Open mike 25/08/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 25th, 2016 - 139 comments
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139 comments on “Open mike 25/08/2016 ”

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  1. Paul 1
    25 August 2016 at 6:14 am

    Compulsory viewing.
    Rachel Stewart and Mike Joy are worth listening to on this issue.

    • Paul 1.1
      25 August 2016 at 6:21 am

      Dame Anne Salmond: Abusing water, part of our lucrative pure image, is crazy

      In New Zealand, we’ve recently been given painful lessons about what happens when waterways turn toxic. In Hawke’s Bay, thousands of people have fallen ill, some dangerously so. In Canterbury, Lake Forsyth has killed sheep and dogs. According to the Ministry of Health, tens of thousands across the country fall ill from water-borne diseases every year.

      Many of our rivers are no longer safe to swim in. The Hauraki Gulf, and other coastal waters are at risk. As the Rotorua Lakes illustrate, it is very expensive to try and restore degraded waterways. The costs may be unaffordable and it doesn’t always work.

      Increasingly, current land use regimes look reckless and short-sighted. Dairy cows, for instance, produce very large volumes of effluent, and much of it ends up in the ground water. Other kinds of industrialised farming, forestry and industrial activities are pumping large quantities of pollutants into our waterways…….

      ………If we all own the water, as the Prime Minister says, why has the Government set the bar for water quality in New Zealand so low? Whose interests are they serving? Kiwis want rivers, lakes and harbours they can swim and fish in, and pure, safe drinking water.

      In the case of irrigators and water bottling industries, how can they make large profits from water sources that belong to us all?

      Who is doing deals behind closed doors about pricing water? Who will get the money, and how will it be spent?

      At present, it seems clear that Parliament and regional councils are being lobbied by special interest groups (industrial farmers, forestry companies, irrigators, water bottling plants and the like) to allow them to degrade and deplete waterways owned by all New Zealanders. That is wrong, and strategically unwise.

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11700128

      • tc 1.1.1
        25 August 2016 at 7:20 am

        Everything has a price under national and as long as their backers benefit they don’t give a toss about any impacts to the wider population.

        • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1
          25 August 2016 at 10:24 am

          A price that National ensures falls upon the poor while further enriching the rich.

        • aerobubble 1.1.1.2
          25 August 2016 at 2:22 pm

          I disagree,you give national too much credit, they obviously dont value, price, anything. As they always backdown ashamed when the real costs undermine their economic credientials. They are inauthentic, parasites on the body politic, having only remain so ensconced due to thirty years of cheap high density fuels. Energy misused to pollute more, opportunities misses to grow globally, r thirty years instead of building a world green economy, we let the finacial sector churn paper and spend the wealth eating the planet, our future options, our collective mind. We’ve suffered from a generation that inherited a jobs market missing millions of workers who died in war, free education, shifting wealth to themselves by paying less into pensions to give themselves tax cuts. Even the humility of previous generations is gone, they think they full paid for the wealth they have recieved, though polution is rampent, ecosystems and climate pushing to collapse, soils water, eating up at pace. A financial stsyem cannibalising us all, drugs, jails all turned up to the max to extort profits, its just sad how stupid boomers are.

      • Garibaldi 1.1.2
        25 August 2016 at 7:22 am

        This Country has to change its direction – there are no two ways about it. However I am certain that it would take a monumental disaster for the dumbarses running the place to even contemplate the changes to our agricultural practices that are necessary. In the meantime we will just have to bear witness to Nature striking back at us for our ongoing ( and accelerating ) folly.

    • b waghorn 1.2
      25 August 2016 at 7:45 am

      Watched last night cheers for putting these up. What a bunch of gutless shits the fed farmers are.

  2. The Chairman 2
    25 August 2016 at 7:38 am

    New Zealand Land Wars

    Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox called for a public holiday.

    Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said a public holiday during winter should be a consideration.

    Last year, the Prime Minister said there would be no new public holiday but he didn’t rule out replacing one of the existing 11 stat days.

    Labour leader Andrew Little suggested provincial holidays could be scrapped in lieu of a national NZ Wars commemoration day

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83459046/no-public-holiday-for-new-zealand-land-wars.

    Should the NZ Land Wars commemoration day be a new public holiday, swapped over with another, or none at all?

    Thoughts?

    • BM 2.1
      25 August 2016 at 7:42 am

      The whole idea is shit and have to wonder what the hell National is thinking.

      A New Zealand day not some land wars day, fucking idiots.

      We already have Anzac day which covers the fighting aspect, then we have a heavily Maori orientated day in Waitangi day.

      How about this for a crazy thought , have a day where NZ shows off it’s diversity and celebrates who we all are in a happy and positive way.

      • marty mars 2.1.1
        25 August 2016 at 7:53 am

        Man why you want to call your political masters and betters idiots I’ll never know – they might adjust your words rate bub.

        We already have massive hollies for the things you outline. This idea is an idea whose time has come BUT it must be done correctly.

      • framu 2.1.2
        25 August 2016 at 8:17 am

        “then we have a heavily Maori orientated day in Waitangi day.”

        really – cause the biggest thing i hear on waitangi day is the annual “great white whinge”.

      • mauī 2.1.3
        25 August 2016 at 8:35 am

        That’s called Australia Day, maybe you could head over there to celebrate a day of ignorance.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.4
        25 August 2016 at 10:32 am

        We already have Anzac day which covers the fighting aspect

        No it doesn’t. It covers the European wars that we were in while ignoring the Land Wars.

        then we have a heavily Maori orientated day in Waitangi day.

        Doesn’t seem particularly Māori orientated to me.

        How about this for a crazy thought , have a day where NZ shows off it’s diversity and celebrates who we all are in a happy and positive way.

        Yeah, because sweeping all the faults and issues under the rug works so bloody well.

    • marty mars 2.2
      25 August 2016 at 7:47 am

      Good idea that needs lots of planning and work. Not so good that blinglish doesn’t want a day off and wants it to be regional?? commemorations.

      I wouldn’t change the provincial holidays but add this in at the appropriate date.

      What do YOU think chair

      • The Chairman 2.2.1
        25 August 2016 at 8:29 am

        I support the notion of the day having its own, new public holiday. But I’m sure a number of employers would disagree.

