Latest analysis from the New Zealand Election Study’s Jack Vowles (hot off the Press and just launched by Helen Clark at Victoria University) raises a series of interesting points about Green support:
(1) It appears to confirm what I’ve been arguing for quite some time (eg here … /breaking-news-russell-norman-resigning-from-parliament/#comment-1069442 and here … /the-political-machinations-of-the-flag-debate/#comment-1074477) … namely: that – far from being a Party supported solely (or even largely) by the affluent urban upper-middle classes – the Green support-base is, in fact, quite diverse: the party draws fairly similar levels of support from the various socio-economic strata. Indeed, if anything, the 2014 NZES suggests the Greens drew slightly greater support from people on lower incomes with few if any assets than from those on high incomes.
Which isn’t to say the Green Constituency sees itself as subjectively “working class” exactly … their voters tend to eschew any class identity. They’re also more likely than average to be university educated.
(2) The Greens’ dependable core-vote is probably smaller than most pundits assume.
The NZES flow-of-the-Vote data suggests less than half of 2011 Green voters remained loyal at the 2014 General Election. About a quarter of 2011 Greens swung to Labour, with a little less than one fifth going to the Nats and NZF (each).
However, there were significant reciprocal swings. The Greens lost more to Labour than they gained from the Larger Centre-Left Party, but most of the vote inflow that the Green’s did receive in 2014 came from former Labour supporters as well as from previous Non-voters – thus largely (but not entirely) compensating for their lost 2011 votes.
As Vowles argues: ” … the apparent stability of Green voting support is something of an illusion”
In other words … not the same 11% voting Green in 2011 and 2014. Around 5% of all voters (just under half of 2011 Greens) voted Green in both Elections, the rest were new.
And this isn’t actually anything new – go back to earlier NZES polling (late 90s / early zeros Elections) and you’ll see the same inherent volatility in the Green vote.
Clearly, at the very least a large minority (and quite possibly a majority) of Green voters in both 2011 and 2014 had been Labour supporters at some time in the recent past. A lot of movement back and forth between the two parties over consecutive Elections.
So, I’d argue the Greens’ base vote is more like 5%.
Jacindamania + the Greens turmoil in this campaign will probably mean the Party won’t receive its usual amount of (significant and vital) Labour-supporter froth on top of that core vote. Probably just enough to raise it to 6-8%.
NOTE: If the Greens are averaging anything less than about 6.5% in the final round of pre-Election Polls then I myself am going to be forced to switch my Party Vote from Labour to the Vegetable Rights and Peace Party, just to ensure they return.
(3) The NZES confirms once again (as in previous NZES studies) that Green voters view themselves – and are viewed by others – as ideologically to the Left of Labour. The Greens constituency is essentially Left-libertarian (there are relatively few Blue-Greens among the Party’s support-base), with a particularly marked emphasis not on the liberal attitudes that most pundits might assume but rather on the economic Left dimension. While Social libertarians are certainly much more likely to vote Green than Social authoritarians … holding Left-wing economic views is still around 3 times more important in predicting Green electoral support than moral liberalism.
So the idea popular among pundits that there exists some kind of mis-match between the Greens’ left-wing social justice policies and their supposedly affluent, centrist, morally-liberal but purely environmentalist urban support-base really holds no water.
I went to the GP fundraiser of Inconvenient Sequel. If I was ever wavering, I’m not now. They need to be in government, we’re long out of time re climate change. The social consequences will be massive hence the pointlessness of being blue-green.
swordfish
Interesting analysis, though it’d be good to see the numbers firsthand. Is there an online database, or is it solely a printed academic work that has be be purchased?
I do think that the GP have moved on a bit from this:
I do think that the GP have moved on a bit from this
Yeah, but ask yourself this, Dspare – at which Annual Party Conference are you most likely to hear the following sentence:
“Rik ! Rik ! You’re gonna freak man !!! , “Look at me I’m Krishna !!!”
(I mean, OK, I can almost imagine an overly-excited Steven Joyce screaming this at a National Party delegate – especially if Joyce had been given too many sugary
drinks – but more likely to happen at the Greens Annual Conference, I should’ve thought)
Some journalists have also suggested that the Greens’ failure to attract voters on the right was less about the ability to demonstrate a capacity for economic management and environmental pragmatism, and more about how their position on issues of social justice connected or did not connect with their electoral support. For example, political commentator Duncan Garner (2014) argued that ‘the Greens talk poverty and social justice, but the poor aren’t listening—and they’re certainly not voting for them’. He identified ‘telling statistics’ from party vote data across electorates: the Green Party polled much better in upper-income electorates than in those with high proportions of people on lower incomes. But Garner’s observation is based on what is known as the ecological fallacy: it is dangerous to infer individual behaviour from differences between large groups of people such as those contained in electorates. At the individual level, as Chapter 4 has shown, the Greens were slightly more likely to gain votes from people on lower incomes than those on upper incomes.
Contrary to Garner’s claims, lower incomes and fewer assets are associated with Green voting. However, as Figure 7.2 shows, Green voters are not working class and do not see themselves as such. They also do not identify as middle class, given the width of the confidence intervals, mainly identifying with no class at all.
Duncan Garner certainly wasn’t the only journo to rely on seat-by-seat data
In his 2012 Listener Interview with Russel Norman – Guyon Espiner suggested
.
If you doubt the rich bias among Green voters, consider this: in the country’s wealthiest electorate of Epsom, 4424 people gave their party vote to the Greens. That is more than the combined total of Green voters in the poor Auckland electorates of Mangere (962), Manurewa (995) and Manukau East (913)..
Apart from falling for the ecological fallacy – what Guyon also conspicuously failed to notice was the marked discrepancy between similarly affluent seats like Epsom (Green 4424 in 2011) & Wellington Central (10903)
or
very Low Income Dunedin North (Green 7010 in 2011) & either the 3 poorer South Auckland electorates or indeed affluent Epsom
Normally you just have to make an ideological choice to decide which categorization is correct/superior in these cases (and when its important and tangible like in medical studies).
“In other words … not the same 11% voting Green in 2011 and 2014. Around 5% of all voters (just under half of 2011 Greens) voted Green in both Elections, the rest were new.”
I was one of those, and ….
“NOTE: If the Greens are averaging anything less than about 6.5% in the final round of pre-Election Polls then I myself am going to be forced to switch my Party Vote from Labour to the Vegetable Rights and Peace Party, just to ensure they return.”
I too was thinking along those lines, BUT my god they are making it hard to do that.
Too many mainstream journalists and commentators have been hammering the GP since they promoted strong support for improving the social welfare system.
In spite of that, they have started an important discussion and opened up important voices on the damaging welfare system. There has been a significant amount of support for that.
“NOTE: If the Greens are averaging anything less than about 6.5% in the final round of pre-Election Polls then I myself am going to be forced to switch my Party Vote from Labour to the Vegetable Rights and Peace Party, just to ensure they return.”
In this now entirely feasible situation a Labour/Green government could easily be formed without the need for NZF. A dream scenario that cannot happen without the Greens.
GP needs at least 8% (possibly 9%) to bring Jack McDonald into parliament. He is a very strong candidate and the government would really benefit from his presence.
we don’t know if thats feasible at this stage….we need a series of polls to determine whether that is the case or not and the Greens are currently harming the chances of that scenario which is disappointing as when MT launched the strategy of engaging the disengaged (which attracted the hatchet job,sadly) the Greens appeared to have learnt that their most productive role was to be the gatherer of those votes for the left that Labour couldn’t actively seek without upsetting their more centrist voters (as ACT does/did for National)…now they appear to be spitting the dummy and putting the whole “change the government” goal risk (at worst) or (at best) excluding themselves from any meaningful role within a new gov.
I think you are dreaming if you think that Labour will not try to make an aliiance with NZ First, even if they don’t need them to govern. Basically, Labour would not put themselves in a position to be beholden only to the GP, no matter how strong the GP vote.
