Hijinks and hilarity in Epsom yesterday. The Herald reports:
“ Mr Peters told the crowd that he knew one Beijing-based property investor who owned 55 houses in Auckland. “Don’t blame the Chinese. They are renowned for not being stupid. They are renowned for being bright academically. They are renowned for long-term planning. “Don’t blame them, when they see a bunch of fools running the country, saying, ‘Come over here, you can make a fortune’.” ”
So Peters told his audience that they shouldn’t harbour dumb cultural stereotypes and (maybe even racist) attitudes toward the Chinese… they can’t help being subject to greedy instinctual predatory urges… because they’re Chinese!
Meanwhile, Cliff Lyon said Labour had lost touch with their working class roots:
“If you have a look at their supporters they are really gays, lesbians, the unemployed who they throw heaps of money at, and what I might call the loony intelligent left who sit up in Auckland University.”
Someone needs to ask Cliff which year it is now. I want to hear him say 1995. Hmm, let’s see if we can find out who was in the audience of NZ First supporters yesterday by inventing cultural opposites for those “demographics”.
NZ First supporters in Epsom are really Hetero men, spinsters of unproved sexual orientation, people who gift all their income to the taxman, and the stupid unintelligent right who never went to school and now sit in the vacant basements of old office buildings. The place must have been packed out.
Sometimes the ignorant venal malicious stupid goes so far into noise without intended effect that it becomes hilarious. By eclipsing National’s bizarre definition of low-income first home buyers and Labour’s almost honest but cute admission of support for “modest” incomes, NZ First have won the hilarity prize today – they will probably hold it for the rest of the week.
He was saying that some party’s spending plans were not acceptable to NZ First. Susan Wood repeatedly asked him if he was referring to the Greens. As always he would not answer the question but it was clear that is indeed who he was referring to.
If Winston holds the balance of power he will do one of two things.
Go with the Nats.
Go with Labour on the condition the Greens are locked out.
But, hang on BM. I thought that the whole point of voting National (with its huge support) was to ensure that any coalition partners it needed would have little ‘clout’.
But now you say that NZ First would have a lot of ‘clout’. Which is it?
@crocodill…actually I thought Winston Peters was rather good…anyone who has spent any time really travelling in China would agree with him!
ie “ Mr Peters told the crowd that he knew one Beijing-based property investor who owned 55 houses in Auckland. “Don’t blame the Chinese. They are renowned for not being stupid. They are renowned for being bright academically. They are renowned for long-term planning. “Don’t blame them, when they see a bunch of fools running the country, saying, ‘Come over here, you can make a fortune’.” ”
From doorknocking the last few weekends, I can see that the only European men over 45 voting Labour are all on this site. Because there’s fuck-all of them anywhere else.
“If you have a look at their supporters they are really gays, lesbians, the unemployed who they throw heaps of money at, and what I might call the loony intelligent left who sit up in Auckland University.”
Bigoted, ignorant and thinks everyone else is too. Ugh.
our dirty/filthy/polluting dairy-industry is a sunset-industry..
..(and in the long run..for us..and for the planet..this is a good thing..)
..the twofer of a forseeable global-gut in that white-death for the next five years..
..plus the soon-to-be-introduced ‘milk’ made from yeast..(of all things!)..that will taste/be the same..
..be able to do everything milk from cows does..(cheeses..etc..)..
..that does not need to be chilled..and will cost a fraction of the costs of cows-milk to produce/needs no land/dirty-waterways..will be ‘clean’..environmentally..
..but just on price..it will kill the global marketthe/our dirty cow-milk industry..
..it’s gonna be a financial bloodbath..the transition…
..it will be britain joins e.u/stops buying our farm product redux..but worse..)
..(and of all people..james cameron is showing the way forward..with his purchases of big dairy-holdings..and his conversion of them back into farms growing real food..
..i guess that cameron is a vegan is at least a part-driver of that..)
..and the aspect of all this that really concerns me at the moment..
..is how so many iwi are pouring their treaty-settlement monies into what will be/end up a total financial disaster..
no definately NOT….i actually thought Lyon was talking about you!
Peters is a poker player ….but imho he will join a coalition with Labour ….all his policies agree with Labour ….all his criticisms have been directed against National…and he cant stand John key or NACT!
@ PU….nyb… the GREENS will probably get my vote this time …but I am sorely tempted by MANA/INT ….and Winnie is wonderful…and so is David Cunliffe!…so I am happy …i have plenty of choice
…you dont seem happy …..who are you voting for? ….are you a closet NACT?…or just disillusioned Labour?…you attack Labour at every opportunity and Winnie…..the NACTs absolutely hate Peters….this could explain your attitude to him!
“@ allen – It is IMP not mip – not that hard to get the name correct”
You mean like Al1en, not al1en?
But no and somewhat incredulous having to answer such a weak whine, to me it’s always been mip ‘mana internet party’, but if you want to get all arseholey about it, all the better 😉
“maybe the big letters are confusing you.”
You’ll have to remind me why you’re acting butt hurt, again, but if it’s going to be a long list, which it probably might well be, you’re better off saving the poison from your pen for someone willing to play the victim, rather than waste it on me.
You and your utu (the seeking of revenge) 🙄
You’re still raging, yet I shat you out ages ago.
The mirth of it all. 😆
@phillip ure
I think Chooky is assessing Winston’s likely choice of coalition if he gets that far, while you are arguing that he doesn’t deserve to be there because of low integrity and commitment to the people, only to himself. Both are relevant separate points which can’t be argued against each other.
I’d vote for Peters in a contest on fashion style on the catwalk. But in politics his style changes with the wind. Labour would have to do an Alamein Kopu with him, and have a chat with him each morning to gauge his direction for the day.
Voting IMP, Green, Lab means little chance of a wasted vote. They all grow the left bloc.
Winston First is a major chance of a wasted vote if you want not just a change of government but a left as possible one. He is so likely to go with the GodKey.
ACT, Colon, MP and Hairdo are definitely wasted votes in any event and moreso if Epsom, Ohariu and Māori electorate left voters get strategic.
Don’t vote Winston. Let someone else get him to 4.9%.
It’s the delusional rubbish pumped out by National saying that John Key has theistic qualities, that he’s a god. Whereas the truth is he’s a flakey wee rich man liar who’s produced not a thing in his entire life save immense wealth for himself. It’s all part of the dark stuff we see in Dirty Politics.
Don’t overlook the fact that we have it on no less an authority than St. Lloyd Blankfein of that well-known altruistic institution the Church of the Holy Goldman Sachs.
“We’re very important,” Blankfein said in an interview with The Times of London. “We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. It’s a virtuous cycle. We have a social purpose.”
St. Blankfein said that he understood, however, that people were angry with bankers’ actions: “I know I could slit my wrists and people would cheer.” But he is, he told The Times, just a banker “doing God’s work.”
Yes well strictly speaking in my view Blankfein is somewhat correct.
The nature of god and all that. A man-made one. He’s also right that most of us would be happy if he slit his wrist. But of course he is completely and utterly wrong about his social purpose (which is to create more wealth for the bankers). But he would lie about that. He’s also putting the cart before the horse when he talks of capital. Which probably means that he’s thick.
Wish I was thick enough to earn US$23 million as Blankfein did last year – and that was a bad year for him.
If he did slit his wrists he’d only be replaced by another parasite (of the genus common shameless money-grubbing pestis), so what would there be to be happy about?
For a complete demolition of Blankfein’s claim to Divine sanction I recommend:
Ha ha. Sorry I don’t use the heads any more, so we will leave it as a gentleman’s bet.
I will vote Green, but it’s tricky as there are elements of Labour and IMP policies that I would prefer. For instance Labour’s using Kiwisaver to control interest rates and exchange rates, and IMP’s focus on poverty.
it is the internet/mana focuses on the seemingly so different/disparate areas of ending poverty and economic-innovation/transition that draw me to them..
..and for those of a progressive bent it must be clear that the better the result for both internet/mana and the greens..
..the more the chances of them being able to demonstrate to labour..
..the mandate for those poverty-ending etc policies..
..and a ‘left’-coalition containing peters..i see more and more as being a trainwreck..
..especially in the area of getting any real progressive polices enacted..
..it will likely just limp along..doing not very much..
..and liable to be thrown out of office after just one term..
And yet I’d argue that the only chance of there actually being a Left Government after this Election is with Winnie’s support. Unfortunate – deeply unfortunate – but true. The Left Bloc just aint gonna make it by itself. And no amount of Pollyanna wishful thinking will change that fact.
I agree, though, that on balance he’s a little more likely to go with Key. But nothing cut and dried as yet.
BG +100 “I think he will go with Labour”….. Winnie worked very well with Helen Clark….and once upon a time he was way to the Left of both Labour and National….Winnie would destroy himself for posterity if he went with the NACTS this time
and that awful time he went with National and we all got so mad at him ( what year ?) ? Turns out, and it’s verified, that Jim Anderton refused to work with him in any coalition deal — Winston had absolutely no option but to turn to National or leave us with no government at all.
this was supposed to a reply to Chooky .. can’t work out what;s happening today and LPrent said he maybe couldn’t fix it from his laptop … Sudoku on The Standard !!
@ yeshe ……no Jim Anderton refused to work with Labour in any coalition deal
( remember Anderton was mad with Rogernomics and Labour…the Alliance was out to destroy Labour , even although his friend Helen Clark was leading Labour at the time?)
…and Winnie had no choice but to go with National because a Labour coalition govt without the Alliance in just didnt have the numbers. ..
Winnie was faced with the option of a new Election being called , where he may have had a backlash, or of going into coalition with National and seeing what he could get out of it…his bottom line was no asset sales
…In the end Winnie (despite choosing to go with National) brought down the National govt over more proposed privitisation of state assets
the NACTS have never for given him….and still want him destroyed …they also succeeded when they conducted a year long vendetta over the funding by Owen Glen
Thx Chooky fr your corrections .. and I can’t see him going to Nats this time … unless it is to pull them asunder from inside.
I trust Winston’s integrity .. many will laugh at that, but I have supported and believed him ( not voted necessarily) since the Winebox. He has always put NZ first, as far as I’m concerned.
Speaking of which .. where has Ms Boag disappeared to in all this ?? I did read one scurrilous line about her in the whaledump, but she was quiet before that .. not been heard or seen since Dirty Politics was published !
and I see the independent candidate in Epsom, Grace Haden, is doing some good private eye work on the money laundering capacities of NZ … the intro is so badly written along with the headline at first I thought she was in trouble. Kudos to her for this.
Here is an analysis from Selwyn Manning on John Key’s credibility and state of play in the NACTIONAL Party:
“A Matter of Whether John Key is Credible’
By Selwyn Manning / August 23, 2014
“In reality, John Key is the last man standing, he speaks directly to the reasonably minded New Zealand voter. From this platform they will be asked to judge for themselves whether their Prime Minister is credible… or not. Game on, or game over, they will be the judge…
This is the problem uncommitted voters such as myself face. I don’t trust either ‘main’ party with a majority in Parliament. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
I’ve a lot of time for Winnie going right back to the Winebox, and IMHO a Labour or a National Government forced to deal with NZF as a strong coalition partner is probably going to be the most honest Government we could hope for at the present time. I was even considering giving my party vote to NZF on this occasion but unless Peters comes right out and declares that NZF would not go into Government with a National Party still including proven sleaze-balls like Key, Collins, Brownlee et all I can’t risk voting for it.
unless Peters comes right out and declares that NZF would not go into Government with a National Party still including proven sleaze-balls like Key, Collins, Brownlee et all I can’t risk voting for it
I heard on rnz this morning that he wanted to join the Maori Party as they are only party working with Government to benefit Maori. (my paraphrasing). I was quite surprised to hear it as his world view doesn’t align with the Right.
I recall that when the Maori Party have been criticised for being sell outs they have said in their defence that is was “better to be at the table, than on the floor getting the crumbs”, meaning they were willing to compromise their own values in order to progress their agenda. For them it was purely a matter of practicalities. I wonder if this is simply how Tame Iti see’s it too.
The goal of the Maori Party is to create a new aristocratic layer of tribal bearaucrats who will have their “people” under their control through iwi-owned state housing and charter schools.
Apologies if this has already been discussed. No surprises but horrifying all the same, it happens that Patrick Gower is in Slater’s contacts in his phone. (Dirty Politics, Nicky Hager) Is this not a real worry that a “journalist” is happy to compromise his credibility by being connected with such a despicable person?
As we know, (and several Standardista’s have made formal complaints about it) Gower has been on a mission to destroy Cunliffe for a long time. Are tv3 willing puppets for Slater’s agenda? How can the connections and influences be investigated?
Come Rosie you should know by now that Patrick (I make shit up) Gower is a right wing stooge. That became very clear, when he attacked Cunliffe at the Labour Conference about mounting a challenge to Shearer. Hence I take everything he says with a huge pinch of salt.
Exactly David, that’s why he needs to be called out on it – and all the others in the contacts in Slaters phone.
They need to do the decent thing, it’s not too late, and say they will disassociate themselves from him, but they never will because such an admission of association shows them up as having a questionable moral compass all along.
It looks to me as if, for political journalists, Slater has for some time been the prime source of information – I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them have his number. Basically, to get copy you have to be in the information loop, and the inner circle around Slater appear to largely control that loop.
Gower fancies himself as a bit of a master of the universe……SlaterPorn is psychotically into the same notion. Not surprising that they would circle one another warily and trade phone numbers.
David Cunliffe:
Labour believes in a clean, transparent political system. The revelations in Mr Hager’s book raise serious and disturbing questions about how the National Party has been conducting politics. The way to clean up the system is to change the government. Party vote Labour.
On Stuff live chat.
What a rubbish answer. No Royal Commission of Inquiry? No Serious Fraud Office probe?
‘Why the Secret Intelligence Service feeding Cameron Slater information is so very, very, very serious’
By Martyn Bradbury / August 25, 2014
“Folks, it doesn’t matter if you are Right or Left, the issue of the Secret Intelligence Service being forced to feed a far right hate speech merchant like Cameron Slater with sensitive information is an ‘us’ issue…
The SIS are ‘deep State’. We ‘trust’ in them to use the vast powers they have for the protection of NZ. I think we can all see, regardless of how we vote, that getting them to release information to a blogger with the ethical standards of a drug cartel are well outside what is acceptable.