        It’s interesting to see Little prefers to replace a current stat day rather than having a new public holiday.

        • alwyn 2.2.1.1
          25 August 2016 at 1:44 pm

          I have heard Little wants it to replace Labour Day.
          He knows that organised labour, as represented by the union movement and his own party is dead and beginning to smell.

          • The Chairman 2.2.1.1.1
            26 August 2016 at 8:18 am

            Little suggested provincial holidays could be scrapped in lieu of a commemoration day.

            However, one would expect workers unions would support employees having a new stat day off. Labour evidently don’t.

    • b waghorn 2.3
      25 August 2016 at 7:47 am

      They should just replace the queens birthday with it , it needs a better name than land wars holiday though.

    • DoublePlusGood 2.4
      25 August 2016 at 10:36 am

      Parihaka Day, Nov 5

  3. marty mars 3
    25 August 2016 at 7:55 am

    Bit of a laugh with some seriousness too

    “But they’re missing the real story – Clinton has an 11th toe. Here’s how The New York Times’ Frank Bruni addressed the cover-up of the Democratic candidate’s freakish, disqualifying digit: “Have you watched her walk? Look closely. She wobbles a bit, or maybe it’s more of a teeter, combined with a lurch, and the likeliest cause is podiatric asymmetry.

    “I consulted foot specialists. At least they referred to themselves that way online, and when I assured them that an interview with me could be their springboard to [Fox News’] Sean Hannity, they opened up.

    “‘Does Hillary Clinton have a superfluous toe?’ I asked one of them.

    “‘I can’t definitively rule that out,’ he said.

    “‘Hillary Clinton: Hobbled and hiding it?’ I asked the other, who agreed that ‘until she permits a thorough examination of her feet — and I mean both of them — how can we be sure?'”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/83533992/hillary-clinton-has-an-extra-toe–why-is-no-one-investigating

    • b waghorn 3.1
      25 August 2016 at 8:03 am

      na it’s those pesky lizard claws , they’ve never made a heel that fits them properly .

        • Colonial Viper 3.1.1.1
          25 August 2016 at 8:25 am

          The real question is why Hillary Clinton is only doing one public campaign rally a week, max, if that. And why she hasn’t done a sit down Q&A press conference as a candidate for around 260 days now.

          • Andre 3.1.1.1.1
            25 August 2016 at 8:57 am

            Maybe because every time Trump does one, it sends another 100,000 voters her way. So why bother.

            • Colonial Viper 3.1.1.1.1.1
              25 August 2016 at 3:42 pm

              Yes Hillary has to make some excuses for being the feet up take it easy candidate, but it seems a bit poor to not even bother to meet the voters.

          • TheExtremist 3.1.1.1.2
            25 August 2016 at 9:42 am

            I’m sure RT or the Trump campaign has already told you what to think so why don’t we skip the foreplay and you can just go ahead and let me [munt] your dumb beliefs like I did yesterday

            [Couldn’t think of a better alternative to the original word used, so lets’ go with munt, eh? TRP]

            • TheExtremist 3.1.1.1.2.1
              25 August 2016 at 10:38 am

              (Apologises to The Standard community – the above reads harsher than I intended but too late to edit…)

          • b waghorn 3.1.1.1.3
            25 August 2016 at 10:08 am

            Rope a dope , It’s the same strategy the nats are using . just lean back block the blows and wait for your the other side to tire and drop their guard.

            • TheExtremist 3.1.1.1.3.1
              25 August 2016 at 10:24 am

              Exactly. Watch Trump try wiggle out of the debates too.

              • Colonial Viper …
                25 August 2016 at 3:38 pm

                Exactly. Watch Trump try wiggle out of the debates too.

                Uh…what? AFAIK the debate schedule has been agreed between Trump and Clinton camps and it is all go.

                Next question – why has Hillary Clinton not done a sit down press Q&A for approx 260 days? And why does she barely do 1 or 2 public rallies a week, compared to Trump out there 6 days a week?

                • McFlock …
                  25 August 2016 at 3:45 pm

                  Your “next question” was twice answered two levels up the subthread. Immediately after you asked it then.

                  Gotta love cut&paste obsessives who parrot lines they read off the nutweb.

                  • Colonial Viper …
                    25 August 2016 at 4:44 pm

                    I actually found out the true answer – that Hillary is conducting multiple fundraisers a day with Hollwood A listers and corporate leaders.

                    She doesn’t have time or interest for entertaining the plebs when she can raise a couple of million dollars at each event.

                    • McFlock …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:09 pm

                      Oh, so she’s not been suspending her campaign because of ill-health as you heavily implied.

                    • te reo putake …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:59 pm

                      It’s almost like Clinton’s begun copying Barack Obama’s strategy from the last two elections; carefully selected public appearances, positive TV coverage built around regular chat show visits, and tens of millions spent advertising in the msm. All topped off with a savvy online presence.

                      On the hand, Trump has truckloads of bigots packed into sports arenas in crucial swing state towns like Shitkicker, Missouri and Linchemall, Ohio.

                      Gosh, it’s hard to tell which campaign will work best in 2016.

                      And, to be fair, Trump extending the tiny hand of friendship to the black voter might be a turning point. Will he discover he’s always loved hispanic migrants next?

                      Will he get the last few votes he needs by converting to Islam in the last week of the campaign?

                      Will Jill Stein offer him the leadership of the US Greens?

                      Yes, anything could happen and it’s too close to call just how badly it’s going to end for orange faced orator from Noo York City.

                      More coverage on page 94. Plus, our new competition! Vote Republican and go to Heaven! Let’s Make the Afterlife Great Again!!

                • marty mars …
                  25 August 2016 at 3:51 pm

                  Little extra toe is playing up?

                  Or solar flares have interferred with the instructions from the secret alien moonbase and the Clinton draco changeling cannot receive the messages on what to say or do thus a body double is actually doing everything at the moment and that is why there are so many non appearances.

                • TheExtremist …
                  25 August 2016 at 4:43 pm

                  Oh I know the dates have been organised but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Trump try to get out of them some way or another.