Labour will try to balance the GP against NZ First, and possibly also the Maori Party, to give Labour more control and alternatives.
The only way to ensure NZ First has as little influence as possible, is for there to be a very strong vote for the GP.
Carolyn_nth
That’s how I see it, and is much how National have done it with having more voting partners than they strictly needed. One factor to be considered is that Labour MPs may not always vote along party lines, so there needs to be a buffer against defections.
From what I’ve seen of the GP supporters, on and offline, in Auckland, I’d say they are more ethnically mixed than generally supposed, with some degree of support from Māori and Pacific people.
Looking at that analysis there is a potential pool of 17% of the electorate that may vote Green-this is huge.
And why, if you are interested in Climate Change action (our nuclear-free moment) and clean rivers and lakes, would you vote for very pale green Labour when you can vote for the real Green?
The problem is usually to get them to actually vote, closely followed by the problem for them to vote Green.
Using the same kinds of criteria of who has ever voted for it, the potential voters for Peter Dunnes hair (which appears to live a life of its own) is probably in the order of 15-20%.
In the same line, the potential pool of voters for Labour would be something like 75%. After all there are all of those RWNJ trolls who usually start with the line like “well I used to vote for Labour but then [insert bigotry here], and now I’m proud to vote for Act.
https://cheekygames.ghost.io/untitled-3/
A blog inspired by Danyl Mclauchlan’s Spinoff piece and the RNZ interview of Martin O’Malley. Talking ’bout my generation’s potential to provide leadership to meet the existential challenges of our times.
I thought McLaughlan’s piece had some very interesting parts to it. However, I thought it was a quite sophisticated version of what many centrists do: take some views/policies/positions from the left; then take some from the right; then show why a balance between the two main polarities is the most reasonable position.
Basically, such an analysis depends on the positions that are selected intitally.
An alternative way to develop a political position is to start with the kind with the kind of society desired; then to look at where and how society falls short; then develop policies and positions to move towards the preferred kind of society.
Or to look at the problems in society that require solutions, then examine the evidence for how well each solution will work.
An alternative way to develop a political position is to start with the kind with the kind of society desired; then to look at where and how society falls short; then develop policies and positions to move towards the preferred kind of society.
I’d say that was the only way to develop society. Doing things the way we are is resulting in society stagnating and heading towards collapse because of that stagnation.
To me, the Greens are as if they got the vision a value-system, the whole integrated picture (see also /climate-change-and-transport-the-greens-integrated-policy/), and are looking in from the outside as it were. The other parties are embedded and starting from the centre of the status quo, by and large, and looking outwards to an emptiness that scares the living daylight out of them. But like light that cannot escape from a black hole they cannot achieve much more than some tinkering & tweaking with piecemeal (‘pragmatic’) policies and reductionist approaches. What’s needed is not a modification of what we (think) know and have but a complete paradigm shift to what we really want. My intuition tells me that this is simultaneously much harder and much easier than we believe …
National and Coleman a ‘no show’ at a live streamed ChCh health forum.
“Organiser Marney Ainsworth, of the health coalition YesWeCare, said Health Minister Jonathan Coleman was invited to the event and offered several dates, but declined four weeks out, saying he had other engagements”
What’s up with this election, is national no show becoming a common theme?
Here in Motueka we have a “meet the candidates” today at 1:30pm at the senior citizens hall behind the library. I wonder if Maureen Pugh from National will show up? I’ll be there, I’ve some questions to ask the government.
Cinny (3) … you state … “What’s up with this election, is national no show becoming a common theme?”
One word … arrogance!
Natz is obviously picking and choosing which events it attends and they will be those which favour government! Anything or anyone else gets the one finger salute.
It’s imperative Natz are removed from government on 23 September.
Hey Mary, it’s either arrogance or fear, as they do not appear to have much public support out there at all.
Looking forward to this afternoon, will update later how it went.
PS While driving towards the Mot River the other day my girls spotted one of the new labour party hoardings, “Clean Rivers… Let’s Do This” beautiful placement of that hoarding. My girls said ‘look mum it’s the ‘Red Princess’ she’s going to be the new Prime Minister, give her a toot mum’ To which I obliged, toot toot on the truck airhorns 😀
Mary I would suggest it’s fear that keeps the likes of Coleman from appearing. His insistence that the health vote has kept up with health needs in the last three years has been exposed for what it is….nonsense.
After the debacle at Dunedin last week where they were fair hounded out of the city, I imagine every appearance will be carefully stage managed now to ensure only positive media coverage. Potentially a smart game, as long as nobody actually says anything in the media about it.
What’s up with this election, is national no show becoming a common theme?
It’s been a common theme for quite a few years now. It’s somewhat surprising that they’re extending it into the election period but not answering tough questions does seem to be National’s MO.
OAB –
By NCEA criteria, you have ‘Achieved’.
You could have gained ‘Achieved with Merit’ by adding the words ‘most certainly’.
You could have gained ‘Achieved with Excellence’ by adding the word ‘Oh’ before ‘yes’.
(But you still did very well.)
Yes Hilary Barry we can do with out plastic lets get ride of the vile stuff .
If we went back to glass bottles they could be washed and reused . A price could be payed for the bottles returned .
This would create a small industry that we use to have and our kids etc would make pocket money from this .
This could influence some children’s into the work culture and provide pocket money or saving for them.
Lett’s get rid of all the plastic we can we need the GREEN PARTY to get to 15% or the Main party’s may put this issue like this into the to hard basket.
Lett’s change the building code to design our new housing so that all new houses are designed to be change slightly so that all new house have a solar passive design and the heating and cooling bills would come down this idea has been well documented .
But the people in power do not like ideas that wont make our economy grow.
National would not even ban incandescence light bulbs.
There are a lot of ideas that would save us money and we could live more efficient healthy lives.
But again this will have a negative effect on our economy which anyone with a brain knows can not grow for ever our chase the growth system is unsustainable and FUCKEN stupid !!!!!!!!
This government’s failure to put a 10c levy on supermarket plastic bags is scandalous. In the UK this has reduced bag usage by 80-85%. Vote Green and this will happen.
Brazil’s government has abolished a vast national reserve in the Amazon to open up the area to mining.
The area, covering 46,000 sq km (17,800 sq miles), straddles the northern states of Amapa and Para, and is thought to be rich in gold, and other minerals.
An indication that poor quality rentals are damaging people’s health – and that so some landlords can profit financially from some people’s ill health.
The real headline here is that 32% of people see Jacinda as the person to run the country against 10% for Little. A massive gain. Jacindaphoria continues.
Interesting that Winnie is slipping-watch NZF vote slide too.
National extending the $10k Auckland bonus for teachers who stay in their roles. Now applicable across all Auckland schools, not just low decile, hard to staff schools.
How much of this money will end up in the pockets of landlords? Looks like another taxpayer subsidy to property investors.
The negative Nats latest strategy is to go all out to discredit Labour’s new policies as new taxes. This is to be expected, but I say – stay strong Labour and Greens – kia kaha. Stay relentlessly on message: increasing inequality, increasing homelessness in our cities and towns, lack of care for the mentally unwell, the impossible cost of housing, our filthy rivers and lakes, etc etc., have all got worse. They have had 9 years to begin to improve these, but have not. For the future of Aotearoa New Zealand, there must be a change.
The ever so un-charming Barry Soper is being particularly snarky/snide in the Herald. Saying Aucklanders think English is more capable than Jacinda. Considering he has been around forever like an old slipper, I think Jacinda as a new leader is proving herself very very quickly.
Aucklanders in Remuera and Parnell maybe. Soper’s obviously been suffering the negative effects of premature senility and really needs to take himself off to a retirement village somewhere.
There’s a small distinction between “running” the country, which would be the technocratic lever pulling, which Bill is demonstrably reasonably capable of, and “leading” the country.
This is cajoling disparate groups to some sort of agreement and building a consensus and inspiring the country as a whole to move in a cohesive direction. Key had this, as did Clark, Lange, Kirk and Muldoon to an extent. Jacinda has the qualities of a leader as well.
