Am I the only one who is feeling more than a little perturb about the deathly quite around where the money is coming from for support workers? Where exactly is the cash going to come from to pay the new wages?
We have a government currently dedicated to austerity as an economic policy, we have an opposition who say they will manage the austerity economic policy better. Both seem hell bent on ignoring the costs of support work for the elderly and disabled.
I’m seeing nothing, so I’m going to have a stab in the dark here. That the money is not there, so the people who need the support – will be the ones who suffer. The new wages will be payed, but the hours will be less, and those who are suffering the most will ultimately pay, by getting less (Austrity 101, or making the uber rich happy, by making the poor suffer).
If we had a left that supported social democracy, and choice in political economy then we could have a debate. As it stands, there will be no debate because the left is dominated in this country by people who are committed to austerity. Then there are those who won’t take any criticism, because there is an election. Here though is a real problem, who pays to alleviate suffering? The uber rich point blankly refuse, their hangers on refuse as well.
No one want to engage with the needs going forward we have associated with support work, and extended care. And where is the money, if we can spend billions of our tax on oil, why can’t we pay decent wages and look after our aged and disabled? And why can’t we even talk about political economy or where we want our tax dollars spent?
@BM – agreed, Key ran up debt, sold off the assets and spent the money on his mates and staying in power.
A good time was had by many and it made him popular until his actions came to light, such as the power sell offs would have made more money in dividends already, the state houses are sitting empty and the poor subsidised by tax payers are paying $200 per night for a dodgy hotel with zero signs of any changes and it’s getting worse, the economy is dependant on ponzi scheme immigration scams, the corporations that are taking over Silver Fern Farms and Cadbury are closing down the factories and works and making people redundant. The schools, hospitals and transport networks are overflowing…
P.S. I think Adam is talking about National’s austerity to low paid workers… non workers… and the numbers are growing in the low wage, zero hour contract, economy being created.
And yes, in my view in NZ it is like two different societies operating in alternative universes, Planet Key and Planet Earth, and it’s expanding – otherwise known as inequality.
You really do live in an alternative reality. The money was not “spent oh his mates”.
The increased debt from 2009 to 2013, which amounted to around $50 billion, was to keep the economy going and to deal with the Christchurch earthquakes.
Through 2009 and 2010 there were large increases in welfare spending due to unemployment increasing to around 8% due to the GFC, and a lot of pump priming to keep businesses afloat and increased infrastructure spend.
Then in 2010 and 2011 the earthquakes, which cost about $20 billion in direct govt payments.
In 2010/11 the annual deficit got out to $20 billion (as I recall) due to the combination of the GFC and the earthquakes. I recall thinking we can’t sustain this; we have to get out of this by getting on top of all non essential govt spending. However, there were real increases in health and education spending.
Getting on top of things took another two years. It also meant no wage increases in the state sector in 2010 and 201, though of course people still went up on annual scales (teachers, nurses, police, defence all have 10 step salary scales).
I am sure you will mention tax cuts, but the big shift was largely self funding by reducing income tax, but increasing GST, the “tax switch”.
So in NZ, no real austerity. Fortunately China also meant we got back to positive growth much earlier than the rest of the OECD. But managing govt expenditure is part of that. Look at the contrast with Australia which also has the China market.
EQC dos not cover all the roads, bridges, pipes etc plus the red zone land, most of which can now only be used as parks.
The new govt buildings, such as the justice sector are vastly more than any insurance return.
The $20 billion cost to govt is on top of insurance payouts, which went mostly to homeowners and commercial property owners.
Large sums had to be spent to support businesses, emergency housing, alternative govt services, lots of overtime for all sorts of govt paid workers.
The latest reconstruction estimates are over $40 billion (which covers everything not just the literal cost of new buildings). More than half of which is not covered by insurance.
Sure $40 billion is a boost to the local economy, but the money has to be found, and most of it did not come from insurance. About $20 billion over 5 years or so directly from taxpayers or govt borrowing.
New Zealand’s austerity was far more subtle than in the UK, the USA and Europe.
Anyway, most of our public sector was outsourced or privatised in the 1990’s in Ruth’s first round of austerity.
For instance, Joyce’s pet ministey, MOBIE is a facade with most of its work outsourced to the private sector. It doesnt even own the buildings that it operates on. Same with MSD and MPI.
Let me remind you of the tax cuts for the high income earners.If the budget was under so much pressure then this should not have been done & the rates should have been put up.
And if?? there was a gst/income tax switch then you are confirming that you robbed the poor to pay the rich ” someone’s mates”
But there wasn’t really a Gst /tax switch was there and each of those measures cost about $2 billion a year so $4 billion by 9 years=$36 billion and all of that went to the rich. There would have been a lot of alternative mileage out of that money.
And the size of the welfare bill is a consequence of continuing with strong immigration so we have a bloated workforce – more than we have jobs for
As to China – the Nacts took the best terms of trade we had had in many a long year and made sure none of it trickled down.
Good questions adam.
I fear the problem will escalate rapidly as the boomers age and the following generation voters will not tolerate “excessive” expenditure on the boomers because it is the boomers who have ruined things for them, and there will be overwhelming numbers of aged boomers demanding support. In short we will reap what we have sown.
garibaldi, the boomers as you call them have paid 14% interest rates on their mortgage for their roof over their head. Many have still not paid off their house that does not resemble any of those mansions you see advertised on TV.
They were the first to get hammered with increased education fees and had to go through more than one recession. Not only that, but any savings that were there were squandered away with the swindles of high flyers and the new neo lib policies (i.e. BNZ). There were no breaks for their expenditure when the mother of all budgets hit in the early 80’s. It took most likely more than a good part of 15 years for most to recover from the financial juggernaut. These years are also lost in means of career and getting improvement of income to make up for the losses. We are talking about average people and not magazine cutouts.
Your comments are being devoid of any understanding what the average person out there has to be content with but keeps going without bleating and complaining to get some handout or wealth transfer based on “I am entitled”.
And whilst I understand that things have not improved a hell of a lot as kiwis have voted for a right wing government keeping on with these neo lib policies, it is still true today as it was 100 years ago. Get working, saving and build something for the future. Put a bit aside when ever possible for the so called rainy day. You might not get rich, but you have a chance to build a live like everybody else.
Just don’t pick on the oldies who are in their twilight years and just want to see their life out in reasonable comfort without having to be euthanized off to get the hands on a few dollars.
Vino, I am not so sure and if he is, than I find his comments offensive to anyone who has worked 40-50 years and then get told that they had it too good to deserve any decent living in their twilight years.
There is already enough elder abuse out there without getting this kind of encouragement. If anything will increase, than that kind of abuse will.
What a society – where the weakest are treated like that.
Confession – I was born in 1946, so I am among the first boomers. I believe our generation lost the plot, but were especially tricked by the election when Lange first got in. That is the only time I ever voted for antisocial right-wing policies, but like so many others, I had no idea at the time that bloody Roger and friends were going to screw us all over, and that Lange, for all his wit, would have little idea of what was happening until too late. I thought I was voting left against right-wing Muldoon. (He was right-wing at the time, but nobody explained to us how Roger etc were going to shift all those goalposts and slant the field.)
Like you, I feel it is very unfair to blame boomers, but the fact is that even after Rogernomics, the majority of boomers (and the following generation) were stupid enough to vote for governments that would carry on those policies, not reverse them. Unfair as it is, we may well reap what we few tried to vote against sowing.
Thank you In Vino, you have covered it accurately.
Foreign waka…. We would have very good cover in our retirement if it hadn’t been for Muldoon and his dancing Cossacks.
I’m not picking on the oldies, I am one and I am pointing out the folly of what we, as a generation, have knowingly done.
I understand your sentiment In Vino, especially if I look at the selfish generation that has been raised as a result – pendulum swinging etc.
I do however recognize what is right and what is wrong and having children in poverty and elderly joining is so wrong on so many levels. To point at times past to justify an other horrid chapter is hopefully not what anyone likes to see.
As to the voting pattern, I belief that those who have vested interests will and do vote, but the large portion of younger people think that by not voting they will “show” their discontent. This logic is either just laziness to get involved really or stupidity, lets just name it for what it is. And yes, it is the baby boomers who raised these lazy thinkers.
This ought not to be a precursor to have older people treated like dirt. We have to reiterate the dignity of humanity, it is a duty not a choice. Otherwise we are going backwards, with disturbed minds dishing out cruelty.
Adam, you are right to wonder. I know that hours have been cut for workers who have a range of hours in their contracts. So yes, right rate, less hours.
BM There were many subtle and unsubtle cuts and extra taxes to pay for those tax cuts. Austerity has led to homelessness suicides and an ever growing divide.
Well, given that ‘everyone’ is operating under the umbrella of liberalism, we can confidently say that if money is made available for support-workers on a no-strings basis (unlikely), then money is going to come away from somewhere else.
Same as, if money is going to be made available for children in poverty, then that money is going to be taken away from somewhere or some-one else too.
These is room for reprioritising. But not much.
I look at a liberal economy a bit like how I’d look at a balloon. Squeeze *here* and all that happens is that a bulge pops up *there*. It would be a joke if it didn’t have real world and utterly predictable consequences.
Maybe under liberalism, the immediate pressure can be taken off of support workers and others. And in return, roads deteriorate or libraries are shut down – or whatever other slicing and dicing a “creative” liberal government can think up, by way of removing the day to day signs of a society being bled and hammered for the sake of preserving the integrity of an economic and political theory predicated on opportunity and ephemeral individual liberty and benign or impartial market rules and mechanisms.
Liberal capitalism. Fucking over workers since 18 whatever.
But hey! Big thumbs up. We’re free from the shackles of collective identity! Did someone mention class? Silly person. We are free now. And we are working on that equal opportunity thing now. Give it time. Embrace it. Be thankful for what the future will most surely hold. And yes, we’ve always approached the future on our knees.
This is the risk we run, as Māori, when we dig into Australian soil to create places or points of belonging, no matter how well we think we have consulted with indigenous peoples. That soil is not ours and will never be ours.
That doesn’t mean to say we can’t be Māori on that soil. How can we not be? We should guard and protect and develop our cultural expressions — but why not have cultural clubs and centres?
We should protect our language, our rituals, our mourning and our celebrating, even in little ways as our whānau did for our Dad in 2012 when we laid him to rest in Australia.
And there he lies, ever, ever, the manuhiri.
But we must be wary of transplanting our notions of being tangata whenua to the whenua of others, and risk wreaking yet another layer of colonisation upon those home peoples.
We must never forget who we are. And we must never forget who we are not.
Yes I really liked the article and I too found it came from a great angle. I really liked this
“But we must be wary of transplanting our notions of being tangata whenua to the whenua of others, and risk wreaking yet another layer of colonisation upon those home peoples.”
Adam,
No secret at all. It is all provided for in the 2017 budget. That is why no-one suggests, even on the left, that it is all smoke and mirrors.
One good thing about the NZ government finances is that everyone in parliament irrespective of party who actually looks at the government books trusts the figures. The benefit of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1993.
It also means alternative budgets of the opposition have to be designed on the basis of the Treasury figures.
I’m not suggesting smoke and mirrors, I’m suggesting that austerity is a policy that does not work. And that the left should stop supporting it.
As for the budget figures, if they like all the ones in retaliation to disabled like the last few years, then I will see them as the mythology that they are.
…everyone in parliament irrespective of party who actually looks at the government books trusts the figures.
Apart from Nick Smith when he’s ACC Minister in 2009. Or when the National Party lies about housing affordability. Or how deferred maintenance is a surplus.
Wayne – why are we even having to discuss it? Why not use fulltime job equivalents the way farmers use stock units?
Fact is the current government’s performance has been risible – only the combination of faked or uncollected stats and a sabotaged media has saved them from being stoned in the streets. And the media are becoming wise to the lies.
Heather du Plessis Allen comes out giving some hard stick to English and the Natz over the Barclay issue! The Natz ego massaging media is beginning to wake up to the ugly truth of what Natz is all about, something which HDPA alludes to in her piece.
However, why isn’t Key also getting some stick at the same time? After all he was PM at the time of the whole dirty business and like English covered up what Barclay did, so he also deserves equal condemnation as well.