                  Trump has said almost nothing substantive at all yet and is seemingly unaware of major geopolitical events. Clinton will smoke him…. Which I am sure you will claim is some sort of psy-op campaign or something.

                  • McFlock …
                    25 August 2016 at 4:54 pm

                    I’ll be interested to see if his campaign coaches can get him to overcome 70 years of being a dick.

                    Their problem is that he did well in the primaries simply because he was the loudest and most outrageous guy in the crowded room. One on one, that behaviour doesn’t look so good. Like if the “life of the party” goes on a blind date, sort of thing – wearing a lampshade as a hat isn’t quite so entertaining….

                    One bad debate where he either loses his cool or just looks wooden and stupid, he’s fucked.

                    • TheExtremist …
                      25 August 2016 at 5:07 pm

                      Don’t fuck with the lampshade on the head routine. It works in all situations.

                      But yeah, as soon as Clinton starts speaking about major international event and their various nuances Trump will lose his nut completely.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      25 August 2016 at 5:08 pm

                      LOL you have no idea McFlock, you truly do not.

                      Easy win TRump 2016.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      25 August 2016 at 5:09 pm

                      But yeah, as soon as Clinton starts speaking about major international event and their various nuances Trump will lose his nut completely.

                      Uh, this is not the way it is going to unfold.

                    • McFlock …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:01 pm

                      That’s just how it looks to this mere mortal who isn’t receiving coded messages from the intrinsic intelligence of the universe.

                  • Colonial Viper …
                    25 August 2016 at 5:06 pm

                    Trump has said almost nothing substantive at all yet and is seemingly unaware of major geopolitical events. Clinton will smoke him…. Which I am sure will claim is some sort of psy-op campaign or something.

                    1) Shitcan NAFTA, the TPP and other free trade deals if they cannot be renegotiated.

                    2) Pull back US forces, make NATO relevant again and make sure that US allies pay their own way and pull their own weight.

                    3) Slam on taxes and costs on to any US company which tries to offshore its manufacturing.

                    4) Massive investment in crumbling US infrastructure like roads, bridges, airports.

                    5) Major upgrade of services and care for US veterans.

                    6) Work closely with Russia on multiple issues, but especially destroying ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

                    7) Aggressive control and vetting of immigration, especially from known centres of terrorism.

                    8) Actively manage China’s cheating in currency, manufacturing and other industries.

                    9) Boost mining in the USA, including coal, gas and petroleum exploration.

                    10) Build the WALL and make Mexico pay for it!!!

                    • TheExtremist …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:06 pm

                      Yeah “substantive”. More mining, more fossil fuel use, reliance on other countries to just do what Trump says, demonise refugees and build an impossible fucking wall.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:27 pm

                      These are all substantive policy positions. You may not agree with them, but there they are.

                      What are Hillary’s top ten substantive policy positions then? Does she even have any?

                    • TheExtremist …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:59 pm

                      Demonising refugees, expanding fossil fuel use and building impossible walls are substantive?

                      Wow….

                  • mauī …
                    25 August 2016 at 5:28 pm

                    Yay, go Clinton… Look forward to the new dangerous geopolitical events that will likely start springing up in our own backyard if the Middle east and North Africa are anything to go by:
                    http://www.cfr.org/asia-and-pacific/secretary-clintons-op-ed-americas-pacific-century/p30265

                    • TheExtremist …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:08 pm

                      Not supporting trump doesn’t equal supporting Clinton

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:28 pm

                      But you sure do spend a lot of time bagging Trump instead of bagging Clinton

                    • TheExtremist …
                      25 August 2016 at 6:53 pm

                      No I spend a lot of time bagging you for your weird support of a crazed demagogue of a candidate and your seemingly growing disconnect from the reality that is Trump.

                      Funnily enough though in some sense I would rather a Trump victory because of my utter dismay at Clinton as a presidential candidate. But I can only support Trump in the perverse sense that the US will get te candidate they deserve rather than jumping in head first into believing that Trump is actually a coherent, logical and upstanding choice for president which you seem to think

            • Puckish Rogue 3.1.1.1.3.2
              25 August 2016 at 11:33 am

              You have to be pretty damn confident to use the rope a dope though, in any situation

              • b waghorn …
                25 August 2016 at 12:47 pm

                National have no other option really ,every day another story comes out about their dishonesty or incompetence , if they front footed it all they would be getting slayed , they’ll be hoping that by hanging back while quietly gearing up their dirty politics efforts that they can pull off another win.
                I see dunne just shafted labour over some bill he was going to support ,so he must think the nats are odds on to win.

              • TheExtremist …
                25 August 2016 at 12:50 pm

                Rope and dope with Trump is easy though. He can’t stop talking and can’t articulate a coherent thought for longer than 10 secs

  4. Colonial Viper 4
    25 August 2016 at 8:22 am

    US Embassy Kabul advises US citizens to consider leaving; consider avoiding travel to Afghanistan

    Major hostage crisis at American University in Kabul.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-24/us-urges-citizens-afghanistan-leave-country

  5. Colonial Viper 5
    25 August 2016 at 8:47 am

    AP finds big link between Clinton donors, and meetings/phone calls she held as US Sec State

    AP made a big effort to cross check the Clinton’s records and discovered that most meetings/phone calls that Hillary Clinton had with private interests as Sec State were also big donors to her.

    WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money — either personally or through companies or groups — to the Clinton Foundation. It’s an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.

    At least 85 of 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton while she led the State Department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs, according to a review of State Department calendars released so far to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million.

    Donors who were granted time with Clinton included an internationally known economist who asked for her help as the Bangladesh government pressured him to resign from a nonprofit bank he ran; a Wall Street executive who sought Clinton’s help with a visa problem; and Estee Lauder executives who were listed as meeting with Clinton while her department worked with the firm’s corporate charity to counter gender-based violence in South Africa.

    https://apnews.com/82df550e1ec646098b434f7d5771f625/Many-donors-to-Clinton-Foundation-met-with-her-at-State

    • Andre 5.1
      25 August 2016 at 9:01 am

      They may have met with her. They may have given the Clinton Foundation money. But they don’t appear to have actually become the beneficiaries of unethical behaviour from it.

      http://www.vox.com/2016/8/24/12618446/ap-clinton-foundation-meeting

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.1
        25 August 2016 at 3:35 pm

        Didn’t the Uranium One mining interests get sold to the Russians after her signoff?