We know that the guidelines for the release of such information from the SIS requires consultation between Key, Ede and Eagleson for several days. The PM has stated in his video answer that he was briefed, he has since claimed that when he said “I was briefed’ he means something completely different, and that when public servants Tucker and Wakem both said he was briefed, they also meant something completely different.
So that’s 3 people saying the same thing but all meaning something completely different, and this is the tissue thin defence being erected to shrug off handing Cameron Slater of all people information sensitive within one of our spy agencies?
This just isn’t fucking good enough. This defence of “when I say me and I, I actually mean some faceless and anonymous ‘office’ where blame and responsibility can’t actually be established” isn’t a defence, it’s a declaration of incompetence that if true simply means all of them, the whole office, needs to go.
The Prime Minister is either incompetent or lying through his front teeth. Neither of which helps explain why someone as toxic as Slater was given access to SIS information.
Using the state spy apparatus to embarrass and smear political opponents is a dark and frighteningly dangerous moment in our political history, it can’t just be shrugged off with ‘my office was briefed’ as an answer.
The Prime Minister is neither incompetent nor lying through his teeth. He is brazenly corrupt and openly challenging us to prove it, confident that we cannot.
Thanks anker. We do have people from outside the electorate leafleting, as it’s in everyone’s interests that Dunne goes! We welcome anyone who can help out in any way 🙂
And yes, baby Eliza is adorbz. It seems Ginny has put a lot of effort into meeting parents and women, very family focused, which is entirely appropriate for such a family orientated area. She would be a huge asset to Ohariu if she were the MP.
Whether or not it is a “rubbish answer” depends upon what follows from a “change in government” that will lead to cleaning up the system.
A prerequisite to the implementation of any processes to ‘clean things up’ may well be a change in government because the present government (a) is compromised and has a conflict of interest in investigating the allegations and (b) the PM has already shown a distinct lack of interest in following any of this up.
I’m reposting this so it gets ‘noticed’. Put it on late last night and have to resurrect it I think. This Nicky Hager event is this Thursday if you are in Auckland and have time.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Nicky Hagar [Hager] – Auckland Public Meeting
A public meeting meeting with Jesson Prize winner Nicky Hagar will be held
Wednesday 27th August, 7.30pm,
at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall (Cnr Dominion Rd & Balmoral Rd).
Chaired by Sir Edmund Thomas
Hosted by the Human Rights Foundation & Equal Justice Project.
Dotcom denies he’s the hacker behind Dirty Politics, but at the party’s campaign launch today said this.
“I hacked our German credit rating system and put our Prime Minister’s credit rating to zero because I didn’t like the guy,” said Dotcom. “You have all figured by now there’s another Prime Minister I don’t like.”
But he didn’t want to talk about his comments afterwards.
Heres the thing, I’m ok with National in power with anyone (Conservatives last) I’m also ok with Labour in power as long the GIMPs are out so basically Labour/NZFirst in power is ok by me (not my first choice of course but the best of a bad situation)
PR he is just baiting you guys winding you up !
Giving you something to hold onto!
Whaledump is playing with the Corruptors of our democracy letting them think they have got away with their treasonous crime and exposing the lengths these corrupt cronies will go to to usurp democratic processes in our country!
The more Key Collins and Slater Deny the Worse they look!
They were told before hand that KDC wouldn’t be giving interviews so WTF did they go in there pestering for interviews? The whole thing comes across as the MSM looking for a distraction from the IMP campaign launch. Trying hard not to cover the news.
I no longer respect John Key. Not even a bit. And that’s why John Key’s problem is Waikato voters’ dilemma.
National’s election strategy has long depended on Key’s immense popularity. That’s why his face is on every billboard just as big as your local candidate’s. The visual message is compelling. You’re voting for Key, you see. The nice man. The smiler. The good bloke, the one you’d drink a beer with, and all the usual banalities that I’m so sick of and which should be, by now, unmasked as the untruths they’ve always been..
A strong economy the envy of many, crime down, employment up, navigating the country through very trying times and more kiwis coming home from Australia is something many kiwis consider a good thing
The economy is crashing despite what National and their sycophants want to believe, poverty is worse and the reason why people are returning from Australia is because their economy is crashing as well.
If we get a National government after this election then we are going to be well and truly fucked because they really haven’t got a clue as to what to do under such circumstances which means that they’ll fall back on their default position of tax cuts and corruption.
Who says workers are thick, unable to organise and need to be led?
An old IWW cartoon came to mind when reading the link where there are workers gathered outside two doors. One is marked “union” and the other marked “boss”. The question the workers are asking among themselves is “Which one do we negotiate with first?”
And how about this brand new gem! DJ Pups with “At the end of the day”, Guyon Espiners legendary interview with John Key last Monday sampled into a dance track. Ha! Didn’t I say someone needed to do that!
Both songs getting airplay on Radio Active, one of the stations that was sent a warning from the electoral commission about playing Planet Key by Darren Watson.
A COPY OF THE DRAFT LETTER I HAVE WRITTEN TO TVNZ BELOW…………….OTHERS MAY WANT TO DO THE SAME. HO
RE: Mike Hoskings moderating the Leaders Debates.
I wrote to you about this issue on 24 July. To date I have received no response. This is unacceptable.
This needs a bit of editing, but below is my draft letter to TVNZ re Mike Hosking moderating.
Would encourage others to do same
“Mike Hoskings moderating the leaders debates is unacceptable and frankly a disgraceful display of our tax payer funded broadcaster showing unacceptable levels of bias.
You will be aware of the recent disclosures in Nicky Hager’s book, Dirty Politics, clearly illustrating the links between Cameron Slater and the National Party, that goes to the highest level, the Prime Minister in running on-going smears against the past Labour Leader, Phill Goff. Hager also produces strong evidence of Slater being involved in the attempt to smear David Cunliffe over the Dong Liu letter
Mike Hoskings recently hosted an item on 7 Sharpe about Cameron Slater. This item is mentioned in Dirty Politics (refer page 134 – 5). To quote from the book “the item ended with the host Mike Hoskings saying (about Slater) “Love it”. Hosking adds,” I do note he (Slater) quotes from my editorials quite a lot, so clearly a man of taste”. Clearly Mike Hoskings, Cameron Slater and the Prime Minister (who is in contact with Slater regularly, are aligned in their (right wing) political beliefs.
I am requesting that you replace Mr Hoskings as mediator on the Leaders debate, if you havenot already done so given the relevations in Dirty Politics. I suggest someone who appears less biased (possibly Rachel Smalley). Please advise me as soon as you have done this.”
@ anker +100….That is a very good letter.!..i would like to protest and use it too…Kim Hill would be far better than the shallow , NACT biased , Slater friend, ‘fruit and vege reporter’ Mike Hoskings….a choice for political chair which is a disgrace to TVNZ editorial and management! ( there must be a review and cleanout after Labour/Left wins the Election)
Is there any way it could be a petition /form letter ?…(so i just have to sign it and press a button)?
…if not , what is the address to write to ….and I will use your letter as a basis
LPrent …problems ? have tried six or seven times to post re TPPA … will not let me post. It defaults to this #17 and the replies below do not belong to my post which I have deleted and replaced with the test#117 above. Thx !
It happens after a reply is posted to a comment that is deleted. If I give people long edit times and include an ability to delete, then there is a structural issue if they delete as someone is adding.
There is a process that runs about every 20 minutes to clean them up the unparented comments that get left over. Obviously not running at present.
I don’t think that I have the tools to fix this remotely on this laptop. Umm I downloading them.
Pam Corkery popping her cork at the IMP launch deserves a gold star. Sure it wasn’t helpful, but at least it was honest. Good to see she has mellowed with age. Can’t say the same for KDC, though. He gets Worst Timing Ever Award for getting up on stage and admitting to personal hacking vendettas. In the absence of IMP leadership making sure he never speaks publicly again until after the election, they could track down Jamie McDonald, Senior Press Officer (The Crossest Man in Scotland) and have him discuss the basics with him.
. But when I started writing stories on issues which went against Slater’s interests, I became someone he wanted to “smash”. At that point, I was away from the tent and out in the wilderness.
He launched a personal assault with what I believed were threats of violence and created an atmosphere in which I was personally and professionally denigrated. Those who post comments on his website made awful slurs. It is as horrible an online environment as you will find anywhere.
Among the slurs were claims my behaviour showed I was suffering withdrawal symptoms associated with alcohol and drug addiction. On one occasion, when I rang a minister’s spouse for comment on an issue he was involved in, he ranted at me that I was “a drug addict” and would not talk to me. The only place such an idea had been floated was on Slater’s Twitter feed.
In almost two years, he has published about 120 posts in which I am featured. Some are extremely unpleasant. I am called a “shill” in the context of being a corrupt reporter.
Slater has invented nicknames for me. He called me “Gurnard”, then sent me pictures of dead “Gurnard”. He called me “Tainted” in relation to my coverage of the Kim Dotcom affair.
This article by David Fisher is very enlightening and hopefully will appear in the print section of the Herald and not just online. Interesting that Fisher says that John Key kept Slater at arms length until April 2012. Did Key just get careless or had he realised he needed Slater’s support and that would only happen if he fed Slater’s ego with much closer contact?
@ joe90 …that article by David Fisher is REALLY SHOCKING!
…and Slater won the Canon journalist award?…given to Slater by the judge Deborah Cone-Hill?( who was winner for a BNZ creative fiction writing award) …and Slater has the support of the Israeli Embassy (Slater is a “spiritual person”?)…. and Slater was invited to Israel? ( for what?)…and Slater was a good friend of John Key’s ?( see the lovely smiling photos, along with David Farrer’s smiling visage)…and Slater had many friends including Cactus Kate ( who is also a shocker)
David Fisher stands above many journalists. He is fair and evenhanded and reports facts rather than wild Paddy type fantasies. Sent an email to David last week telling him of my respect for his work. (He replied to acknowledge.)
Interesting listening to Michele Vogue attack David Fisher on Radionz this afternoon, Michele and Co won’t be very happy with ‘their paper’ at the moment going with the whaledump scoop etc and basically doing their job, Michele may be a little disappointed at finding her friends are only fair weather ones I guess, get over it Shell it’s only business baby!
Yes, she just couldn’t resist engaging in a bit of dirty politics herself. She’s basically implied Fisher’s involvement in the book on no evidence other than a comment apparently on The Nation to the effect of “as we said in the Hager book”.
I haven’t found the clip but can imagine it may have been a bit of ‘mishearing’ on Boag’s part. Less a Freudian slip from Fisher than a case of hearing what she wanted to hear from Boag. (e.g., perhaps mishearing “as was said in the Hager book”.)
Turned it off as soon as I heard Lady Boag was on the show. Guessed what was coming. It’s part of the panic reaction to [Hager’s] book. We can expect all manner of wild accusations from the “hard right” through to election day.
Btw, interesting that she and Brian Edwards are no longer appearing together on that programme.
Although some of the material has been covered in Dirty Politics, significant chunks refer to matters yet to be reported. Hager concluded a nexus existed between Slater, Graham and Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich, that was used to surreptitiously attack opponents of corporate members of the council. New evidence shows:
An email from Slater in January 2014 in which the blogger wrote “December hits coin” and invoiced Facilitate Communication $6555.
A series of emails the same month from Graham to Slater, headed “Hit” and sometimes including “KR,” including draft posts savagely critical of council members’ commercial rivals or political opponents. Shortly afterwards Slater posted articles – nearly identical to Graham’s draft – on Whale Oil.
An unreported email exchange between Graham, Slater and Rich discussing the political leanings of the Generation Zero climate-change lobby group, concluding with Graham saying: “That’s our job. They’re on the target list.”
Countdown,the subject of more than a dozen critical blog postsin the months following the hack, was concerned but guarded when approached for comment. Following a wave of negative publicity earlier this year, the supermarket giant is now the subject of a Commerce Commission investigation into its business practices.
Countdown managing director Dave Chambers said of the hacked emails: “If these claims are correct this is not only disappointing but very disturbing given the subsequent impact on our business.”
(Been trying to post this all day .. apologies in advance if it intrudes somewhere by accident !)
The TPPA is one of the biggest battles we will ever need to win imho. Please take some moments to read this and follow through if you can .. we are literally done for otherwise; we will be 100% owned by US corporates ( well, more than we are now even!) This is the dirtiest of politics.
Laila Harre has committed to the Good Cause as she promised yesterday, saying:
“I tell you that after Sep 20, your work will not stop because everyone in this hall, led by Internet Mana, and with communities around the country, will be launching a campaign on the 21st of Sep to stop the TPPA”
“Join It’s Our Future at the ‘March against the Government” in Auckland, 30 August, 1pm, Aotea Square. Bring your placards and voices to tell the government: No TPPA – No Way!”
TPPA Trans Pacific Partnership is not a free trade agreement.
It is a signing over of part of our sovereignty to large corporations.
We cannot allow this to happen.
I want to hear the Labour party saying that they will not commit to any agreement which includes an investor-state dispute settlement system. ISDS
Read the following- it will make your hair stand on end. http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_gallery/investor-state-dispute-settlement-isds/
ISDS stands for INSIDIOUS!!
on nat-rad there was a discussion about our national anthem..
..and a txtr has suggested ‘anchor me’ at as a new anthem..
..i think that is a great idea..
..if only bcause how cool wd it be to have a national anthem that citizens of other countries wd like to sing/grove along to..?
..instead of the neo-militaristic/pompous bullshit most are..
.and if not ‘anchor me’..(which would be perfectly adequate..)..how about an online ballot to draw up a shortlist of contenders..and then a final vote..?..
..i wd like to nominate the underdogs:..’sitting in the rain’..
..(i know john mayall wrote it..but i’m sure a deal cd be done with him..)
imagine footage of our sports-people/officials etc..at international forums/w.h.y..
..grooving along to what wd be the coolest-national-anthem-in-the-world..
(f.y.i…moderator..i attempted to post this at the end of the thread..it ended up here..)
Just heard that delightful Michele Boag attack David Fisher on the Panel. She said that he was a left wing non journalist who only looked at the faults in the Right wing.
The she made a huge leap. She says that on the Nation David said in relation to Nicky Hager’s book that “We wrote…!” Aha. She reckons David was involved in the writing of the book. “We.”