Don’t wish to disillusion you, but these Tory propagandists will return to type closer to the election. They know which way their bread is buttered.
The left must not rely on the media.
Heather and hubby are shills for nact so this is the ‘balance’ piece they claim a moral high ground with when their obvious bias and scant regard for intellectual rigour is pointed out.
Just leading Labour and the Left with a little teaser to think the media and MSM are not really that bad, just wait for Dirty Politics 3 to get under way, if its anything like the USA & UK Elections we could have a rip snorter of an Election Build Up.
The media & MSM will be trying to paint NZF in a bad light as they realise Winston & NZF are the key to this Election and it is not what their owners the Multinational Corporates and the International Bankers desire ?
I’ve just tweeted this to Radio NZ and Wallace Chapman – who are interviewing the, in my considered opinion, PHONY Suzie Dawson (new ‘Leader’ of the Internet Party, this morning Sunday 25 June 2017:
____________________________
Where’s your due diligence on Suzie Dawson Radio NZ?
I am so jealous. Oh if we were to have a Labour leader who was welcomed by the young like this, and who would not be afraid to quote Shelley to them from the pyramid stage:
“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number-
Shake your chains to earth like
dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many-they are few.”
Here’s the EVIDENCE – which proves why, in my considered opinion, Suzie Dawson is ABSOLUTELY not to be trusted.
Suzie Dawson (Suzette Maree Dawson) is now the new ‘Leader’ of the Internet Party.
BEWARE!
This is what one of Suzette Maree Dawson’s key supporters Ben Cooney said about me on a live-streamed video of the 8 December 2012 anti-TPPA protest in Auckland – which was posted on Suzie Dawson’s PRIVATE website – Occupy Savvy.
“Here’s Penny Bright – SIS informant”
This is why, in my opinion, decent people and genuine political activists should have NOTHING to do with either Suzie Dawson or Ben Cooney.
Day 8 of Penny Bright (Penelope Mary Bright)’s weird fixation on Suzi Dawson. Ever consider you might do better persuading people if you didn’t act like a reject from ACCForum?
Wowzers… the OUTGOING PM is digging himself an even deeper hole on Q+A atm, well worth a watch, good journalism by Corrin, live link stream here, will post interview when it comes up later.
And English shows a complete lacks of transparency and honesty throughout the interview.
Watched this, then the Corbyn speech.
The difference is that Jeremy Corbyn has real integrity and a vision for all of us.
English meanwhile pimps for the elite.
Wow still lying there bill. You said what was on your mind – bullshit. You lied and have continued to lie. Now your fucked cos we all know you lied and you know we know but you can’t change your story because then it is solidified. Lying bastards like you disgrace yourself and your God beliefs.
I’m repeating this here as it is more appropriate than the “Racist attack on a marae” post:
Q&A have just done a hatchet job on Labour. A very good interview with Andrew Little, the content of which was totally ignored by the panel ( Josie Pagani , John Tamihere and Michelle Boag), who proceeded to repeat all the crap of the past few days. And this gem from Josie Pagani:
Labour are hypocrites because they have been accusing foreign students of being the cause of the housing crisis and now they’re bringing them here to work for them.
I kid you not. She said this.
I might add they ignored the content of the marae chairman’s interview too. It was a concerted effort to attack Andrew Little and Labour. Tamihere never stood up for his own people either although his muttering was so bad it was hard to hear what he was saying.
“Using foreign students to campaign against foreign students.”
A real zinger that cuts to quick of the issue.
So Anne, your spinning won’t help. Labour was caught out fair and square. I personally find it unbelievable that Labour could have ever thought it a good idea to bring in 90 overseas students to be the ground workers (90 students working 40 hours a week is a hell a lot of campaign work). And John Tamihere also pointed out the sense of unease about bringing in foreign students to do what a party should be able to do using enthusiastic local people.
After all the rest of us rely on volunteers in the weekend, typically around 20 or so on Saturdays
Sure 20 per electorate that would be about right. We used to routinely get that on week nights for doing isthmus phone calling – and I suspect that they still do.
So how many electorates in Auckland where these volunteers were doing canvassing in? Divide 90 by that. How many in the country on phone dial? Divide 90 by that.
The National party usually pays most of its canvassers at minimal wages (I hear usually below minimum wage), either using students or the Farrar push polling system. Because that is the only way that they can get canvassing work done – I can’t remember the last time I saw any canvassing volunteers in Auckland. Certainly the paid canvassers never report any.
Frankly your example is just hypocritical. Admit it, the main reason that the National party stalwarts are upset about this (apart from the Maori thing) is that these are overseas volunteers rather than paid minions. Something that has become so rare in the National party that they keep looking at it as being a revolutionary activity.
My experience, over a twenty year period in North Shore (not that long ago) is that all local electioneering is done by volunteers, including phoning.
In the election campaign we usually did Saturday canvasing (the 20 was in North Shore alone, not elsewhere in Auckland), a stint at the Takapuna market on Sunday, and phoning on a week night usually with Young Nats. No-one was paid anything, it was all volunteer.
I cannot imagine it has changed in any material way in the last five years, except for digital platforms.
National has a much larger membership base than any other party (in recent years as many as 35,000) so getting volunteers is not that hard. The Young Nats have really grown in the last few years, and are always keen to help. They do so voluntarily. Both at the local level and the national level.
They, like all National activists are motivated by the ideals of choice and personal freedom both socially and economically, and therefore getting National in, and keeping Labour out!
So I don’t believe you about National electorates using paid canvassers.
As for David Farrar, he has his own polling firm, and I guess does polling for all sorts of organisations, not just National. He therefore has to pay his workers, since he is running a business.
Pretending that raffle tickets are membership applications isn’t it?
As for personal freedom, how much personal freedom do homeless people have? If your members are motivated by that then why do your policies destroy so many lives?
The obvious conclusion is that your members can’t tell when they’re being lied to.
OAB
Unlike you National deals in reality. That is the members are actually signed up members, who complete an actual membership form. Maybe that is not the case with the political parties you are most familiar with.
You have the names and addresses of 35k people who don’t know when they’re being lied to? Nah, surely some of them are deceitful and corrupt too: when the lies are exposed, like with Bill English’s lies, for example, they deny and blame someone else.
Still, that’s the company you keep.
[There’s a moderation note for your attention over here] – Bill
National has never dealt in reality. They’re always proclaiming delusion as their driving force.
That’s why they oppose saving the environment.
That’s why they’re for shifting ever more of the countries wealth to the rich while saying that it will make everyone better off.
That’s why they ignore science to ram through their policies.
They do all that they can to make a few people rich at everyone else’s expense and then get surprised when their polices inevitably fail.
The obvious conclusion is that National Party members want to be presented with lies appearing ingenuous but actually unscrupulous and substantially believable, that they can adopt and embrace.
This is my position in a longer and more detailed version of yours OAB.
In the election campaign we usually did Saturday canvasing (the 20 was in North Shore alone, not elsewhere in Auckland),
Oh you mean those weedy looking kids with ultra short backs and sides… expensive blue and white striped blazers… and matching striped panama hats (must have cost the Nats a pretty penny) who used to lounge around the Takapuna street bars talking loudly and showing off? 😀
He’s just assisting with the “repeat a lie often enough” thing. If Wayne above is correct, he may even be getting paid for it (in fact, I hope so – who would embarrass themselves like that for free?).
Calling the volunteers foreign students is disingenuous – most people understand foreign students to be people on student visas studying in NZ. The volunteers are domestic students in their home countries, volunteering abroad, and attempting to pretend they are in any way related is poppycock.
Ho… listen to you Wayne. You come here regularly and indulge in pure spin and misrepresentation.
Labour was not “caught fair and square”. IT WAS NOT A LABOUR RUN PROGRAMME. It was run by an independent organisation who did not do their homework properly. Even though the participants were genuinely trying to assist Labour (oh, what a shocking sin) they should not have used Labour’s name during the recruitment process. You are are being traditionally selective in your responses and, in the process, I call you out as a cheat. But then we know Nats are especially prone to such behaviour.
I congratulate Labour for picking up the tabs and running with the programme for the sake of the fresh young idealists who are trying to make a difference in this seriously corrupt world. In a bygone era I was one of them, so I understand their enthusiasm and applaud them for it.
Re- Josie Pagani. There were no quote marks around my claim concerning her comment. Unlike you [apparently] I don’t always have the time to check up what exactly was said so I paraphrased. Her level of expertise as a commentator leaves a huge amount to be desired, and it disappoints me that the MSM use her as a so-called left commentator when every intelligent, informed individual knows she is nothing of the sort.
Now back to the real story of criminal conduct and corrupt cover-ups by the most senior members of the National Party and their unprincipled junior lackeys.
“Now back to the real story of criminal conduct and corrupt cover-ups by the most senior members of the National Party and their unprincipled junior lackeys…….”
A new economic consensus is quickly replacing the neoliberal one to which Blair and Clinton, as well as Thatcher and Reagan, subscribed; politicians are scrambling to articulate it, often blatantly breaking with their own history. Certainly, May’s frantic left-wing posturing against inequality and social division confirmed that the Anglo-American revolution of the 1980s — built around a strong prejudice against government and for free markets — is over. At least in Britain. May, the conservative daughter of a country vicar, will probably be best remembered for advancing, inadvertently, a counterrevolution of the left.
Locked out the googlebots at the firewall and the site has calmed down a lot. It explains a lot about the unexpected site dropouts in the past couple of weeks.
They were repeatably from several servers re-requesting the same bad URL over and over again.
The googlebots had been previously exempted from the usual crawler rules because they were so well behaved. And they were running less than the denial of service rules.
🙂 Yeah it is a problem with computing. Damn near every explanation sounds like a excursion into a long fantasy land story arc. Which in many respects is exactly what it is. In particular the whole net is just an extended story of shared perceptions about how it should operate.
Our hospitals are struggling to cope with the numbers of patients and the lack of money. They are also struggling with a Minister of Health who seems to show little interest in cost-effective preventative health measures, like taxing sweetened beverages. The FIZZ Symposium which will be held tomorrow at Auckland Hospital will have the latest information on this issue of sugar and health.
This government is good at ignoring evidence-based information, while it is very susceptible to lobbying by the NZ Initiative, The NZ Food and Grocery Council and the Tax Payers’ Union. I find the Tax Payers’ Union strong opposition to a sugar tax rather at odds with their website slogan: “Championing Value For Money From Every Tax Dollar”
If reducing sugar intake by taxing sugar leads to a reduction in health issues, then surely this will make the tax payers’ health dollar go further.
The aims of the Taxpayers’ Union are:
To reduce wasteful spending by central and local government;
To increase transparency and accountability of government spending;
To increase institutional checks on government spending;
To enable New Zealanders to easily scrutinise government spending;
To lower the tax burden on New Zealanders; and To promote evidence based public policy.
However, it was pleasing to see that the Taxpayers’ Union has questioned the following:
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Auditor General’s office to investigate today’s revelations regarding the use of former Prime Minister John Key’s taxpayer funded ‘leaders budget’ to, allegedly, cover-up allegations of wrongdoing by National Party backbench MP, Todd Barclay.
Jordan Williams, the Union’s Executive Director, said, “We need to know whether Parliamentary Service did acknowledge that there was an illegal recording made by an MP. If so, why didn’t the agency refer it straight to the Police?”
I reckon that they are safe TMM, requesting that as there can be no response to it. But it leaves Taxpayers Union looking good so that they can carry out their real purpose to do the dirty on the Left.
UGH!!!!!
I reread the disgusting Carrick Graham written “Whaleoil “slag-off of Tony Falkenstein who was a speaker at the previous FIZZ symposium. This type of hatchet job (Falkenstein being being called a two-bit-hooker with absolutely no evidence whatsoever) was exposed by Nicky Hager in his Dirty Politics Book, (p 85).
These personal attacks of people working for the public good need to be exposed. There should be no intimidation of those who wish to attend the symposium either.
This not doing anything about sugar laden drinks fits well within the Gnats do-nothing policy (unless there is money in it for them and their patrons.) They are paid to provide a PR cover of interested, concerned appearance.
