Donald just scrapped them. Eay Richwhite brought the second hand Brit rail carriages and the Perth units that gave passenger rail a chance in this country.
The toll trains cruised around this counry in Australain national war bonnet colors. They were basically Australain corporate mafia who never invested a cent of real money in NZ. Jum get back to Sth London and Cameron and Borris will treat slum dwellers like you in the appropriate manner
Robert M.
Robert M said “Jum get back to Sth London and Cameron and Borris will treat slum dwellers like you in the appropriate manner”
And why would you think I would be needing to go back to South London? I’d much rather stay here and highlight your idiocy, you nasty little creature.
Public transport is a public good for the use of New Zealanders who need to get from A to B without a car. You bxstards are so selfish and greedy that you have no empathy for those people.
The issue is never about making a profit; your idiot Key/Joyce government is deliberately under-resourcing rail in favour of road. Fay/Richwhite were two of the criminal class that ripped all New Zealanders off; Bolger’s government sold Rail in 93 and we lost a useful apprenticeship scheme.
The best result that occurred was Cullen buying it back; it made no difference in the end what we paid for it because whatever money was left was given by your idiot Key/English government to rich pricks.
Lowkey: Our Taxes Are in the Bullets Being Fired at People
This guy is an entertainer with a heart, a conscience and a brain. Respect!
Men struation or Men cold:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/5192746/Its-true-Mens-colds-are-worse
Something to flu mmox Alasdair Tamponson
FYI folks – forwarded on behalf of Sue Henry (who doesn’t have a computer)
25 June 2011
PRESS RELEASE: Response from Sue Henry Spokesperson Housing Lobby:
“STOP PRIVATISATION OF STATE HOUSING ASSETS!”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10734409
“Thousands to come off housing list” By Simon Collins Saturday Jun 25, 2011
________________________________________________________________
“With the continuation of Auckland’s serious housing crisis and families still languishing in sheds, garages and overcrowded and sub-standard accommodation, including those left homeless in Christchurch – the last thing any decent Government should be doing is privatising the state housing stock, using charities such as the Salvation Army and ‘trusts’ in a mixed economy to do it,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby.
“It is totally unacceptable to have Government policies in the 21st century that create instability, transience and homelessness.
There are several other aspects that are very concerning:
The ‘housing crisis’ will not be fixed by taking people off the waiting list.
Prime Minister John Key promised that there would be no asset sales in this first term of government. This is what John Key promised on 14 April 2008:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00195.htm
“Transcript: Agenda IV’s John Key
Monday, 14 April 2008, 10:57 am
Article: Agenda
GUYON Alright you rightly point out it was sold by the National government in 1998 now that brings us to this position. What is your position now as a National Party on state asset sales?
JOHN Well National’s had some time to reflect on that and the position that we’ve decided to have is the following one. That in the first term of the National government there will be no state assets that will be sold either partially or fully.
GUYON So no state assets, you’re completely firm on that?
JOHN That’s right.”
________________________________________________________________
“But Housing Minister Phil Heatley has said ‘some iwi groups wanted to take over managing state houses rather than buying them, but the Government wanted to sell them.’
Prime Minister John Key is breaking this promise.
The proposed sale of any state housing stock must cease forthwith.”
Housing Lobby Spokesperson Sue Henry drew attention to what Prime Minister John Key had stated on 12 March 2007 – that he didn’t ‘ favour a move back to market-related rents.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10428292
Before the 2008 election, National’s stated policy on housing, as declared by Phil Heatley on 22 July 2008, included the following:
National Party promised to keep at least the existing number of state houses if it wins this year’s election.
National would not sell state houses to outside investors, as it did in the 1990s, and would use the proceeds of sales to tenants to buy or lease new state houses.
“We won’t be running down the state housing stock. We acknowledge that we need it.”
Mr Heatley said the party would now keep Labour’s policy of fixing state house rents at only 25 per cent of the tenants’ incomes except for tenants on high incomes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10522930
“This will be yet another broken promise,” says Ms Henry.
“Why then would the ‘social housing unit’ (which should also be scrapped forthwith because it has no public mandate), be asked to ‘propose a new system of subsidising housing costs to replace the income-related rent subsidy for state houses?,” she continued.
[He [Housing Minister Phil Heatley] told the Weekend Herald that the new social housing unit, due to start in the Department of Building and Housing on July 1, would be asked to propose a new system of subsidising housing costs to replace the current income-related rents for state houses and accommodation supplement for the private sector within the next six to 12 months.’]
“This is ludicrous.
The Income Related Rent Subsidy (IRRS) works extremely well for tenants trying to manage on a low income.
The system is not broken.
It doesn’t need to be tampered with by vested interests,” concluded Ms Henry.
Sue Henry
Spokesperson
Housing Lobby
Ph (09) 575 6344
__________________________________________________________________________