There was no one to balance her spite. Not Jim. Not Duncan ??
Smear anyone?
I think Michelle claimed David Fisher used the words “What we said in the Hager book…” and then goes onto to infer that because Fisher has written about Dotcom then that means Dotcom is involved in the material in Hager’s book. Crazy stuff.
I haven’t had time to review the Nation interview but my suspicion is that Fisher said “What we see…”
I suspect Boag is trying to blacken David Fisher’s name after his piece today in the Herald today. Hopefully he will take this up with Radio NZ.
Where’s Ms Boag ? She’s on Mora’s panel on RNZ now and the unctuous Mora has made it a benefit for her and the National Party the whole last hour. Including shutting down a guy from Demographia ready to give some solid stuff about the puffery of National’s housing policy. Sickmaking.
Yet the whack jobs insist that generating electricity using nuclear fission is a safe and viable alternative.
.
Three and a half years after the most devastating nuclear accident in a generation, Fukushima Daiichi is still in crisis. Some 6,000 workers, somehow going about their jobs despite the suffocating gear they must wear for hours at a time, struggle to contain the damage. So much radiation still pulses inside the crippled reactor cores that no one has been able to get close enough to survey the full extent of the destruction. Every 2½ days, workers deploy a new giant storage tank to house radioactive water contaminated after passing through the damaged reactors. We wander past a forest of some 1,300 of these tanks, each filled with 1,000 tons of toxic water, some of which was used to cool the reactors.
Six years of mismanagement ….. ‘Rock star no more?’
This is what happens when you don’t have a plan.
‘NZ economy could hit the rocks – economists
Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said New Zealand’s recent growth had been fuelled by the Canterbury earthquake rebuild, low interest rates and a surge in net migration, which hit a 10-year high in the year to June.
”When the Canterbury rebuild ends people will be quite surprised by the size of the downturn,” he said.
Stephens said the strong net migration, which has been largely due to fewer New Zealanders moving to Australia and greater numbers returning from across the Tasman, is unlikely to continue at current levels for long.
”Australia will one day make a comeback. We are forecasting zero net migration for 2018. And one day interest rates will get big enough to crush the housing market,” he said.
”My fear is all three of those things will happen at the same time.”’
The NZ Herald asked its readers their views on the Nats housing policy.
Seems like the only people who like it are the Nat MPs and their media puppets…..
Here’s a sample of the most popular comments…
“So, after years of telling us that there is no housing crisis, here comes National at election time telling us how they can fix the ‘problems’ that exist in the housing market.
Their solution is laughable. Making a little more credit available will just increase prices. And besides, the top amount you can get – if you meet all their criteria – is $550K. That gets you two-thirds of sod all in the Auckland housing market.
New ‘starter’ homes at the much-heralded Hobsonville Point development start at $770K.
Why don’t they just promise to do what Labour is promising – to actually build affordable new homes.
This policy is a lot of noise with no promise of real results. Fail.”
“It wont address the issue. It will just push the house prices up, and still be a haven for property speculators. Once again, this government is just tinkering around pretending to do something to address the real issue.”
“It is a typical answer from a market/growth driven Government. This solution is still avoiding the market driven problem of overvaluation that has caused finance collapse all around the world – of course it is good for banks and merchant bankers – another boost to ponzi economics.”
Interesting stuff about Cactus Kate — who sounds about as pleasant an individual as Slater — and her motivation for wanting Hager to feel some serious heat from a few Chinese she knows:
Nah, not brave, simply a man of integrity who refuses to back down to Whaleoil’s threats. Lots of people will stand by him just as they will stand by Hager.
Somewhat surprisingly, it’s Rodney Hide who has supplied by far the best description of Cameron Slater I’ve read so far (and he should know). Hide says Slater is “like a pig in mud”. Damn, that’s spot on.
I think that’s very unkind to pigs. They are quite intelligent and can be trained. One of my friends had a Captain Cooker that he’d raised from a piglet after shooting its mum 🙁 It would do anything most dogs do, except for not being very good at jumping or climbing over things. It guarded his section, often bailing up the poaka at the gate. He went off it a bit after it moved a concrete slab and ate the pound of heads he’d hidden underneath it, but it survived that. In the end it started killing his neighbour’s chooks and he turned it into roast pork 🙁
The latest attack on John Key by a contemporary musician is what he deserves, any one in public office who has been found to have spent the country’s money and time promoting the shite that has turned up in Hager’s book has laid himself open for all that comes his way and he is not entitled to any more legal protection than the rest of us
He, who thinks he can do what hes done over the years he has been in politics in this country deserves to be held up in public by whatever the public feel individually or collectively that is democracy
Cameron Slater was roundly condemned by his hateful comments about a youth being “feral”, and the world was better off him,. “Dirty Politics” reveals Slater’s description of a call you made referring to the dead boy’s mother as being a woman who screamed at you at Pike meetings. You told the public today you rang Slater at this time just to say ‘” recognised her”.
Yeah fucking right. You total bare faced liar! Do you think for one moment ANYONE would believe you rang Slater at this time just to say ‘I know here” that and nothing else.
What sort of PM rings Slater at any time let alone this time. There’s no reason to believe Slater’s reporting of the essence of your call was anything but accurate.
What a deceitful horrid man you are John Key. My god what you must be like behind the bullshit image scares me.
You told the public today you rang Slater at this time just to say ‘” recognised her”.
Does anyone have a link or reference to Key making this statement today?
I’m strongly in agreement with the sentiments above; that this incident alone – regardless of what Key actually said to Slater in that conversation – should be the cause of Key’s resignation at 8:30am tommorrow morning.
He’s previously confirmed the call, including that he told Slater Jo Hall was at Pike meetings. It’s the one issue on which he’s been citing Hager for support from the day after the story broke, because Hager did not agree with Slater’s characterisation of the phone call.
I don’t know why it hasn’t had more attention. He’s abused his position in order to give Slater context about the family who had been attacked on the WO blog.
The next commenter threw me off the thread a little because I’m not living in NZ at the moment and I’m not up to speed with things. But now it’s clear Key did have a conversation with Slater to support and validate what he had done – it’s game over.
Think about it. There is absolutely no context in which Key can have made that call and remain Prime Minister. None.
And yet our media and commentators remain compliant lapdogs, perhaps going so far as to say that it’s “not a great look” but missing the point that Key remaining as PM finally turns NZ into the South Pacific equivalent of a banana republic.
The only thing John Key could have legitimately done over Slater’s actions – was to publicly condemn him and privately insist that his Office, staff and all National Party figures cease all contact with him immediately. Anything less would have been an unacceptable validation and support.
But what Key actually did was phone Slater personally (remarkable in any context) and pass on more details about Slater’s victim.
Is the New Zealand media ALL so compromised that they cannot see what is wrong here?
Coasters Turn Out In Droves: It’s precisely the widening gulf between those with actual experience of things like guns, chainsaws and drilling machines, and those who regulate their use, that accounts for the angry crowd at Greymouth’s Messenger Park on Sunday, 17 November 2019. In the rarefied atmosphere where decisions ...
There are perennial arguments about the circumstances of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, and in particular whether more than one shooter is required by the evidence (such as the Zapruder film). Those who know little about physics frequently claim that the sharp backwards motion of JFK’s head as ...
Apparently, some people enjoy washing their cars. Each to his or her own, I suppose. I mean, some people like duck shooting, some people follow Coronation Street, and some people’s idea of a good day out is to sit on a grass bank at Seddon Park and watch cricket all ...
Last week we learned that New Zealand First had apparently tried to enrich itself from public office, with a dodgy forestry company linked to a number of NZ First figures sticking its hand out repeatedly for government money. Today in Question Time Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had his ...
Finally, governments seem slowly to be beginning to act on climate change. But its not enough. While they're publicly signing up to targets, they're planning to destroy the world by continuing fossil fuel extraction:The world’s nations are on track to produce more than twice as much coal, oil and gas ...
Stuff has begun interviewing NZ First's secret donors, and it turns out that its as bad as we expected. They start with racing industry figure Garry Chittick, who is predictably grumpy about NZ First's coalition choices. Meanwhile, I'm looking at the list of pork NZ First has effectively given its ...
Stag At Bay: Twelve years ago, Winston Peters was still robust enough to come back from the political crucifixion which his political and media enemies had prepared for him. In his seventies now, the chances of a second resurrection are slim. We should, therefore, prepare for the last gasp of ...
Satellites pass over NZ all the time (literally). Here I focus on the 187 Planet Labs ‘Dove’ Earth-imaging satellites, and I show that one can determine in advance where they will be, enabling scientists on the ground to correlate their environmental and other data collection with opportunities to get imaging ...
The Council of Disobedient Women has learned that the Prefect of Aro Valley has been promoted to a new role with the blessing of the Pope of Wellington. Softy Jejune Parson has been appointed Mother Superior of Woke Wellington for the work she has been doing calling out heretics, ...
On both sides of the Atlantic, some purportedly “contentious” and “difficult to deal with” leadership contenders to lead the US and UK, as President and Prime Minister respectively, seem to have thrown a few spanners into the works of the normal messaging most are used to hearing constantly. Except they’re ...
In Question Time today the Prime Minister was naturally facing questions about Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his dubious party financing arrangements, which seem to violate electoral finance law. Her response was to pretend that it was nothing to do with her, and that she is not responsible for ...
A prisoner stripped of their name, imprisoned for a secret crime after a secret trial, with all details legally suppressed for secret reasons. A story by Kafka or Dumas? China? No, its just the latest stage of Australian tyranny:An Australian citizen was prosecuted, convicted, and jailed in the ACT last ...
Stuff has more details on what New Zealand First's slush-fund has been funding, with much of the spending directly benefiting the party. Which makes it look a lot like hidden donations, rather than the completely-innocent-giant-pile-of-cash Winston is trying to portray it as. The Electoral Commission is now investigating, but Simon ...
I've joked before about how hosting international summits effectively turns part of your country into a police state for the duration. Well, New Zealand is hosting APEC in 2021, with events throughout the year in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. And the government has put up a bill to give itself ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzI saw an article claiming that “king tides” will increase in ...
It has been revealed that firing ranges used by the NZDF while deployed to the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, contained unexploded ordnance that caused numerous deaths and injuries after the NZDF withdrew the PRT in April 2013. In 2014 seven children were killed when an unidentified ...
Didn't See It Coming: NZ Herald columnist Lizzie Marvelly's latest column merits serious scrutiny because such a clear example of anti-democratic thinking is encountered only rarely on the pages of the daily press. Which is not to say that the elitism which lies at the heart of such social disparagement ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Initially it was reported that in an aerial bombardment that took place on August 30th seven children were massacred; the figure then went up to eight and then on November 11th Noticias Uno reported that, according to people from the community in close proximity to the ...
A lot has happened since the UN’s report on 1.5ºC was released in October 2018. New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Bill has passed, and enshrines the 1.5ºC goal in law. The UK and France have also legally strengthened their targets to Net Zero 2050. The School Strike For Climate and Extinction ...
Next year is an election year, and Labour needs money to fund its campaign. So naturally, they're selling access:Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-head to lunch with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at its annual conference later this month. [...] On the weekend beginning November 29th, around 800 delegates will ...
Yesterday the government announced its changes to tenancy laws, including an end to no-cause evictions, limits on rent increases, and anonyminity for tenants who defend their rights against bad landlords (sadly necessary because landlords are scum who maintain blacklists of "uppity" tenants). They're all good moves, and have resulted in ...
In 2003 New Zealand sent a Provincial Reconstruction Team to Afghanistan to support America's doomed war there. While there, they conducted regular weapons practice on local firing ranges, littering the landscape with unexploded ammunition. These ranges weren't secure - they're on land used by locals for animal herding - so ...
Green MP Gareth Hughes has announced he will retire at the election. Its understandable - he's been there ten years, and wants to actually see his children grow up rather than miss it while drowning in the toxic parliamentary sewer. But his departure is also a huge loss for the ...
Words and images by Jacqui GibsonGone are Auckland Museum’s days of doing science using a museum-centric academic approach, after Māori land rights holders Ngāti Kuri gave the museum an ultimatum.Tom Trnski holding a fossilised whale tooth from the Far North.Aussie-born Head of Natural Sciences at Auckland Museum ...
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First SightNew Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...
Westminster voting intention:CON: 44% (+3)LAB: 28% (-1)LDEM: 14% (-1)BREX: 6% (-)via @OpiniumResearch, surveyed this weekChgs. w/ 08 Nov— Britain Elects (@britainelects) 16 November 2019 This, of course, doesn't look good. Labour have been chucking big, headline grabbing policies left, right and centre ... Well, maybe not right. Left, left ...
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...
The Committee of Disobedient Women has intercepted an email from Dr Emma Eejut, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Massey University to the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas. Dear Jan, Thank you for your courageous move. I think 10 pages of blether** should tie any of the students game enough to try holding ...
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...
NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...
Behrouz Boochani is an award winning author and journalist. He is also a refugee, who for the past six years has been detained in Australia's offshore gulag on Manus Island, and in Papua New Guinea. But last night, with the cooperation of the WORD Christchurch festival and Amnesty International, he ...
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...
Protective Zone: Reading the rules and guidelines released by Massey University, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that its governing body considers the whole concept of free speech a disruptive threat to the orderly imparting of orthodox academic knowledge.IN TRUE ORWELLIAN fashion, Massey University has announced its commitment to ...
Brian Oliver, University of Technology SydneyNew South Wales and Queensland are in the grip of a devastating bushfire emergency, which has tragically resulted in the loss of homes and lives. But the smoke produced can affect many more people not immediately impacted by the fires – even people many ...
Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
Sally Wasef, Griffith University and David Lambert, Griffith UniversityThese days, not many Aussies consider the ibis a particularly admirable creature. But these birds, now colloquially referred to as “bin chickens” due to their notorious scavenging antics, have a grandiose and important place in history – ancient Egyptian history, to ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
It's been a great week of progress: we've celebrated Children's Day, we've made communities safer with 1800 new police, and we've seen almost 90% of eligible schools take up Government funding to scrap school donations - taking pressure off the families of more than 416,000 students. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The Government will further strengthen New Zealand’s wood processing sector as part of our focus on ‘value over volume’ in our forestry industry, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones will today meet with forestry representatives in Northland to signal new measures to help the ...
