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:
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 https://thestandard.org.nz/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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The US appears to be headed towards what Antonio Gramsci and other Italian political theorists call an “organic crisis of the State.” It involves the simultaneous and compounded fractures of economy, society and politics, which together constitute a tipping point in a nation’s history. Social contradictions are exacerbated, class and ...
Like the rest of the world, I have been aghast at what I have seen of, and read and heard about, what is happening currently in the United States. It seems incredible that a once great country should be suffering the worst effects and the highest number of deaths worldwide ...
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Climate concerns as Siberia experiences record-breaking heatHeat wave sparks concerns about devastating wildfire season and melting permafrost.Satellite ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 24 through Sat, May 30, 2020Editor's ChoiceAntarctic Ocean Reveals New Signs of Rapid Melt of Ancient Ice, Clues About Future Sea Level RiseA study of seafloor ripples ...
It’s almost painful to watch. Let’s be honest, maybe a pleasure too, in some quarters, but painful nonetheless. Because the fact is, for a democracy to function properly, any sitting Government does need honest and proper Opposition so that it doesn’t get ahead of itself. That’s what we should ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk A banner on the International Energy Agency website spells it out in bold font: “The global oil industry is experiencing a shock like no other in its history.” As the response to the coronavirus pandemic upends the lives of billions of ...
The ownership of newspapers and televison channels is in turmoil, and they want to redisorganise public broadcasting. *Three years ago, I expressed concern in a column about the future of the (traditional) media. Nothing has happened since to reduce the concern. It was based on an earlier column which ...
Australia's High Court has ruled that the "palace letters" between the queen and then-Governor-General John Kerr are public records rather than private papers: Historian Jenny Hocking has won her High Court bid to access the letters exchanged between then governor-general Sir John Kerr and the Queen around the time of ...
SATURDAY MAY 30Six60: Live at Western Springs 2020 (TVNZ 1, 8.45pm). Remember live concerts? The day will come again, friends, when we will be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in an uncomfortable sweaty venue with people we don’t know. It will happen. Sometimes the sound of concerts drifts over to the ...
New Zealand and its prime minister Jacinda Ardern have received international attention and praise, rightly so, for decisive leadership, clear communication and scientific management of the coronavirus pandemic. Observers point out that the nation has been through multiple crises under Ardern’s leadership – such as the Christchurch terrorist attack and ...
…a lot of things unrelated to the pandemic were happening. Relatively little attention was given to some major events on the global stage, so I thought I would do a quick recap of some of the high (or low) -lights, starting with something familiar. The common theme throughout is human ...
Labour's talk of gutting the RMA to push through "shovel ready" projects to boost employment after the pandemic predictably has every half-arsed pipe-dream crawling out of the woodwork demanding special treatment. Today, it's the West Coast inbreds, who are demanding a host of laws be rescinded so they can dig ...
"I can't breathe, Mama. I'm dying." - Last words of George Floyd.LOOK HARD at this image. Think about what it depicts. Ask yourself how one human-being could behave so brutally when so many eye-witnesses – and very soon millions of people online around the world – were there to watch ...
Since the government announced its pandemic wage subsidy, there have been regular stories about companies taking it and then sacking or refusing to pay their workers - essentially committing fraud. But how often does this happen? The Minister just doesn't want to know: Government ministers are not receiving up to ...
"You call that a conservative?Nah, this is a conservative!" New Zealanders are in the market for a quiet and reassuring small-c conservative political centrist. The critical question, however, is which politician is currently playing that role? Who has mastered the art of relaxed, informal and intimate political communication? Who ...
I’VE OFTEN WONDERED if South African immigrants passing through towns like Kerikeri and Kaikohe ever wonder how we do it. In their homeland, through the bitter years of Apartheid, keeping the races segregated required pass laws, Alsatian dogs, tear gas, rubber bullets and, all-too-often, live rounds. Not here. Not in ...