Leadership is the question that should have been asked.
Such blatant lies would be punished at the ballot box. Which must be why that pesky democratic oversight was abandoned just when the rebuild stopped being putoff. Still, ejecting National from the health ministry this election will be a way of exercising voting rights stripped from the SDHB:
The Southern District Health Board’s performance has slipped on key hospital targets since the commissioner team was installed… Commissioner Kathy Grant was installed in June 2015 to eliminate the deficit… In elective surgery access, the board ranked near the bottom of the DHBs’ table.
Not one of the six health targets, three of which relate to community-based health, was achieved.
At the same time two years ago, one of the six was achieved (elective surgery).
In general, SDHB’s performance against other DHBs had slipped…
Mrs Grant said in a statement health targets were ”only one measure”… At the height of the patient care crisis at Dunedin Hospital this month, the commissioner team issued a public statement that said health targets improved in their first year while the deficit went down.
The Prefu has a hidden message according to Thomas Coughlan:
“Chief amongst the Treasury’s assumptions for slowing GDP growth is a decline in immigration – a drastic decline. Using data from Statistics New Zealand, Treasury is assuming that net migration will fall from 72, 540 in 2017 to 20, 000 in June 2021, falling eventually to 15, 000 in 2022.”…..
“…In March, ASB projected a level of around 60, 000 a year would last for at least the next three years.”
So immigration a major factor in the blossoming economy but figures in the slowing in the next few years as immigration falls away. Or not.
The most obvious assumption Treasury always makes is that the economy will slow under Labour led governments. The fact that the opposite is true doesn’t fit their dogma, so they discount it.
I agree the economy will pickup with A government that distributes more resource to the lower classes. National have been taking money out of the economy and scratching there heads why the GDP did not grow all there m8 they gave tax cuts to stashed there money in the stock market it’s not rocket science National answer to growth. Is immigration
Treasury’s forecasts on migration have been wrong (though they were highlighting the expected problems if it continued, the Nats just ignored the offered advice as usual) but the forecast could be said to be wholly dependent of the election result…i.e. Treasury are predicting a Labour led gov post sept ,with the consequent reduction in inward migration…should the Nats retain power i suspect they will revise their projections upwards (and/or outwards)
So they broke the law. Watch the mayhem as those so adamant that Metiria Turei should have the book chucked at her, especially because someone in her position should be purer than pure, go crazy seeking accountability and consequences for the GCSB.
If the legislation that retrospectively legitimized the spying against Dotcom was formed without acknowledging these other illegalities then does that not now (re)open the door for Dotcoms $2billion suit against the NZ govt?
The can is open again and all those dratted worms are wriggling out and crawling all over everything.
I do think that only a very large payout will have an effect on the GCSB so in the long run it will be best for all NZ if Dotcom succeeds in his civil suit against the police and GCSB $2billion is not that big a cost if it reins in these dickheads
“So what are you going to do when you’re driving a corrections vehicle from South Auckland to Mount Eden, and end up in a situation where your prisoners just get out at the lights and run into the dairy or something?”
“Nothing,” interjected deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett, shaking her head. “There’s nothing you can do.”
“That’s why we’re pledging an initial investment of $4 billion to construct a fast-moving expressway that will cut the average trip to prison by 10 minutes for one of our nation’s poorest communities,” said the Prime Minister.
He clapped, then stopped clapping to ask Bennett to also clap, then continued to clap.
Hilarious alright. I take it that’s a $4 billion traffic-free expressway on which there’ll be no stops. So the demons won’t be able to get out and rob the TAB during the stops ‘cos there’ll be none. Stops that is. Not traffic. Right you are !
Hey……you didn’t say anything about other traffic. So there WILL be stops. Mmmmm. So the TABs are safe during the saved 10 minutes but not for the rest of the trip ? Right you are !
It is time to turn the heat up on hosking – he is a racist and that is the conclusion that is unmistakable from his lying apology and continued belligerent attitude to the Māori Party. And make no mistake this is NOT about the MP but about hosking the racist.
ASB Bank should withdraw its support from Seven Sharp for comments Mike Hosking made about the Māori Party, says party co-leader Marama Fox.
Fox was responding to Hosking’s clarification on his Thursday night show where he blamed the Māori Party for being “confused” by his suggestion only Maori could vote for them.
“His correction was absolute rubbish, and he tried to turn it around to say it was our confusion,” Fox said to Stuff on Friday. “He deliberately misled the public, and then when he tried to clarify it he got it wrong again.”
For a while I thought hosking was just thick and dim but now I realise he is those things and sneaky and slimey and he has deliberately muddied the waters for his own intemperate pleasure. He thinks he is in control – well it is time to pull his hind legs out and watch him slide to the floor where he belongs.
Good article with some good pointers on what to say and do if you have concerns about someone who may be contemplating suicide. Some tough commentary from young people in this article.
Shocked into action by the suspected suicide of their 12-year-old friend, a group of teens approached reporter David Burroughs to talk about why it can be so much harder just being a kid these days.
“The award is described as honoring “people for their contribution to the well-being of New Zealand”.
“Proven, inspirational and passionate, these are the people that New Zealanders are proud to call their own,” the New Zealander of the Year Awards website stated.”
I note he says it is not the party it was under Jeanetter and Rod and yet Jeanette is getting behind the Greens and is fronting many of their email appeals.
By crikey the meet the candidates event in Motueka this afternoon was interesting. Nine candidates standing for West Coast/Tasman attended. I’ve never heard Kate Fulton from the Greens speak, she was great as was Damien O’Connor and the lovely lady who is a NZ First Candidate. A special mention to social democrats candidate Jack Collins, he was so brave when asked about euthenasia, as he recently lost his wife to cancer and held back the tears to share his story.
Due to the moderator helping the national party list mp avoid answering my question about offering better education to all, I had to follow Maureen Pugh around afterwards in order to get my answer. In the end she told me that I didn’t want to hear her answer and walked off on me. Say what? Now that’s avoidance, and Maureen don’t tell me how I feel, and don’t walk away from me to avoid answering a simple question.
Was approached by some lovely oldies who told me that thought it was shocking how rude Maureen had been to me, and told me that they too think that education is important for everyone, and that teritiary education costs are preventing so many people from upskilling to enhance their lives and our community as a whole.
The meeting took a long time due to the volumne of candidates, school finished and my eldest came over to the hall, she had a question about the rivers, and stood around Maureen waiting to ask her, Maureen kept walking off on her, my daughter found that rude and upsetting and ended up in tears, after a cuddle and some reassurance from me, finally she had her chance and was told a story about a lake on the west coast that was cleaned up. My daughter now knows how politicians use little stories to avoid giving straight answers.
Maureens side kick went on to tell my daughter it was her fault that the water was polluted because she used the toilet, I told him our rates covers our sewer. He then went on to tell her he didn’t have a problem swimming in rivers where cows had been shitting in the water, and neither should she. Then he laid into me, my daughter burst into tears again at how her mother was being treated, she didn’t take kindly to an old boy talking down to me and bullying her.
Well Maureen if you wanted to make an impression you sure did, from when you said that our electorate is massive and it’s hard to cover it all (weak excuse for being absent in our area, our local MP has no problems covering the area, but he is a hard worker); to your rudeness and avoidance which was noticed by many.
Only a few people clapped for the National Party candidate, times are changing.
And Maureen it wasn’t me that graffitted “No Thanks” on your hoarding on the main street, I’m not into vandalism, but I am into accountability.
Not sure if there will be another ‘meet the candidates’ in Motueka, which is a shame as many people work during the day and I’m sure they have questions to ask the candidates as well.
So… was this when Honest John was still in charge of our secret services? Still if is not as bad as having people flat with you as a solo mum when you were 23
So. This guy is a fucking moron. Yet another inbred wastrel sucking on the taxpayer’s tit for no return.
