John Key’s New Zealand was full of arrogant, smug Pakeha racists. The last time I heard such unabashed racism was before the 1981 Springbok tour. Their man might be long gone, but white racism (fueled on the North Shore by significant white South African immigration IMHO) has been emboldened.
I can’t believe the restraint shown to these racist assholes. They deserved a good hiding with a taiaha. That would have made for a salutary lesson on price to be paid for being an ignorant racist.
So some of them couldn’t understand the mihi, rather than listen, or feel the words spoken while watching body language and wait until they had finished speaking, someone got their knickers in a twist because they couldn’t understand the language.
It’s ego related, did the person feel stupid due to their lack of te reo knowledge which resulted in them packing a tantrum?
That’s what it looks like from where this white girl is sitting. Shame, makes him look even more stupid lololz.
Sanctuary, was listening to an old soldier on talk back the other night, he said te reo should have been taught in NZ schools 100 years ago. His reasoning/angle, from the self-confessed war veteran, both the Germans and Japanese had knowledge of the English language; if all the kiwi soldiers spoke Maori it would have given them a huge advantage, especially in Japanese POW camps.
So many reasons to learn the language, I thought the old soldiers’ angle was an interesting twist.
Used to live in Devonport, it’s rather awesome up Mt Vic, well worth the short, steep walk. Would be wicked as if it was developed/preserved, being in the middle of town, it would only enhance their community.
He he – the conversations in te reo might not have gone so well around the Japanese soldiers. When Derek Fox ( fluent te reo speaker) went to Japan on a scholarship some years back he was able to go to the fishing villages and have conversations with the locals because there is seemingly enough similarity in the languages to allow for this
I wish I could remember the details @Jan M that my brother related to me before his death – fluent in Te Reo and Christened in a church near Whanganui.
Once day I’ll search the attic.
Basically, a challenge between loyalties towards the House of the Rising Sun versus the House of the Rising Moon. Difficulties in determining whether they should remain with the coloniser they were already familiar with, or whether some other colonial power offering treats and trinkets might be better.
Dilemma dilemma.
(Then another option came along a lot later – dressed up as an ideology called neo-liberalism). It made more promises than both of the previous options and allowed one to feel good about not having to worry about trivial matters such as greed and avarice, the idea of a society, that various disparities are OK because we’re only committed to the self and our own ambitions, etc. etc.
@ Sanctuary ….. it’s what happens when your immigration policy is designed to be inherently classist/racist/imperialist.
You either have to have lots of filthy lucre (often ‘black’ in nature ready to be laundered), or come from somewhere your currency is worth substantially more than the $NZ
You should address your issues with “Chinese sounding” anything to the (possibly pseudonymous) bigoted racist shitbag “Simon Clark” in the report, who is reported at one point to have wibbled on about “Cantonese, Mandarin…” etc. languages.
“The day will come when we’ll look back on our role in Syria & conclude we’ve never done anything worse than being the Air Force, armourer & treasurer of ISIS/Al Qaeda and alphabet soup that has soaked the beautiful multicultural multi-faith Levantine Mediterranean land of Syria”
George Galloway
I read the Braunias one on poor picked on Paula. It was brilliant. I see that apparently Mallard has a vendetta against her. Nothing to do with the fact that as usual she hasn’t read the Parliamentary rules so doesn’t have to abide by them. So it’s poor little her fighting injustice and bullying yada yada etc. Saw Gerry being interviewed in foyer. Paula comes out of lift. Sees cameras. Big toothy smile. Ours her arms out and does a wiggle/Sashay and rushed over to stand by Gerry. Gerry kept talking. Paula elbows him out of the way and takes over interview. Hugely entertaining. And why is she always dressed as if she’s on her way to a cocktail party.? Spanxed to the Max.
More importantly. How in the hell did she get the position she’s in? It beggars belief.