New Zealand First are celebrating the announcement of an investment of $3.5 million into five new trapping devices. These are a range of bait and trap devices, all designed to be left unattended for long periods of time. NZ First conservation spokesperson Jenny Marcroft says that this latest development will ...
Clayton Mitchell, Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs The ‘wheel clamping’ Bill that will cap clamper fees to $100 passed its third readinginParliament today. New Zealand First welcomes The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill to combat predatory wheel clamping behaviour in what is currently a largely unregulated business. Cowboy clampers are: gouging ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its first reading in Parliament. “Today’s progress takes serious action on the mental health and addiction crisis the country is facing,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Jenny Marcroft. “The re-establishment ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries Today the Government announced the delivery of the promise to protect New Zealand interests by applying a new National Interest Test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. This further strengthening of the Overseas Investment Act will ...
The Coalition Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high-risk assets to overseas buyers. Under current Overseas Investment Act (OIA) rules, assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity and ...
Rt Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Allegations raised this morning by Stuff Limited / Fairfax concern a party matter but I am confident that New Zealand First has operated within electoral laws, now and for the last 27 years. Declarable donations were declared to the Electoral Commission. Our ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
Stewart Island/Rakiura has been granted $3.16 million from the Provincial Growth Fund to help build two wind turbines, putting the island on a path to sustainable electricity generation, Environment Minister David Parker announced today. “Stewart Island is our third largest island, after the North and South Islands, and it is ...
A major new report on the global economy shows New Zealand is in good shape amid increased global headwinds. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has just released its latest Economic Outlook. It shows the OECD group of economies is forecast to grow between 1.6% and 1.7% across ...
The Coalition commitment to add 1800 new Police officers to frontline policing has been achieved with the graduation of 59 constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters say today’s graduation means 1825 new Police have been deployed all ...
Ensuring APEC work gets input from diverse New Zealand business and trade interests is behind three new appointments to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. Rachel Taulelei, Malcolm Johns and Toni Moyes have been appointed to represent New Zealand on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ...
Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa. Thank you for having me to speak today. To start, I’d like to acknowledge Sharron Lloyd, the General Manager of the Trans–Tasman Business Circle, the partners for this event Westpac’s David McLean, and Derek McCormack from AUT, and, of course ...
A four-month investigation by former Environment Court judge Professor Peter Skelton found that Otago’s freshwater planning system is not fit for purpose to manage the region’s rivers, lakes and aquifers and that the Council has inadequate rules for the taking of water and the discharge of nutrients. “Existing planning provisions ...
Introduction Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This is the first opportunity I’ve had to speak to an LGNZ meeting since the local elections, and I’m delighted to see the fresh faces of newly elected mayors. To returning mayors here today, as well as chief ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters departs New Zealand today to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Nagoya at the invitation of this year’s G20 President, Japan. “This is the first time New Zealand will attend a G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and we are deeply honoured that it is at ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of diplomat Carl Reaich as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the European Union. “The Ambassador to the EU is one of the most important and senior roles in New Zealand’s foreign service, advocating for New Zealand’s interests with the EU institutions,” Mr ...
Innovation and technology are behind five new tools to give nature a helping hand by helping eliminate predators, funded through the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage and Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “The new tools will be trialled in ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2021 (APEC 2021) Bill in Parliament today. The temporary bill supports New Zealand’s security preparations for hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in 2021. “APEC is the leading economic and trade forum ...
The Government is making progress on improving the wellbeing of the one million New Zealanders under the age of 18,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on World Children’s Day. The Government has today recommitted to the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history – the United Nation’s Convention on ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter has released a new report celebrating the contribution of Māori women in business across Aotearoa New Zealand. “Māori women are leaders in our communities, they employ many people and support our economy and our communities,” Julie Anne Genter said. The report, Ngā wāhine kaipakihi: ...
Four parcels of land have been bought in Omokoroa, in the Western Bay of Plenty District, for an education facility that will accommodate both a primary and secondary school on a campus-like facility, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. Two parcels were acquired from private land owners and two were ...
1 million New Zealanders warmed by the Winter Energy Payment 36,000 families bank the Best Start Payment in first year 6,000 more families received the Family Tax Credit, 220,600 in total They receive an increase too – from an average of $117 to $157 a week for Inland Revenue clients, ...
New rules to clamp down on overzealous wheel clamping and extortionate fees charged in order to release a vehicle have passed their final stage in Parliament today. The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill has now passed its third reading. “These changes mean $100 will be the maximum wheel clamping ...
An independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission is a step closer after it unanimously passed its first vote in Parliament today. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill lays the groundwork for establishing the Commission as a fully independent crown entity – delivering on a key recommendation of He Ara ...
We’ve improved border security with the NZeTA, New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority, which helps us to screen travellers for border and immigration risks off-shore before they travel to New Zealand. It was launched in August and became mandatory on 1 October 2019. More than 500,000 NZeTAs have been issued since ...
A proposed national plan of action to reduce the number of seabirds caught in fisheries is being circulated for public feedback. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage say New Zealand is a global centre of seabird diversity with about 145 species in our waters. It has more ...
The Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. Associate Finance Minister David Parker said under current Overseas Investment Act rules, assets such as ports and ...
The Government is building special housing to accommodate one of Aotearoa’s greatest taonga- our kaumātua, says the Minister for Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Speaking at a National Kaumātua Service Providers Conference in Rotorua today, the Minister reinforced the importance kaumātua play in maintaining and passing on mātauranga Māori, knowledge, ...
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
Since the death of of Grace Millane, a visitor to New Zealand, last year, countless emotions have been stirred. The trial of recent weeks will have returned those to the surface. In this post, updated from an earlier version published in December, we offer some suggestions on how to channel ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Bant, Professor of Law, University of Melbourne The news that Australia’s anti money-laundering regulator has accused Westpac of breaching the law on 23 million occasions points to the prospect that powerful members of corporate Australia are still behaving badly. This despite ...
A jury at the Auckland High Court has this evening unanimously agreed a guilty verdict against the 27-year-old charged with the murder of Grace Millane. He is remanded in custody until sentencing on February 21 next year. The decision brings justice for Grace’s family. But in the course of the ...
Associate Minister of Housing, Hon Kris Faafoi, has today visited the first state houses to be completed in the Kāinga Ora Mangere Development. Located on the corner of Ventura Street and Patete Lane, 15 brand new, healthy homes were completed this ...
White Ribbon Day is on Monday 25 November . Communities and organisations will be holding events all over New Zealand focusing on the elimination of men's violence towards women, and sharing the CHALLENGE THE #UNSPOKEN RULES collateral on their ...
Like it or not, plant-based meats are coming to a burger near you. Does this spell the end for animal agriculture, or just a shift in attitudes?This fake meat business might seem like a hot new trend, but China has been doing it for 1000 years or so. Mock meat, ...
Hidden in the deep bowels of the internet is an episode of television too good to be true: Tipping Point Lucky Stars, featuring the geniuses of The Chase. Tara Ward watches the crossover episode of your TV dreams. The world is filled with unexpected joys, and discovering the episode of Tipping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Bartlett, Associate Lecturer Pharmacy Practice, University of Sydney Some people find managing their medication difficult at the best of times. But in an emergency, like a bushfire or cyclone, this can be harder still. As catastrophic bushfires burn across Australia, here’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Douglas, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia At his Wednesday address to the National Press Club, Attorney-General Christian Porter said the federal government is pursuing “immediate” defamation law reform. The announcement seemed a bit odd, as defamation is a ...
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 #NoFly by Shaun Hendy (Bridget Williams Books, $15)“I was flying as if I didn’t believe in climate ...
Are ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s coalition beginning to live in a dreamworld of their own, distant from the one where ordinary New Zealanders live? In Parliament, in answer to patsy questions from their own backbenchers, they congratulate themselves on their extraordinary ( as it seems to them) achievements. They appear ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini discusses the Westpac scandal with Michelle Grattan. They then delve into the government’s recent changes to the robo-debt program, and Scott Morrison’s announcement that the government will be ...
What, for example, is a pitchfork wrapped in tinsel doing over there, leaning up by an umbrella? Toby Manhire writes a speculative article.A tumultuous week for Winston Peters and his New Zealand First Party has seen story after story raise troubling questions around donations. He’s not happy about it.What do ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Senior Lecturer in Personal Development, Health & Physical Education / Course Director of Postgraduate Studies in Education, Charles Sturt University In a study published in The Lancet today, we find out how 1.6 million adolescent school students from across 146 ...
The Otago Fish and Game Council supports Environment Minister David Parker’s decision, especially his directive that Mining Rights won't be extended beyond the 2021 deadline provided in the RMA. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Marriott, Professor of Taxation, Victoria University of Wellington A Court of Appeal decision in New Zealand set a precedent last month, allowing offenders to argue their drug addiction should be considered a mitigating factor. Methamphetamine dealers who can prove their personal ...
It was not a great week for NZ First - stuff that Prince Andrew would describe as conduct unbecoming of a political party, but which is very much becoming of NZ First. James Elliott gets slush fund, secretive and coterie all in one sentence about Winston Peters. ...
Just notifying that you have prohibited firearms or parts is not meeting your legal obligations, say Police who urge firearms owners to hand in their items now. ...
A new poem by Belfast-based poet J. Taylor Bell.the other day i witnessed a man seize with epilepsy in the produce sectionthen the bottom fell out of the plastic bag on the long diaspora between self-checkout and the deserts of the kitchen counter i felt like napoleon the morning after ...
We wonder if we were supposed top be gobsmacked, consternated or otherwise thunderstruck by the headline we encountered at the top of page 16 in our Dominion-Post today. “Fracas in Parliament,” it bellowed in a truncated version of the headline that can be found on the same report at Stuff. The ...
From academia to activism to media, Asian women are often ridiculed, overlooked and dismissed. Helen Yeung talks to Asian New Zealand women about the everyday racism they face – and how they’re fighting back.Last year, I was at the launch of an academic journal which included my essay on East ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is putting $3.16 million towards building two wind turbines on Rakiura / Stewart Island, where electricity is at present produced by diesel generators. ...
The enduring crisis of child poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand must be addressed with greater energy by government, the country’s professional body for social workers said today. ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese puts a “productivity project” at the centre of his economic agenda in the second of his “vision statements”, which seeks to further distance him from the Shorten era. “Productivity is the key to ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Matt Shand (Stuff): ‘I am the dark shadow of NZ First’ – what ...
Credit Union Baywide, trading as NZCU Baywide, New Zealand’s largest customer owned credit union, has acquired Co-op Money NZ, the supplier of core banking services and support infrastructure to some of the country’s credit union sector. ...
New Zealand leaves Australia for dust on internet speeds and our children are practically born using fibre, but major challenges lie ahead, writes Rohan MacMahon.Congratulations, New Zealand: three quarters of you now have ultra fast broadband (UFB).This week Chorus hosted an event at Parliament to mark the completion of Phase ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito Tofae Su'a William Sio is advising Samoan families planning on going back to the islands for Christmas to take precautions against measles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Helene Nolan, Postdoctoral research fellow, Western Sydney University Why does wood crackle in a fire? – Rocco, age 6 (nearly 7!) Hi Rocco, that’s a great question. I love sitting in front of a fire, listening to it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ihsan Yilmaz, Research Professor and Chair in Islamic Studies and Intercultural Dialogue, Deakin University The political influence of the far-right, along with a more salient national security agenda, has spurred a growing anti-Muslim sentiment and deep social division in Australia. In fact, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa Martyr, Lecturer, Pharmacology, Women’s Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia You might remember how Gwyneth Paltrow’s health and well-being website Goop was selling “medical” products with no proven measurable health benefits. Decluttering expert Marie Kondo may be going ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Newman, Associate Professor, University of Newcastle Many parents and educators agree children need to take risks. In one US study, 82% of the 1,400 parents surveyed agreed the benefits of tree-climbing outweighed the potential risk of injury. Parents cited benefits including ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Lawson, Honorary Associate Professor, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University In the year since the Australian government created the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), its bond aggregator, AHBA, has raised funds for affordable housing providers, allowing them to refinance ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Naomi Soderstrom, Professor of Accounting and Deputy Head of Department, University of Melbourne Sydney is currently blanketed by smoke haze from severe bushfires that have burned through New South Wales. Air pollution levels on Thursday reached hazardous levels for the second time ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Australia’s system of childcare support is pretty good. It ensures high-quality care is provided to a large number of children, it is targeted through income-based subsidies, and it is attentive to the needs of disadvantaged children ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camilla Nelson, Associate Professor in Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Mary Ann Evans took the pseudonym “George Eliot” because she wanted to be taken seriously as a writer. Other female authors – Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen, for example – had ...
Shane Jones downplays NZ First Foundation scandal by slamming 'despicable' media; and Green MP lambasts bill allowing overseas agents to carry otherwise-illegal guns in NZ. ...
New Zealand First has upped the ante in the saga over its mysterious foundation, with party leader Winston Peters' long-time lawyer Brian Henry threatening to sue National for $30 million. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Focus shifts to lawyer in NZ First Foundation scandal, Canterbury hail smashes crops, and tobacco companies cynically raise prices under tax cover.
Around this time last year, a party leader had just brazened out a week of scandal, much of ...
A report from the NZ Disability Support Network has laid bare a funding crisis impacting every level of the sector. Here, Rachel Lodewyk, of Gisborne, says the health system is failing but parent-led trusts are offering solutions in desperate times. ...
With emissions still rising, climate geo-engineering requires debate. But political researchers fear people are falling into the same left/right tribalism that's long plagued climate politics. ...
Our kinship with plants is etched out in the mythology on which our societies are founded, and in the web of life it is a scientific fact that we are indeed close kin to the plant kingdom. So why do we not live like we are, asks Matt Hall.There are ...
There’s been outrage since it was revealed that up to one in five final year medical students at the University of Otago falsified their overseas placements by spending portions of that time travelling instead. But GP registrar and former Otago medical student Toby Hills finds himself empathising deeply with his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison’s government is heading to the end of 2019 amid a debate about its economic judgement and with a number of substantial policy moves started but not completed. Morrison this week delivered to an ...