Have a look at the lovely Gladys Knight as she advises –
Do Nothing Till you Hear from Me. (I think Gnats are looking for a way to use this as their theme at this election, and not pay anything till they hear from the lawyers.)
The only credit that I saw for Bill English over the interviews with Paddy and with Corin, was that Bill did answer the questions. A past PM Key would have skidded, slipped and digressed and was impossible to interview. Bill still ended up in the pooh but he did answer the questions. (Wish Corin would let him speak though!)
Many Americans have become accustomed to President Trump’s lies. But as regular as they have become, the country should not allow itself to become numb to them. So we have catalogued nearly every outright lie he has told publicly since taking the oath of office.
Just think of what would have happened if the MSM in this country had done the same for Key’s lies.
Tax cuts for NZ. The modern economic equivalent of the old medical profession treatment of bleeding the patient to cure them. Poor kiwi lies wan yet still more of the same. When we die the excuse will be ‘It was God’s will’.
This is what we have GST for folks. If they get it up to 20% Roger Douglas’ mob will have got their flat tax.
Received national party advertising propaganda today.
Membership/donation form with an insert about the outgoing PM
Oh hell no don’t be asking me for money or to join your party.. was like wtf… found that tasteless boarding on offensive.
The insert was titled, “We’re working for NZ”, picture of the outgoing PM against a farming background. The flyer was all about him, there was no ‘we’re’ in either of the two images… no I take that back, I see sheep, about six of them. Nada about the local candidate (tbh that really surprised me), just Bill and his six sheep working for NZ.
Baaaaaaa baaaaaa haaahaaa what national getting 25%? After all my post was all about national, gosh Red, if you say so, I mean I’m not a national supporter, but I don’t think I would have guessed that low. But hey this Barclay thing is continually ongoing, so you may be correct.
Will check in with you on the eve of the 23rd, to let you know how close your guess was at national only getting 25%
Dude it’s the lying and lack of action by the outgoing government that has been and is enduring. Standby the news is on, am sure we will hear more about Barclay any moment now.
No one cares, beltway rubbish, news leading with sailing and rugger here a wager if labour win Powerade next election I will self impose a 10 week exile from commenting here, if national led government you do the same, let’s test your convictions You game ?😀
Correction Powerade should read power before spell and grammar zealots on this site hunt me down, site for some reason won’t let me edit and predictive text is not my friend
Hmmm Red I’m all about numbers, I would have gone for 11 or 9 but not 10 weeks. So instead let’s do it from Sabbat to Sabbat
From the midnight the day after spring equinox (23rd September), result should be in by then, until Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere, known in the North as Samhain, also known on a commercial level as Halloween
From midnight on the day after Spring Equinox until the final minute of Sabbat on the last day of October, if National wins I won’t comment on TS.
For you Red, when national loses, no commenting from the first minute of the 24th Sept until the last minute of 31st October.
Hasn’t the intern thing already dropped of the media’s targeting?
On the Barclay/English affair Newsroom just published another piece with new information. And BE also released some new fodder for the MSM and social media. I expect tomorrow’s news will be full of that.
Nah Bill confirming his lies even after those interviews today. I think more to come – we got all next week for the drip drip drip. Gnats are going to use up a few dead cats on this one. Maybe a sex scandal will get it out of the news but I suspect not lol not the way bills going…
60 marae slaves have turned down offers to be relocated. Must be Stockholm Syndrome.
The Todd thing stinks bad, the Nats turned to their arsenal and the biggest ordinate they could spin up and hand to Hootie and The Blowfish is this stupid slaves in slums claptrap.
If that’s the best their armory has to offer they have much bigger problems than axe in hand Bill standing next to the fallen Cherry tree.
Because anonymous internet guy says so? Oh no, we’re fucked!
Comments are only worth the arguments contained in them (whether explicit or implicit). Unsupported assertions have a total value of 0, and repeating unsupported assertions multiplies 0 to get a cumulative value of, er let’s see… oh, yes: 0. Whenever you’re ready, feel free to raise yourself above being a no-net-worth commenter.
Cinny
I had to stop after 3.5 minutes. What a long shaggy sheep song, very good, and well understoood. And using some sharpened No.8 fencing wire for the needle on the vinyl – that’s creative.
National promoting further tax cuts and increased wages at the National Party Convention, relief at last for the lower socio-economic groups here in NZ ?
Bill must have been an awesome dad. “Yes, the baby did just spend some time with a very intent expression on his face and now the room smells of shit, but the fact of a full nappy hasn’t been established – so I’m off down the pub.”
I’ll be honest I’ve never seen such a group of slow learners as the people I see here on the standard, it’s really head scratching stuff because you guys aren’t dumb there just seems to be quite a disconnect with reality.
Key was no God, he was as polarising as he was popular.
English’s more conservative “gee shucks” country boy approach has far more supporters than it does detractors, he’ll probably end up more popular than Key.
Maybe unless Barclay taped himself telling blinglish about taping, and blinglish’s subsequent advice or lack thereof. And Collins might want a 2 month gig as PM for her CV – it’ll really help with the prospective log and milk customers.
Yeah he was a real hero for the gnats last time he led them to an election record loss wasnt it? You think those gnat MPs have forgotten that? I dont think so. And here he is again stuffing it up lol go billshitter go
Because if you asked random people to list their top 50 concerns Todd would be lucky to make many lists. Unfortunately for Bill I think the tiny bit that will stick in the minds of people more concerned about Shortland Street plots than Todd whatisname is ‘Bill fibbed’.
That’s why nats are so shit at workplace safety: their instinct is to minimise the perceived extent of their own offending, isolate themselves from their colleagues’ offending, but the thought of eliminating tory corruption never occurs to them.
None of this is going to effect Bill English in the slightest.
I expect not. Right-wingers don’t seem to have a problem with either crimes or the covering-up thereof by their leaders. However, those of us who expect better are free to try and promote that as a concept.
“The board and the selection committee knew Barclay had:
– already broken National Party rules by releasing the name of a challenging candidate.
– breached the rules by speaking to the media between the close of nomination and the close of the pre-selection process.
– spoken to his electoral office staff about employment matters that breached a confidentiality agreement.
– not declared police had asked him to be interviewed over the taping of conversations of staffer Glenys Dickson on his candidate nomination form.
– got staff in his Gore electorate office to canvass delegates to support his reselection when it was outside their contractual obligations and a misuse of taxpayer money.
And there were issues around a $5000 loan Barclay had been given by the party for campaigning. At this point the loan had not been repaid or disclosed in the campaign donation register.”
I must say tomorrow mornings live interviews with the outgoing PM will be interesting. And what do you know, Radio Live are talking about the Barclay thing as I’m typing.
In late February the police began investigating Barclay about the use of an interception device to unlawfully record Dickson.
Davie says not long after, he also got a “rark up” from another board member Glenda Hughes about supplying the police with the text messages he’d received from Bill English .
“They made up part of my statement to the police and Glenda was furious I’d given them to the police.”
After Dickson complained to the police, Hughes urged her to withdraw the complaint.
Gee thanks Cinny. Just when Bill must have believed that it was all over, ka-boom. Some of the details were already known but there is more and linking it all together is great.
Though there is less to bother Bill than I had hoped. Expect Bill tomorrow on Morning Report he will say every Board has its moments of disagreement so nothing new. He will suggest that Labour has its troubles too etc etc.
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by The Council of Disobedient Women John Fenaughty is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland. In a recent column Fenaughty suggested that school teachers should use students’ “correct names and pronouns (e.g., he, him, they, them, she, her, etc.)” ...
Heard this on Radio NZ this afternoon. Perfectly captures how I'm feeling just now.It's always good to find new music, though it would be nice to be hearing something celebratory. Even "Things Can Only Get Better" would be welcome, if it was accompanied by a thumping Labour victory. ...
by Don Franks Like New Zealand, Britain is officially a country of equal opportunity under the rule of law, with increasing hardship for those at the bottom. When there’s an election, and the party most obviously callous towards poor people wins, decent folks are dismayed and bewildered. “What the hell ...
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What other song could we play as the UK's political rule book gets torn up and thrown away?Video courtesy of YouTubeThis post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced New Zealand will contribute NZ$1 million of funding towards the joint United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) Pacific Regional Action Plan for Measles. “Prevention through vaccination is the most effective way of avoiding illness and a costly health emergency. ...
New Zealand is today remembering one of our true sporting heroes, triple Olympic gold medal winner Sir Peter Snell. “He was a legend, here and around the world,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “Our thoughts are with Sir Peter’s wife Miki and their family.” “Sir Peter is recognised as New ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his election victory. “New Zealand and the United Kingdom are close friends and despite our distance we are strongly connected by our history and people,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I look forward to continuing to work with Prime ...
The Government has released its long term vision for a sustainable 21st Century rail network that gets our cities moving, connects our regions and gets more freight off the roads. Deputy Prime Minister and State Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters said the Government is committed to rebuilding New Zealand’s ...
I want to start by acknowledging the families who have experienced such grief and such loss since the extraordinary tragedy on Monday. Today was all about reuniting them with their loved ones. We've just come from the airport where many of them were gathered and in amongst what you can ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further support for Samoa’s longer term needs as it continues to respond to a devastating measles epidemic. “Samoa’s health system has experienced massive strain in the wake of the measles epidemic. The volume of patients needing care during this outbreak, and the number of ...
Discounted electric bikes will be offered up to public sector staff across the country as part of the Government’s work to reduce transport emissions and support healthier transport options. Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter officially launched the new initiative at Wellington Hospital today. “The Government has negotiated bulk-purchase ...
The Australian and New Zealand Governments today launch an historic joint bid to bring the FIFA Women’s World Cup to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. Australian Minister for Youth and Sport, Richard Colbeck and New Zealand Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson will announce the bold campaign, ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has approved a $15 million loan to help re-establish a gold mining operation at Blackwater Gold Mine, near Reefton, Rural Communities Minister and local MP Damien O’Connor announced at an event on the West Coast today. “This is great news for the Coast that could ...
Papakāinga model inspires whānau well-being A housing project by Kohupātiki whānau in Hastings is an outstanding example of a Māori-led housing initiative that can reduce financial pressure and reconnect whānau to their whakapapa says the Minister for Māori Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Minister Mahuta officially opened the Aroha Te Rangi ...
Restoration efforts for a significant wetland in the Hawke’s Bay are getting more support announced Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage. “Wetlands are vital to healthy landscapes and ecosystems. They function as nature’s ‘kidneys’, filtering and protecting water quality, acting as nature’s sponges after rain and are home to ...
Nelson has today seen the launch of Housing First Nelson Tasman. Today’s launch marks the expansion of the Government’s homelessness programme, Housing First, to the top of the South Island. “Housing First is a proven programme that puts people who are experiencing homelessness and multiple, high and complex needs into ...
New Government funding announced today will help communities make a difference in tackling environmental issues Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage announced in Hawkes Bay today. The Ministry for the Environment’s Community Environment Fund is dedicating $243,101 to growing the capacity and capability of the Environment Hubs Aotearoa’s (EHA) ...
The days of vulnerable consumers falling victim to loan sharks, truck shops and other predatory lenders are numbered, following the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill passing its third reading tonight. “Too many Kiwis are being given loans that are unaffordable and unsuitable, trapping them in debt and leaving their families ...
A Bill that prevents terrorism and supports the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas has passed its third reading, Justice Minister Andrew Little says. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill is a carefully targeted response to manage the risk posed by a small number of New Zealanders who have ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Samoa on Friday, where New Zealand medical teams are helping Samoa respond to an outbreak of measles. “New Zealand has been working closely with the Government of Samoa and offering our assistance from the ...
The Government has changed the law to improve student safety and welfare in university halls of residence and other student accommodation. The Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Bill passed its third reading this afternoon and details of an interim Code of Practice setting out the Government’s expectations of tertiary providers have also been released. ...