“Oim leevung” (set to the descant)
“How long?” says the bovver boy
/probably as long as it takes for moi consultant to complete his ‘re-imaging’ of moi (going forward). En!!!!! en!!!! ez long ez Soimon tears me its OK. And now that I got me stomach under control and me truck stop mates realise who’s boss. the Whurl is Moi Oysta
Maybe a little Little Feet would be appropriate about now
Paula will have gone through the basic checks – white teeth, looks, good at twisting questions, ability to reply to questions with return questions or diversionary, retaliatory answer speed, prepared to attack or feint whatever needed, agreeable to makeover, botox, stomach stapling, whatever it takes. All the usual tests for National suitability for high office in politics.
Chris Trotter on Bowalley Road and The Daily Blog says that Trevor Mallard will be enjoying all this argy-bargy. Parliament’s Poacher-Turned-Gamekeeper: Mallard positively twinkles in the Speaker’s Chair. His many years in the Chamber have armed him against every trick in the Opposition play-book. Hardly surprising, since Mallard has, at one time or another, played every one of them. Knowing exactly what to expect, this parliamentary poacher-turned-gamekeeper lies in wait for the lumbering Nats and daily spoils their fun by dispensing a judicious measure of galling intellectual acuity and dead-eyed malice. https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2018/05/testing-speaker.html
26th May 2018, The Nation; – Lisa Owens was toxic to labour today on ‘the nation’ overtalking Megan Woods all the time.
Then in the next interview lisa Owens treated Judge Bancroft (The childrens commisioner) respect in the next interview with full time to answer questiomns without any ‘interjection’.
So Lisa Owens is pure ‘National biased’ and should be removed from The Nation as when she asked Megan Woods a question she did not give the same grace time to respond to her that she gave judge Bancroft.
What a sad watch The nation was and someone needs to place complaints about Lisa Owens over-baised unresonable interview of Labour MP for Energy Meagan Woods on 26/5/18 episode of “The Nation”.
Yes Lisa Owens was certainly on a rampage ‘roll’ today and we saw her do this overbearing ‘interjecting’ last year before the election when she treated Winston perters in the same overbearing manner, so today for the second time we sent another request to the Newshub ‘Compliaints comittee to request they review the eposode and ‘moderate her interview and to allow the same time to respond to her questions that she gives others as she did following the Megan Woods interview.
If they fail we will send the complaint on to Broadcasting Standards Authority as they have last year ruled on issues complants against the Newshub before last in 2017.
Generally Newshub are fine but sometimes are spoilt by self imposed biased views of some.
We do invite others to send a complaint to the Broadcast committee first as we have if they dont like seeing some MP’s given proper opportunity to explain the questions asked of them. standardscommittee@mediaworks.co.nz
When we make a complaint to a media outlet it is best to go to them first not as Alwyn wrongly suggests, – as you need to allow the media outlet to respond first otherwise you will be sent back from BSA to do just that we were advsed last year when we sent a complaint into BSA.
” it is best to go to them first not as Alwyn wrongly suggests”
You are quite correct that most complaints should start by going to the broadcaster first. I am sorry you took my comment confused you. That is all covered in the BSA link I pointed you to. https://bsa.govt.nz/complaints/making-a-complaint
It seemed somewhat unnecessary to repeat all that in a comment when it was all explained in the detailed exposition I referenced.
“someone needs to place complaints “.
Have you considered showing a little bit of initiative and doing it yourself?
Why, like so many on the left, do you always see things as being
“someone else’s” responsibility?
You make complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
It is all explained here. Go on “Just Do It”. https://bsa.govt.nz/complaints/making-a-complaint
“Yes we did already send our comoplaint so are you”.
Well congratulations. A man with the courage of his convictions.
Why didn’t you word your comment as calling on people to join you in that activity instead of being as if you were calling on people to do it for you?
Have I complained?
Of course not. I didn’t watch the program so complaining about it would be quite dishonest. In fact it would be just as dishonest as lying about someone you don’t know and describing them as “a national prop”.
But then smears and lying come very easily to you don’t they?
As for your claim
“What a nasty message you sent there”.
You really are easily offended aren’t you? I was merely, in my usual benevolent manner, trying to help you with something that you didn’t appear to know about.