17 members of the parliament are elected by actual people, and another 9 are appointed by “nobles”. The “Tongan nobility”, King included, have no nobility at all.
Granted we live in a constitutional monarchy ourselves here in New Zealand. But actually in Australasia the Queen hasn’t acted like that in 50 years.
The Tongan monarchy do nothing but provide fealty services and negative rewards, for a country that has gone nowhere and backwards fast , other than as a client state of everyone else’s remittances from New Zealand and Australia.
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When people suggest lowering the voting age, others argue that the young are too uneducated or silly to exercise the duties of citizenship. Australian John Quiggin has just blown that argument out of the water:Looking at the array of ignorant and vindictive old men attacking Greta Thunberg and other young ...
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has been provided with the soon to be released coronial data on suicide in New Zealand. The fact is the suicide rate has risen again and is out of control. The Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council (and former ...
Family First NZ is welcoming the Government’s intention to tackle the harms of pornography, and are also continuing to call for a truly independent Expert Panel to investigate and provide solutions for families. ...
"For too long central government has layered additional responsibilities onto local government with little consultation or acknowledgement of the essential work councils do. Combined with the lack of support and funding, this top down attitude ...
Joining local Green candidates at their campaign launch on Sunday at the Highbury Whanau Centre Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson will say, “I’m very proud to join Green candidates Teanau Tuiono, Renee Dingwall and Brent Barrett in calling ...
The Campaign for Better Transport ( CBT ) is pleased to hear the government has announced the start of train services from Hamilton to Papakura but is concerned about some of the features of the proposed service. ...
Family First NZ is supporting a call by the Police to raise the drinking age, which echoes previous calls by the NZ Medical Association, but says that other factors around price, availability, penalties and addiction services must be part of the ...
West Papua solidarity activists met yesterday and resolved to call on the Prime Minister to step up to help resolve the escalating crisis in West Papua. ...
Landmark Report Released into Maori Aging and Disabilities “Manaaki Pakeke” – New Zealand Maori Council calls for a policy shift and greater focus The New Zealand Maori Council has released a comprehensive policy statement challenging the ...
MANATŪ TAONGA MINISTRY FOR CULTURE AND HERITAGE MEDIA RELEASE 25 August 2019 Privacy breach identified with the Tuia 250 Voyage Trainee website Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage is investigating a serious digital privacy breach involving ...
‘Original Sin’ of Land Confiscation at Ihumātao is a wrong that can be put right by Government says Justice & Peace Commission of Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a press conference on August 19 that her government is likely to impose new restrictions on prisoners’ rights to send letters. She said the law could be changed in “weeks.” ...
Heart-warming images of House Speaker Trevor Mallard cradling a baby in Parliament have been welcomed around New Zealand, but the Public Service Association warns most families can only dream of such support in the workplace. ...
Applying New Zealand’s international human rights commitments, particularly those in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, can help in resolving the situation at Ihumātao, Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt says. ...
Climate campaigners impersonating bank staff have taken to the streets this week to expose ANZ Bank’s sponsorship of the fossil fuel industry. In the series of satirical actions in Wellington, Dunedin, and Auckland, the ‘bank staff’ promoted ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty joins the Children’s Commissioner , The Green Party , The New Zealand Drugs Foundation , Child Poverty Action Group and other organisations in the calls for an immediate end to the drug testing benefit sanctions. ...
Negotiations between Port Otago workers represented by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and management failed today and the unions have issued notice of an overtime ban from Saturday 7th September. ...
Queenstown Lakes District Council’s comments that it has applied for a consent to pollute waterways to avoid 'prosecutions by the Otago Regional Council' are unacceptable,’ Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says. ...
On March 15, the real world impact of online hate became abundantly, horrifically clear. As a shooter opened fire at two Christchurch mosques, the online image board 8chan anticipated, celebrated and amplified his killing spree. ...
Friday, 23 August: Government delegates from around the world, including New Zealand, are meeting in New York for the third of four meetings at the United Nations to agree a Global Oceans Treaty that could help to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. Greenpeace ...
The excuses about a reportedly unwanted $57,000 payrise for Dunedin City Council CEO Sue Bidrose are laughable, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has launched the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” committing to no more than 2% annual rate hikes over the next Council term, and has written to all Mayoral and Council candidates asking them to sign. The pledge will ...
This Saturday, Pakuranga Hunt Day at the Ellerslie Racecourse will see anti-horse racing protesters demonstrating at the corner of Ascot Avenue and Greenlane East. ...
Mayoral candidate John Tamihere will meet with Pacific Island leaders and community elders today at Puhunui Reserve in South Auckland to commit to a Pasefika Cultural Centre. ...
Cruel and invalid Forced Swim Tests carried out at Victoria University of Wellington, will be exposed at the University Open Day today, so prospective students can be warned about the flawed and unethical research being conducted at the institute. ...
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to pass on information to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques now that the period for submissions has been extended to 27 September. ...
An application was filed in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington today, seeking an injunction to prevent the Board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation from removing the President from office. ...
The Government’s commitment to support literacy and numeracy training in the workplace is a strong signal from Government on recognising the importance of upskilling, reskilling and increasing productivity alongside their commitment to address the challenges ...
“The infrastructure sector sees a major role for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga in lifting the nation’s sagging infrastructure performance,” says Paul Blair, incoming CEO of Infrastructure NZ. ...
The AA is calling on the Government to bring forward critical highway projects while time is spent properly developing the plans for a rapid transit system in Auckland. ...
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
Ruby Porter on the first novel by acclaimed Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong. I came across Ocean Vuong’s poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds last year. I read it twice in one day. I was staying outside of New York, at the time, and taking the train in each morning. I ...
A War Story is one more attempt in a long line of art to make sense of 9/11 – this time from a uniquely Kiwi perspective.The coordinated terrorist attacks on September 11 2001 cut a razor-sharp divide between the relatively carefree time before and everything after, bleeding into ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Privacy breach at Ministry for Culture and Heritage Audrey Young (Herald): How latest privacy breach ...
Auckland mayoral rival John Tamihere is pitching himself as a low-cost candidate but the incumbent Phil Goff says Mr Tamihere lacks a basic understanding of finances. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elyse Methven, Lecturer in Law, University of Technology Sydney As the state election loomed last year, the NSW government rushed through a new crime targeting drug suppliers. A person who supplies a prohibited drug for profit can now be prosecuted for homicide ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Talbot-Jones, Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington Last week, voter enrolment for the 2019 local government elections closed in New Zealand and concerns about low voter turnout resurfaced. During a panel discussion run by Auckland Council, the idea was raised to pay ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Dunk, Research Fellow, University of Sydney Last week, one of the world’s leading medical journals declared the medical community must act now to limit the health effects of climate change. In a stark editorial, readers of the New England Journal of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Goss, School Education Program Director, Grattan Institute Australia’s young high achievers are turning their backs on teaching. They want to make a difference in their careers, and they are interested in teaching, but when it comes to the crunch they choose ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carl Grodach, Professor and Director of Urban Planning & Design, Monash University Since 2000, planning authorities in Australia have overseen a massive rezoning of inner-city industrial land to make way for mixed-use residential development. They claim central industrial space is obsolete in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lara Owen, PhD Candidate, Monash University Last week, menstrual pad brand Libra launched their Blood Normal commercial in Australia, running it during prime time television shows including The Bachelor, The Project, and Gogglebox. Australia is a little late to the party: Blood ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Govt rejects idea to ban petrol car imports in 2035, firefighters say they’re facing a workforce crisis, and Tamihere pledges rate freeze.A strange sort of stoush erupted at the end of last week around petrol and diesel car sales. On Friday, Newsroom reported ...
Kiwi boxer Troy Garton, who defied medical advice to produce one of the most remarkable performances in NZ sport, now has her sights set firmly on the Tokyo Olympics. ...
Victoria University of Wellington's Anne Goulding discusses the paradox of New Zealanders wanting to safeguard our personal data, while frequently and freely giving it away. ...