A new tool to help councils fund and finance infrastructure could mean some housing developments happen a decade earlier than currently planned, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said today. “This new tool, developed by the Government in partnership with industry and high-growth councils, will allow councils to access private debt ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has welcomed the release of a bold new vision for the country’s vital food and fibre sector. “I’m delighted that New Zealand’s major farmer and grower organisations are today supporting the Primary Sector Council’s vision – Fit for a Better World,” he said. “The international consumers ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has congratulated the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government for completing a well-conducted referendum on the future political status of Bougainville. “New Zealand supported the referendum process by providing technical advice through the New Zealand Electoral Commission and leading a Regional Police ...
In light of Cabinet’s position that freight operations on prime land in downtown Auckland are no longer viable, the Government will now embark on a short work programme to enable decision-making in the first half of next year, Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones is today releasing the ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter has received the report back from a surgical mesh restorative justice process undertaken by Victoria University. The process heard stories, either in person or online submission, from more than 600 people affected by surgical mesh. “The report made for heart-breaking and confronting reading,” says ...
The Water Services Regulator Bill – Taumata Arowai , introduced to Parliament today, is a milestone for drinking water safety in New Zealand and will help improve environmental outcomes for urban waterways, rivers and lakes. “This is a breakthrough for New Zealanders in terms of providing safe drinking water throughout ...
Kia ora koutouE ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā matā wakaTēnā koutou katoaHaere ngā, moe maiKoutou ma ngā Rangatira Ko Anaru ahauKo au te Minita mo ngā TureHe Honore tino nui kei roto I ahau No reira tena koutou katoa Today, we are releasing two reports that are the ...
The Government is looking to turn around the long-term challenges of criminal justice by taking a new approach to break the cycle of offending to ensure there are fewer victims of crime. Justice Minister Andrew Little released two reports today, Turuki! Turuki! from Te Uepū Hāpai I te Ora, and ...
New Zealand firms expanding beyond the start-up phase are set for more support after today’s passage of the Venture Capital Fund Bill, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said. The Bill, which establishes a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, puts in place a key initiative of the Wellbeing Budget’s economic package. ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira mā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Señora Presidenta, Excellencies, Delegates. International action A common thread that runs through the Paris Agreement is the commitment we have made to each other to do what we can to ...
The Government is lifting capital investment to the highest level in more than 20 years as it takes the next step to future-proof New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced $12 billion of new investment, with $8 billion for specific capital projects and $4 billion to be added to ...
The Government is forecast to run $12 billion worth of surpluses across the four years to 2023/24 as the economy continues to grow. The surpluses will help fund day-to-day capital requirements each year. These include fixing leaky hospitals, building new classrooms to cover population growth and take pressure off class ...
Budget 2020 will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future-proof the economy. When the Government took office in 2017 it was left with crumbling infrastructure, severe underinvestment in public services, degraded rivers and lakes, a housing crisis and rising ...
The Minister responsible for the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (te Takutai Moana Act 2011), Andrew Little has welcomed the launch of an online geospatial tool that provides data-rich, dynamic coastline maps that will significantly boost research and evidence-gathering under the Act. Te Kete Kōrero a Te ...
The Chief Victims Advisor to Government Dr Kim McGregor, QSO, has been reappointed in her role for a further two years. Dr McGregor has held the role since it was established in November 2015. She provides independent advice to government on how to improve the criminal justice system for victims. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare have today announced the deployment of a network of DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys. “New Zealand and the Pacific region are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. It is vital we have adequate warning systems in place,” ...
DART Buoys Announcement Aotea Wharf, 9.30am 11 December 2019 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements to Minister for Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare also here today. White Island It is with regret that this event shadows the tragic natural disaster two days ago. The volcanic eruptions on White Island have claimed 5 lives, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Racing Industry Bill in parliament today. This is the second of two Bills that have been introduced this year to revitalise New Zealand’s racing industry. “Our domestic racing industry has been in serious decline. The Government is committed to ...
Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni, is pleased to announce that $291,321 is to be awarded to national and local community initiatives to maintain and promote the use of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). “New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where Sign Language is an ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has announced today the Coalition Government’s initial response to work completed by the independent statutory body, the Veterans’ Advisory Board. “When Professor Ron Paterson completed his review of the Veterans’ Support Act in 2018, he made a number of recommendations, including one which I referred ...
The Provincial Growth Fund giving $13 million to a gold mining project under DOC land on the West Coast is a disgraceful waste of public money says Coromandel Watchdog, a group fighting gold mining in Hauraki. ...
CEAC reviewed the NZTA National Land Transport Programme “2021–24 NLTP development” plan to see the support for rail funding was there, and NZTA is now seen as ‘anti-rail’ in their NLTP plans, contrary to Government policy to use rail - heads must roll. ...
Kiwi startup founder Jenene Crossan has spent two years enduring jetlag and heinous London Airbnb prices as she builds her latest business.Jenene Crossan, co-founder and CEO of beauty booking service Flossie, has spent most of the past two years sitting in airport lounges and living out of suitcases in a bid ...
From New Zealand’s biggest band selling out Western Springs to a landmark moment for Pasifika women onstage, these are the live events that shaped New Zealand this decade.An anchor in the middle of the deep blue sea: Daffodils, 2014 Todd Emerson and Colleen Davis in Daffodils, on stage at the Traverse ...
Is there something to be learned from TVNZ’s Wild West-meets-WWE-meets-19th-century-New Zealand web series? After all, writes Sharon Mazer, colonisation, like professional wrestling, is a fixed match.The premise underlying TVNZ’s new web series Colonial Combat is anachronistic and preposterous, even by WWE standards. It’s also fascinating.Transported from American popular culture to ...
For a lot of people, there’s not much joy to be found at Christmas. Emily Writes spoke to Dr Sarah Bell-Booth and Gwendoline Smith about how to deal with the hard stuff in the face of all that relentless holiday cheer.Despite my anxiety, I generally enjoy Christmas now that I ...
This contained incorrect information regarding the remuneration of Alexandra Allan. The item has now been deleted and Scoop unreservedly apologises to Ms Allan for the distress caused due to this publication. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At the December 12 UK election, the Conservatives won 365 of the 650 House of Commons seats (up 48 since the 2017 election), Labour 202 (down 60), the Scottish National ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Tormey, Professor of Politics, University of Bristol So for all the talk of narrowing polls, tactical voting, and possible shocks leading to a hung parliament, Boris Johnson achieved a crushing victory over Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party in the UK’s ...
Sir Peter Snell has died, aged 80, at his home in Dallas, Texas. James McOnie remembers arguably New Zealand’s greatest ever athlete.Sir Peter Snell was so great that small towns still engage in custody battles over the legendary runner.His birthplace Opunake (where he spent his first 11 years) claims him, ...
Māori Injustice Issues Will Have More Visibility Thanks to New Panel Advising Ombudsman A prominent Māori leader, Lady Tureiti Moxon believes Māori injustice issues will be seen much more now thanks to Pūhara Mana Tangata, a first-time Māori panel appointed ...
“It was right there in the waiting room that Jack first told me he was finding it hard to separate his fingers”: a parent’s nightmare, by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. ...
We started picking a top 10 ourselves and puttered out at about #3, sick of the sound of our own voice. Bugger it, we thought, and sent for assistance. It’s been like Christmas ever since, an inbox flowing over with gorgeous, sincere little gifts. Here’s the nonfiction selection, in no ...
The leadership shown by tangata whenua at every national disaster and tragedy should be recognised and honoured by all of us, writes Catherine Delahunty.I do appreciate having a prime minister who is capable of expressing decent, human emotions when tragedies descend on us. It’s a sadly low bar that she ...
From the pockmarked rugby paddock of Apiti, to the smooth, iridescent-blue turf of Albany, Black Sticks defender Steph Dickins' hockey journey has come a long way. ...
If you want to shock and amaze your friends and family this Christmas, look no further than the deep recesses of $1 reserve Trade Me. Folks, I’m going to let you in on a huge Christmas secret here: you can get all your presents for $1 if you know where to ...
To celebrate the 50th birthday of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, Walters Prize-winning artist Ruth Buchanan has rehung their collection, bringing previously unseen works and skeletons out of the closet. Her new exhibition The scene in which I find myself/Or, where does my body belong examines ...
It is hard to remember a year in which New Zealand was so repeatedly in global headlines, writes Kamahl Santamaria, a Kiwi journalist based in Doha.Time zones are a strange thing. You go to sleep, and then for eight hours or so, you miss out on everything happening on the ...
Napoleon demanded that his generals be lucky. Conservative PM Boris Johnson, as he surveys a thumping victory in the British general election, would meet that criterion.His luck bears a resemblance to that of Margaret Thatcher. Like her, he has made a decisive break with orthodox establishment thinking. That presents ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison has rejected or sidelined a number of recommendations from the long-awaited Thodey review of the public service that might have constrained his and his government’s power. Not surprisingly, a proposal to ensure changes ...
Analysis - The "do nothing" government announces a big spend-up on infrastructure, moving the Port of Auckland, and Winston Peters throws his weight behind NZME's bid to buy Stuff. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]For their last video for the year, University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini and Michelle Grattan look backwards to the big issues which have shaped political discourse. They discuss the surprise election results, and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has acknowledged Ngāti Awa for their role as tangata whenua (people of the land) in leading and caring for affected whānau (family members), following the Whakaari / White Island eruption and recovery operation earlier today. ...
The Environment Committee has opened for public submissions on the Urban Development Bill. The bill follows on from the Kāinga Ora–Homes and Communities bill, which disestablished Housing New Zealand and set up a Crown entity in the same name. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Loader, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Murdoch University, Murdoch University This article is part of our Gender and Christianity series. To understand contemporary Christian ideas about gender, and specifically masculinity, we need to go all the way back to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Gissing, General Manager, Risk Frontiers, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University Calls are growing for a national bushfire plan, including from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who says they are an issue of national security and the federal government must provide hands-on leadership. ...
Pro-democracy lobby group Democracy Action welcome New Zealand First’s commitment to hold firm rejecting the Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene’s bill to entrench the Māori seats. The Bill, which would require any changes to the seats to require the ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.Sometimes you are just doing a podcast as usual and then Colin Mathura-Jeffree gives you a call and throws your world off its axis. In a very special edition of Colin’s Cranny: Live, ...
We get a handle on the artists and artworks that shaped this decade in Aotearoa.As 2019 draws to a close, the four nominees for this year’s Turner Prize subverted the competition – they asked to receive the award as a collective. Meanwhile, at Art Basel Miami Beach, a banana taped ...
The second and final report of Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora, the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group, contains nothing we didn’t know 30 years ago. Yet generations of politicians have ignored the same advice, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira.Between the 1950s and 1990s, New Zealand experienced seismic social, economic ...
Fuel company Z Energy has cut its earnings forecast for the year by 10 percent because of tougher competition and falling margins, and is forecasting a big cut in dividends. ...
Liquidators of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have travelled to the United States, to retrieve customers' information and certain crypto-assets. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kath Albury, Professor of Media and Communication, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology Popular commentary on dating apps often associates their use with “risky” sex, harassment and poor mental health. But anyone who has used a dating app ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Grimmer, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania Australian shoppers are set to spend $52.7 billion this Christmas. In the words of the retail industry, we are “stampeding” to empty our wallets, both online and ...
NZ Herald and many other media outlets ran a story on a man whose farts could repel mosquitos, despite the story coming from a satire news site and not being verified in any way, writes Dan Satherly for Newshub.“Man’s farts so deadly he kills mosquitoes in a 6m radius” is ...
Timing right to borrow our way to a stronger economy in 2020 The Government’s announcement of its intent to invest significantly in the county’s infrastructure could turbo charge an economic recovery that was already showing positive signs for ...
A poem by writer, journalist, and former Manus Island refugee Behrouz Boochani.Forgive me my loveTranslated by Moones Mansoubi, Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 2018 Forgive me my bird as I am not able to embrace you.But here,in this corner,I know some migrating birds that I smile to at dawn.I embrace them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Powles, Senior Lecturer in Security Studies, Massey University The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a chain of islands that lie 959 kilometres northwest of Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, has voted unequivocally for independence. The referendum saw 85% voter turnout during ...
Fisheries New Zealand starts consultation today on proposed changes to catch settings for rock lobster and scallops for the new fishing year beginning 1 April 2020. ...