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from July 31, 2019 to September 30, 2019. Sports categories must be by sex, not gender identity Queer theory glossary Woke misogyny and homophobia: a gay critique of trans ideology Another unfortunate experiment? New Zealand’s transgender health policy and ...
Smart Energy Europe: A Plan to provide 100% of ALL ENERGY using Renewable Energy to EuropeIntroductionAll Energy renewable energy systems are often commented on here at Skeptical Science. Many comments suggest that it will be difficult, expensive or impossible to use renewable energy to power the world. To ...
The government released its Action for Healthy Waterways package today, ostensibly with the goal of cleaning up our rivers and making them swimmable within a generation. Doing that, of course, requires confronting the cow in the room: the dairy industry which causes most of the pollution. But while they've imposed ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzI would like to know if New Zealand’s carbon emissions ...
Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Timothy Stern, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonBack in the 1970s, scientists came up with a revolutionary idea about how Earth’s deep interior works. They proposed it is slowly churning like a lava lamp, with buoyant ...
Remember KiwiBuild? Previously the government's flagship policy, it was supposed to build thousands of new homes every year for kiwi families. But instead of flooding the market, we've got a pathetic dribble: The Government's former flagship housing policy is so far behind schedule it will take more than 400 years ...
Don Franks Now Covid-19 restrictions allow gatherings of a hundred, an urgent hui needs calling. A special conference of the Council of Trade Unions. Today, workers face the greatest attack on employment, pay and conditions since the depression, we need a strong united union voice. As it stands now, organised ...
George Henderson New Zealand schools have introduced a climate change resource that suggests children “eat less meat and dairy”, even though teachers will not know how much meat or dairy any child in their care has eaten. Opinion pieces in the papers have called for the reduction of meat and ...
Questioning the number of district health boards in New Zealand has got to the extent that “too many DHBs” has become a perceived truth requiring no further elaboration. It is rarely challenged by policy advisers, academics, and journalists. But when one drills down further it becomes clear that the number ...
The emergence of a new National party leader, seemingly out of nowhere, has – not surprisingly – raised a number of questions as to who Todd Mulller actually is and what makes him tick. He has been an MP for some time but seems to have hidden his light under ...
Costa Rica has become the first country in Central America to recognise same-sex marriage: The first same-sex weddings have taken place in Costa Rica, the first Central American country to equalise its marriage legislation. A lesbian couple became the first to tie the knot in a ceremony that took ...
There's a new twist in the Winston Peters secret donation story. It appears that a significant chunk of NZ First's secret laundered donations goes straight into the pockets of the people administering the scheme: Tens of thousands in donor's funds given to the New Zealand First Foundation were spent paying ...
Is Todd Muller the Ned Flanders of the National Party? This is how he’s been characterised by political commentator Gordon Campbell, who suggests the change in leadership is, in Simpsons terms, akin to swapping the scary and cruel Monty Burns for Homer Simpson’s compassionate but conservative neighbour. There’s almost a ...
We all know that many so-called journalists and political commentators in New Zealand work directly or indirectly for political parties or for certain political factions. This was obviously the case when pundit for hire Matthew Hooton launched a campaign against then National Party leader, Simon Bridges, over their numerous polling ...
Let's Roll! The easy victory over a Bridges-led National Party which the Left had every cause to anticipate just a few days ago is no longer in the offing. Our enemy’s position has changed. His numbers are swelling. A rapid thrust to the left, followed by an audacious outflanking manoeuvre ...
New National Party leader Todd Muller has been interviewed about his policies, and has promised to restart offshore fossil fuel exploration if elected: The Bay of Plenty MP rolled former leader Simon Bridges last week, but says the party has not changed its stance on previous promises. "That is ...
Anyone who keeps an eye on evidence around cannabis and public health will be familiar with the Christchurch Health and Development Study. It's one of two local longitudinal studies frequently cited with respect to cannabis and youth development. But in a new article in the New Zealand Medical Journal, it is ...