          • McFlock 5.1.1.1.1
            25 August 2016 at 8:13 pm

            lolsnap andre

            CV: that’s what happens when you Cut&paste bullshit slogans: people sometimes find the same bullshit detector and independently point it out.

            • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.1.1.1
              25 August 2016 at 8:23 pm

              Then there is Ericsson giving Bill Clinton $750,000 for a speech. (LOL you probably think that’s a fair days pay for a 30 minute speech).

              Soon after, a telecoms sanctions list was released by Clinton’s State Dept – and Ericsson had been taken off it.

              Probably you’ll say there was no proof of a quid pro quo. But the link is obvious. I can keep listing examples if you like.

              • Andre …
                25 August 2016 at 8:39 pm

                No doubt you can look forward to years and years of Republican congressional investigations into every one of these allegations, excitedly thinking all the while “this time they’re gonna nail her for sure”.

              • McFlock …
                25 August 2016 at 8:59 pm

                lol

                Or it was the other way around.

                But that one might actually be possible. Congratulations. Of course, it looks pretty shallow when it’s not surrounded by bullshit, but good for you.

                I’m sure you can keep going all day. That’s how bullshitters work: just keep spraying bullshit, regrdless of whether even the basics of the story are correct. Something might stick.

              • ianmac …
                25 August 2016 at 9:10 pm

                If we had suspicious minds we would wonder if it is a means of laundering money. Open. Declared for tax. Who would doubt its honesty?

    • cyclonemike 5.2
      25 August 2016 at 9:54 am

      So Hillary Clinton only met 154 people from private interests during her time at the State Department?
      Nonsense from go to whoa.
      Reading the whole piece, it looks like someone had an idea for a story and when they couldn’t find a scandal they wrote it any way.

      • aerobubble 5.2.1
        25 August 2016 at 2:47 pm

        Trumps honesty, is he is a old piece of meat being passed off as fresh, whereas Clinton is a contradiction, same old piece of meat but with some fresh meat glued on to look like fresh. They both stink, Trump looks more honest, Clinton more palatable. Classic false dicotomy of two staged turd blossms. Where it matters neither has any integrity. We hope Clinton may but doubtful since the stronger she is, the more she’s responsible for her husband legacy, yet we also know Trump is a loose cannon only voters who hate America would press his button.

    • joe90 5.3
      25 August 2016 at 5:59 pm

      The president of CharityWatch explains the Clinton Foundation’s “A” rating – it’s one of the top-rated charities in the US, 88% of spending goes to services with $2.00 spent to raise every $100.00.

      • TheExtremist 5.3.1
        25 August 2016 at 6:02 pm

        Obviously a fraud cooked up by the Psy-Op team.

        • Colonial Viper 5.3.1.1
          25 August 2016 at 6:30 pm

          So the Clintons have been accepting hundreds of millions from Saudis and Russians and Qataris for charity?

          • McFlock 5.3.1.1.1
            25 August 2016 at 6:47 pm

            Yes.

            The foundation claims that none of the Clintons receive any salary or expense reimbursements from the foundation.

            I suspect the Gates’ foundation is run along the same lines.

            • Colonial Viper 5.3.1.1.1.1
              25 August 2016 at 7:25 pm

              I don’t believe any of the bullshit PR from these outfits. RE: the Gates Foundation this is more like it:

              In a 54-page report released Thursday, U.K. social advocacy group Global Justice Now slammed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for using its enormous giving-power to influence global health policies in the foundation’s own interests. The report also claims the Gates Foundation often invests in the same health care and pharmaceutical companies it funds, creating “a corporate merry-go-round” that benefits corporations while undermining support for basic public health systems.

              “The [foundation’s] program is not a neutral, charitable strategy for which the world should be thankful that a rich man is deciding to spend his money on good causes,” reads the report’s introduction. “Analysis of the foundation’s programs shows that it has an agenda—it is a specific ideological strategy that promotes neo-liberal economic policies, corporate globalization [and] the technology this brings, and a long outdated view of the centrality of ‘aid’ in helping the ‘poor.’”

              http://www.nonprofitpro.com/article/report-slams-gates-foundation-for-self-serving-agenda-corporate-ties/

              • McFlock …
                25 August 2016 at 7:38 pm

                Of course you don’t believe it, because it doesn’t suit your worldview.

                Now, you’ve been pissing on the Clinton Foundation for a while now – do you have any evidence of any personal gain from it for the Clintons? Or even of the donations going anywhere other than directly to humanitarian work or the reasonable administration of such?

                • Colonial Viper …
                  25 August 2016 at 7:58 pm

                  Sure me and the NSA will collect that proof. You know, like signing off on Russian uranium deals after receiving millions in donations for poor children in Africa.

                  • McFlock …
                    25 August 2016 at 8:12 pm

                    lol

                    from politifact:

                    First, the State Department did approve of Russia’s gradual takeover of a company with significant U.S. uranium assets, but it didn’t act unilaterally. State was one of nine government agencies, not to mention independent federal and state nuclear regulators, that had to sign off on the deal.

                    Second, while nine people related to the company did donate to the Clinton Foundation, it’s unclear whether they were still involved in the company by the time of the Russian deal and stood to benefit from it.

                    Third, most of their Clinton Foundation donations occurred before and during Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential bid, before she could have known she would become secretary of state.

                    The bottom line: While the connections between the Clinton Foundation and the Russian deal may appear fishy, there’s simply no proof of any quid pro quo.

                    You need a better source than Trump.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      25 August 2016 at 8:17 pm

                      Good to see how quickly you excuse corruption at the highest levels of the Washington DC establishment.

                      The Clintons helped to shephard the deal through the US bureaucracy. And its not the only time they did so for foreign $$$.

                    • McFlock …
                      25 August 2016 at 8:38 pm

                      The Clintons helped to shephard the deal through the US bureaucracy. And its not the only time they did so for foreign $$$.