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This was the declaration of the pigs who control the government in George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm– a tart comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but gives power and privileges ...
SPCA has been working flat out to desex more than 80 animals a day over the last year, which is the most desexing SPCA has done since recording the figures. ...
“The fact so many families are struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table must be addressed urgently if we’re to provide the foundations for a good life for the next generation of New Zealanders,” says Scott Figenshow, Chief Executive ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton, $40)Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.2The Body: ...
This holiday season Te Tari Taiwhenua, Department of Internal Affairs wants to offer parents and caregivers some advice on how to help keep your family safe online. ...
A report released by the Chief Victims advisor Kim McGregor advising there needs to be an Independent Victims body is being welcomed by Victim Rights lobby group Sensible Sentencing Trust. National spokesperson Jess McVicar says the trust have ...
For the third time in five years, the United Kingdom has gone to the polls today. From the summer islands of New Zealand, join The Spinoff as we follow the results rolling in.9.30am: So, with polls about 90 minutes away from closing, the top line is this – we’ve got ...
Winston Peters will back an NZME proposal to buy Stuff with a 'Kiwishare' guarantee the merged news company will keep regional news and separate websites for at least two years. ...
The Executive Director of Dapaanz (Addiction Practitioners’ Association Aotearoa New Zealand), Sue Paton says the announcement that Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment court would become permanent immediately, following successful pilots in Auckland ...
Online marketplace Sidekicker is taking advantage of people who have little choice but to juggle multiple low-paying jobs to make ends meet, writes artist and freelancer Ben Markley.After graduating early this year with one of the least vocational degrees, I didn’t expect the largest array of job prospects. Nevertheless, I ...
National is vowing to bring back and expand health sector targets dropped by the current Government and mulling whether to scrap elected District Health Boards. ...
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition launched a week ago, calling for better support and funding for community midwives. The 10k figure was reached after the first four days. Chief executive of the College of Midwives, Alison Eddy, said last ...
Information obtained by animal rights organisation SAFE has revealed rodeo organisers are refusing to halt calf-roping events in rodeo, despite the Government’s animal welfare advisors’ recommendation that they do so. ...
Subject; Deputy PM said quote; “New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has challenged his Cabinet colleagues for the delay over a Northport decision, criticising it as "paralysis by analysis". https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/405385/paralysis-by-analysis-winston-peters-assessment-of-the-delay-over-northport ...
If the Productivity Commission's report on local government funding, released yesterday, had been relied on by NASA as the basis for getting astronauts to the moon, its greatest achievement by now would have been launching a $2 skyrocket 40 feet into the air ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Mayne, Molecular biologist and bioinformatician, CSIRO Humans have a “natural” lifespan of around 38 years, according to a new method we have developed for estimating the lifespans of different species by analysing their DNA. Extrapolating from genetic studies of species with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Evans, Professor of Governance and Director of Democracy 2025 – bridging the trust divide at Old Parliament House, University of Canberra A new, ongoing survey on how young Australians understand and imagine their democracy is already challenging long-held stereotypes. The survey ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesco Paolucci, Associate Professor; Head of Health Policy Program, Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs, University of Newcastle Private health insurance has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, as it becomes clear health insurers are failing to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland This is the second of two essays exploring key theories – cognitive load theory and constructivism – underlying teaching ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW On Monday the Australian government will release the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO). This will – as required by the Charter of Budget Honesty – provide an update on the key assumptions made in this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia It seems like every time we switch on the idiot box we are confronted with news footage of another disaster. Bushfires in Australia. A hurricane in North America. A tsunami ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Andrew Little indicates justice system changes after reports, Auckland buses back on the road, and National release health proposals. Two significant reports for the justice sector were released yesterday. The first was Turuki! Turuki! Transforming our Criminal Justice System from the Chester Borrows-led Safe and ...
Open Mike 25/06/2017 
If you like any article please help promote it (and the blog). Link to it on facebook and other social media, write about it anywhere or re-blog it. We’re very happy to have other people re-blog our material, all we ask is that you mention the original source and put ...20 hours ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women John Fenaughty is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland. In a recent column Fenaughty suggested that school teachers should use students’ “correct names and pronouns (e.g., he, him, they, them, she, her, etc.)” ...21 hours ago
Heard this on Radio NZ this afternoon. Perfectly captures how I'm feeling just now.It's always good to find new music, though it would be nice to be hearing something celebratory. Even "Things Can Only Get Better" would be welcome, if it was accompanied by a thumping Labour victory. ...1 day ago
by Don Franks Like New Zealand, Britain is officially a country of equal opportunity under the rule of law, with increasing hardship for those at the bottom. When there’s an election, and the party most obviously callous towards poor people wins, decent folks are dismayed and bewildered. “What the hell ...1 day ago
UKanians went to the polls yesterday in early elections aimed at resolving the Brexit impasse. And they certainly have, delivering a huge majority to the Tories, and (barring internal rebellions of the sort which delayed Brexit) giving them the power to do whatever they want. And thanks to the UK's ...1 day ago
What other song could we play as the UK's political rule book gets torn up and thrown away?Video courtesy of YouTubeThis post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...2 days ago
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems. Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...3 days ago
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...3 days ago
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...3 days ago
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ... 5 days ago
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...1 week ago
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...1 week ago
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...1 week ago
Paramedics have reiterated their support for New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball's bill to impose mandatory prison sentences on those who assault our first responders and prison officers. There are more than 50 cases of abuse and assault against New Zealand paramedics each week. The figure has remained largely unchanged ...2 days ago
Just after 2pm on Monday this week, Whakaari / White Island erupted. Read the Prime Minister's statement here, and watch her statement to the House below. ...2 days ago
Sustained high growth in primary industry exports looks set to continue over the next two years with strong prices predicted for farmers, fishers, growers and rural communities. Minister of Agriculture and Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor today released the latest Situation and Outlook report for ...8 hours ago
COLFO Confirms Number of Banned Firearms in New Zealand at Upper End of Police Estimates SUNDAY 15 DECEMBER 2019 ...2 hours ago
Kiwi startup founder Jenene Crossan has spent two years enduring jetlag and heinous London Airbnb prices as she builds her latest business.Jenene Crossan, co-founder and CEO of beauty booking service Flossie, has spent most of the past two years sitting in airport lounges and living out of suitcases in a bid ...9 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At the December 12 UK election, the Conservatives won 365 of the 650 House of Commons seats (up 48 since the 2017 election), Labour 202 (down 60), the Scottish National ...1 day ago
The government is moving to fast-track billions in funding for rail investments in a change that is being hailed as historic. ...1 day ago
“It was right there in the waiting room that Jack first told me he was finding it hard to separate his fingers”: a parent’s nightmare, by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. ...1 day ago
From the pockmarked rugby paddock of Apiti, to the smooth, iridescent-blue turf of Albany, Black Sticks defender Steph Dickins' hockey journey has come a long way. ...2 days ago
Napoleon demanded that his generals be lucky. Conservative PM Boris Johnson, as he surveys a thumping victory in the British general election, would meet that criterion. His luck bears a resemblance to that of Margaret Thatcher. Like her, he has made a decisive break with orthodox establishment thinking. That presents ...2 days ago
The ACT leader says his arguments haven't changed - but the circumstances that make them relevant have. ...2 days ago
Three Otago institutions are teaming up to improve the future of rural health care. ...2 days ago
Fuel company Z Energy has cut its earnings forecast for the year by 10 percent because of tougher competition and falling margins, and is forecasting a big cut in dividends. ...2 days ago
House prices are on the rise again with record increases in 10 regions, but with fewer sales overall. ...2 days ago
Liquidators of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have travelled to the United States, to retrieve customers' information and certain crypto-assets. ...2 days ago
The Government’s homelessness program ‘ Housing First’ has expanded to the top of the South Island. ...2 days ago
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This was the declaration of the pigs who control the government in George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm – a tart comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but gives power and privileges ...2 days ago
Winston Peters will back an NZME proposal to buy Stuff with a 'Kiwishare' guarantee the merged news company will keep regional news and separate websites for at least two years. ...2 days ago
National wants all Kiwi kids running for 15 minutes a day; and Auckland Council stops issuing urgent property reports until the New Year. ...2 days ago
National is vowing to bring back and expand health sector targets dropped by the current Government and mulling whether to scrap elected District Health Boards. ...2 days ago
ACC admits it has fallen short in the way it has dealt with surgical mesh patients as a report into their experiences is released. ...2 days ago
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Am I the only one who is feeling more than a little perturb about the deathly quite around where the money is coming from for support workers? Where exactly is the cash going to come from to pay the new wages?
We have a government currently dedicated to austerity as an economic policy, we have an opposition who say they will manage the austerity economic policy better. Both seem hell bent on ignoring the costs of support work for the elderly and disabled.
I’m seeing nothing, so I’m going to have a stab in the dark here. That the money is not there, so the people who need the support – will be the ones who suffer. The new wages will be payed, but the hours will be less, and those who are suffering the most will ultimately pay, by getting less (Austrity 101, or making the uber rich happy, by making the poor suffer).
If we had a left that supported social democracy, and choice in political economy then we could have a debate. As it stands, there will be no debate because the left is dominated in this country by people who are committed to austerity. Then there are those who won’t take any criticism, because there is an election. Here though is a real problem, who pays to alleviate suffering? The uber rich point blankly refuse, their hangers on refuse as well.
No one want to engage with the needs going forward we have associated with support work, and extended care. And where is the money, if we can spend billions of our tax on oil, why can’t we pay decent wages and look after our aged and disabled? And why can’t we even talk about political economy or where we want our tax dollars spent?
Christ, the National government did the complete opposite of austerity.
You guys really do live in some alternative universe.
@BM – agreed, Key ran up debt, sold off the assets and spent the money on his mates and staying in power.
A good time was had by many and it made him popular until his actions came to light, such as the power sell offs would have made more money in dividends already, the state houses are sitting empty and the poor subsidised by tax payers are paying $200 per night for a dodgy hotel with zero signs of any changes and it’s getting worse, the economy is dependant on ponzi scheme immigration scams, the corporations that are taking over Silver Fern Farms and Cadbury are closing down the factories and works and making people redundant. The schools, hospitals and transport networks are overflowing…
P.S. I think Adam is talking about National’s austerity to low paid workers… non workers… and the numbers are growing in the low wage, zero hour contract, economy being created.
And yes, in my view in NZ it is like two different societies operating in alternative universes, Planet Key and Planet Earth, and it’s expanding – otherwise known as inequality.
Save NZ
You really do live in an alternative reality. The money was not “spent oh his mates”.
The increased debt from 2009 to 2013, which amounted to around $50 billion, was to keep the economy going and to deal with the Christchurch earthquakes.
Through 2009 and 2010 there were large increases in welfare spending due to unemployment increasing to around 8% due to the GFC, and a lot of pump priming to keep businesses afloat and increased infrastructure spend.
Then in 2010 and 2011 the earthquakes, which cost about $20 billion in direct govt payments.
In 2010/11 the annual deficit got out to $20 billion (as I recall) due to the combination of the GFC and the earthquakes. I recall thinking we can’t sustain this; we have to get out of this by getting on top of all non essential govt spending. However, there were real increases in health and education spending.
Getting on top of things took another two years. It also meant no wage increases in the state sector in 2010 and 201, though of course people still went up on annual scales (teachers, nurses, police, defence all have 10 step salary scales).
I am sure you will mention tax cuts, but the big shift was largely self funding by reducing income tax, but increasing GST, the “tax switch”.
So in NZ, no real austerity. Fortunately China also meant we got back to positive growth much earlier than the rest of the OECD. But managing govt expenditure is part of that. Look at the contrast with Australia which also has the China market.
The chch eq were from a government expenditure POV close to a zero to small financial gain.
EQC dos not cover all the roads, bridges, pipes etc plus the red zone land, most of which can now only be used as parks.
The new govt buildings, such as the justice sector are vastly more than any insurance return.
The $20 billion cost to govt is on top of insurance payouts, which went mostly to homeowners and commercial property owners.