In the age of covid we are Jacinda’s team of five million, except for some. There has rarely been a more blatant case of discrimination against beneficiaries than Grant Robertson’s announcement yesterday that people who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus will receive weekly payments of $490 per week for 12 weeks and $250 per week for part time ...
It was 75 years ago this month that Germany surrendered and the Allies celebrated VE (Victory in Europe) Day. Millions of people around the world had been killed and many more injured or captured. It was an end to war not just for Europeans, but their allies too, in countries across Africa. But its impact is ...
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...
Watching Todd Muller make his first speech as the newly minted Leader of the Opposition after Simon Bridges’ defenestration on Friday brought to mind a headmaster addressing a school assembly. He showed no particular desire to ingratiate himself with his audience although the occasional flash of self-deprecating humour indicated a ...
The government has announced another income support scheme for people affected by the economic aftershocks of the pandemic: a $490 a week tax-free payment for the newly unemployed, which you can get even if you have a working partner. Which is great, because its supporting people who need help, but ...
The Greens have released their party list, and it contains a few surprises. The one that's getting all the news is that the membership are clearly fans of Chlöe Swarbrick, and she has worked hard to earn that. But they've also favoured incumbent protection over new blood, and in the ...
age credit:Science and Politics – Skeptically.org It seems impossible to keep politics out of science. It’s a pity because politics can end up forcing science to produce the results desired by ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Matthew Parry, Dr Ayesha Verrall, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Martin Eichner (author details*)This blog details a recent modelling study we conducted. In it we estimated that it would take between 27 and 33 days of no new detected cases of COVID-19 for there to be ...
The 2015 Schol Bio paper included a question about a group of birds known as honeycreepers, specifically, the 56 species endemic to the Hawaiian islands. (Or, were endemic: 18, or perhaps 19, are still living; the others are extinct.) Students who’ve already had a look at this paper as part of ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... What a Week’s Disasters Tell Us About Climate and the PandemicExtreme weather presents an even bigger threat ...
Todd Muller has made a good start to his leadership, though it would obviously be pretty stupid to extrapolate too much from the first couple of days. Nevertheless, as a matter of speculation, it is interesting to think what success on his part might say about the preferences of the ...
A guest post by Hamish Price.“A leader is a dealer in hope.”— Napoléon BonaparteCatholics have a name for potential successors to a dead pope. Papabile. The small coterie of distinguished cardinals who have what it takes to step up. Todd Muller has always been one.I first met Muller at a National ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 17 through Sat, May 23, 2020Editor's ChoiceMore than 80 killed in India and Bangladesh as Cyclone Amphan heaps misery on coronavirus-hit areasA man salvages items from ...
The Green Party is urging the New Zealand Police to rule out the use of Armed Response Teams, following their recent trial in communities around Aotearoa. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has described Labour's original COVID-19 commercial rent dispute proposal as "poorly targeted". Justice Minister Andrew Little hasannounced a temporary law changeto force commercial landlords and renters to consider COVID-19 in disputes over rent issues, almost two months after the Government first floated the idea. But ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First acknowledges that some small businesses have been struggling to meet fixed costs due to the loss of revenue by COVID-19. We also know some businesses are at greater risk of insolvency when they cannot come to a reasonable ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First is disappointed that the removal of the spousal deductions has had to be delayed by the Ministry fo Social Development, due to COVID19 workload pressures. “New Zealand First has always stood for fairness when it comes to superannuation ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First On the steps of Parliament today the Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters received a petition from registered nurse Anna Maria Coervers, requesting an amendment to the Protection for First Responders Bill which will ensure the legislation also include registered ...
It's been a busy seven days as we start to rebuild New Zealand together. From delivering extra support for small businesses, to investing in our artists and arts organisations, to cutting red tape on home DIY projects, we're rolling out our plan to get the economy and New Zealand moving ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says alert level 2 restrictions have to be discussed during today's Cabinet meeting. Thousands gathered across the country, including at Parliament, yesterday forBlack Lives Matter marcheswhere social distancing and mass gathering rules were flouted. Mr Peters said the breaching of Alert Level 2 rules at ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State Owned Enterprises KiwiRail’s Northland rail upgrade steps up another gear today and will help Northland recover from the impacts of COVID-19, State Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters says. The Government is investing $204.5 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to ...