                      Except that there is no indication or evidence of any Clinton involvement in the deal or “shepherding” it through the bureaucracy, nor is there any indication or evidence the Clintons received “foreign $$$”.

                      Starving kids received assistance, and a deal was authorised by another 8 organisations other than anything Clinton had even possibly under her direction – and the deal might not even have had any financial interest for most of the donors by the time it was on the table.

                      Really, to say you’re grasping at straws is hardly “excusing corruption”.

          • joe90 5.3.1.1.2
            25 August 2016 at 6:47 pm

            Yup, half of all adults and three quarters of all children being treated for AIDS/HIV receive financial assistance from The Clinton Foundation.

            The 2015 annual report of the CHAI, naturally, tells an inspiring story. The outfit has helped more than 11.8 million people in more than 70 nations gain access to low-cost HIV medicines (saving the global health system billions of dollars)

            http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/clinton-foundation-controversy-actual-work

            Meanwhile, your bloke……

            Trump promised millions to charity. We found less than $10,000 over 7 years.

            […]

            In recent years, Trump’s ­follow-through on his promises has been seemingly nonexistent.

            The Post contacted 188 charities searching for evidence of personal gifts from Trump in the period between 2008 and this May. The Post sought out charities that had some link to Trump, either because he had given them his foundation’s money, appeared at their charity galas or praised them publicly.

            The search turned up just one donation in that period — a 2009 gift of between $5,000 and $9,999 to the Police Athletic League of New York City.

            https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-promised-millions-to-charity-we-found-less-than-10000-over-7-years/2016/06/28/cbab5d1a-37dd-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html

      • One Two 5.3.2
        25 August 2016 at 10:42 pm

        A foundation formed by and named after one of the sleaziest & morally defunct family’s in political history…

        The likelihood that the foundation operates along a different strategic or ethical path from its founders would be improbable

        Many gullible hypocrites seeking ‘a win’

        • joe90 5.3.2.1
          25 August 2016 at 10:48 pm

          As usual, innuendo, likelihood and SFA.

          Better luck next time, chump.

          • One Two 5.3.2.1.1
            25 August 2016 at 11:06 pm

            There are many books written about The Clintons, for sale on Amazon

            I’m sure all the defamation suites against the authors will get the books removed….hold on they’re still for sale

            Keep making excuses to yourself as cover for the ABT stance, its the weak willed play, Joe

            Their shit reeks as much as your efforts to ignore the stench!

  6. save nz 6
    25 August 2016 at 9:31 am

    Environment court process in action.

    The Herald reported in 2011 how Auckland Council and North Shore City spent $322,838 on the court defence of the Redback resource consent to demolish the Masonic Taven, one of the cities oldest hotels.

    Now the 24-year-old heritage protection group has to liquidate after $27,000 bill trying to save the Taven.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11700150

    All this will be much worse under the unitary plan that further removed the little protection for historic buildings and trees in Auckland.

    When people say, why that apathy in NZ, that is why. The system is legally stacked against anything good in NZ, from preserving a historic site, to protecting an ancient Kauri, to preserving water quality.

    And the chickens are coming home to roost from these extremely poor protections and rule changes to help and encourage the rich and exploitative, through our RMA.

    • Bearded Git 6.1
      25 August 2016 at 10:04 am

      “When people say, why that apathy in NZ, that is why. The system is legally stacked against anything good in NZ, from preserving a historic site, to protecting an ancient Kauri, to preserving water quality.”

      ….to protecting landscape values from developers

      • save nz 6.1.1
        25 August 2016 at 10:24 am

        RMA giving more opportunities for money launderers and foreign buyers to speculate in NZ… no need to worry about pollution, visual impact, or infrastructure. Someones else’s problem… someone’s making a $1 which is all that matters, and under globalism whether it is a organised gang, foreign student, local plutocrat, polluter industry, or local Kiwi, we are all the same, to be treated equally as economic effects to some are just as important (as many paid experts will testify) as environmental effects (which are less than minor as some paid expert will testify) to some indigenous person under law who has their water supply or standard of living affected (someone else’s fault or non existant as some paid expert will testify) ..

        So actually although technically equal, those with access to paid experts and lawyers are actually much more likely to succeed that that group without funds.. so we are not equal at all under law and it is getting worse. Especially as Auckland council on behalf of the rate payers is the one defending the polluters and rich developers to make everything less equal… go figure.

  7. swordfish 7
    25 August 2016 at 9:47 am

    Hillary and the Glass Ceilings Illusion

    by Diana Johnstone

    A few excerpts …

    Meryl Streep must be a very intelligent woman to be such a good actress. So it was embarrassing to see her dressed in an American flag playing cheer leader for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic Convention. One must suppose that she is too busy studying for all her varied movie roles to have learned much about the sinister nature of Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy. She proclaimed that President Hillary Clinton would be “making history” simply by being a woman. That means symbolic history. The fact that President Hillary Clinton is more likely to make real history by starting another war even more disastrous than those she has already helped get us into seems not to have occurred to Meryl Streep.

    Nor does it occur to millions of other American women who share the same illusion.

    Those women are thinking too much in terms of symbols and images. They are ignoring the major issue facing the United States: whether to make peace or war.

    The feminist idea behind this illusion is that by becoming President, Hillary will be “shattering the glass ceilings” – the invisible obstacles – that prevent women from rising to the top. Women everywhere will benefit – just as American blacks all
    benefited from the election of Barack Obama. Oops, wait a minute, did they really ? …

    … Women seek the same feel-good experience. They believe it will be provided by Hillary Clinton when she shatters the glass ceiling – “for you”, as Hillary likes to say.

    In reality, hasn’t the “glass ceiling” preventing women from pursuing successful careers already been shattered, precisely by the current neoliberal world order which favors promoting women and token members of various ethnic groups ? Isn’t it part of the strategy of neoliberalism to prove that modern capitalism enables the best to rise to the top, a circumstance that should win the adherence of all “identity groups” – whose self-identification has largely succeeded in wiping the old concept of class consciousness out of people’s minds ? …

    … For most women, as for most blacks, when wages are low, their wages are low. When good housing or education is too expensive for most people, it’s too expensive for women. When spending for war ruins the economy, it’s their economy too.