Large sums had to be spent to support businesses, emergency housing, alternative govt services, lots of overtime for all sorts of govt paid workers.
The latest reconstruction estimates are over $40 billion (which covers everything not just the literal cost of new buildings). More than half of which is not covered by insurance.
Sure $40 billion is a boost to the local economy, but the money has to be found, and most of it did not come from insurance. About $20 billion over 5 years or so directly from taxpayers or govt borrowing.
Um no,that figure is one of those imaginary memes,that spread around media releases,without attribution.
Being an arbitrary number,it is questionable.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/the-rebuild/70084887/How-much-is-the-Government-really-spending-to-fix-Christchurch
The total infrastructure roads and pipes etc is met by the insurers in part,with the remainder being the sector (port ,orion, council and government)
The total cost to date is 7 billion on infrastructure.
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/-/media/ReserveBank/Files/Publications/Bulletins/2016/2016feb79-3.pdf
New Zealand’s austerity was far more subtle than in the UK, the USA and Europe.
Anyway, most of our public sector was outsourced or privatised in the 1990’s in Ruth’s first round of austerity.
For instance, Joyce’s pet ministey, MOBIE is a facade with most of its work outsourced to the private sector. It doesnt even own the buildings that it operates on. Same with MSD and MPI.
That bit really pisses me off. It’s always far, far cheaper for a government to own the buildings they use than paying rent to a capitalist.
But paying rent to a capitalist increases GDP and profits. It just doesn’t actually improve the nation.
Let me remind you of the tax cuts for the high income earners.If the budget was under so much pressure then this should not have been done & the rates should have been put up.
And if?? there was a gst/income tax switch then you are confirming that you robbed the poor to pay the rich ” someone’s mates”
But there wasn’t really a Gst /tax switch was there and each of those measures cost about $2 billion a year so $4 billion by 9 years=$36 billion and all of that went to the rich. There would have been a lot of alternative mileage out of that money.
And the size of the welfare bill is a consequence of continuing with strong immigration so we have a bloated workforce – more than we have jobs for
As to China – the Nacts took the best terms of trade we had had in many a long year and made sure none of it trickled down.
Good questions adam.
I fear the problem will escalate rapidly as the boomers age and the following generation voters will not tolerate “excessive” expenditure on the boomers because it is the boomers who have ruined things for them, and there will be overwhelming numbers of aged boomers demanding support. In short we will reap what we have sown.
garibaldi, the boomers as you call them have paid 14% interest rates on their mortgage for their roof over their head. Many have still not paid off their house that does not resemble any of those mansions you see advertised on TV.
They were the first to get hammered with increased education fees and had to go through more than one recession. Not only that, but any savings that were there were squandered away with the swindles of high flyers and the new neo lib policies (i.e. BNZ). There were no breaks for their expenditure when the mother of all budgets hit in the early 80’s. It took most likely more than a good part of 15 years for most to recover from the financial juggernaut. These years are also lost in means of career and getting improvement of income to make up for the losses. We are talking about average people and not magazine cutouts.
Your comments are being devoid of any understanding what the average person out there has to be content with but keeps going without bleating and complaining to get some handout or wealth transfer based on “I am entitled”.
And whilst I understand that things have not improved a hell of a lot as kiwis have voted for a right wing government keeping on with these neo lib policies, it is still true today as it was 100 years ago. Get working, saving and build something for the future. Put a bit aside when ever possible for the so called rainy day. You might not get rich, but you have a chance to build a live like everybody else.
Just don’t pick on the oldies who are in their twilight years and just want to see their life out in reasonable comfort without having to be euthanized off to get the hands on a few dollars.
As I read his last sentence, I suspect that Garibaldi himself is an oldie boomer, Foreign Waka.
Vino, I am not so sure and if he is, than I find his comments offensive to anyone who has worked 40-50 years and then get told that they had it too good to deserve any decent living in their twilight years.
There is already enough elder abuse out there without getting this kind of encouragement. If anything will increase, than that kind of abuse will.
What a society – where the weakest are treated like that.
Confession – I was born in 1946, so I am among the first boomers. I believe our generation lost the plot, but were especially tricked by the election when Lange first got in. That is the only time I ever voted for antisocial right-wing policies, but like so many others, I had no idea at the time that bloody Roger and friends were going to screw us all over, and that Lange, for all his wit, would have little idea of what was happening until too late. I thought I was voting left against right-wing Muldoon. (He was right-wing at the time, but nobody explained to us how Roger etc were going to shift all those goalposts and slant the field.)
Like you, I feel it is very unfair to blame boomers, but the fact is that even after Rogernomics, the majority of boomers (and the following generation) were stupid enough to vote for governments that would carry on those policies, not reverse them. Unfair as it is, we may well reap what we few tried to vote against sowing.
Thank you In Vino, you have covered it accurately.
Foreign waka…. We would have very good cover in our retirement if it hadn’t been for Muldoon and his dancing Cossacks.
I’m not picking on the oldies, I am one and I am pointing out the folly of what we, as a generation, have knowingly done.
I understand your sentiment In Vino, especially if I look at the selfish generation that has been raised as a result – pendulum swinging etc.
I do however recognize what is right and what is wrong and having children in poverty and elderly joining is so wrong on so many levels. To point at times past to justify an other horrid chapter is hopefully not what anyone likes to see.
As to the voting pattern, I belief that those who have vested interests will and do vote, but the large portion of younger people think that by not voting they will “show” their discontent. This logic is either just laziness to get involved really or stupidity, lets just name it for what it is. And yes, it is the baby boomers who raised these lazy thinkers.
This ought not to be a precursor to have older people treated like dirt. We have to reiterate the dignity of humanity, it is a duty not a choice. Otherwise we are going backwards, with disturbed minds dishing out cruelty.
Hi Foreign Waka
Horribly True? Let’s hope not. You are right in saying that young people need to engage and vote. Let us pray…
Adam, you are right to wonder. I know that hours have been cut for workers who have a range of hours in their contracts. So yes, right rate, less hours.
BM There were many subtle and unsubtle cuts and extra taxes to pay for those tax cuts. Austerity has led to homelessness suicides and an ever growing divide.
Perhaps it would help a bit to read this, Adam. Grant Robertson’s speech to business people down south.
http://www.labour.org.nz/grant_robertson_speech_to_otago_southland_employers_assn
Well, given that ‘everyone’ is operating under the umbrella of liberalism, we can confidently say that if money is made available for support-workers on a no-strings basis (unlikely), then money is going to come away from somewhere else.
Same as, if money is going to be made available for children in poverty, then that money is going to be taken away from somewhere or some-one else too.
These is room for reprioritising. But not much.
I look at a liberal economy a bit like how I’d look at a balloon. Squeeze *here* and all that happens is that a bulge pops up *there*. It would be a joke if it didn’t have real world and utterly predictable consequences.
Maybe under liberalism, the immediate pressure can be taken off of support workers and others. And in return, roads deteriorate or libraries are shut down – or whatever other slicing and dicing a “creative” liberal government can think up, by way of removing the day to day signs of a society being bled and hammered for the sake of preserving the integrity of an economic and political theory predicated on opportunity and ephemeral individual liberty and benign or impartial market rules and mechanisms.
Liberal capitalism. Fucking over workers since 18 whatever.
But hey! Big thumbs up. We’re free from the shackles of collective identity! Did someone mention class? Silly person. We are free now. And we are working on that equal opportunity thing now. Give it time. Embrace it. Be thankful for what the future will most surely hold. And yes, we’ve always approached the future on our knees.
A very interesting article.
https://e-tangata.co.nz/news/and-there-he-lies-ever-ever-the-manuhiri
Thank you for posting this article. It provides a perspective that I had not previously considered and deserves to be widely read.
Yes I really liked the article and I too found it came from a great angle. I really liked this
“But we must be wary of transplanting our notions of being tangata whenua to the whenua of others, and risk wreaking yet another layer of colonisation upon those home peoples.”
Adam,
No secret at all. It is all provided for in the 2017 budget. That is why no-one suggests, even on the left, that it is all smoke and mirrors.
One good thing about the NZ government finances is that everyone in parliament irrespective of party who actually looks at the government books trusts the figures. The benefit of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1993.
It also means alternative budgets of the opposition have to be designed on the basis of the Treasury figures.
I’m not suggesting smoke and mirrors, I’m suggesting that austerity is a policy that does not work. And that the left should stop supporting it.
As for the budget figures, if they like all the ones in retaliation to disabled like the last few years, then I will see them as the mythology that they are.
When you say you re going to stop austerity, this happens.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/jeremy-corbyn-glastonbury-speech-review-pyramid-stage-donald-trump-bridges-not-walls-a7806641.html
…everyone in parliament irrespective of party who actually looks at the government books trusts the figures.
Apart from Nick Smith when he’s ACC Minister in 2009. Or when the National Party lies about housing affordability. Or how deferred maintenance is a surplus.
Absolute trustiness.
Right – like the lie that counts one hour a week as employment.
And the failure to collect data on poverty.
That’s smoke.
Stuart Munro,
80% of all new jobs are full-time.
Wayne – why are we even having to discuss it? Why not use fulltime job equivalents the way farmers use stock units?
Fact is the current government’s performance has been risible – only the combination of faked or uncollected stats and a sabotaged media has saved them from being stoned in the streets. And the media are becoming wise to the lies.
Wasn’t that stat about 80% of *all* jobs including recent ones? Got any links for just the past few years?
Heather du Plessis Allen comes out giving some hard stick to English and the Natz over the Barclay issue! The Natz ego massaging media is beginning to wake up to the ugly truth of what Natz is all about, something which HDPA alludes to in her piece.
However, why isn’t Key also getting some stick at the same time? After all he was PM at the time of the whole dirty business and like English covered up what Barclay did, so he also deserves equal condemnation as well.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11881114
Don’t wish to disillusion you, but these Tory propagandists will return to type closer to the election. They know which way their bread is buttered.
The left must not rely on the media.
Heather and hubby are shills for nact so this is the ‘balance’ piece they claim a moral high ground with when their obvious bias and scant regard for intellectual rigour is pointed out.
Dogma all the way with Nats media poodles.
Just leading Labour and the Left with a little teaser to think the media and MSM are not really that bad, just wait for Dirty Politics 3 to get under way, if its anything like the USA & UK Elections we could have a rip snorter of an Election Build Up.
The media & MSM will be trying to paint NZF in a bad light as they realise Winston & NZF are the key to this Election and it is not what their owners the Multinational Corporates and the International Bankers desire ?
I’ve just tweeted this to Radio NZ and Wallace Chapman – who are interviewing the, in my considered opinion, PHONY Suzie Dawson (new ‘Leader’ of the Internet Party, this morning Sunday 25 June 2017:
____________________________
Where’s your due diligence on Suzie Dawson Radio NZ?
What is her proven track as a NZ ‘activist’?
Seen this?
http://www.indymedia.org.nz/articles/715
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.
NZ political activist since 1972.
2017 Independent candidate for Tamaki.
Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.
Pretty petty penny
I am so jealous. Oh if we were to have a Labour leader who was welcomed by the young like this, and who would not be afraid to quote Shelley to them from the pyramid stage:
“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number-
Shake your chains to earth like
dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many-they are few.”
So jealous!
Inspirational
IMHO Corbyn’s inspirational speech at Glastonbury would make fine video post all of it’s own here on a damp Sunday.
I can even helpfully provide a link to the whole thing….
The absolute boy.
Wow.
Just wow.
Here’s the EVIDENCE – which proves why, in my considered opinion, Suzie Dawson is ABSOLUTELY not to be trusted.
Suzie Dawson (Suzette Maree Dawson) is now the new ‘Leader’ of the Internet Party.
BEWARE!
This is what one of Suzette Maree Dawson’s key supporters Ben Cooney said about me on a live-streamed video of the 8 December 2012 anti-TPPA protest in Auckland – which was posted on Suzie Dawson’s PRIVATE website – Occupy Savvy.
“Here’s Penny Bright – SIS informant”
This is why, in my opinion, decent people and genuine political activists should have NOTHING to do with either Suzie Dawson or Ben Cooney.
Penny Bright.
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.