“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson. ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Green Party is pleased to reveal its candidate list for the upcoming election. With a mix of familiar faces and fresh new talent, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to lead the Greens back into Government. ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has introduced a Bill to Parliament that he says will "force more transparency, integrity and respect" for the domestic wood-processing sector through the registration of log traders and practice standards. The Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill had its first reading in ...
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is joining over 300 lawmakers from around the world in calling on the big banks and the IMF to forgive the debt of developing countries, in the wake of the COVID crisis. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says concerns that carbon foresters are planting pine trees that will never be harvested are the result of "misinformation". "The billion tree strategy is an excellent idea, unfortunately from time to time it's tainted by misinformation spread by the National Party or their grandees, hiding in scattered ...
The Green Party welcomes funding in the budget to reunite more refugees with their families, ensuring they have the best chance at a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
A new-look Police graduation ceremony to take account of COVID19 health rules has marked the completion of training for 57 new constables. Police Minister Stuart Nash attended this afternoon's ceremony, where officers of Recruit Wing 337 were formally sworn in at the Royal New Zealand Police College without the normal support of ...
Mobile traders and truck shops must adhere to responsible lending requirements Interest rate cap on high-cost loans Lenders prohibited from offering further credit to an applicant who has taken two high-cost loans in the past 90 days The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, has signalled an end ...
94% of firms say wage subsidy had positive impact on cashflow 62% of firms say support helped to manage non-wage costs like rent A survey of business that have received the Government’s wage subsidy show it has played a significant role in saving jobs, and freed up cash flow to ...
New legislation introduced to Parliament today will support growth and assist businesses on the road to economic recovery, said Revenue Minister Stuart Nash. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020-21, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Bill proposes that businesses can get tax deductions for ‘feasibility expenditure’ on new investments,” said Mr ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson has welcomed the first release of funds from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced as part of Budget 2020. Sport NZ has announced that $4.6 million in funding will go to the Wellington Phoenix, NZ Warriors, Super Rugby teams and the ANZ Premiership ...
An iconic New Zealand tourism attraction and the country’s 31 Regional Tourism Organisations are the first recipients of support from the $400 million Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, to help position the sector for recovery from COVID-19, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The plan includes a Strategic Tourism Assets Protection ...
The Government will legislate to ensure businesses that suffered as a result of the COVID-19 response will get help to resolve disputes over commercial rent issues, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. A temporary amendment to the Property Law Act will insert a clause in commercial leases requiring a fair ...
The Minister for Small Business says new data from Xero highlights the urgency of prompt payment practices to small and medium enterprises as we move into economic recovery. Last month Government ministers wrote to significant private enterprises and the banking industry to request they join efforts by government agencies to ...
Young people in Waikato will be the first to have free access to period products in schools in another step to support children and young people in poverty,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. During term 3, the Ministry of Education will begin providing free period products to schools following the ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash has issued the following statement in response to charges filed against three Police officers this morning in the New Plymouth District Court. “Any incident involving a loss of life in Police custody is taken very seriously. The charges today reflect the gravity of the ...
$196 million for Crown Research Institutes $150 million for R&D loan scheme $33 million for Māori research and development opportunities $12 million for the Nationally Significant Collections and Databases $10 million to help maintain in-house capability at Callaghan Innovation New Zealand’s entrepreneurs, innovators and crown researchers will benefit from a ...
Further temporary changes to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) will support senior secondary school students whose teaching and learning have been disrupted by COVID-19. “The wellbeing of students and teachers is a priority. As we are all aware, COVID-19 has created massive disruption to the school system, and the Government ...