Lisa McMillan is an adrenaline junkie. Instead of skydiving or driving race cars, she collects rooms full of naked strangers. Josie Adams went along to the Naked Dinner and found it stimulated all the wrong hormones.In a tealight-lit lounge in a rented Symonds Street flat, I milled around with 23 ...
Brazil’s rainforests are ablaze, and even from the distance of New Zealand, many of us are losing sleep. For the climate and for humanity, we can do something profound and simple, writes Kena DuignanI’ve asked my dad to look after my kids yesterday so I could write this, after a ...
Meng Foon has been a fixture in Gisborne local government for more than two decades. Today he starts a new role, as race relations commissioner. Alice Webb-Lidall heads over to his Gisborne home for dinner, to find out what he’ll miss as mayor, and how he’ll approach his new jobThis ...
In the final of our series on the loss of faith in free market economics we ask New Zealand business leaders how they’re grappling with the almighty power of a technology that barely existed 20 years ago. Hands up who’s read the Financial Markets Authority’s website. Come on, be honest.No, of ...
Is New Zealand in danger of becoming a bio-tech backwater because of our strict GE rules, or should we retain them to sell our clean image overseas? ...
ANALYSIS:By David Robie Indonesia’s harsh policies towards West Papua ought to be scrapped. Whatever happened to the brief window of enlightenment ushered in by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2015 with promises of a more “open door” policy towards foreign journalists and human rights groups? They were supposed ...
The House - The grammar of being an MP is harder than you might think. MPs in Parliament choose their words with care, and it just got more complicated. ...
As a format it predates almost all reality TV, and that’s precisely why it works in 2019, writes Duncan Greive.There’s something deeply comforting about watching Celebrity Treasure Island. It is a very pure form of escapism, largely because it explicitly recalls a world without the internet, and before everything started ...
Residents in Los Angeles and Orange County warned to check for symptoms after an infected NZ teen visited theme parks including Disneyland and Universal Studios earlier this month.Californian health authorities have issued warnings to residents and visitors after a New Zealand teenager was found to have spent five days in ...
When you crave fresh, bright flavours but summer veges seem far away, throw together this simple salad.Growing up we often ate this salad, or one very similar to it. My mum is a fantastic cook and this dish is one she still makes to this day – though I must ...
Analysis of New Zealand media headlines reveals a lot of people slamming a lot of other people.Slamming is at epidemic levels in New Zealand news. Drawn from just the last month, we present a selection of slamming.On July 27A union boss slammed David ClarkOn July 29Police slammed a dangerous photographerOn ...
Vana Manasiadis wrote a collection of poetry in the wake of her mother’s death. In this essay, ahead of her appearance at the Going West festival, she argues that as a nation Aotearoa needs to learn to make space for mourning. When Mum died in Athens, I cried loudly and publicly ...
The giant hand that captivated, delighted and disgusted the nation is now settling into its new Wellington home. For City Gallery Wellington’s blog, Spinoff arts editor Megan Dunn talked to Ronnie van Hout, the man who made Quasi.“Quasi is in the wrong place,” wrote art critic Warren Feeney in 2016, ...
At school camp, the children are banned from having phones, laptops, lollies, chocolate, money, cotton clothing or independent thoughts. They, are, however, allowed home baking – but it’s gotta be hearty. How hearty are you? We are packing for a school camp. If you’re thinking that the middle of winter is ...
Phil Goff’s rival has already pledged an 0800-Jacinda homeless hotline and an 18-lane harbour bridge. What’s next? The two most important people in the 2019 campaign for the Auckland mayoralty faced each other down on Wednesday night across the desk in the NZME debate: Bernard Orsman and Simon Wilson. Correction: it ...
Split Level View Finder: Theo Schoon and New Zealand Art is the exhibition that sparked a protest over issues of cultural appropriation and institutional representation. Theo Schoon is a divisive historical figure. But is his art any good? Martin Patrick reviews.British novelist L.P. Hartley once wrote that “the past is ...
Ahead of debuting her solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week, Korean-NZ couture designer Cecilia Kang talks about growing up ‘feminine’, being influenced by the LGBTQ+ community, and why an ‘administrative error’ at Fashion Week left her so shaken up. ‘I like something big,” says Cecilia Kang, gesturing to the giant ...
The Labour Party is distancing itself from one of its members who is strongly pro-Beijing and has caused controversy in the Chinese community by standing for local office in Auckland. ...
Faced with staff shortages, equipment failures, cancer risks, and a jump in critical calls that can leave them traumatised, some firefighters are wondering if it’s time to hang up the hose. Gareth Shute reports on the dissatisfaction inside Fire and Emergency New Zealand.The state of our nation’s fire service is ...
“She comes over. You’re my mother, she says. Yes, I say. I don’t know you, she says”: a mother and child seaside story by Wellington author Jan Pryor. Photo by Peter Black. ...
On Monday the government announced its new five-year strategy to reduce the Māori prison population. Emilie Rākete looks at another ‘kaupapa Māori’ prison initiative that degrades prisoners and asks if Corrections are capable of seeing it through.On August 19th, the Department of Corrections announced Hōkai Rangi, its new strategy intended ...
By Michael Andrew The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy “separatists” or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these ...
Analysis - The prime minister puts a stake in the ground over petrol prices, National balks at having its election promises costed and the government puts millions into helping the homeless. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...
Open Mike 25/08/2017 
My wife and I have had dogs for the whole of our 52 years of married life – and that has meant sharing our lives with our little furry friends. Because we usually spend a good part of our evenings watching television, it also means that our dogs have learned ...1 day ago
. . Former Police, Corrections, and Justice Minister in the previous John Key government, Judith Collins, has been ridiculed on social media after posting a comment on Twitter that was patently untrue; . Wrong!! National did not remove Prisoners’ ability to vote. Parliament voted through a Private Member’s Bill ...2 days ago
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...3 days ago
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...3 days ago
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...3 days ago
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Nothing from me tody - I'm off to Christchurch to pretend to be other people for a weekend. Normal bloggage should resume on Tuesday. ...3 days ago
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...4 days ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...4 days ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 4 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...6 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...6 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...1 week ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...1 week ago
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Latest analysis from the New Zealand Election Study’s Jack Vowles (hot off the Press and just launched by Helen Clark at Victoria University) raises a series of interesting points about Green support:
(1) It appears to confirm what I’ve been arguing for quite some time (eg here … /breaking-news-russell-norman-resigning-from-parliament/#comment-1069442 and here … /the-political-machinations-of-the-flag-debate/#comment-1074477) … namely: that – far from being a Party supported solely (or even largely) by the affluent urban upper-middle classes – the Green support-base is, in fact, quite diverse: the party draws fairly similar levels of support from the various socio-economic strata. Indeed, if anything, the 2014 NZES suggests the Greens drew slightly greater support from people on lower incomes with few if any assets than from those on high incomes.
Which isn’t to say the Green Constituency sees itself as subjectively “working class” exactly … their voters tend to eschew any class identity. They’re also more likely than average to be university educated.
(2) The Greens’ dependable core-vote is probably smaller than most pundits assume.
The NZES flow-of-the-Vote data suggests less than half of 2011 Green voters remained loyal at the 2014 General Election. About a quarter of 2011 Greens swung to Labour, with a little less than one fifth going to the Nats and NZF (each).
However, there were significant reciprocal swings. The Greens lost more to Labour than they gained from the Larger Centre-Left Party, but most of the vote inflow that the Green’s did receive in 2014 came from former Labour supporters as well as from previous Non-voters – thus largely (but not entirely) compensating for their lost 2011 votes.
As Vowles argues: ” … the apparent stability of Green voting support is something of an illusion”
In other words … not the same 11% voting Green in 2011 and 2014. Around 5% of all voters (just under half of 2011 Greens) voted Green in both Elections, the rest were new.
And this isn’t actually anything new – go back to earlier NZES polling (late 90s / early zeros Elections) and you’ll see the same inherent volatility in the Green vote.