Newsroom's major investigations into Oranga Tamariki and a Fijian resort development have won us the award for best current affairs programme at the NZ TV awards. ...
The government is facing criticism that it is not doing enough, fast enough to raise people out of poverty. But Minister Carmel Sepuloni says her ministry are working as quickly as possible. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Christoff, Associate Professor, School of Geography, University of Melbourne A new United Nations report shows the world’s major fossil fuel producing countries, including Australia, plan to dig up far more coal, oil and gas than can be burned if the world ...
New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters with Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.New Zealand is officially one of the least corrupt countries in the world. But it could be argued that our political system is still biased in favour of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Hamilton, Strategic Advisory Panel Member, Australian-German Energy Transition Hub, University of Melbourne The possibilities presented by hydrogen are the subject of excited discussion across the world – and across Australia’s political divide, notoriously at war over energy policy. Read more: Hydrogen ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.We’re still buzzing after the rip-roaring success of the Corny Christmas party this week and we won’t even let a rogue earwig in the studio dampen our spirits. There’s a lot of exciting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heidi Norman, Professor, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of deceased people.Review: Linear, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney The value of Australian First Peoples’ scientific ...
Sam Brooks reviews the latest generation of the Pokémon games which finally hits the big-ish screen.“I love Pokémon but I wish I could play it on my TV.”I’ve been playing Pokémon for 20 years and that’s been the main thing I’ve heard from my fellow Pokémon friends/fans. The games have been engrossing, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Minister Stuart Robert this month announced a number of “practical changes” to the scheme. Acknowledging the NDIS is not consistently living up to expectations, he said these improvements will put ...
The trustee of the New Zealand First Foundation and Winston Peters' personal lawyer has threatened a $30 million lawsuit against a National MP, in the latest twist of the donations scandal. ...
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum based in the Asia-Pacific Region. New Zealand will host APEC 2021 in November 2021, with related events running for a year from December 2020 until November 2021. ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Dr Brian Ward of soft-tissue repair company Aroa.Dr Paul Callaghan, who inspired Callaghan ...
Open mike 25/08/2014 
Open mike is your post.
The Environment Committee has called for submissions on the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill. Submissions are due by Friday, 17 January 2020, and can be made online at the link above. The bill makes a number of changes to the ETS, including linking it to the carbon ...12 hours ago
Coasters Turn Out In Droves: It’s precisely the widening gulf between those with actual experience of things like guns, chainsaws and drilling machines, and those who regulate their use, that accounts for the angry crowd at Greymouth’s Messenger Park on Sunday, 17 November 2019. In the rarefied atmosphere where decisions ...22 hours ago
There are perennial arguments about the circumstances of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, and in particular whether more than one shooter is required by the evidence (such as the Zapruder film). Those who know little about physics frequently claim that the sharp backwards motion of JFK’s head as ...1 day ago
The Council of Disobedient Women has learned that the Prefect of Aro Valley has been promoted to a new role with the blessing of the Pope of Wellington. Softy Jejune Parson has been appointed Mother Superior of Woke Wellington for the work she has been doing calling out heretics, ...2 days ago
On both sides of the Atlantic, some purportedly “contentious” and “difficult to deal with” leadership contenders to lead the US and UK, as President and Prime Minister respectively, seem to have thrown a few spanners into the works of the normal messaging most are used to hearing constantly. Except they’re ...2 days ago
It has been revealed that firing ranges used by the NZDF while deployed to the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, contained unexploded ordnance that caused numerous deaths and injuries after the NZDF withdrew the PRT in April 2013. In 2014 seven children were killed when an unidentified ...3 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Initially it was reported that in an aerial bombardment that took place on August 30th seven children were massacred; the figure then went up to eight and then on November 11th Noticias Uno reported that, according to people from the community in close proximity to the ...4 days ago
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First Sight New Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...5 days ago
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...6 days ago
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...7 days ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...1 week ago
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ... 2 weeks ago
It's been a great week of progress: we've celebrated Children's Day, we've made communities safer with 1800 new police, and we've seen almost 90% of eligible schools take up Government funding to scrap school donations - taking pressure off the families of more than 416,000 students. ...12 hours ago
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The Government will further strengthen New Zealand’s wood processing sector as part of our focus on ‘value over volume’ in our forestry industry, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones will today meet with forestry representatives in Northland to signal new measures to help the ...14 hours ago
Stewart Island/Rakiura has been granted $3.16 million from the Provincial Growth Fund to help build two wind turbines, putting the island on a path to sustainable electricity generation, Environment Minister David Parker announced today. “Stewart Island is our third largest island, after the North and South Islands, and it is ...17 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Geddis, Professor, University of Otago New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, is under pressure following a complaint to the New Zealand Electoral Commission about his party’s mysterious funding arrangements. Under electoral law, political parties have to disclose all donations above ...5 hours ago
Since the death of of Grace Millane, a visitor to New Zealand, last year, countless emotions have been stirred. The trial of recent weeks will have returned those to the surface. In this post, updated from an earlier version published in December, we offer some suggestions on how to channel ...6 hours ago
National Party questions reason behind a change in judges' sentencing practices. ...11 hours ago
The NZX turns 150 this year, but the number of companies listed on it has been falling in recent times. Is it still as relevant as it once was? ...11 hours ago
Associate Minister of Housing, Hon Kris Faafoi, has today visited the first state houses to be completed in the Kāinga Ora Mangere Development. Located on the corner of Ventura Street and Patete Lane, 15 brand new, healthy homes were completed this ...12 hours ago
ERoad has reported a strong increase in first half revenue and underlying profit, and is considering dual listing on Australia's stock market. ...12 hours ago
Are ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s coalition beginning to live in a dreamworld of their own, distant from the one where ordinary New Zealanders live? In Parliament, in answer to patsy questions from their own backbenchers, they congratulate themselves on their extraordinary ( as it seems to them) achievements. They appear ...14 hours ago
The Provincial Growth Fund is putting $3.16 million towards building two wind turbines on Rakiura / Stewart Island. ...15 hours ago
It was not a great week for NZ First - stuff that Prince Andrew would describe as conduct unbecoming of a political party, but which is very much becoming of NZ First. James Elliott gets slush fund, secretive and coterie all in one sentence about Winston Peters. ...16 hours ago
We wonder if we were supposed top be gobsmacked, consternated or otherwise thunderstruck by the headline we encountered at the top of page 16 in our Dominion-Post today. “Fracas in Parliament,” it bellowed in a truncated version of the headline that can be found on the same report at Stuff. The ...16 hours ago
The Provincial Growth Fund is putting $3.16 million towards building two wind turbines on Rakiura / Stewart Island, where electricity is at present produced by diesel generators. ...16 hours ago
Increasing risks and responsibilities are putting more people off the idea of taking up roles as directors. ...17 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias. ...18 hours ago
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito Tofae Su'a William Sio is advising Samoan families planning on going back to the islands for Christmas to take precautions against measles. ...19 hours ago
Shane Jones downplays NZ First Foundation scandal by slamming 'despicable' media; and Green MP lambasts bill allowing overseas agents to carry otherwise-illegal guns in NZ. ...20 hours ago
New Zealand First has upped the ante in the saga over its mysterious foundation, with party leader Winston Peters' long-time lawyer Brian Henry threatening to sue National for $30 million. ...20 hours ago
What are the pros and cons of building a mega-port in the Firth of Thames? It's becoming a very heated infrastructure debate. ...22 hours ago
Using terms like 'psycho' to insult people is revealing of our underlying and enduring attitudes and prejudices, writes Dr Dougal Sutherland. ...23 hours ago
A report from the NZ Disability Support Network has laid bare a funding crisis impacting every level of the sector. Here, Rachel Lodewyk, of Gisborne, says the health system is failing but parent-led trusts are offering solutions in desperate times. ...23 hours ago
With emissions still rising, climate geo-engineering requires debate. But political researchers fear people are falling into the same left/right tribalism that's long plagued climate politics. ...23 hours ago
Hamilton's new world MMA champion, Michelle Montague, must now be pondering turning pro, in her dream to become the first Kiwi woman in the UFC. ...23 hours ago
In what’s become the curious incident of the rats on the beach, opinions are divided over the most plausible scenario leading to 680 dead rats. ...23 hours ago
After days of tricky questions about the NZ First Foundation, the PM and her deputy have earned a respite - but not for long. ...23 hours ago
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Hijinks and hilarity in Epsom yesterday. The Herald reports:
“ Mr Peters told the crowd that he knew one Beijing-based property investor who owned 55 houses in Auckland. “Don’t blame the Chinese. They are renowned for not being stupid. They are renowned for being bright academically. They are renowned for long-term planning. “Don’t blame them, when they see a bunch of fools running the country, saying, ‘Come over here, you can make a fortune’.” ”
So Peters told his audience that they shouldn’t harbour dumb cultural stereotypes and (maybe even racist) attitudes toward the Chinese… they can’t help being subject to greedy instinctual predatory urges… because they’re Chinese!
Meanwhile, Cliff Lyon said Labour had lost touch with their working class roots:
“If you have a look at their supporters they are really gays, lesbians, the unemployed who they throw heaps of money at, and what I might call the loony intelligent left who sit up in Auckland University.”
Someone needs to ask Cliff which year it is now. I want to hear him say 1995. Hmm, let’s see if we can find out who was in the audience of NZ First supporters yesterday by inventing cultural opposites for those “demographics”.
NZ First supporters in Epsom are really Hetero men, spinsters of unproved sexual orientation, people who gift all their income to the taxman, and the stupid unintelligent right who never went to school and now sit in the vacant basements of old office buildings. The place must have been packed out.
Sometimes the ignorant venal malicious stupid goes so far into noise without intended effect that it becomes hilarious. By eclipsing National’s bizarre definition of low-income first home buyers and Labour’s almost honest but cute admission of support for “modest” incomes, NZ First have won the hilarity prize today – they will probably hold it for the rest of the week.
and on a more serious note..
..those on the ‘left’ considering voting for peters should note he also said this at that epsom meeting:
“..NZ First would hold the balance of power after the election – Mr Peters said.
When one man asked him to not support National –
‘It’s not going to be an easy decision..”
..are you clear on that..?..
..peters will decide who he will support..after the election..and could well go with national/key..
..wd it be too strong to call those on the left who consider peters a ‘safe’ vote for them..
..to call them totally-in-denial-dumbarses..?
..i don’t think so..
Peters will go National, it’s not a tough choice
It’s ether making up the numbers with labour and the greens or having quite a bit of clout with National.
It’s also works with his “Keeping the buggers honest” theme he likes to push.
for once..bm..i agree with you..
Yeah he almost said as much on Q & A yesterday.
He was saying that some party’s spending plans were not acceptable to NZ First. Susan Wood repeatedly asked him if he was referring to the Greens. As always he would not answer the question but it was clear that is indeed who he was referring to.
If Winston holds the balance of power he will do one of two things.
Both options are a disaster.
Acksully if he goes with Labour and the Greens are locked then thats quite acceptable
Labour and the Green’s could go with InternetMana and not need Winston.
But, hang on BM. I thought that the whole point of voting National (with its huge support) was to ensure that any coalition partners it needed would have little ‘clout’.
But now you say that NZ First would have a lot of ‘clout’. Which is it?
If Key can’t get over the line with Act,Dunne, Maori party but he could with only Peters, I’d say Peters has a lot of clout.
Peters can then say, no Act,no Maori party, no Dunne, you want the numbers you deal with me and me alone.
@crocodill…actually I thought Winston Peters was rather good…anyone who has spent any time really travelling in China would agree with him!
ie “ Mr Peters told the crowd that he knew one Beijing-based property investor who owned 55 houses in Auckland. “Don’t blame the Chinese. They are renowned for not being stupid. They are renowned for being bright academically. They are renowned for long-term planning. “Don’t blame them, when they see a bunch of fools running the country, saying, ‘Come over here, you can make a fortune’.” ”
…however Cliff Lyon is way off the mark
From doorknocking the last few weekends, I can see that the only European men over 45 voting Labour are all on this site. Because there’s fuck-all of them anywhere else.
And even the ones on this site are dodgy 🙂
“If you have a look at their supporters they are really gays, lesbians, the unemployed who they throw heaps of money at, and what I might call the loony intelligent left who sit up in Auckland University.”
Bigoted, ignorant and thinks everyone else is too. Ugh.
Milk prices due to plummet because of Russian sanctions and massive increases in production world
wide!
Russian sanctions ( either against Russia or from Russia) do not apply to NZ….the smart solution is to make Russia our number one trading partner !
our dirty/filthy/polluting dairy-industry is a sunset-industry..
..(and in the long run..for us..and for the planet..this is a good thing..)
..the twofer of a forseeable global-gut in that white-death for the next five years..
..plus the soon-to-be-introduced ‘milk’ made from yeast..(of all things!)..that will taste/be the same..
..be able to do everything milk from cows does..(cheeses..etc..)..
..that does not need to be chilled..and will cost a fraction of the costs of cows-milk to produce/needs no land/dirty-waterways..will be ‘clean’..environmentally..
..but just on price..it will kill the global marketthe/our dirty cow-milk industry..
..it’s gonna be a financial bloodbath..the transition…
..it will be britain joins e.u/stops buying our farm product redux..but worse..)
..(and of all people..james cameron is showing the way forward..with his purchases of big dairy-holdings..and his conversion of them back into farms growing real food..
..i guess that cameron is a vegan is at least a part-driver of that..)
..and the aspect of all this that really concerns me at the moment..
..is how so many iwi are pouring their treaty-settlement monies into what will be/end up a total financial disaster..
..i see all that only ending in tears..
o hell
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/10419124/State-of-emergency-after-Californias-6-0-quake
no definately NOT….i actually thought Lyon was talking about you!
Peters is a poker player ….but imho he will join a coalition with Labour ….all his policies agree with Labour ….all his criticisms have been directed against National…and he cant stand John key or NACT!
how..?..you are the resident peters-booster..
..would you vote for him..?..have you voted for him in the past..?
@ PU….nyb… the GREENS will probably get my vote this time …but I am sorely tempted by MANA/INT ….and Winnie is wonderful…and so is David Cunliffe!…so I am happy …i have plenty of choice
…you dont seem happy …..who are you voting for? ….are you a closet NACT?…or just disillusioned Labour?…you attack Labour at every opportunity and Winnie…..the NACTs absolutely hate Peters….this could explain your attitude to him!
internet/mana..greens..labour..