Minister for Racing Winston Peters today announced that the terms for the directors of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) have been extended to 30 June 2021. Due to the COVID-19 crisis the transition period has been extended to ensure that the Racing Industry Bill can complete its progress through ...
The deadline for landlords to include detailed information in their tenancy agreements about how their property meets the Healthy Homes Standards, so tenants can see the home they are renting is compliant, has been extended from 1 July 2020 to 1 December 2020. The Healthy Homes Standards became law on 1 July 2019. The Standards are ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little today announced details of further appointments to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. “I am pleased to announce Paula Rose QSO OStJ as Deputy Chief Commissioner for a term of five years commencing on 15 June 2020,” said Andrew Little. “I am also pleased to announce the ...
The Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) will pay costs of learners of all ages to undertake vocational education and training The fund will target support for areas of study and training that will give learners better employment prospects as New Zealand recovers from COVID-19 Apprentices working in all industries ...
The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will finally start to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution as it was originally intended to, because of changes announced today by the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw. The changes include a limit on the total emissions allowed within the ETS, rules to ensure ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List provides an abundance of examples that Pacific people’s leadership capability is unquestionable in Aotearoa. “The work and the individuals we acknowledge this year highlights the kind of visionary examples and dedicated community leadership that we need ...
The Government is backing a new $27 million project aimed at boosting sustainable horticulture production and New Zealand’s COVID-19 recovery efforts, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Our horticulture sector has long been one of New Zealand’s export star performers, contributing around $6 billion a year to our economy. During and ...
Applications have opened for 2021 Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships, which will support more Māori and women to pursue careers in forestry science, says Forestry Minister Shane Jones. “I’m delighted Te Uru Rākau is offering Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships for the third year running. These ...
The Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List once again highlights the dedication by many to looking after our native plants and wildlife, including incredible work to restore the populations of critically endangered birds says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Anne Richardson of Hororata has been made an Officer of the New ...
The Government will invest $10 million from the One Billion Trees Fund for large-scale planting to provide jobs in communities and improve the environment, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Forestry Minister Shane Jones have announced. New, more flexible funding criteria for applications will help up to 10 catchment groups plant ...
Organisations that support women are invited to apply to a new $1,000,000 fund as part of the Government’s COVID-19 response. “We know women, and organisations that support women, have been affected by COVID-19. This new money will ensure funding for groups that support women and women’s rights,” said Minister for ...
Healthier waterways are front and centre in a new project involving more than 300 King Country sheep, beef and dairy farmers. The Government is investing $844,000 in King Country River Care, a group that helps farmers to lift freshwater quality and farming practice, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Yesterday ...
A major funding package for libraries will allow them to play a far greater role in supporting their communities and people seeking jobs as part of the economic recovery from COVID-19. “Budget 2020 contains over $60 million of funding to protect library services and to protect jobs,” says Internal Affairs ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission. “Mr Gilbertson has considerable experience in the telecommunications industry and a strong reputation amongst his peers,” ...
The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have agreed to settle the pay equity claim for teacher aides, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This will see more than 22,000 teacher aides, mostly women, being valued and paid fairly for the work they do. “Teacher aides are frontline ...
Subcontractors will have greater certainty, more cashflow support and job security with new changes to retention payments under the Construction Contracts Act says Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa. A recent review of the retentions money regime showed that most of the building and construction sector is complying with ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have marked the first anniversary of the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership with a virtual Leaders’ Meeting today. The Enhanced Partnership, signed on 17 May 2019, provides the framework for cooperation across the four main areas of trade, defence and ...
On 17 May 2019, New Zealand and Singapore established an Enhanced Partnership to elevate our relations. The Enhanced Partnership – based on the four pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, and people-to-people links – has seen the long-standing relationship between our countries strengthen over the ...