Clearly, at the very least a large minority (and quite possibly a majority) of Green voters in both 2011 and 2014 had been Labour supporters at some time in the recent past. A lot of movement back and forth between the two parties over consecutive Elections.
So, I’d argue the Greens’ base vote is more like 5%.
Jacindamania + the Greens turmoil in this campaign will probably mean the Party won’t receive its usual amount of (significant and vital) Labour-supporter froth on top of that core vote. Probably just enough to raise it to 6-8%.
NOTE: If the Greens are averaging anything less than about 6.5% in the final round of pre-Election Polls then I myself am going to be forced to switch my Party Vote from Labour to the Vegetable Rights and Peace Party, just to ensure they return.
(3) The NZES confirms once again (as in previous NZES studies) that Green voters view themselves – and are viewed by others – as ideologically to the Left of Labour. The Greens constituency is essentially Left-libertarian (there are relatively few Blue-Greens among the Party’s support-base), with a particularly marked emphasis not on the liberal attitudes that most pundits might assume but rather on the economic Left dimension. While Social libertarians are certainly much more likely to vote Green than Social authoritarians … holding Left-wing economic views is still around 3 times more important in predicting Green electoral support than moral liberalism.
So the idea popular among pundits that there exists some kind of mis-match between the Greens’ left-wing social justice policies and their supposedly affluent, centrist, morally-liberal but purely environmentalist urban support-base really holds no water.
I went to the GP fundraiser of Inconvenient Sequel. If I was ever wavering, I’m not now. They need to be in government, we’re long out of time re climate change. The social consequences will be massive hence the pointlessness of being blue-green.
swordfish
Interesting analysis, though it’d be good to see the numbers firsthand. Is there an online database, or is it solely a printed academic work that has be be purchased?
I do think that the GP have moved on a bit from this:
Heh, if anything they’re as much this:
Dspare
Yeah, but ask yourself this, Dspare – at which Annual Party Conference are you most likely to hear the following sentence:
“Rik ! Rik ! You’re gonna freak man !!! , “Look at me I’m Krishna !!!”
(I mean, OK, I can almost imagine an overly-excited Steven Joyce screaming this at a National Party delegate – especially if Joyce had been given too many sugary
drinks – but more likely to happen at the Greens Annual Conference, I should’ve thought)
Which electorates are they strongest in?
Ad
The New Zealand Election Study’s Jack Vowles
I made essentially the same point as Vowles back in the 2015 thread I Iinked to /the-political-machinations-of-the-flag-debate/#comment-1074477
Duncan Garner certainly wasn’t the only journo to rely on seat-by-seat data
In his 2012 Listener Interview with Russel Norman – Guyon Espiner suggested
.
Apart from falling for the ecological fallacy – what Guyon also conspicuously failed to notice was the marked discrepancy between similarly affluent seats like Epsom (Green 4424 in 2011) & Wellington Central (10903)
or
very Low Income Dunedin North (Green 7010 in 2011) & either the 3 poorer South Auckland electorates or indeed affluent Epsom
Sounds like Simpsons paradox is at play here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox
Normally you just have to make an ideological choice to decide which categorization is correct/superior in these cases (and when its important and tangible like in medical studies).
good analysis…and
“In other words … not the same 11% voting Green in 2011 and 2014. Around 5% of all voters (just under half of 2011 Greens) voted Green in both Elections, the rest were new.”
I was one of those, and ….
“NOTE: If the Greens are averaging anything less than about 6.5% in the final round of pre-Election Polls then I myself am going to be forced to switch my Party Vote from Labour to the Vegetable Rights and Peace Party, just to ensure they return.”
I too was thinking along those lines, BUT my god they are making it hard to do that.
Too many mainstream journalists and commentators have been hammering the GP since they promoted strong support for improving the social welfare system.
In spite of that, they have started an important discussion and opened up important voices on the damaging welfare system. There has been a significant amount of support for that.
+1
“NOTE: If the Greens are averaging anything less than about 6.5% in the final round of pre-Election Polls then I myself am going to be forced to switch my Party Vote from Labour to the Vegetable Rights and Peace Party, just to ensure they return.”
Exactly. Think along these lines.
Lab 41
Greens 7
NZF 8
Nats 38
TOP 4 (wasted)
Wasted 2
In this now entirely feasible situation a Labour/Green government could easily be formed without the need for NZF. A dream scenario that cannot happen without the Greens.
GP needs at least 8% (possibly 9%) to bring Jack McDonald into parliament. He is a very strong candidate and the government would really benefit from his presence.
we don’t know if thats feasible at this stage….we need a series of polls to determine whether that is the case or not and the Greens are currently harming the chances of that scenario which is disappointing as when MT launched the strategy of engaging the disengaged (which attracted the hatchet job,sadly) the Greens appeared to have learnt that their most productive role was to be the gatherer of those votes for the left that Labour couldn’t actively seek without upsetting their more centrist voters (as ACT does/did for National)…now they appear to be spitting the dummy and putting the whole “change the government” goal risk (at worst) or (at best) excluding themselves from any meaningful role within a new gov.
…it is making MT’s sacrifice for nought i fear.
I think you are dreaming if you think that Labour will not try to make an aliiance with NZ First, even if they don’t need them to govern. Basically, Labour would not put themselves in a position to be beholden only to the GP, no matter how strong the GP vote.
Labour will try to balance the GP against NZ First, and possibly also the Maori Party, to give Labour more control and alternatives.
The only way to ensure NZ First has as little influence as possible, is for there to be a very strong vote for the GP.
Carolyn_nth
That’s how I see it, and is much how National have done it with having more voting partners than they strictly needed. One factor to be considered is that Labour MPs may not always vote along party lines, so there needs to be a buffer against defections.
Pat
Me, You & Scotsman-exiled-in-Palmerston-North – lurgee
* I’ve always assumed lurgee’s a fanatical Partick Thistle supporter but could be wrong
Thanks.
From what I’ve seen of the GP supporters, on and offline, in Auckland, I’d say they are more ethnically mixed than generally supposed, with some degree of support from Māori and Pacific people.
Looking at that analysis there is a potential pool of 17% of the electorate that may vote Green-this is huge.
And why, if you are interested in Climate Change action (our nuclear-free moment) and clean rivers and lakes, would you vote for very pale green Labour when you can vote for the real Green?
The problem is usually to get them to actually vote, closely followed by the problem for them to vote Green.
Using the same kinds of criteria of who has ever voted for it, the potential voters for Peter Dunnes hair (which appears to live a life of its own) is probably in the order of 15-20%.
In the same line, the potential pool of voters for Labour would be something like 75%. After all there are all of those RWNJ trolls who usually start with the line like “well I used to vote for Labour but then [insert bigotry here], and now I’m proud to vote for Act.
I plan to vote Green
A.
https://cheekygames.ghost.io/untitled-3/
A blog inspired by Danyl Mclauchlan’s Spinoff piece and the RNZ interview of Martin O’Malley. Talking ’bout my generation’s potential to provide leadership to meet the existential challenges of our times.
So it’s a post written by you?
I thought McLaughlan’s piece had some very interesting parts to it. However, I thought it was a quite sophisticated version of what many centrists do: take some views/policies/positions from the left; then take some from the right; then show why a balance between the two main polarities is the most reasonable position.
Basically, such an analysis depends on the positions that are selected intitally.
An alternative way to develop a political position is to start with the kind with the kind of society desired; then to look at where and how society falls short; then develop policies and positions to move towards the preferred kind of society.
Or to look at the problems in society that require solutions, then examine the evidence for how well each solution will work.
I’d say that was the only way to develop society. Doing things the way we are is resulting in society stagnating and heading towards collapse because of that stagnation.