..are my parties of choice..in descending order..
..i thought i couldn’t have been more clear about that..
..and you are in la-la land with yr ‘winnies’ wonderful’…
..no he’s not..he’s a con-man..
..just running his schtick for the final time..
..doing a classic ‘bait and switch’..
..(and the reply-function has had another meltdown..)
They keep giving you oxygen and you keep wasting it. More fool them.
Peter’s won’t go with national unless the left vote splitting mip are somehow in the frame post election.
To be sure you get a red/green government, you have to vote red/green. Don’t mess about with the minimal munters.
@ the Allen…you have to say who yu are addressing your comments to because the order of the threads are not working
@Chooky… I see that now, ta.
@ allen – It is IMP not mip – not that hard to get the name correct although maybe the big letters are confusing you.
I agree that people should vote for the party they want but relying on winnie – nah too risky.
“@ allen – It is IMP not mip – not that hard to get the name correct”
You mean like Al1en, not al1en?
But no and somewhat incredulous having to answer such a weak whine, to me it’s always been mip ‘mana internet party’, but if you want to get all arseholey about it, all the better 😉
“maybe the big letters are confusing you.”
You’ll have to remind me why you’re acting butt hurt, again, but if it’s going to be a long list, which it probably might well be, you’re better off saving the poison from your pen for someone willing to play the victim, rather than waste it on me.
You and your utu (the seeking of revenge) 🙄
You’re still raging, yet I shat you out ages ago.
The mirth of it all. 😆
@phillip ure
I think Chooky is assessing Winston’s likely choice of coalition if he gets that far, while you are arguing that he doesn’t deserve to be there because of low integrity and commitment to the people, only to himself. Both are relevant separate points which can’t be argued against each other.
I’d vote for Peters in a contest on fashion style on the catwalk. But in politics his style changes with the wind. Labour would have to do an Alamein Kopu with him, and have a chat with him each morning to gauge his direction for the day.
no warbler..i am saying a vote for peters is not a ‘safe’ vote..
..for anyone wanting a change of govt..
..it’s as simple as that…
(wow..!..reply-function really has gone sth..this is reply to 8.1.2.1…)
Voting IMP, Green, Lab means little chance of a wasted vote. They all grow the left bloc.
Winston First is a major chance of a wasted vote if you want not just a change of government but a left as possible one. He is so likely to go with the GodKey.
ACT, Colon, MP and Hairdo are definitely wasted votes in any event and moreso if Epsom, Ohariu and Māori electorate left voters get strategic.
Don’t vote Winston. Let someone else get him to 4.9%.
What’s this GodKey stuff?
It’s the delusional rubbish pumped out by National saying that John Key has theistic qualities, that he’s a god. Whereas the truth is he’s a flakey wee rich man liar who’s produced not a thing in his entire life save immense wealth for himself. It’s all part of the dark stuff we see in Dirty Politics.
…
Don’t overlook the fact that we have it on no less an authority than St. Lloyd Blankfein of that well-known altruistic institution the Church of the Holy Goldman Sachs.
“We’re very important,” Blankfein said in an interview with The Times of London. “We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. It’s a virtuous cycle. We have a social purpose.”
St. Blankfein said that he understood, however, that people were angry with bankers’ actions: “I know I could slit my wrists and people would cheer.” But he is, he told The Times, just a banker “doing God’s work.”
As is the Holier-than-thou John Key.
Mugabe was lucky to have such forward-looking people to bankroll the beautiful new Zimbabwe.
/
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-10-00-the-investor-who-saved-mugabe
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-21/mugabes-bailout-och-ziff-investment-linked-to-zimbabwe-despot#p1
Yes well strictly speaking in my view Blankfein is somewhat correct.
The nature of god and all that. A man-made one. He’s also right that most of us would be happy if he slit his wrist. But of course he is completely and utterly wrong about his social purpose (which is to create more wealth for the bankers). But he would lie about that. He’s also putting the cart before the horse when he talks of capital. Which probably means that he’s thick.
…
Wish I was thick enough to earn US$23 million as Blankfein did last year – and that was a bad year for him.
If he did slit his wrists he’d only be replaced by another parasite (of the genus common shameless money-grubbing pestis), so what would there be to be happy about?
For a complete demolition of Blankfein’s claim to Divine sanction I recommend:
http://www.voxeu.org/article/what-contribution-financial-sector
from the Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane, no less.
Posted before – but I’m posting again.
To have a look at how entrenched Goldman Sachs is in NZ, have a look at the size of NZ in this OpenCorporates Map.
Kiln is the company that did the graphics for the article in the Guardian last year, Which companies caused global warming?
(Edit: Reply to ManInABarrel 11.24am)
Thanks Molly. You wouldn’t know the timeframe for this interest in NZ would you?
Yes I’ve always wondered where he got his money from, a week on here and I figure that I’ve worked it out. He stole it.
Why that’s the Nats election campaign right there.
I’m dreaming of NZF 4.8, Colonservatives 4.8, ACT 1.5 with Goldsmith taking Epsom.
Not such a bad dream.
Keep on dreaming then
“I’m dreaming of NZF 4.8, Colonservatives 4.8, ACT 1.5 with Goldsmith taking Epsom.”
You do know that would mean that the Nats would only need around 44% to govern alone ?
yep..he’s got u well and truly suckered in…eh..?
..have you forgotten how the last time that peers went with national..
..polling afterwards showed some 70% of those who had voted for him..
..had done so..because of their fervent belief..going on his attacks on national etc.. that he wd go with labour..
..were you one of them then..?
..peters has run this con before..he knows how well it works..and what to say to make it work..
..how to suck in the gullible..
..fool you twice..more fool you…eh..?
Anyone from the Left who votes for Peters needs their head examined.
But Phillip you say Peters will go with Key. I think he will go with Cunliffe.
A small wager,say a bottle of our fine Central Otago Pinot Noir, on this?
i don’t use alcohol b.g…
..but a bag of stinking-heads vs. a bottle of plonk..
..i’d be up for that bet..
..(if you don’t know where/how to get it..just ask the next teenager you see..
..they’ll be able to point you in the right direction..eh..?..)
Ha ha. Sorry I don’t use the heads any more, so we will leave it as a gentleman’s bet.
I will vote Green, but it’s tricky as there are elements of Labour and IMP policies that I would prefer. For instance Labour’s using Kiwisaver to control interest rates and exchange rates, and IMP’s focus on poverty.
it is the internet/mana focuses on the seemingly so different/disparate areas of ending poverty and economic-innovation/transition that draw me to them..
..and for those of a progressive bent it must be clear that the better the result for both internet/mana and the greens..
..the more the chances of them being able to demonstrate to labour..
..the mandate for those poverty-ending etc policies..
..and a ‘left’-coalition containing peters..i see more and more as being a trainwreck..
..especially in the area of getting any real progressive polices enacted..
..it will likely just limp along..doing not very much..
..and liable to be thrown out of office after just one term..
..whereas a lab/grn/int/mana govt..
..wd see some real ‘progress’ being made..
..to me..all that couldn’t be clearer..
@ Phillip Ure (9:36am comment) (damn reply button’s gone AWOL)
And yet I’d argue that the only chance of there actually being a Left Government after this Election is with Winnie’s support. Unfortunate – deeply unfortunate – but true. The Left Bloc just aint gonna make it by itself. And no amount of Pollyanna wishful thinking will change that fact.
I agree, though, that on balance he’s a little more likely to go with Key. But nothing cut and dried as yet.
@ swordfish..
..at the launch yesterday..and i presume going on internal-polling as he was so precise..dotcom said 7.8% wd be the election-outcome..
..(i have for some time picked just sth of 10%..that from more reading runes/straw-in-the-wind than internal-polling..)
..so my ideal is lab 25-27%..grns 15%..int/mana just sub-ten..
..and there you have it..
..home and hosed…
..and eminently do-able..
@ swordfish..
..and don’t forget we still have the greenwald/dotcom spook-dump five days before polling day to look forward to..
..and the fallout for key/national..and to a certain/lesser degree labour..is hard to predict from here..
..but the conclusion can be that it will be good for neither of them..
..and as that shitstorm goes down..there stand int/mana..and the greens..
..promising to clean up all that..and presenting a new future..
..instead of just more of what we have got here..from national..(and to a certain/lesser degree labour..)
..and i can’t see that spook-dump hurting the int.mana and green vote-outcomes..can you..?
BG +100 “I think he will go with Labour”….. Winnie worked very well with Helen Clark….and once upon a time he was way to the Left of both Labour and National….Winnie would destroy himself for posterity if he went with the NACTS this time
and that awful time he went with National and we all got so mad at him ( what year ?) ? Turns out, and it’s verified, that Jim Anderton refused to work with him in any coalition deal — Winston had absolutely no option but to turn to National or leave us with no government at all.
Just my two cents worth ..
this was supposed to a reply to Chooky .. can’t work out what;s happening today and LPrent said he maybe couldn’t fix it from his laptop … Sudoku on The Standard !!
Interesting.
I’d be keen to read a link to that.
@ yeshe ……no Jim Anderton refused to work with Labour in any coalition deal
( remember Anderton was mad with Rogernomics and Labour…the Alliance was out to destroy Labour , even although his friend Helen Clark was leading Labour at the time?)
…and Winnie had no choice but to go with National because a Labour coalition govt without the Alliance in just didnt have the numbers. ..
Winnie was faced with the option of a new Election being called , where he may have had a backlash, or of going into coalition with National and seeing what he could get out of it…his bottom line was no asset sales
…In the end Winnie (despite choosing to go with National) brought down the National govt over more proposed privitisation of state assets
the NACTS have never for given him….and still want him destroyed …they also succeeded when they conducted a year long vendetta over the funding by Owen Glen
@ yeshe ( edit) ….should read Nats “almost” succeeded in destroying Winnie over Owen Glenn
@ kiwiri….the documentary on Helen Clark has all this in it
http://documentaryedge.org.nz/2014/wgtn/film/helen
http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/doco-gives-rare-insight-into-helen-clark-2013072408
if we can ever get these numbers sorted out !
Thx Chooky fr your corrections .. and I can’t see him going to Nats this time … unless it is to pull them asunder from inside.
I trust Winston’s integrity .. many will laugh at that, but I have supported and believed him ( not voted necessarily) since the Winebox. He has always put NZ first, as far as I’m concerned.
Speaking of which .. where has Ms Boag disappeared to in all this ?? I did read one scurrilous line about her in the whaledump, but she was quiet before that .. not been heard or seen since Dirty Politics was published !
lol…maybe she is sunning herself in the Bahamas or some other tax free haven….Cook Islands?
😀
and I see the independent candidate in Epsom, Grace Haden, is doing some good private eye work on the money laundering capacities of NZ … the intro is so badly written along with the headline at first I thought she was in trouble. Kudos to her for this.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/10416451/Fake-reception-prompts-probe
+100 yeshe ….and good work by Grace Haden!
Here is an analysis from Selwyn Manning on John Key’s credibility and state of play in the NACTIONAL Party:
“A Matter of Whether John Key is Credible’
By Selwyn Manning / August 23, 2014
“In reality, John Key is the last man standing, he speaks directly to the reasonably minded New Zealand voter. From this platform they will be asked to judge for themselves whether their Prime Minister is credible… or not. Game on, or game over, they will be the judge…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20147007
oh no, @Cnr Joe .. thought we had managed to lose her !! Did you listen and care to summarise ? thx
…
This is the problem uncommitted voters such as myself face. I don’t trust either ‘main’ party with a majority in Parliament. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
I’ve a lot of time for Winnie going right back to the Winebox, and IMHO a Labour or a National Government forced to deal with NZF as a strong coalition partner is probably going to be the most honest Government we could hope for at the present time. I was even considering giving my party vote to NZF on this occasion but unless Peters comes right out and declares that NZF would not go into Government with a National Party still including proven sleaze-balls like Key, Collins, Brownlee et all I can’t risk voting for it.
+100 man in barrel….and for your previous comments on 13.1.2.3
(btw… there is something wrong with the reply functions and also if one wants to start a new topic)
unless Peters comes right out and declares that NZF would not go into Government with a National Party still including proven sleaze-balls like Key, Collins, Brownlee et all I can’t risk voting for it
+1
for moderator..f.y.i..
..the reply-function is not working..
Working now Phillip
Tama Iti standing for The Maori Party. Could be quite the vote winner
It’s Tame.
And yes, he’s very influential, carries a huge amount of mana and might just revive a dying coalition partner. Damn.
Not sure where he’s standing as yet.
His influence however might swing the Maori Party away from the Nat’s however. I can’t see Iti working with National
I heard on rnz this morning that he wanted to join the Maori Party as they are only party working with Government to benefit Maori. (my paraphrasing). I was quite surprised to hear it as his world view doesn’t align with the Right.
I recall that when the Maori Party have been criticised for being sell outs they have said in their defence that is was “better to be at the table, than on the floor getting the crumbs”, meaning they were willing to compromise their own values in order to progress their agenda. For them it was purely a matter of practicalities. I wonder if this is simply how Tame Iti see’s it too.
Huh? Iti has been working closely with Chris Finlayson, and with National.
Not standing in an electorate – just the List.
ta ianmac.
that is a great pity …Tama Iti should be standing for Mana…the Maori Party are sellouts and have no mana
Would he convince anyone new to vote Maori rather than Mana? I doubt it.
The goal of the Maori Party is to create a new aristocratic layer of tribal bearaucrats who will have their “people” under their control through iwi-owned state housing and charter schools.
Key was interesting on Morning Report today. One mention of Judith Collins and he GTFO. That’s going to be a festering wound for a while.
Apologies if this has already been discussed. No surprises but horrifying all the same, it happens that Patrick Gower is in Slater’s contacts in his phone. (Dirty Politics, Nicky Hager) Is this not a real worry that a “journalist” is happy to compromise his credibility by being connected with such a despicable person?
As we know, (and several Standardista’s have made formal complaints about it) Gower has been on a mission to destroy Cunliffe for a long time. Are tv3 willing puppets for Slater’s agenda? How can the connections and influences be investigated?