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters has welcomed KiwiRail’s announcement that it is seeking a preferred shipyard to build two new rail-enabled ferries for the Cook Strait crossing. “This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger, better ships, with new technology are yet another ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Senior Lecturer in New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity US President Donald Trump delivered an address this week in which he threatened military action on the nation. Then he walked to the nearby St John’s Episcopal Church ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University Why do we burp? We sometimes also burp before meals, why does this happen? — Ahaana, age 7 That is a really interesting question, Ahaana! There ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Associate Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland After years of litigation, Australia’s highest court will today make a major decision on the fate of the controversial proposed expansion to the New Acland Coal mine in Queensland. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Williams, Associate Professor in Urban Ecology and Urban Horticulture, University of Melbourne Tomorrow is the first World Green Roof Day. Cities around the world will celebrate the well-documented environmental, economic and social benefits of green roofs. New ground-level green spaces are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Senior Lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Robodebt isn’t the only measure the government should consider withdrawing. Late last Friday, after a long press conference from the prime minister which avoided any mention of the topic, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Harvard University’s Alberto Alesina died suddenly of a heart attack on May 23. He was 63. His long-time colleague and friend Larry Summers wrote that before him, “there was no academic field of political economy. Today, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University What keeps democracies together? As America burns, Brazilians die and Europe braces for another wave of the coronavirus, the question assumes an alarming immediacy. If the answer is complicated in one way, it is ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Millions of dollars divvied up by Sport NZ, MSD’s problem with wrongly denied payments grows, and internal coalition battles emerge in time for election.It’s Friday, and there hasn’t been a lot of it recently, so we’re going to start with ...
The Government picks Waitomo caves as 'strategic tourism asset' and grants $4m to Tourism Holdings, boosting shares another 7.8 percent. Facebook staff and alumni revolt over Zuckerberg's inaction on Trump ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan NZ bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias.NON-FICTION 1 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) 2 Stop Surviving Start Fighting by Jazz Thornton (Penguin Random House, $38) 3 So Delish! by Simone Anderson ...
Anomalies in the policy for superannuitants with overseas pensions are an indictment on the justice process in New Zealand, write Susan St John and Dr Claire Dale Along with many others, the Retirement Policy and Research Centre has worked assiduously for more than a decade to alert the public, policy-makers ...
A new study indicates native plants, despite their tendency to grow more slowly than exotic species like Pinus Radiata, are better at storing carbon in the soil for longer periods of time. ...
Systemic white violence against black Americans is alive and well, and it's white violence that sustains white supremacy Current scenes from the United States are both familiar and shocking. George Floyd’s life being brutally snuffed out by Minneapolis police, followed by peaceful protests of Floyd’s murder as well as legitimate ...
The US isn't the only country with a broken criminal justice system that works to criminalise and destroy the lives of black and brown families. Dylan Asafo puts forward two ways NZ could lead in dismantling systems of white supremacy. If you were to imagine a society without racial oppression, ...
The British Tribe Next Door attracted over 60 complaints of racist themes from viewers when it first aired in the UK. Now TVNZ is streaming it on its OnDemand service attracting concerns from members of Aotearoa’s African community and a letter from race relations commissioner Meng Foon.When The British Tribe ...
When approached by The Spinoff Jeanette Wilson denied having told participants in an online session that the product ‘lined the lungs’, despite clear evidence to the contrary.The Covid-19 crisis has sparked misinformation in every corner of the world. In New Zealand, a “psychic healer” whose fixations read like a conspiracy ...
The union movement launched a push earlier this week to double the legal minimum of sick leave from five days a year to 10. Is a change likely?What’s all this then?In light of the recent global pandemic putting the focus on health in the workplace, unions have called for changes ...