To me, the Greens are as if they got the vision a value-system, the whole integrated picture (see also /climate-change-and-transport-the-greens-integrated-policy/), and are looking in from the outside as it were. The other parties are embedded and starting from the centre of the status quo, by and large, and looking outwards to an emptiness that scares the living daylight out of them. But like light that cannot escape from a black hole they cannot achieve much more than some tinkering & tweaking with piecemeal (‘pragmatic’) policies and reductionist approaches. What’s needed is not a modification of what we (think) know and have but a complete paradigm shift to what we really want. My intuition tells me that this is simultaneously much harder and much easier than we believe …
National and Coleman a ‘no show’ at a live streamed ChCh health forum.
“Organiser Marney Ainsworth, of the health coalition YesWeCare, said Health Minister Jonathan Coleman was invited to the event and offered several dates, but declined four weeks out, saying he had other engagements”
What’s up with this election, is national no show becoming a common theme?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/96135652/coleman-skips-election-health-forum
Here in Motueka we have a “meet the candidates” today at 1:30pm at the senior citizens hall behind the library. I wonder if Maureen Pugh from National will show up? I’ll be there, I’ve some questions to ask the government.
Cinny (3) … you state … “What’s up with this election, is national no show becoming a common theme?”
One word … arrogance!
Natz is obviously picking and choosing which events it attends and they will be those which favour government! Anything or anyone else gets the one finger salute.
It’s imperative Natz are removed from government on 23 September.
Hey Mary, it’s either arrogance or fear, as they do not appear to have much public support out there at all.
Looking forward to this afternoon, will update later how it went.
PS While driving towards the Mot River the other day my girls spotted one of the new labour party hoardings, “Clean Rivers… Let’s Do This” beautiful placement of that hoarding. My girls said ‘look mum it’s the ‘Red Princess’ she’s going to be the new Prime Minister, give her a toot mum’ To which I obliged, toot toot on the truck airhorns 😀
Mary I would suggest it’s fear that keeps the likes of Coleman from appearing. His insistence that the health vote has kept up with health needs in the last three years has been exposed for what it is….nonsense.
After the debacle at Dunedin last week where they were fair hounded out of the city, I imagine every appearance will be carefully stage managed now to ensure only positive media coverage. Potentially a smart game, as long as nobody actually says anything in the media about it.
It’s been a common theme for quite a few years now. It’s somewhat surprising that they’re extending it into the election period but not answering tough questions does seem to be National’s MO.
The Greens won’t make the threshold.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Yes, they will. There, your entire argument utterly refuted. That was easy.
LOL
OAB. Pithy !
OAB –
By NCEA criteria, you have ‘Achieved’.
You could have gained ‘Achieved with Merit’ by adding the words ‘most certainly’.
You could have gained ‘Achieved with Excellence’ by adding the word ‘Oh’ before ‘yes’.
(But you still did very well.)
Yes Hilary Barry we can do with out plastic lets get ride of the vile stuff .
If we went back to glass bottles they could be washed and reused . A price could be payed for the bottles returned .
This would create a small industry that we use to have and our kids etc would make pocket money from this .
This could influence some children’s into the work culture and provide pocket money or saving for them.
Lett’s get rid of all the plastic we can we need the GREEN PARTY to get to 15% or the Main party’s may put this issue like this into the to hard basket.
Lett’s change the building code to design our new housing so that all new houses are designed to be change slightly so that all new house have a solar passive design and the heating and cooling bills would come down this idea has been well documented .
But the people in power do not like ideas that wont make our economy grow.
National would not even ban incandescence light bulbs.
There are a lot of ideas that would save us money and we could live more efficient healthy lives.
But again this will have a negative effect on our economy which anyone with a brain knows can not grow for ever our chase the growth system is unsustainable and FUCKEN stupid !!!!!!!!
This government’s failure to put a 10c levy on supermarket plastic bags is scandalous. In the UK this has reduced bag usage by 80-85%. Vote Green and this will happen.
Which would be why they haven’t done it. That decrease in use represents a decrease in profits for some rich people.
A plague unleashed.
Brazil’s government has abolished a vast national reserve in the Amazon to open up the area to mining.
The area, covering 46,000 sq km (17,800 sq miles), straddles the northern states of Amapa and Para, and is thought to be rich in gold, and other minerals.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41033228
Two renting articles on stuff this AM
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/property/96121726/fleas-creeps-and-mould-nightmare-rentals
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/property/96099814/landlords-get-our-money-we-get-poor-health
An indication that poor quality rentals are damaging people’s health – and that so some landlords can profit financially from some people’s ill health.
Desperate attempt by Audrey Young to spin the figures in this poll:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11910554
The real headline here is that 32% of people see Jacinda as the person to run the country against 10% for Little. A massive gain. Jacindaphoria continues.
Interesting that Winnie is slipping-watch NZF vote slide too.
But how representative is a poll of Flybuys subscribers.
I didn’t think that 45 for English versus 32 for Ardern was a big enough difference to warrant all the fuss Soper and Young made of it.
National extending the $10k Auckland bonus for teachers who stay in their roles. Now applicable across all Auckland schools, not just low decile, hard to staff schools.
How much of this money will end up in the pockets of landlords? Looks like another taxpayer subsidy to property investors.
The negative Nats latest strategy is to go all out to discredit Labour’s new policies as new taxes. This is to be expected, but I say – stay strong Labour and Greens – kia kaha. Stay relentlessly on message: increasing inequality, increasing homelessness in our cities and towns, lack of care for the mentally unwell, the impossible cost of housing, our filthy rivers and lakes, etc etc., have all got worse. They have had 9 years to begin to improve these, but have not. For the future of Aotearoa New Zealand, there must be a change.
The ever so un-charming Barry Soper is being particularly snarky/snide in the Herald. Saying Aucklanders think English is more capable than Jacinda. Considering he has been around forever like an old slipper, I think Jacinda as a new leader is proving herself very very quickly.
Hillary Clinton was more capable.
It’s not enough to win. May even be a liability.
Aucklanders in Remuera and Parnell maybe. Soper’s obviously been suffering the negative effects of premature senility and really needs to take himself off to a retirement village somewhere.
+ 100 Wensleydale
Nope. We don’t.
English has proven his incapacity several times over the years.
There’s a small distinction between “running” the country, which would be the technocratic lever pulling, which Bill is demonstrably reasonably capable of, and “leading” the country.
This is cajoling disparate groups to some sort of agreement and building a consensus and inspiring the country as a whole to move in a cohesive direction. Key had this, as did Clark, Lange, Kirk and Muldoon to an extent. Jacinda has the qualities of a leader as well.
Leadership is the question that should have been asked.
Bill and John have been running up the debt ?
Such blatant lies would be punished at the ballot box. Which must be why that pesky democratic oversight was abandoned just when the rebuild stopped being putoff. Still, ejecting National from the health ministry this election will be a way of exercising voting rights stripped from the SDHB:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/health/performance-key-targets-slips
The Prefu has a hidden message according to Thomas Coughlan:
“Chief amongst the Treasury’s assumptions for slowing GDP growth is a decline in immigration – a drastic decline. Using data from Statistics New Zealand, Treasury is assuming that net migration will fall from 72, 540 in 2017 to 20, 000 in June 2021, falling eventually to 15, 000 in 2022.”…..
“…In March, ASB projected a level of around 60, 000 a year would last for at least the next three years.”
So immigration a major factor in the blossoming economy but figures in the slowing in the next few years as immigration falls away. Or not.
Newsroom has some interesting articles each day.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/08/24/44551/real-news-hidden-under-prefus-exec-summary
Newsroom:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/
Thanks for that ianmac
i had lost them and for some strange (or not so strange depending on your conspiracy level) its bloody hard to google!
great news site with a very refreshing viewpoint, keep on promoting it!
Brian Fallow talks about this in his Herald piece on the PREFU and goes on to point out that Treasury’s forecasts on immigration have been totally crap really.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11910553
The most obvious assumption Treasury always makes is that the economy will slow under Labour led governments. The fact that the opposite is true doesn’t fit their dogma, so they discount it.
Yep. IIRC, there was research that actually showed that bias.