Come Rosie you should know by now that Patrick (I make shit up) Gower is a right wing stooge. That became very clear, when he attacked Cunliffe at the Labour Conference about mounting a challenge to Shearer. Hence I take everything he says with a huge pinch of salt.
Exactly David, that’s why he needs to be called out on it – and all the others in the contacts in Slaters phone.
They need to do the decent thing, it’s not too late, and say they will disassociate themselves from him, but they never will because such an admission of association shows them up as having a questionable moral compass all along.
It looks to me as if, for political journalists, Slater has for some time been the prime source of information – I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them have his number. Basically, to get copy you have to be in the information loop, and the inner circle around Slater appear to largely control that loop.
Do the decent thing? Why that concept is totally alien to them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Whale Oil had a whole load of journalists telephone numbers
Indeed, presumably because they were well aware that he was getting leaks and considerable ‘help’ from inside the PM’s office and from Judith Collins.
One of the things you learn from the Whaledump is that there are plenty of MSM people circling Slater likes flies around shit.
None of them seem to have any scruples about it.
@ blue..+ 1..
Gower fancies himself as a bit of a master of the universe……SlaterPorn is psychotically into the same notion. Not surprising that they would circle one another warily and trade phone numbers.
On Stuff live chat.
What a rubbish answer. No Royal Commission of Inquiry? No Serious Fraud Office probe?
‘Why the Secret Intelligence Service feeding Cameron Slater information is so very, very, very serious’
By Martyn Bradbury / August 25, 2014
“Folks, it doesn’t matter if you are Right or Left, the issue of the Secret Intelligence Service being forced to feed a far right hate speech merchant like Cameron Slater with sensitive information is an ‘us’ issue…
The SIS are ‘deep State’. We ‘trust’ in them to use the vast powers they have for the protection of NZ. I think we can all see, regardless of how we vote, that getting them to release information to a blogger with the ethical standards of a drug cartel are well outside what is acceptable.
We know that the guidelines for the release of such information from the SIS requires consultation between Key, Ede and Eagleson for several days. The PM has stated in his video answer that he was briefed, he has since claimed that when he said “I was briefed’ he means something completely different, and that when public servants Tucker and Wakem both said he was briefed, they also meant something completely different.
So that’s 3 people saying the same thing but all meaning something completely different, and this is the tissue thin defence being erected to shrug off handing Cameron Slater of all people information sensitive within one of our spy agencies?
This just isn’t fucking good enough. This defence of “when I say me and I, I actually mean some faceless and anonymous ‘office’ where blame and responsibility can’t actually be established” isn’t a defence, it’s a declaration of incompetence that if true simply means all of them, the whole office, needs to go.
The Prime Minister is either incompetent or lying through his front teeth. Neither of which helps explain why someone as toxic as Slater was given access to SIS information.
Using the state spy apparatus to embarrass and smear political opponents is a dark and frighteningly dangerous moment in our political history, it can’t just be shrugged off with ‘my office was briefed’ as an answer.
Such casual fascism must be challenged.
The Prime Minister is neither incompetent nor lying through his teeth. He is brazenly corrupt and openly challenging us to prove it, confident that we cannot.
+1 to this
He strikes me like a successful mugger..
and now hes giving the county a big fat
“F**k you New Zealand, Ive all ready beaten you senseless, now im going to rifle you pockets and take all your shit”
I have to agree OAB. I think there needs to be a Royal Commission of Enquiry.
After Election as a Labour Party member, I will be in touch with him/them once he is (hopefully) PM.
There needs to be something. If Blip is correct Cheryl Gwen and Ben Keith have serious conflicts of interest.
OAB………..I have a great deal of confidence if Cunliffe is PM there will be a Royal Commission.
Oh hi anker. Reply to your helpful and kind offer on Yesterdays Open Mike. Sorry for the lateness.
Rosie @8.2.2
Thanks I will check it out. We are not in your electorate, doing work for Central, but husband has some time now and particularly dislikes Dunne!
BTW I would vote for that cute baby if he or she was standing. Showing pics of the baby must increase Ginny’s chances.
Thanks anker. We do have people from outside the electorate leafleting, as it’s in everyone’s interests that Dunne goes! We welcome anyone who can help out in any way 🙂
And yes, baby Eliza is adorbz. It seems Ginny has put a lot of effort into meeting parents and women, very family focused, which is entirely appropriate for such a family orientated area. She would be a huge asset to Ohariu if she were the MP.
And heads need to roll.
Winston is calling for a communion of enquiry.
He makes a good point insofar as that his ministerial role cannot be delegated to members of the national party (his parliamentery office)
Hooton on 9-12 said that his questioning of senior officials in both the Bolger and Clark administration had never seen that occur.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1408/S00367/the-words-mean-what-i-say-they-mean.htm
Whether or not it is a “rubbish answer” depends upon what follows from a “change in government” that will lead to cleaning up the system.
A prerequisite to the implementation of any processes to ‘clean things up’ may well be a change in government because the present government (a) is compromised and has a conflict of interest in investigating the allegations and (b) the PM has already shown a distinct lack of interest in following any of this up.
I’m sure it requires a change of government to clean things up. If that is the only thing that changes it won’t be enough.
Agreed.
I’m reposting this so it gets ‘noticed’. Put it on late last night and have to resurrect it I think. This Nicky Hager event is this Thursday if you are in Auckland and have time.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Nicky Hagar [Hager] – Auckland Public Meeting
A public meeting meeting with Jesson Prize winner Nicky Hagar will be held
Wednesday 27th August, 7.30pm,
at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall (Cnr Dominion Rd & Balmoral Rd).
Chaired by Sir Edmund Thomas
Hosted by the Human Rights Foundation & Equal Justice Project.
Also here is link to Nicky Hager’s 2012 text http://www.brucejesson.com/?p=394#comment-305
for his lecture to Bruce Jesson Foundation audience
and Sir Edmund Thomas 2013 lecture http://www.brucejesson.com/?p=475.
I’ve got something on moderation 9.31am. Could it be released please.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10418392/Tame-Iti-to-stand-for-Maori-Party
Dotcom denies he’s the hacker behind Dirty Politics, but at the party’s campaign launch today said this.
“I hacked our German credit rating system and put our Prime Minister’s credit rating to zero because I didn’t like the guy,” said Dotcom. “You have all figured by now there’s another Prime Minister I don’t like.”
But he didn’t want to talk about his comments afterwards.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11313619
morning talking-points/briefing a bit late this morn..there..p.r..?
..and do try a bit harder to ‘keep up’..eh..?
..you are so far off the mark..you aren’t even in the stadium..
John Key will do another 3 way hand shake with the Maori Party!
Heres the thing, I’m ok with National in power with anyone (Conservatives last) I’m also ok with Labour in power as long the GIMPs are out so basically Labour/NZFirst in power is ok by me (not my first choice of course but the best of a bad situation)
PR he is just baiting you guys winding you up !
Giving you something to hold onto!
Whaledump is playing with the Corruptors of our democracy letting them think they have got away with their treasonous crime and exposing the lengths these corrupt cronies will go to to usurp democratic processes in our country!
The more Key Collins and Slater Deny the Worse they look!
They were told before hand that KDC wouldn’t be giving interviews so WTF did they go in there pestering for interviews? The whole thing comes across as the MSM looking for a distraction from the IMP campaign launch. Trying hard not to cover the news.
The facade is cracking.
I no longer respect John Key. Not even a bit. And that’s why John Key’s problem is Waikato voters’ dilemma.
National’s election strategy has long depended on Key’s immense popularity. That’s why his face is on every billboard just as big as your local candidate’s. The visual message is compelling. You’re voting for Key, you see. The nice man. The smiler. The good bloke, the one you’d drink a beer with, and all the usual banalities that I’m so sick of and which should be, by now, unmasked as the untruths they’ve always been..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/10420033/PMs-nice-guy-image-gone-forever
What the fuck is wrong with New Zealanders?
This is scary how many people turned out yesterday in Manukau after the last 2 weeks…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/10418981/Washing-away-the-grime
A strong economy the envy of many, crime down, employment up, navigating the country through very trying times and more kiwis coming home from Australia is something many kiwis consider a good thing
The economy is crashing despite what National and their sycophants want to believe, poverty is worse and the reason why people are returning from Australia is because their economy is crashing as well.
If we get a National government after this election then we are going to be well and truly fucked because they really haven’t got a clue as to what to do under such circumstances which means that they’ll fall back on their default position of tax cuts and corruption.
“A strong economy the
Current debt clock
NZ$ 85,468,689,394
P R You, Key, English, and all your minders wouldn’t know what an economy was if you fell over it!
And while we are are at – answer this simple question.
“Just what do you think the economy is for anyway?”
Wow. Fairfax needs more writers like Joshua Drummond.
Is there a link?
@ Rich
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/10420033/PMs-nice-guy-image-gone-forever
thanks Chooky.
Cunliffe and Twyford seriously need to relaunch their housing policy this week. Got to gain back the momentum on housing fast.
Relaunch – and up the ante.
And what is all this rubbish about cutting back on Labour commitments to spending. Spending needs to go up, not down.
Kim Dotcom – “I’m on my final final warning”
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-election2014-20140825-0725-kim_dotcom_live-048.mp3" /]
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20146934/kim-dotcom-live
…
This might stir a few hearts amongst Standard readers:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/08/the-good-kings-return
Who says workers are thick, unable to organise and need to be led?
An old IWW cartoon came to mind when reading the link where there are workers gathered outside two doors. One is marked “union” and the other marked “boss”. The question the workers are asking among themselves is “Which one do we negotiate with first?”
How did I miss this brilliant song from 2011?
John Key Pack Your Things by Trillion:
And how about this brand new gem! DJ Pups with “At the end of the day”, Guyon Espiners legendary interview with John Key last Monday sampled into a dance track. Ha! Didn’t I say someone needed to do that!
Both songs getting airplay on Radio Active, one of the stations that was sent a warning from the electoral commission about playing Planet Key by Darren Watson.
A COPY OF THE DRAFT LETTER I HAVE WRITTEN TO TVNZ BELOW…………….OTHERS MAY WANT TO DO THE SAME. HO
RE: Mike Hoskings moderating the Leaders Debates.
I wrote to you about this issue on 24 July. To date I have received no response. This is unacceptable.
This needs a bit of editing, but below is my draft letter to TVNZ re Mike Hosking moderating.
Would encourage others to do same
“Mike Hoskings moderating the leaders debates is unacceptable and frankly a disgraceful display of our tax payer funded broadcaster showing unacceptable levels of bias.
You will be aware of the recent disclosures in Nicky Hager’s book, Dirty Politics, clearly illustrating the links between Cameron Slater and the National Party, that goes to the highest level, the Prime Minister in running on-going smears against the past Labour Leader, Phill Goff. Hager also produces strong evidence of Slater being involved in the attempt to smear David Cunliffe over the Dong Liu letter
Mike Hoskings recently hosted an item on 7 Sharpe about Cameron Slater. This item is mentioned in Dirty Politics (refer page 134 – 5). To quote from the book “the item ended with the host Mike Hoskings saying (about Slater) “Love it”. Hosking adds,” I do note he (Slater) quotes from my editorials quite a lot, so clearly a man of taste”. Clearly Mike Hoskings, Cameron Slater and the Prime Minister (who is in contact with Slater regularly, are aligned in their (right wing) political beliefs.
I am requesting that you replace Mr Hoskings as mediator on the Leaders debate, if you havenot already done so given the relevations in Dirty Politics. I suggest someone who appears less biased (possibly Rachel Smalley). Please advise me as soon as you have done this.”
Wah wah wah, how about you quit yer whining and see how the debate plays out?
PR pathetic again. Attack the man not the ball.
If Hoskings as half way decent we’d give him a chance, but again and again he has proven he is a twit. An ideological racist tool.
But please PR keep living in lala land – it suits you.
@ anker +100….That is a very good letter.!..i would like to protest and use it too…Kim Hill would be far better than the shallow , NACT biased , Slater friend, ‘fruit and vege reporter’ Mike Hoskings….a choice for political chair which is a disgrace to TVNZ editorial and management! ( there must be a review and cleanout after Labour/Left wins the Election)
Is there any way it could be a petition /form letter ?…(so i just have to sign it and press a button)?
…if not , what is the address to write to ….and I will use your letter as a basis
testing .. my post keeps defaulting to a #17 !!
LPrent …problems ? have tried six or seven times to post re TPPA … will not let me post. It defaults to this #17 and the replies below do not belong to my post which I have deleted and replaced with the test#117 above. Thx !
It happens after a reply is posted to a comment that is deleted. If I give people long edit times and include an ability to delete, then there is a structural issue if they delete as someone is adding.
There is a process that runs about every 20 minutes to clean them up the unparented comments that get left over. Obviously not running at present.
I don’t think that I have the tools to fix this remotely on this laptop. Umm I downloading them.
thx .. will try again … appreciate all you do us here.
Wonder how long until we see this here in NZ ?
‘Panic Selling’ In London Drives Fear That The UK Housing Bubble Is About To Burst
UK homeowners start to panic sell in the face of house price uncertainty
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/11015301/UK-homeowners-start-to-panic-sell-in-the-face-of-house-price-uncertainty.html
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/panic-selling-in-london-and-uk-housing-bubble-2014-8
Looks like you might have been right after all, Karol, re: National tax-cuts before the election: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10421122/Nationals-tax-cut-mixed-message
Pam Corkery popping her cork at the IMP launch deserves a gold star. Sure it wasn’t helpful, but at least it was honest. Good to see she has mellowed with age. Can’t say the same for KDC, though. He gets Worst Timing Ever Award for getting up on stage and admitting to personal hacking vendettas. In the absence of IMP leadership making sure he never speaks publicly again until after the election, they could track down Jamie McDonald, Senior Press Officer (The Crossest Man in Scotland) and have him discuss the basics with him.
David Fisher: My history with Cameron Slater.
.
But when I started writing stories on issues which went against Slater’s interests, I became someone he wanted to “smash”. At that point, I was away from the tent and out in the wilderness.
He launched a personal assault with what I believed were threats of violence and created an atmosphere in which I was personally and professionally denigrated. Those who post comments on his website made awful slurs. It is as horrible an online environment as you will find anywhere.