NZ political activist since 1972.
2017 Independent candidate for Tamaki.
Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.
#ThinkForYourself
Day 8 of Penny Bright (Penelope Mary Bright)’s weird fixation on Suzi Dawson. Ever consider you might do better persuading people if you didn’t act like a reject from ACCForum?
For the keen, Penny’s previous demented shrieking about this can be found here: /the-return-of-kim-dotcom-and-the-internet-party-and-the-nz-journalist-seeking-asylum-in-russia/
In my CONSIDERED opinion and as a PROVEN collector of placards in my yard, someone needs to get a new hobby.
Penny, you are not alone, stay strong
Wowzers… the OUTGOING PM is digging himself an even deeper hole on Q+A atm, well worth a watch, good journalism by Corrin, live link stream here, will post interview when it comes up later.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/live-stream-q-a-q15157
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/full-interview-said-in-my-mind-time-bill-english-defends-public-statements-todd-barclay-affair?auto=5482458693001
Interview is up.
And English shows a complete lacks of transparency and honesty throughout the interview.
Watched this, then the Corbyn speech.
The difference is that Jeremy Corbyn has real integrity and a vision for all of us.
English meanwhile pimps for the elite.
Cheers for that Craig.
Wow still lying there bill. You said what was on your mind – bullshit. You lied and have continued to lie. Now your fucked cos we all know you lied and you know we know but you can’t change your story because then it is solidified. Lying bastards like you disgrace yourself and your God beliefs.
Bet key is smirking about all this.
I’m repeating this here as it is more appropriate than the “Racist attack on a marae” post:
Q&A have just done a hatchet job on Labour. A very good interview with Andrew Little, the content of which was totally ignored by the panel ( Josie Pagani , John Tamihere and Michelle Boag), who proceeded to repeat all the crap of the past few days. And this gem from Josie Pagani:
Labour are hypocrites because they have been accusing foreign students of being the cause of the housing crisis and now they’re bringing them here to work for them.
I kid you not. She said this.
I might add they ignored the content of the marae chairman’s interview too. It was a concerted effort to attack Andrew Little and Labour. Tamihere never stood up for his own people either although his muttering was so bad it was hard to hear what he was saying.
Josie Pagani.
Need I say more?
Better still, Josie said;
“Using foreign students to campaign against foreign students.”
A real zinger that cuts to quick of the issue.
So Anne, your spinning won’t help. Labour was caught out fair and square. I personally find it unbelievable that Labour could have ever thought it a good idea to bring in 90 overseas students to be the ground workers (90 students working 40 hours a week is a hell a lot of campaign work). And John Tamihere also pointed out the sense of unease about bringing in foreign students to do what a party should be able to do using enthusiastic local people.
After all the rest of us rely on volunteers in the weekend, typically around 20 or so on Saturdays
Are you happy with our ranking of 34 mount of 41 for child wellbeing?
Is your conscience clear about your contribution to this?
What about lying bill english Wayne. You happy with his lies? You comfortable with that level of integrity?
Wayne. Please don’t be a spinner.
Sure 20 per electorate that would be about right. We used to routinely get that on week nights for doing isthmus phone calling – and I suspect that they still do.
So how many electorates in Auckland where these volunteers were doing canvassing in? Divide 90 by that. How many in the country on phone dial? Divide 90 by that.
The National party usually pays most of its canvassers at minimal wages (I hear usually below minimum wage), either using students or the Farrar push polling system. Because that is the only way that they can get canvassing work done – I can’t remember the last time I saw any canvassing volunteers in Auckland. Certainly the paid canvassers never report any.
Frankly your example is just hypocritical. Admit it, the main reason that the National party stalwarts are upset about this (apart from the Maori thing) is that these are overseas volunteers rather than paid minions. Something that has become so rare in the National party that they keep looking at it as being a revolutionary activity.
My experience, over a twenty year period in North Shore (not that long ago) is that all local electioneering is done by volunteers, including phoning.
In the election campaign we usually did Saturday canvasing (the 20 was in North Shore alone, not elsewhere in Auckland), a stint at the Takapuna market on Sunday, and phoning on a week night usually with Young Nats. No-one was paid anything, it was all volunteer.
I cannot imagine it has changed in any material way in the last five years, except for digital platforms.
National has a much larger membership base than any other party (in recent years as many as 35,000) so getting volunteers is not that hard. The Young Nats have really grown in the last few years, and are always keen to help. They do so voluntarily. Both at the local level and the national level.
They, like all National activists are motivated by the ideals of choice and personal freedom both socially and economically, and therefore getting National in, and keeping Labour out!
So I don’t believe you about National electorates using paid canvassers.
As for David Farrar, he has his own polling firm, and I guess does polling for all sorts of organisations, not just National. He therefore has to pay his workers, since he is running a business.
a much larger membership base
Pretending that raffle tickets are membership applications isn’t it?
As for personal freedom, how much personal freedom do homeless people have? If your members are motivated by that then why do your policies destroy so many lives?
The obvious conclusion is that your members can’t tell when they’re being lied to.
OAB
Unlike you National deals in reality. That is the members are actually signed up members, who complete an actual membership form. Maybe that is not the case with the political parties you are most familiar with.
You have the names and addresses of 35k people who don’t know when they’re being lied to? Nah, surely some of them are deceitful and corrupt too: when the lies are exposed, like with Bill English’s lies, for example, they deny and blame someone else.
Still, that’s the company you keep.
[There’s a moderation note for your attention over here] – Bill
National has never dealt in reality. They’re always proclaiming delusion as their driving force.
That’s why they oppose saving the environment.
That’s why they’re for shifting ever more of the countries wealth to the rich while saying that it will make everyone better off.
That’s why they ignore science to ram through their policies.
They do all that they can to make a few people rich at everyone else’s expense and then get surprised when their polices inevitably fail.
The obvious conclusion is that National Party members want to be presented with lies appearing ingenuous but actually unscrupulous and substantially believable, that they can adopt and embrace.
This is my position in a longer and more detailed version of yours OAB.
In the election campaign we usually did Saturday canvasing (the 20 was in North Shore alone, not elsewhere in Auckland),
Oh you mean those weedy looking kids with ultra short backs and sides… expensive blue and white striped blazers… and matching striped panama hats (must have cost the Nats a pretty penny) who used to lounge around the Takapuna street bars talking loudly and showing off? 😀
‘At some point people are going to admit this 2 month old story about a Labour intern slave scandal was just a distraction from Bill & Todd.’
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/06/24/at-some-point-people-are-going-to-admit-this-2month-old-story-about-a-labour-intern-slave-scandal-was-just-a-distraction-from-bill-todd/
No was rebranding of labour to slavelabour , Catchy, will stick a lot longer than Barclay gate
Troll
He’s just assisting with the “repeat a lie often enough” thing. If Wayne above is correct, he may even be getting paid for it (in fact, I hope so – who would embarrass themselves like that for free?).
Calling the volunteers foreign students is disingenuous – most people understand foreign students to be people on student visas studying in NZ. The volunteers are domestic students in their home countries, volunteering abroad, and attempting to pretend they are in any way related is poppycock.
Ho… listen to you Wayne. You come here regularly and indulge in pure spin and misrepresentation.
Labour was not “caught fair and square”. IT WAS NOT A LABOUR RUN PROGRAMME. It was run by an independent organisation who did not do their homework properly. Even though the participants were genuinely trying to assist Labour (oh, what a shocking sin) they should not have used Labour’s name during the recruitment process. You are are being traditionally selective in your responses and, in the process, I call you out as a cheat. But then we know Nats are especially prone to such behaviour.
I congratulate Labour for picking up the tabs and running with the programme for the sake of the fresh young idealists who are trying to make a difference in this seriously corrupt world. In a bygone era I was one of them, so I understand their enthusiasm and applaud them for it.
Re- Josie Pagani. There were no quote marks around my claim concerning her comment. Unlike you [apparently] I don’t always have the time to check up what exactly was said so I paraphrased. Her level of expertise as a commentator leaves a huge amount to be desired, and it disappoints me that the MSM use her as a so-called left commentator when every intelligent, informed individual knows she is nothing of the sort.
Now back to the real story of criminal conduct and corrupt cover-ups by the most senior members of the National Party and their unprincipled junior lackeys.
“Now back to the real story of criminal conduct and corrupt cover-ups by the most senior members of the National Party and their unprincipled junior lackeys…….”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11881739
Courtesy of cinny on OM. Released this evening. 😉
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/06/25/35873/barclay-affair-what-the-board-knew
Yes it was disappointing that the panel today consisted of three right wingers. No balance.
The Rise of Jeremy Corbyn and the Death Throes of Neoliberalism
Take that as you will.
How come we get Hosking and Garner and Mulligan
five days a week on television, but never see this guy?….
This is great and he has also done this interview, which is well worth listening to.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2017/jun/23/frankie-boyle-grenfell-tower-residents-were-treated-as-less-than-human
Beard, waist coat, glasses, champagne socialist be weary
Is the word you were struggling for ‘wary’?
Silly boy..
curse you lot unmasking my atrocious spelling daily, I Can’t deny it, it’s bloody poor, Like angry Andy I need to improve 😀
Ahh, don’t we all? This still leaves you on the wrong side of the argument, sorry.
And I’m going to have to change my tipple- I used to drink chardonnay.
What about Richardson – the worst..
Best test opener for black caps however for some while , does not take himself to seriously, what’s your beef
His extremist right wing views expressed on Garner’s awful show.
His commentary is about as aesthetically pleasing as his 5 runs off 50 deliveries.
He is quite a repulsive person
Why do you watch it ?
No.
Do you care about our ranking at 34 prof 41 in the OECD for child wellbeing ?
Ed – he doesn’t watch that…
They should bring back the excellent Paul Henry.
Do you care about the level of child poverty in New Zealand?
Stunned Mullet – are you so stunned that you have confused the meaning of ‘excellent’?
Ed, so glad you brought that up
OMG isn’t he horrid, I’ve been hitting mute and switching streams when he speaks.
He should stick to sports and the block because he comes across as an arrogant tosser, on the AM show.
We should get him to tour.
Locked out the googlebots at the firewall and the site has calmed down a lot. It explains a lot about the unexpected site dropouts in the past couple of weeks.
They were repeatably from several servers re-requesting the same bad URL over and over again.
The googlebots had been previously exempted from the usual crawler rules because they were so well behaved. And they were running less than the denial of service rules.
Complained to google.
Thanks for that unintelligible explanation lprent. (Just joking. Some learn a lot and some a little with every communication from you.) Thanks.
🙂 Yeah it is a problem with computing. Damn near every explanation sounds like a excursion into a long fantasy land story arc. Which in many respects is exactly what it is. In particular the whole net is just an extended story of shared perceptions about how it should operate.
Our hospitals are struggling to cope with the numbers of patients and the lack of money. They are also struggling with a Minister of Health who seems to show little interest in cost-effective preventative health measures, like taxing sweetened beverages.
The FIZZ Symposium which will be held tomorrow at Auckland Hospital will have the latest information on this issue of sugar and health.
This government is good at ignoring evidence-based information, while it is very susceptible to lobbying by the NZ Initiative, The NZ Food and Grocery Council and the Tax Payers’ Union. I find the Tax Payers’ Union strong opposition to a sugar tax rather at odds with their website slogan: “Championing Value For Money From Every Tax Dollar”
If reducing sugar intake by taxing sugar leads to a reduction in health issues, then surely this will make the tax payers’ health dollar go further.
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/what_we_stand_for
I look forward to the Taxpayers’ Union supporting the evidence-based policy which could arise from the FIZZ symposium.
https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2017/jun/taxing-sugary-drinks
However, it was pleasing to see that the Taxpayers’ Union has questioned the following:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1706/S00271/thats-taxpayer-money-not-your-hush-money.htm
I reckon that they are safe TMM, requesting that as there can be no response to it. But it leaves Taxpayers Union looking good so that they can carry out their real purpose to do the dirty on the Left.
UGH!!!!!