I agree the economy will pickup with A government that distributes more resource to the lower classes. National have been taking money out of the economy and scratching there heads why the GDP did not grow all there m8 they gave tax cuts to stashed there money in the stock market it’s not rocket science National answer to growth. Is immigration
Treasury’s forecasts on migration have been wrong (though they were highlighting the expected problems if it continued, the Nats just ignored the offered advice as usual) but the forecast could be said to be wholly dependent of the election result…i.e. Treasury are predicting a Labour led gov post sept ,with the consequent reduction in inward migration…should the Nats retain power i suspect they will revise their projections upwards (and/or outwards)
“Spy agency’s Dotcom surveillance illegal, court rules”
So they broke the law. Watch the mayhem as those so adamant that Metiria Turei should have the book chucked at her, especially because someone in her position should be purer than pure, go crazy seeking accountability and consequences for the GCSB.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/337996/spy-agency-s-dotcom-surveillance-illegal-court-rules
Oh, I’m sure that National will be more than happy to do some retrospective legislation to make it legal – just like they did last time.
Well the question now has to be ,
If the legislation that retrospectively legitimized the spying against Dotcom was formed without acknowledging these other illegalities then does that not now (re)open the door for Dotcoms $2billion suit against the NZ govt?
The can is open again and all those dratted worms are wriggling out and crawling all over everything.
I do think that only a very large payout will have an effect on the GCSB so in the long run it will be best for all NZ if Dotcom succeeds in his civil suit against the police and GCSB $2billion is not that big a cost if it reins in these dickheads
+ 1000 Xanthe
National promises ambitious new expressway between South Auckland and prison
Hilarious
Hilarious alright. I take it that’s a $4 billion traffic-free expressway on which there’ll be no stops. So the demons won’t be able to get out and rob the TAB during the stops ‘cos there’ll be none. Stops that is. Not traffic. Right you are !
Hey……you didn’t say anything about other traffic. So there WILL be stops. Mmmmm. So the TABs are safe during the saved 10 minutes but not for the rest of the trip ? Right you are !
This National campaign has the smell of an Edsel.
Draco T Bastard WTF Bill is A muppet
It is time to turn the heat up on hosking – he is a racist and that is the conclusion that is unmistakable from his lying apology and continued belligerent attitude to the Māori Party. And make no mistake this is NOT about the MP but about hosking the racist.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96150762/mori-party-want-sponsors-to-pull-out-of-seven-sharp-after-mike-hoskings-rubbish-comments
For a while I thought hosking was just thick and dim but now I realise he is those things and sneaky and slimey and he has deliberately muddied the waters for his own intemperate pleasure. He thinks he is in control – well it is time to pull his hind legs out and watch him slide to the floor where he belongs.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/337995/call-to-boycott-seven-sharp-sponsor-over-hosking-s-comments
The guy is as thick as pig sh*t and believes his own B/S ?
Labour have just confirmed that they will fully fund the Skypath cycleway across the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
That should hoover in all those cyclist voters on the North Shore.
And get rid of one more poorly structured transport ppp.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11911077
Good article with some good pointers on what to say and do if you have concerns about someone who may be contemplating suicide. Some tough commentary from young people in this article.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/94579293/a-shared-story-of-going-to-the-brink-and-coming-back
After 5.7k votes, Metiria is on 12% support for NZer of the year.
Don’t know if that’s a reasonable proxy for Green Party support, but it’s a lot higher than 4%.
I reckon the doomsayers will be eating crow come the 23rd, but of course I’d say that 🙂
“The award is described as honoring “people for their contribution to the well-being of New Zealand”.
“Proven, inspirational and passionate, these are the people that New Zealanders are proud to call their own,” the New Zealander of the Year Awards website stated.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/338013/barnaby-joyce-popular-choice-for-nzer-of-the-year
To my mind, Metiria Turei fits those criteria and then some.
Imagine the whinging and wailing if she won. What’s not to like?
Oh the outrage of the comfortable, smug and self righteous.
This Vernon Tava is popping a lot up via the Herald to talk politics. He is City Vision Community Voice.
Is he credible?
http://politik.co.nz/en/content/politics/1038/Top-Green-resigns-and-says-party-has-become-socialist-Vernon-Tava-Greens.htm
I note he says it is not the party it was under Jeanetter and Rod and yet Jeanette is getting behind the Greens and is fronting many of their email appeals.
By crikey the meet the candidates event in Motueka this afternoon was interesting. Nine candidates standing for West Coast/Tasman attended. I’ve never heard Kate Fulton from the Greens speak, she was great as was Damien O’Connor and the lovely lady who is a NZ First Candidate. A special mention to social democrats candidate Jack Collins, he was so brave when asked about euthenasia, as he recently lost his wife to cancer and held back the tears to share his story.
Due to the moderator helping the national party list mp avoid answering my question about offering better education to all, I had to follow Maureen Pugh around afterwards in order to get my answer. In the end she told me that I didn’t want to hear her answer and walked off on me. Say what? Now that’s avoidance, and Maureen don’t tell me how I feel, and don’t walk away from me to avoid answering a simple question.
Was approached by some lovely oldies who told me that thought it was shocking how rude Maureen had been to me, and told me that they too think that education is important for everyone, and that teritiary education costs are preventing so many people from upskilling to enhance their lives and our community as a whole.
The meeting took a long time due to the volumne of candidates, school finished and my eldest came over to the hall, she had a question about the rivers, and stood around Maureen waiting to ask her, Maureen kept walking off on her, my daughter found that rude and upsetting and ended up in tears, after a cuddle and some reassurance from me, finally she had her chance and was told a story about a lake on the west coast that was cleaned up. My daughter now knows how politicians use little stories to avoid giving straight answers.
Maureens side kick went on to tell my daughter it was her fault that the water was polluted because she used the toilet, I told him our rates covers our sewer. He then went on to tell her he didn’t have a problem swimming in rivers where cows had been shitting in the water, and neither should she. Then he laid into me, my daughter burst into tears again at how her mother was being treated, she didn’t take kindly to an old boy talking down to me and bullying her.
Well Maureen if you wanted to make an impression you sure did, from when you said that our electorate is massive and it’s hard to cover it all (weak excuse for being absent in our area, our local MP has no problems covering the area, but he is a hard worker); to your rudeness and avoidance which was noticed by many.
Only a few people clapped for the National Party candidate, times are changing.
And Maureen it wasn’t me that graffitted “No Thanks” on your hoarding on the main street, I’m not into vandalism, but I am into accountability.
Not sure if there will be another ‘meet the candidates’ in Motueka, which is a shame as many people work during the day and I’m sure they have questions to ask the candidates as well.
So… was this when Honest John was still in charge of our secret services? Still if is not as bad as having people flat with you as a solo mum when you were 23
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11911084
The king of Tonga just dismissed his Prime Minister and the entire Parliament.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/fears-violence-in-tonga-after-king-tupou-vi-dismisses-pm-akilisi-pohiva-and-dissolves-parliament
So. This guy is a fucking moron. Yet another inbred wastrel sucking on the taxpayer’s tit for no return.
17 members of the parliament are elected by actual people, and another 9 are appointed by “nobles”. The “Tongan nobility”, King included, have no nobility at all.
Granted we live in a constitutional monarchy ourselves here in New Zealand. But actually in Australasia the Queen hasn’t acted like that in 50 years.
The Tongan monarchy do nothing but provide fealty services and negative rewards, for a country that has gone nowhere and backwards fast , other than as a client state of everyone else’s remittances from New Zealand and Australia.
Revolution, Tongans, and don’t spare any of them.
When times are bad, no wage rises. When profits are up, no wage rises.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/96155057/business-profits-leap-ahead-while-wages-struggle-to-outpace-inflation
Usually they don’t even admit that profits were up until the new crisis has hit. I fear that a crisis is now imminent.
And now the Labour means more strijes rhetoric begins.
Anyone know how many, when and which national polls are coming out between now and the election?
Ones which look good for them and not the others