An African American pastor from George Floyd's community gives The Detail a special insight into what's happening there - and gives us hope for the future. “Nobody in America wants to be a racist.” David Hill is a pastor in the Third Ward neighbourhood of Houston where George Floyd grew ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, last week effectively pronounced dead the prospect of a referendum on indigenous recognition being put to the people this parliamentary term, the demise of his hoped-for timetable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Morrison government will significantly strengthen its scrutiny of foreign investment to protect sensitive national security technology and information and further ring fence the nation’s critical infrastructure. It will insert a new “national security test” ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Does National have any chance of winning the election in September? It’s looking very unlikely, especially after National’s change of leadership hasn’t exactly produced Mullermania in the first two weeks. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I summarised in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne When a newspaper with the authority of The New York Times chooses to publish a party-political essay calculated to further inflame the violence wracking cities across America, serious questions arise. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Mathematics, University of Canterbury There is now a 95% chance COVID-19 has been eliminated in New Zealand, according to our modelling, based on official Ministry of Health data. As of June 4, New Zealand has had 20 consecutive ...
In 2014, Duncan Greive was invited to interview Dan Carter on the back of the All Black’s spokesmodelling gig for Jockey underwear – a meeting that would eventually lead to Greive co-writing Carter’s autobiography, My Story. To celebrate today’s big Dan Carter news, we republish that original Metro story here.In ...
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Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Rachel Taulelei, CEO of Kono.Demand for New Zealand produce overseas is currently up. ...
By Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie in Jakarta A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the Indonesian government’s decision to impose an internet blackout during weeks of protests in Papua and West Papua provinces last year, declaring ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Perhaps at no point in Australia’s history has the demand for real-time figures been stronger than during the coronavirus crisis. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stepped up its efforts to get data fast, to ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jolynna Sinanan, Research Fellow in Digital Media and Ethnography, University of Sydney Earlier this week, you might have seen your social media taken over by a stream of posts showing simple images of a black square. These posts, often tagged with #BlackoutTuesday, ...
A strong vote for sustainability would make the resulting Labour-Greens government a confident and ambitious reformer, having shed its NZ First handbrake ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick White, PhD Candidate in History and Politics, James Cook University Australia’s local governments breathed new life into embattled regional communities after the second world war. Today, this history reminds us of the role local councils and communities should play in plans ...
This bill proposes to provide for enhanced information disclosure requirements for the gas market and to ensure that settings around enforcement and penalties are suitably robust. The Gas (Information Disclosure and Penalties) Amendment Bill would do this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mick Broderick, Associate Professor of Media Analysis, Murdoch University Over successive Sunday nights, the ABC has premiered two important television programs recounting the history of nuclear testing in Australia – the documentary Maralinga Tjuratja and a six-drama series Operation Buffalo. Both explore ...
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With roughly 97% of New Zealand enterprises categorised as small businesses – that is, 20 or fewer employees – accounting software platform Xero’s newly released analysis provides a stark picture of the severe impact of Covid-19 throughout the sector.What exactly does the data show?Essentially, the data shows that year-on-year revenue ...
This week, on 1 June 2020, an interest rate cap on high-cost loans (over 50% interest per annum) was finally introduced in New Zealand. The introduction of an interest rate cap will help borrowers, like Sarah Newham, who presented to Select Committee ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lee, Associate Professor of History , UNSW The Conversation is running a series of explainers on key figures in Australian political history, looking at the way they changed the nature of debate, its impact then, and it relevance to politics today. ...
Labour-hire workers are falling between the cracks because neither the agencies they are employed by nor the host companies they work for want to take responsibility for them, FIRST Union said today. Dozens of agency workers have been contacting the ...
CEAC annual review of National Party climate change policy, makes miserable reading, and supports Government for elevating clean ‘Rail Transport’ over truck transport, for moving more freight onto rail, thereby keeping our CO2 ‘climate emissions’ ...
The biggest danger facing New Zealand under level one will the border. Justin Giovannetti looks at what the government is doing to increase border defences and prevent another influx of Covid-19.As the elimination of coronavirus appears imminent in New Zealand, the country’s attention turns to the border and the conflicting ...
The Government’s 5.3% increase in road user charges (RUC) from 1 July is a kick in the guts to the trucking industry that kept the country moving during lockdown and must be cancelled says the National Road Carriers Association. “It is unacceptable,” ...