    The plain fact is that the successful careers of these ceiling breakers do nothing for the majority of women who are nowhere near any ceiling that needs to be broken.

    Yeah, there are, of course, other reasons for American women preferring Clinton over Trump, but Johnstone does make a good point about the “glass ceiling” emphasis on the interests of a tiny number of women elites and the accompanying feel-good symbolism and imagery over far more fundamental concerns.

    And meanwhile, Hillary’s uber-hawkish foreign policy stance continues to be minimised, dismissed or quietly ignored by far too many erstwhile liberals and progressives.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/23/hillary-and-the-glass-ceilings-illusion/

    • Olwyn 7.1
      25 August 2016 at 10:39 am

      There has always been a sense of the presidency as the “top job” but it has been that in relation to the idea of service to the citizens of a country. The breaking of glass ceilings privileges the former over the latter. It says “look how far I’ve come!” more than it says, “I will do all I can to live up to the confidence you have shown in me.”

    • Chris 7.2
      25 August 2016 at 10:41 am

      Everyone knows a pointless war started by a woman is better than a pointless war started by a man.

      • Colonial Viper 7.2.1
        25 August 2016 at 3:34 pm

        And now women, like men, can be conscripted to fight in these pointless wars and the genders can die in equal numbers soldiering on the front lines. Progress!

    • Gangnam Style 8.1
      25 August 2016 at 10:04 am

      He’s very clever & funny, does he write books?

      “The reason Epsom houses command such prices is the quality of the public schools. (Epsom even has Mt Eden Prison, the highest decile prison in the country – and look how that went downhill once it went private.)”

    • Bearded Git 8.2
      25 August 2016 at 11:54 am

      Brilliant.

  9. alwyn 9
    25 August 2016 at 10:50 am

    Is Andrew Little really as dumb as this comment indicates?
    Or does he not regard a Maori as not being a “proper” Maori unless they support the Labour Party? I wonder if he considers National Party supporting Maori to be Uncle Toms?
    “We have a good and growing and flourishing Maori caucus … they are an integral part of the Labour Party. Four of them are in my shadow cabinet and two of them are on the front bench – they’re not an add on to a Government like the National Government has done with members of the Maori Party,” Little said.”
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83462254/maori-kings-claims-andrew-little-wont-work-with-maori-party-wrong-labour
    This is from the leader of a party in which only 1 of the top ten rankings is a Maori.
    In the National Party on the other hand 3 of the top ten are Maori.
    More tellingly, given the different sizes of the parties, we can say that there are no Maori in the top 20% of the Labour rankings but there are 3 in the top 20% of National.
    Does he really not know who the members of the National Party are? Does he not consider them to be “real” Maori? Perhaps someone should print out a list for him.
    A lesson in remedial arithmetic might also help.

    • Bearded Git 9.1
      25 August 2016 at 11:59 am

      Alwyn-the MP will continue to be punished by the electorate for cravenly taking the baubles of office while doing precious little for their people and propping up Key’s robber barons.

      I can easily see Hone coming back to parliament though, so at least in one respect the king may get his way.

      • alwyn 9.1.1
        25 August 2016 at 12:37 pm

        I don’t really think this is specific to the Maori Party.
        None of the minor parties that have become part of the Government have survived as a real party afterwards.
        Look at the Alliance. 160,000 votes in 1999. Went into Government and dropped to 26,000 in 2002 and vanished.
        New Zealand First got 130,000 votes in 2005. Went into Government and dropped to 95,000 in 2008 and went out of Parliament.
        United Future went from 136,000 in 2002 to 61,000 in2005, and continued to fall while supporting various Governments.
        Only the Green Party have lasted, mostly unscathed, because they have never been in Government. If they got into Government I think they would collapse at the next election.
        As for Hone getting back I couldn’t make a sensible comment. I don’t know enough about Maori politics, or the far north for that matter to have an informed opinion. Kelvin Davis has proved a great disappointment though so if he went out he wouldn’t be a great loss.

    • framu 9.2
      25 August 2016 at 12:35 pm

      1, your reading into that a bit arent you?

      2, “He said Tukuroirangi (Tuku) Morgan, the newly appointed president of the Maori Party and personal adviser to the King, had “far too much influence” on the matter.”

      • alwyn 9.2.1
        25 August 2016 at 12:48 pm

        The comment about Tuku was by Henare, not Little.
        I was only commenting on Little’s seeming view that Labour had leading Maori figures, when they don’t, while attacking National who actually do have more Maori members and give them much higher rankings.
        He still seems to have the traditional Labour view that Maori should be grateful for the scraps they are allowed.

        • maninthemiddle 9.2.1.1
          25 August 2016 at 12:54 pm

          National has done far more to advance the cause of Maori than Labour.

        • framu 9.2.1.2
          25 August 2016 at 12:58 pm

          “The comment about Tuku was by Henare, not Little.”

          yes – but did you miss the bit where it points out that the maori kings statement was really a maori party broadcast? This changes the way a response is worded

          its all party sparring

          “while attacking National who actually do have more Maori members ”

          he was commenting on the way national treat and use their maori coalition partners, not the rankings of maori nat MPs.

  10. swordfish 10
    25 August 2016 at 11:31 am

    YouGov have apparently carried out 2 polls of Party Members on the UK Labour leadership contest over recent weeks, yet (strangely enough) haven’t released either of them. Word is – they were commissioned by Owen Smith’s team. If so, his numbers may not be where he might have wished them to be.

    • Colonial Viper 10.1
      25 August 2016 at 3:31 pm

      Even with all the biased questioning and skewed sampling they turned out shite? Oh dear.

    • Ad 10.2
      25 August 2016 at 4:13 pm

      Corbyn should win well enough.
      UK Labour will then be more strongly left than it has ever been. Its stars will then be Left with Left rising.

      Except for nearly every MP they have in Parliament.

      Can’t see a happy ending.

      • swordfish 10.2.1
        25 August 2016 at 6:46 pm

        I’m in the Owen Jones (not to be confused with Owen Smith) camp regarding Corbyn.