Among the slurs were claims my behaviour showed I was suffering withdrawal symptoms associated with alcohol and drug addiction. On one occasion, when I rang a minister’s spouse for comment on an issue he was involved in, he ranted at me that I was “a drug addict” and would not talk to me. The only place such an idea had been floated was on Slater’s Twitter feed.
In almost two years, he has published about 120 posts in which I am featured. Some are extremely unpleasant. I am called a “shill” in the context of being a corrupt reporter.
Slater has invented nicknames for me. He called me “Gurnard”, then sent me pictures of dead “Gurnard”. He called me “Tainted” in relation to my coverage of the Kim Dotcom affair.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11313962
This article by David Fisher is very enlightening and hopefully will appear in the print section of the Herald and not just online. Interesting that Fisher says that John Key kept Slater at arms length until April 2012. Did Key just get careless or had he realised he needed Slater’s support and that would only happen if he fed Slater’s ego with much closer contact?
@ joe90 …that article by David Fisher is REALLY SHOCKING!
…and Slater won the Canon journalist award?…given to Slater by the judge Deborah Cone-Hill?( who was winner for a BNZ creative fiction writing award) …and Slater has the support of the Israeli Embassy (Slater is a “spiritual person”?)…. and Slater was invited to Israel? ( for what?)…and Slater was a good friend of John Key’s ?( see the lovely smiling photos, along with David Farrer’s smiling visage)…and Slater had many friends including Cactus Kate ( who is also a shocker)
David Fisher is a brave man!
David Fisher stands above many journalists. He is fair and evenhanded and reports facts rather than wild Paddy type fantasies. Sent an email to David last week telling him of my respect for his work. (He replied to acknowledge.)
Interesting listening to Michele Vogue attack David Fisher on Radionz this afternoon, Michele and Co won’t be very happy with ‘their paper’ at the moment going with the whaledump scoop etc and basically doing their job, Michele may be a little disappointed at finding her friends are only fair weather ones I guess, get over it Shell it’s only business baby!
Yes, she just couldn’t resist engaging in a bit of dirty politics herself. She’s basically implied Fisher’s involvement in the book on no evidence other than a comment apparently on The Nation to the effect of “as we said in the Hager book”.
I haven’t found the clip but can imagine it may have been a bit of ‘mishearing’ on Boag’s part. Less a Freudian slip from Fisher than a case of hearing what she wanted to hear from Boag. (e.g., perhaps mishearing “as was said in the Hager book”.)
Turned it off as soon as I heard Lady Boag was on the show. Guessed what was coming. It’s part of the panic reaction to [Hager’s] book. We can expect all manner of wild accusations from the “hard right” through to election day.
Btw, interesting that she and Brian Edwards are no longer appearing together on that programme.
Also this one from the SST;
http://t.co/qNUAU5BV8K
I wonder if this explains why Sealord Jones was so happy to begin a campaign against Countdown?
(Been trying to post this all day .. apologies in advance if it intrudes somewhere by accident !)
The TPPA is one of the biggest battles we will ever need to win imho. Please take some moments to read this and follow through if you can .. we are literally done for otherwise; we will be 100% owned by US corporates ( well, more than we are now even!) This is the dirtiest of politics.
http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2af728ed394d2e3c92f383cd5&id=b359144860&e=0663fc3518
Take heart.
Laila Harre has committed to the Good Cause as she promised yesterday, saying:
“I tell you that after Sep 20, your work will not stop because everyone in this hall, led by Internet Mana, and with communities around the country, will be launching a campaign on the 21st of Sep to stop the TPPA”
at 4:20 – 4:43
@Kiwiri .. thx for your post on Laila Harre and TPPA … thank goodness !
Let’s hope there is a good showing at this march.
“Join It’s Our Future at the ‘March against the Government” in Auckland, 30 August, 1pm, Aotea Square. Bring your placards and voices to tell the government: No TPPA – No Way!”
TPPA Trans Pacific Partnership is not a free trade agreement.
It is a signing over of part of our sovereignty to large corporations.
We cannot allow this to happen.
I want to hear the Labour party saying that they will not commit to any agreement which includes an investor-state dispute settlement system. ISDS
Read the following- it will make your hair stand on end. http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_gallery/investor-state-dispute-settlement-isds/
ISDS stands for INSIDIOUS!!
Top lawyers urge the rejection of ISDS in an open letter:
http://tpplegal.wordpress.com/open-letter/
Hi Tautoko Viper, yeshe and all
There are events taking place at the same time in other centres (looks like more info posted on Facebook):
Wellington
Saturday 30 August, 1pm, Te Papa Museum (55 Cable Street, Wellington)
Christchurch
Saturday 30 August, 1pm, Hagley Park (Corner of Riccarton Road & Deans Avenue, Christchurch City)
Dunedin
Saturday 30 August, 1pm, The Octagon (Dunedin)
on nat-rad there was a discussion about our national anthem..
..and a txtr has suggested ‘anchor me’ at as a new anthem..
..i think that is a great idea..
..if only bcause how cool wd it be to have a national anthem that citizens of other countries wd like to sing/grove along to..?
..instead of the neo-militaristic/pompous bullshit most are..
.and if not ‘anchor me’..(which would be perfectly adequate..)..how about an online ballot to draw up a shortlist of contenders..and then a final vote..?..
..i wd like to nominate the underdogs:..’sitting in the rain’..
..(i know john mayall wrote it..but i’m sure a deal cd be done with him..)
imagine footage of our sports-people/officials etc..at international forums/w.h.y..
..grooving along to what wd be the coolest-national-anthem-in-the-world..
(f.y.i…moderator..i attempted to post this at the end of the thread..it ended up here..)
What do we do when automation takes all the jobs?
@ draco..maybe we cd return to what i view as an almost idyllic time..
..and this was the life of the early european settlers in northern nsw…
..they were all sustained by the potato-economy..they all grew potatoes..
..and the cycle of the potato..namely plant…then go back and dig up..
..some time later..
..meant that as a society..they had an inordinate amount of spare time..
..and what grew up around that was a vibrant social life..involving much partying/sports-tournaments..and all things cultural..
..the arrival of sheep and the like..ended that idyll..
..but it has been done before..
..and as long as people are fed and housed..and able to live a life..(a universal basic income of sorts..?..perchance..?
..what’s to be afraid of..?
..life is meant to be lived..not to be a fucken wage-slave..
.to an ever-increasing age..
..bring on the automation..!
..and of course society will have to work differently than it does now..
..but that is not insurmountable..
Just heard that delightful Michele Boag attack David Fisher on the Panel. She said that he was a left wing non journalist who only looked at the faults in the Right wing.
The she made a huge leap. She says that on the Nation David said in relation to Nicky Hager’s book that “We wrote…!” Aha. She reckons David was involved in the writing of the book. “We.”
There was no one to balance her spite. Not Jim. Not Duncan ??
Smear anyone?
I think Michelle claimed David Fisher used the words “What we said in the Hager book…” and then goes onto to infer that because Fisher has written about Dotcom then that means Dotcom is involved in the material in Hager’s book. Crazy stuff.
I haven’t had time to review the Nation interview but my suspicion is that Fisher said “What we see…”
I suspect Boag is trying to blacken David Fisher’s name after his piece today in the Herald today. Hopefully he will take this up with Radio NZ.
Where’s Ms Boag ? She’s on Mora’s panel on RNZ now and the unctuous Mora has made it a benefit for her and the National Party the whole last hour. Including shutting down a guy from Demographia ready to give some solid stuff about the puffery of National’s housing policy. Sickmaking.
@ north..comment 26..
..yep..!..it was particularly gag-inducing..
..when she started doing her white-persons’-burden number pontifications/handwringings on the woes in the middle east..
..i was outta there..off to the park with the dogs..
..and yep..!..mora just lets her run..no matter how batshit-loony it gets..
Yet the whack jobs insist that generating electricity using nuclear fission is a safe and viable alternative.
.
Three and a half years after the most devastating nuclear accident in a generation, Fukushima Daiichi is still in crisis. Some 6,000 workers, somehow going about their jobs despite the suffocating gear they must wear for hours at a time, struggle to contain the damage. So much radiation still pulses inside the crippled reactor cores that no one has been able to get close enough to survey the full extent of the destruction. Every 2½ days, workers deploy a new giant storage tank to house radioactive water contaminated after passing through the damaged reactors. We wander past a forest of some 1,300 of these tanks, each filled with 1,000 tons of toxic water, some of which was used to cool the reactors.
http://time.com/worlds-most-dangerous-room/
Jim Mora’s panel on RNZ
Time to start a movement to get Bryan Gould on there as a regular guest?
Yes, please. I would tune in to listen then.
Six years of mismanagement ….. ‘Rock star no more?’
This is what happens when you don’t have a plan.
‘NZ economy could hit the rocks – economists
Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said New Zealand’s recent growth had been fuelled by the Canterbury earthquake rebuild, low interest rates and a surge in net migration, which hit a 10-year high in the year to June.
”When the Canterbury rebuild ends people will be quite surprised by the size of the downturn,” he said.
Stephens said the strong net migration, which has been largely due to fewer New Zealanders moving to Australia and greater numbers returning from across the Tasman, is unlikely to continue at current levels for long.
”Australia will one day make a comeback. We are forecasting zero net migration for 2018. And one day interest rates will get big enough to crush the housing market,” he said.
”My fear is all three of those things will happen at the same time.”’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10421920/NZ-economy-could-hit-the-rocks-economists
The NZ Herald asked its readers their views on the Nats housing policy.
Seems like the only people who like it are the Nat MPs and their media puppets…..
Here’s a sample of the most popular comments…
“So, after years of telling us that there is no housing crisis, here comes National at election time telling us how they can fix the ‘problems’ that exist in the housing market.
Their solution is laughable. Making a little more credit available will just increase prices. And besides, the top amount you can get – if you meet all their criteria – is $550K. That gets you two-thirds of sod all in the Auckland housing market.
New ‘starter’ homes at the much-heralded Hobsonville Point development start at $770K.
Why don’t they just promise to do what Labour is promising – to actually build affordable new homes.
This policy is a lot of noise with no promise of real results. Fail.”
“It wont address the issue. It will just push the house prices up, and still be a haven for property speculators. Once again, this government is just tinkering around pretending to do something to address the real issue.”
“It is a typical answer from a market/growth driven Government. This solution is still avoiding the market driven problem of overvaluation that has caused finance collapse all around the world – of course it is good for banks and merchant bankers – another boost to ponzi economics.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11313862
Interesting stuff about Cactus Kate — who sounds about as pleasant an individual as Slater — and her motivation for wanting Hager to feel some serious heat from a few Chinese she knows:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/08/new-zealand-prime-minister-john-key-the-whale-oil-blog-and-international-organized-crime.html
David Fisher is a brave man. Who else stand with him?
Kim dot com
Nah, not brave, simply a man of integrity who refuses to back down to Whaleoil’s threats. Lots of people will stand by him just as they will stand by Hager.
Somewhat surprisingly, it’s Rodney Hide who has supplied by far the best description of Cameron Slater I’ve read so far (and he should know). Hide says Slater is “like a pig in mud”. Damn, that’s spot on.
I think that’s very unkind to pigs. They are quite intelligent and can be trained. One of my friends had a Captain Cooker that he’d raised from a piglet after shooting its mum 🙁 It would do anything most dogs do, except for not being very good at jumping or climbing over things. It guarded his section, often bailing up the poaka at the gate. He went off it a bit after it moved a concrete slab and ate the pound of heads he’d hidden underneath it, but it survived that. In the end it started killing his neighbour’s chooks and he turned it into roast pork 🙁
The latest attack on John Key by a contemporary musician is what he deserves, any one in public office who has been found to have spent the country’s money and time promoting the shite that has turned up in Hager’s book has laid himself open for all that comes his way and he is not entitled to any more legal protection than the rest of us
He, who thinks he can do what hes done over the years he has been in politics in this country deserves to be held up in public by whatever the public feel individually or collectively that is democracy
‘
One thing I’d love to see put to Key:
Cameron Slater was roundly condemned by his hateful comments about a youth being “feral”, and the world was better off him,. “Dirty Politics” reveals Slater’s description of a call you made referring to the dead boy’s mother as being a woman who screamed at you at Pike meetings. You told the public today you rang Slater at this time just to say ‘” recognised her”.
Yeah fucking right. You total bare faced liar! Do you think for one moment ANYONE would believe you rang Slater at this time just to say ‘I know here” that and nothing else.
What sort of PM rings Slater at any time let alone this time. There’s no reason to believe Slater’s reporting of the essence of your call was anything but accurate.
What a deceitful horrid man you are John Key. My god what you must be like behind the bullshit image scares me.
You told the public today you rang Slater at this time just to say ‘” recognised her”.
Does anyone have a link or reference to Key making this statement today?
I’m strongly in agreement with the sentiments above; that this incident alone – regardless of what Key actually said to Slater in that conversation – should be the cause of Key’s resignation at 8:30am tommorrow morning.
It’s completely unconscionable on every level.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/pike-families-dissatisfied-with-pms-visit-2014082618
He’s previously confirmed the call, including that he told Slater Jo Hall was at Pike meetings. It’s the one issue on which he’s been citing Hager for support from the day after the story broke, because Hager did not agree with Slater’s characterisation of the phone call.
I don’t know why it hasn’t had more attention. He’s abused his position in order to give Slater context about the family who had been attacked on the WO blog.
Thanks ER.
Yesterday I wrote this.
The next commenter threw me off the thread a little because I’m not living in NZ at the moment and I’m not up to speed with things. But now it’s clear Key did have a conversation with Slater to support and validate what he had done – it’s game over.
Think about it. There is absolutely no context in which Key can have made that call and remain Prime Minister. None.
And yet our media and commentators remain compliant lapdogs, perhaps going so far as to say that it’s “not a great look” but missing the point that Key remaining as PM finally turns NZ into the South Pacific equivalent of a banana republic.
The only thing John Key could have legitimately done over Slater’s actions – was to publicly condemn him and privately insist that his Office, staff and all National Party figures cease all contact with him immediately. Anything less would have been an unacceptable validation and support.
But what Key actually did was phone Slater personally (remarkable in any context) and pass on more details about Slater’s victim.
Is the New Zealand media ALL so compromised that they cannot see what is wrong here?