From the Minister of Tourism came an announcement on the distribution of $400 million. He was outdone by the Minister for Research, Science and Technology, whose announcement involved a sum of $401.3m. Much more bemusing was the announcement from the PM headed Free period products in schools to combat poverty. ...
The charging of three officers of the Central Police District with homicide confirms community fears of police violence. The announcement of the charges comes as the United States of America is crippled by nationwide protests against the murder of ...
The Government’s recently announced Action for Healthy Waterways package includes protections and funding to improve the quality of New Zealand’s rivers, lakes, streams, estuaries, and wetlands. The package introduces new rules and regulations ...
The images of Minnesota policeman Derek Chauvin kneeling on a dying African-American man’s neck have ricocheted around the world. From Auckland to London, Christchurch to cities across the US, tens of thousands have marched in opposition to what is perceived as systemic police violence against one race. Chauvin’s charges have ...
With Rhys Darby returning to our small screens with a travel series documenting his wild travels around Japan, Tara Ward rounds up some more TVNZ shows that will take you from your armchair to locales far and wide. Rhys Darby is world famous for bringing walk socks to New York on ...
Sir Jerry Mateparae is extending his life of service to the NZ community, moving into the role of chair of Chair of the Healthier Lives−He Oranga Hauora National Science Challenge. He says the research being done in preventing some of the country’s worst diseases as fitting neatly with his own ...
E tū is calling for a serious harm investigation into the case of two security guards who were injured when a staff member was attacked at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. On 21 May, two security guards were stabbed with a pair of scissors when ...
Kiwi Rail CEO Greg Miller said he will not re-open the Gisborne rail service for freight and passenger services for the region, after eight years of closure even now after a yearlong PGF $600.000 study confirmed to the Government that the rail ...
Universal public compliance has been one of the major reasons why New Zealand has apparently been so successful in curbing the spread of the Covid19 virus. Fundamentally, people complied with the restrictions imposed during Alert Levels 4 and 3 because ...
Greenpeace wants New Zealand to become the first country in the world to ban plastic drinks bottles. Last year, after a huge public outcry, the NZ Government banned single use plastic bags. Now Greenpeace is launching a new campaign to "ban the bottle." ...
Pacific Media Centre A Papua New Guinea provincial governor has defending his actions for speaking up in Parliament yesterday on the government’s mooted proposal to extend the state of emergency (SoE) for two more months. Writing on social media, Governor Allan Bird of East Sepik cited instances of police abuse ...
Grey Power’s stance is that the global Covid-19 pandemic, as it has impinged on New Zealand, has highlighted existing problems within the Aged Care Sector and we suggest that if the promise by the Labour Party to fund an Aged Care Commissioner ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Carew, Lecturer, University of Melbourne During the coronavirus pandemic, have your kids been using headphones more than usual? Maybe for remote schooling, video chats with relatives, or for their favourite music and Netflix shows? We have to be careful about both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling When it comes to coronavirus cases, deaths and tests, Australia is performing better than many other countries with comparable populations and geographies, a new COVID-19 data visualisation reveals. Use the tool below, which uses data drawn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joelle Gergis, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, Australian National University As we slowly emerge from lockdown, local adventures are high on people’s wish lists. You may be planning a trip to the ski fields, or even the nearby hills to revel in ...
Open Mike 25/08/2017 
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Another study comparing effect in children from nonendemic areas (Dagang) and endemic fluorosis area (Jinghai) about 80km apart in the Tianjin area of China. Hardly sampling the same population. Anti-fluoride campaigners still use studies from ... 22 hours ago
George Thomson, Nick Wilson, Richard Edwards This blog discusses the passing of the Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Act last week. We briefly review some lessons from this legislation’s long journey and explore future smokefree possibilities in Aotearoa / New Zealand. A law ...1 day 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 … https://thestandard.org.nz/breaking-news-russell-norman-resigning-from-parliament/#comment-1069442 and here … https://thestandard.org.nz/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 https://thestandard.org.nz/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 https://thestandard.org.nz/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