        (1) Strongly supportive of the swing towards traditional Left Social Democracy under Corbyn – as opposed to Blairite quasi-Thatcherism and then a confused triangulation under his predecessors (the notion that Corbyn and McDonnell are “Trots” is ridiculous)

        But

        (2) Realistic about Corbyn’s pretty dire Leadership ratings (among voters in general as opposed to Labour members)

        And

        (3) By no means uncritical of Corbyn and his team’s performance (although their media strategy’s clearly improving and he’s been in an impossible position over the last 12 months – unexpectedly winning the leadership with only minor preparation and having to withstand constant sabotage from the more recalcitrant members of the PLP, not to mention a veritable storm of abuse and ridicule from the British Establishment and all its flunkies)

        Part of me thinks he should stand down in a year or two in favour of a hand-picked successor from either the Corbynite Campaign Left or the Soft Compass Left, someone with less baggage and more intuitive populism. Someone like Clive Lewis (rather than a comical fake like Smith).

        Other part of me thinks: With May enjoying a voter honeymoon and the Tories Gerrymandering the constituencies (meaning Labour would need to win a whole swathe of extra seats just to be in their present position and would require an almost unprecedented swing to win power) – the next Election is already lost. So maybe Corbyn needs to stay longer and transform the Party root and branch.

        If a section of the PLP splits .. then It’ll be a tragedy for all concerned.

        • Ad 10.2.1.1
          25 August 2016 at 7:01 pm

          I thought you were a big optimistic Corbyn fan?

          Your optimistic ‘other part of you’ is saying that a previously nationwide reformist party will consign itself to a boutique specialist outfit, while congratulating themselves on being as pure as the ideological snow.

          Tony Blair’s long lament in an interview this week about the collapse of centrist politics – while of course licking his own political balls as luxuriantly as an aging Labrador – is nevertheless on point. The small c conservatives are looking rarer, and more sensible.

          • swordfish 10.2.1.1.1
            26 August 2016 at 8:37 am

            “I thought you were a big optimistic Corbyn fan ?”

            Sympathetic to the Corbyn-McDonnell ideological revitalisation of the Party ? Yep. But I’ve made a number of comments over recent months pointing to Corbyn’s poor – and sometimes dire – ratings with British voters as a whole (as distinct from Labour Party Members and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Labour voters) and I’ve suggested before that the Corbyn team are by no means beyond reproach when it comes to their media strategy.

            “Tony Blair’s long lament in an interview this week about the collapse of centrist politics … is nevertheless on point … “

            “Your optimistic ‘other part of you’ is saying that a previously nationwide reformist party will consign itself to a boutique specialist outfit, while congratulating themselves on being as pure as the ideological snow.”

            Shouldn’t have thought so. You’ve obviously fallen for the Blairite / Media Establishment line that Corbyn / McDonnell represent some sort of purist, “Trotskyite” Cult. In fact, their platform simply updates the traditional Social Democracy that, for example, the Wilson Governments of the 60s and 70s pursued.

            I saw an interesting analysis a few weeks ago that showed that – apart from a more clear-cut rejection of austerity – little daylight in fact existed between the policies of the Corbyn-led and Miliband-led Labour Party.

            We need to move away from the nonsense that there’s an electorally crucial “Centrist” group of voters whose views are roughly half-way between Labour and the Tories on every issue. Public opinion and voter behaviour is more complex than that.

            If we start to look at things on an issue-by-issue basis, we might just find that large majorities of UK voters support the re-Nationalisation of Railways, the Utilities and Postal Services, while strongly opposing further privatisation of the NHS.

            Same for a number of other core Corbynite policies.

            Goes without saying that you have to compromise to win power. And Corbyn is probably going to have to swallow a few dead rats – Trident being one of them (even though I agree entirely with his stance on the issue – as do, apparently, a number of leading Defence Staff, all off-record, of course).

            Immigration and attitudes to welfare are also going to be difficult issues to navigate. (pointing to significant cleavages that have opened up within Labour’s constituency).

            But it’s a matter of emphasising the issues where the public support you and minimising the space between you and your opponents on those areas where you’re less popular.

            All set against the fundamental backdrop of valence issues – how voters view the leader, the degree of economic competence they ascribe to the party and so on. The latter remains a real problem for UK Labour regardless of Leader or ideological direction …

            … As the British Election Study suggested:

            Some events realign parties with crucial issues. The economic crash in 2007/08 appears to have done for Labour what the exchange rate mechanism crisis did for the Conservatives more than 20 years earlier: it fundamentally altered the public perception of which party could be trusted on the economy. Given how long it took the Conservatives to recover a lead …

  11. weka 11
    25 August 2016 at 1:06 pm

    “Giovanni Tiso ‏@gtiso Aug 23

    How you get to fascism is not the police giving the woman a fine. It is the crowd’s applause.”

    Yasmine Ryan @yasmineryan
    Muslim woman brought to tears after French police give verbal warning for wearing hijab on beach, as crowd applauds http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/societe/20160822.OBS6680/siam-verbalisee-sur-une-plage-de-cannes-pour-port-d-un-simple-voile.html …

    https://twitter.com/gtiso/status/768212587313889280

  13. aerobubble 13
    25 August 2016 at 2:36 pm

    Gosman is an idiot19 July 2016 at 10:58 am

    And that is your problem. Already you’ve turned away from defending liberal concepts and ideals from those who wish to take it away from society towards attacking the supposed evils of neo-liberalism. You even fail to understand the reason neo-liberalism concepts were so successfully spread was because they shared the same basic principles that the liberal ideals you wish to defend have namely increasing individual liberty and freedom as opposed to an authoritarian power or group.

    Gosman believes neo-liberalism detractors are wrong. Gosman beliveves attacks on neo-liberalism is an attack on liberal ideals. Worse. That neo-liberakism are opposed to authoritarism, you know jailing people from the drug war, privatizing prisons, and throwing away liberty of citizens as they are criminals.

    Gosman is a idiot, reminds me of Hooten, both have a shallw hold of the reality in whuch they live. Typical shorters.

  14. Repateet 14
    25 August 2016 at 3:12 pm

    I watched David Carter this afternoon bringing the House into disrepute again.