I reread the disgusting Carrick Graham written “Whaleoil “slag-off of Tony Falkenstein who was a speaker at the previous FIZZ symposium. This type of hatchet job (Falkenstein being being called a two-bit-hooker with absolutely no evidence whatsoever) was exposed by Nicky Hager in his Dirty Politics Book, (p 85).
These personal attacks of people working for the public good need to be exposed. There should be no intimidation of those who wish to attend the symposium either.
This not doing anything about sugar laden drinks fits well within the Gnats do-nothing policy (unless there is money in it for them and their patrons.) They are paid to provide a PR cover of interested, concerned appearance.
Have a look at the lovely Gladys Knight as she advises –
Do Nothing Till you Hear from Me. (I think Gnats are looking for a way to use this as their theme at this election, and not pay anything till they hear from the lawyers.)
The only credit that I saw for Bill English over the interviews with Paddy and with Corin, was that Bill did answer the questions. A past PM Key would have skidded, slipped and digressed and was impossible to interview. Bill still ended up in the pooh but he did answer the questions. (Wish Corin would let him speak though!)
T r u m p ’ s L i e s
Just think of what would have happened if the MSM in this country had done the same for Key’s lies.
Politican less than truthful, newsflash
Why do you think that’s acceptable?
Or is it just that they’re your preferred politicians and you don’t mind them lying?
Headline nobody has seen, ever: “Trump statement reasonable and truthful.”
Did you thoroughly search Breitbart, Fox and RT before making that assertion?
My mistake, I should have written “News headline[…]”
English tries to put a bad week behind him by promising tax cuts
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/94055949/pm-bill-english-tries-to-put-a-bad-week-behind-him-by-promising-tax-cuts
Tax cuts for NZ. The modern economic equivalent of the old medical profession treatment of bleeding the patient to cure them. Poor kiwi lies wan yet still more of the same. When we die the excuse will be ‘It was God’s will’.
This is what we have GST for folks. If they get it up to 20% Roger Douglas’ mob will have got their flat tax.
Received national party advertising propaganda today.
Membership/donation form with an insert about the outgoing PM
Oh hell no don’t be asking me for money or to join your party.. was like wtf… found that tasteless boarding on offensive.
The insert was titled, “We’re working for NZ”, picture of the outgoing PM against a farming background. The flyer was all about him, there was no ‘we’re’ in either of the two images… no I take that back, I see sheep, about six of them. Nada about the local candidate (tbh that really surprised me), just Bill and his six sheep working for NZ.
I feel a sheep song coming on ….. just for the outgoing PM and his six sheep who are working for NZ 😀 Maestro… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG6JFrWjGTE
25pc cinny , 25pc I say again, lower than Cunner same time in 2014
Do you care about the fact we are 34th out of 41 OECD countries for child well-being?
That’s a silly subjective stat ed, 25pc is simply fact, government must be doing something right
Baaaaaaa baaaaaa haaahaaa what national getting 25%? After all my post was all about national, gosh Red, if you say so, I mean I’m not a national supporter, but I don’t think I would have guessed that low. But hey this Barclay thing is continually ongoing, so you may be correct.
Will check in with you on the eve of the 23rd, to let you know how close your guess was at national only getting 25%
Ok, Barclay gate, employment spat will disappear, slavelabour Has an enduring quality about it
Dude it’s the lying and lack of action by the outgoing government that has been and is enduring. Standby the news is on, am sure we will hear more about Barclay any moment now.
No one cares, beltway rubbish, news leading with sailing and rugger here a wager if labour win Powerade next election I will self impose a 10 week exile from commenting here, if national led government you do the same, let’s test your convictions You game ?😀
Correction Powerade should read power before spell and grammar zealots on this site hunt me down, site for some reason won’t let me edit and predictive text is not my friend
Hmmm Red I’m all about numbers, I would have gone for 11 or 9 but not 10 weeks. So instead let’s do it from Sabbat to Sabbat
From the midnight the day after spring equinox (23rd September), result should be in by then, until Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere, known in the North as Samhain, also known on a commercial level as Halloween
From midnight on the day after Spring Equinox until the final minute of Sabbat on the last day of October, if National wins I won’t comment on TS.
For you Red, when national loses, no commenting from the first minute of the 24th Sept until the last minute of 31st October.
Deal?
Deal 😀
Deal.. virtual handshake and all that. 😀
Your desperation has an endearing quality about it.
Hasn’t the intern thing already dropped of the media’s targeting?
On the Barclay/English affair Newsroom just published another piece with new information. And BE also released some new fodder for the MSM and social media. I expect tomorrow’s news will be full of that.
For political junkies may be for the average voter slavelabour will hang around a lot longer on the campaign trail and in voters subconscious
Nah Bill confirming his lies even after those interviews today. I think more to come – we got all next week for the drip drip drip. Gnats are going to use up a few dead cats on this one. Maybe a sex scandal will get it out of the news but I suspect not lol not the way bills going…
We still don’t know why National backed Barclay for so long, including at the last selection process 😉
Plus there’s the police investigation, and the Clutha-Southland selection investigation process.
Mate, it’s being hammered in the media, and the PM just pointed out that he’s been lying again.
60 marae slaves have turned down offers to be relocated. Must be Stockholm Syndrome.
The Todd thing stinks bad, the Nats turned to their arsenal and the biggest ordinate they could spin up and hand to Hootie and The Blowfish is this stupid slaves in slums claptrap.
If that’s the best their armory has to offer they have much bigger problems than axe in hand Bill standing next to the fallen Cherry tree.
LOL
But know one cares, it won’t move the polls, slave labour will
Because anonymous internet guy says so? Oh no, we’re fucked!
Comments are only worth the arguments contained in them (whether explicit or implicit). Unsupported assertions have a total value of 0, and repeating unsupported assertions multiplies 0 to get a cumulative value of, er let’s see… oh, yes: 0. Whenever you’re ready, feel free to raise yourself above being a no-net-worth commenter.
Oh dear, a campaign all about Bill English, what could go wrong….
I think I saw that picture before, 2002 wan’t it?
Cinny
I had to stop after 3.5 minutes. What a long shaggy sheep song, very good, and well understoood. And using some sharpened No.8 fencing wire for the needle on the vinyl – that’s creative.
National promoting further tax cuts and increased wages at the National Party Convention, relief at last for the lower socio-economic groups here in NZ ?
So Barclay offered to play the tape to english – spose that confirms one lie.
Too many bill you’re not going to make it…
Bill must have been an awesome dad. “Yes, the baby did just spend some time with a very intent expression on his face and now the room smells of shit, but the fact of a full nappy hasn’t been established – so I’m off down the pub.”
From the house in Dipton, or the one in Wellington?
I think Bill is probably a fantastic Dad, he’s a good bloke. Good blokes are crappy liars. His words and body language/tone have been juxtaposed.
That’s ok, we all lie. Now back to what matters. How can we get more of us saying ‘Geeez, I’m loving life.’
None of this is going to effect Bill English in the slightest.
Of course..
Did it have any effect on John Key?
No, no it didn’t.
I’ll be honest I’ve never seen such a group of slow learners as the people I see here on the standard, it’s really head scratching stuff because you guys aren’t dumb there just seems to be quite a disconnect with reality.
I’m guessing it must be a left wing thing?
Is Bill English John Key?
Um, I won’t answer that, it’s the subject of a police investigation, um, I really don’t want to answer that, um, no, I guess no he isn’t….
Key ain’t English remember?
Key was no God, he was as polarising as he was popular.
English’s more conservative “gee shucks” country boy approach has far more supporters than it does detractors, he’ll probably end up more popular than Key.
Maybe unless Barclay taped himself telling blinglish about taping, and blinglish’s subsequent advice or lack thereof. And Collins might want a 2 month gig as PM for her CV – it’ll really help with the prospective log and milk customers.
Yeah he was a real hero for the gnats last time he led them to an election record loss wasnt it? You think those gnat MPs have forgotten that? I dont think so. And here he is again stuffing it up lol go billshitter go
English failed because of Shipley and he was up against Clark
That woman was fucking hideous and so disliked I doubt Key would have done much better than English in 2001.
So what you’re saying is that we consistently overestimate the ability of the RW voter to give a damn?
The alternative is a complete shit sandwich, no one’s in a hurry to have that.
That’s what the RW voter always gives us because they’re so accepting of the lies of their leaders.
Do you care about our ranking at 34 out of 41 in the OECD for child well-being ?
I find it disturbing that you’re fine with politicians lying so blatantly and engaging in crimes tghat should be sending them to jail.
Of course, if it was Left politicians lying you’d be screaming blue murder.
So why did Key go BM?
Sounding a bit hollow there lol
True. Coz the bit of his soul that might have been affected was in the 49% he sold off a while back.
Nor should it, he’s a first rate farmer.
David, you seem a bit more on to it than most around here.
Why do think the Todd Barcley “scandal” will have little effect on Bill English’s popularity or how people vote?
Because if you asked random people to list their top 50 concerns Todd would be lucky to make many lists. Unfortunately for Bill I think the tiny bit that will stick in the minds of people more concerned about Shortland Street plots than Todd whatisname is ‘Bill fibbed’.
Very true.
Your last sentence, Like you, say everyone tells the odd fib can’t see it being the career ender everyone on here thinks it’s going to be.
Good you admit he’s a liar. Pity he’s too weak to own up – I spose he has always got another Sunday coming up hasn’t he.
“Odd fib”
Odd fib!
Orchestrated litany, this stream, this gush, this torrent, BM.
That’s why nats are so shit at workplace safety: their instinct is to minimise the perceived extent of their own offending, isolate themselves from their colleagues’ offending, but the thought of eliminating tory corruption never occurs to them.
Prima facie, He’s been covering up a crime and that comes with up to seven years of jail.
That’s not the odd fib. That’s an orchestrated series of lies designed to mislead and prevent the application of justice.
RWNJS: Law N Order – for the little people but not for RWNJ politicians.
What won’t you defend?
‘affect’ is the verb you are struggling for, BM (back at 21, where BM demonstrates weakness in syntax, along with other nonsense.
Fuck off you boring pedantic ball bag.
Shouldn’t there be a comma after “fuck off”?
Lost cause – BM is a semi-literate dumb-arse, who is still spouting nonsense.
He’s a RWNJ which has being ‘a semi-literate dumb-arse’ as a pre-requisite.
You’re so good at sticking to blog etiquette.
None of this is going to effect Bill English in the slightest.
I expect not. Right-wingers don’t seem to have a problem with either crimes or the covering-up thereof by their leaders. However, those of us who expect better are free to try and promote that as a concept.
They don’t have to behave better – as long as they face a robust set of punishments.
Oh to have a dictophone rolling in the Fresh Sir JK’s place.
“Oh don’t tell them that Bill….too late. They’ve got you on toast now Sport.”
Weka you’re bang on in your comments 18 above.
MSN just published more info via Newsroom..
“The board and the selection committee knew Barclay had:
– already broken National Party rules by releasing the name of a challenging candidate.
– breached the rules by speaking to the media between the close of nomination and the close of the pre-selection process.
– spoken to his electoral office staff about employment matters that breached a confidentiality agreement.
– not declared police had asked him to be interviewed over the taping of conversations of staffer Glenys Dickson on his candidate nomination form.
– got staff in his Gore electorate office to canvass delegates to support his reselection when it was outside their contractual obligations and a misuse of taxpayer money.
And there were issues around a $5000 loan Barclay had been given by the party for campaigning. At this point the loan had not been repaid or disclosed in the campaign donation register.”
Lolz the dodgy board lead by Peter – let’s not change the fishing laws because I’ve shares in Sanford – Goodfellow. What a surprise, not.
I must say tomorrow mornings live interviews with the outgoing PM will be interesting. And what do you know, Radio Live are talking about the Barclay thing as I’m typing.
Excerpt from Newsroom story:
Well I never. And a former senior police officer.
In the morn billshit could well lie and say he slept well last night.
Gee thanks Cinny. Just when Bill must have believed that it was all over, ka-boom. Some of the details were already known but there is more and linking it all together is great.
Though there is less to bother Bill than I had hoped. Expect Bill tomorrow on Morning Report he will say every Board has its moments of disagreement so nothing new. He will suggest that Labour has its troubles too etc etc.