    His stunningly sharp mind discerned someone trying to slip in an extra supplementary question to show you can’t get anything past him.

    That was a short time after I saw Jonathan Coleman make his usual “just making things up” about Annette King. Ms King got up and explained her sources exactly which showed she was not “making it up.” Things carried on and I thought Coleman was a lying bastard who had been allowed to lie. I wondered about who to approach about scummy behaviour just being accepted in their highest court in the land.

    Shortly later someone got up and brought the matter to the attention of Carter. He of rapier mind and sharp ears (and great skill at counting supplementary questions) said he didn’t pick it up.

    A Speaker who rants about disorder in the house not picking up what was a very clear slur, worse than some of the stuff he gets all righteous and pompous about is clearly incompetent.

    Apparently Speakers get upset about being called biased. His gently chiding of Gerry Brownlee today after geting stuck into Opposition people on a number of occasions, his perpetual allowing the Prime Minister free reign and the incident today could easily attract allegations of bias. It is either that or incompetence.

    I wonder if I’ll get an invite to the conferring of his knighthood?

    • Gabby 14.1
      25 August 2016 at 8:48 pm

      It’s very unfair of you to suggest that Hone’s bro isn’t capable of bias and incompetence.

  15. Ad 15
    25 August 2016 at 4:48 pm

    With many apologies for putting up the full text of the release, but it is very rare for a PM to comment on the dynamics of interaction between Ministers and public servants in such an explicit manner:

    PM sets ground rules for ministers’ treatment of public servants

    By Pattrick Smellie

    Aug. 24 (BusinessDesk) – Prime Minister John Key has laid down the law about the way ministers and public servants should interact, saying ministers may not always like the advice they receive, but they must listen to it carefully, respectfully and professionally.

    In a speech to public sector leaders at the parliament, Key said that in return the government wants its “free and frank advice” from public servants in written form, and expects officials to be politically aware, but not politically active.

    Launching a major project intended to lift the quality and consistency of public policy-making, known as The Policy Project, Key said “it takes a lot of confidence to be the only person in a room of ministers to raise a problem, or advise against the preferred option”, but it was important to have well-qualified public servants able to do that.

    “Ministers need to listen too,” he said. “In my experience, confident ministers value hard-hitting advice even if they may not act on it. My ministers know that I expect them to behave in a professional way toward everyone they deal with, including officials who may be giving them, at times, unwelcome advice.”

    On significant decisions, “I expect departments to provide their free and frank advice in writing,” said Key, in a nod to an environment created by the threat of disclosure under the Official Information Act being seen to stifle officials’ willingness to give controversial advice in writing, which has given rise to critical reports from the Office of the Ombudsman.

    “Written advice is fuller, allows for more nuance, and can better cover the complexities of the trade-offs we face,” Key said. “It also allows ministers time for reflection and to work through a problem in stages with officials to come to better solutions,” Key said. “It really shouldn’t be a big story when ministers and officials disagree – that’s the system working.”

    However, while the policy project framework cites the need for public servants to be “politically savvy”, advice from officials “should avoid second-guessing the politics of the choices we face. That’s our job.”

    I would sincerely hope this means that this culture is also reflected in faster and fuller (ie pre-emptive) releases of information, rather than having to go through the cumbersome OIA provisions.

    It would take out much of the mystery, paranoia, and suspicion about political decision-making of one could see how political calls have been made against the facts and within the context of official recommendations. It’s definitely better than it was a few years ago, but still vastly uneven. Too many smaller Departments don’t seem to have anything useful to say, and even large Departments like MBIE only respond in big published set-pieces.

    With thanks to Patrick Smellie for taking notice of this.

    Any future government – especially a more genuine coalition government – should be able to release its “full and frank” components after decisions to show how calls were made across the Cabinet table. It would be much, much harder for either media or Ministers to spin things their way. And hence also suck a whole lot of needless fuel off any future Opposition. Perhaps that’s too much to ask, but it’s possible.

  16. Rosie 16
    25 August 2016 at 5:07 pm

    Have I been out of touch for so long that I am the only person who doesn’t know about this tawdry little site?

    https://thestandardwatch.wordpress.com/

    Why do they bother? Nothing better to do?

    • srylands 16.1
      25 August 2016 at 7:58 pm

      Why do you think he bothers? There is hardly a lack of material here for taking the piss is there?

      The blog was established by The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrel. And you are correct. He had nothing better to do.

      Anyway it looks like it is dead.

  17. Rosie 17
    25 August 2016 at 5:08 pm

    Is there a reason my comment isn’t coming up?

    [I’ve just released a comment of yours, Rosie, which I presume is the missing one. No idea why it was in limbo, though it’s possible the site you link to is on the naughty list. TRP]

  18. Colonial Viper 18
    25 August 2016 at 5:20 pm

    University of Chicago tells new students to not expect “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings”

    You will find that we expect members of our community to be engaged in rigorous debate, discussion, and even disagreement. At times this may challenge you and even cause discomfort.

    Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called “trigger warnings,” we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual “safe spaces” where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-24/university-chicago-tells-millennials-look-elsewhere-if-they-need-safe-space

  19. Rosie 19
    25 August 2016 at 5:28 pm

    Impending fustercluck approaching in your town:

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/311826/councils-given-right-to-decide-on-easter-trading-hours

    Awesome way to absolve yourselves of the difficulty of dealing with Easter trading laws Nat Govt.

    (That wasn’t the comment I was talking about earlier btw)

    • Paul 19.1
      25 August 2016 at 7:43 pm

      Poorly paid workers will lose the opportunity to take holidays on days special to their faith.
      But that’s ok.
      Neoliberalism only worships one God too.
      Money.

      • Rosie 19.1.1
        25 August 2016 at 8:07 pm

        And, workers, regardless of faith or no faith, who previously only got to spend 3.5 days off, now will only 2.5 days off at the same time as their friends and family. Key words are “at the same time”.
        Everyone else gets 11 days off. Retail and hospo staff get only get 2.5 now, depending on what kind of public fight goes down in their town about keeping the shops shut or open.

        It was really slimey how the govt passed it off to councils to deal with.

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  • First they came for the Māori

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    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

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