“Next you’ll want to see what we sent”
Seems quite a good idea. Best you’ve had in ages. Why don’t you post a copy of the complaint you put in? That would no doubt help people who want to back up your complaint by giving them a model.
Come on. Post it here.
Why didn’t they word the comment as calling on people to join them in that activity instead of being as if they were calling on people to do it for them?
Probably assumed that anyone with an average level of literacy and comprehension would have thought that it was a call for people to join them in that activity. Average nine year old that is.
Haven’t seen it yet cleangreen – usually watch it on a Sunday. I don’t know what’s in the water at Flower Street these days, if it’s not Lisa Owen on The Nation, it’s Tova O’Brien and Jenny Lynch during the week equally as toxic and seemingly enjoying themselves. Now that I’m retired, not sufficiently wide awake in the mornings to be bothered with the AM Show either, sounds like it would do nothing to help the blood pressure!!
Yes we both were sitting there screaming at her (Lisa owens) when she cut-off Megan woods from responding to her questions.
It was a horrible experience that raised our blood pressue not really worthy of good media balance as it was one sided until Lisa was finished with Megan then she changed like a camelion and sat quietly listening to Judge Bancroft answers, as such a change.
He’ll also no doubt have the welcome mat out if Australia dumps their pseudo asylum seekers here and Ardern welcomes them with open arms.
Why are we rejecting people who actually seem to want to contribute to this country?
Is our Labour-led Government really still as racist as was the New Zealand Labour Party a hundred years ago? Was Clark’s apology merely a smokescreen and has Labour gone back to its roots. As Michael Joseph Savage demonstrated, and Twyford continues to show, bigotry against those with “Chinky” sounding names is very deeply ingrained in New Zealand’s parties of the left.
“In early 2002 Labour prime minister Helen Clark apologised to New Zealanders of Chinese descent for racist treatment through the immigration poll tax which was in place from 1881 to 1944. What she didn’t do, of course, was apologise for the Labour Party, whose early leaders and MPs were virulently anti-Chinese and who campaigned for expanding the White New Zealand policies and attempted to outdo the Liberal and Reform parties to see who could be most racist against the Chinese in the few years after the First World War leading up to the legislation of 1920 which shut off Chinese immigration to New Zealand.” https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/labours-racist-roots-2/
“Most were temporary migrants who arrived on student and work visas, experts believe. Immigration policy changes introduced last year have made it harder for temporary migrants to gain residency.”
Flashback to international students being exploited re their visa scandal under the previous government…
Also from the same article….
” Donny Lai, 50, a former university lecturer from Hong Kong, will next week be returning home with his wife and young son after three years of struggling to secure a decent job.
Lai describes himself as a “highly qualified IT professional” ande (lolz shabby proofreading at the herald) moved here in April 2015 because he believed the education system here was better for his 9-year-old son Justin.”
Looks like he is doing what’s best for his family by moving back home because he can’t find work here.
+100 and see above.
It’s interesting how the right continue to scream xenophobia and racism when the real racist, and classist policies were implemented – primarily around money and the almighty dollar.
The coalition government might not quite be there yet but at least they’ve recognised there is a problem with exploitation and treating people like shit – including Donny Lai and others (in that article and elsewhere). Ten years of crap policy takes a while to unpick.
That’s not to say I’m happy with current policy which still allows treating people like shit – unless of course they have loads of filthy (black) lucre or come from countries where the value of their dollars is sometimes worth double NZ’s.
Check out the intent of that ‘demogrphic profiling’ for example that the system and structure put in place under the past administration, and which thankfully got canned – at least officially – though it still exists by way of organisational culture.
By the way, if we/they (the government) really wanted to effectively reduce exploitation and immigration numbers ethically:
– they’d be penalising the exploiters not their victims,
such as by way of not bonding people to a specific employer; ensuring decent salaries and wages were paid; ensuring adequate oversight of immigration consultants – i.e. those claiming to be lawyers rather than having passed an exam or two; proper resourcing and monitoring of PTEs; rescinding the PR status of exploiters ripping off their victims and heavily fining those with citizenship.
– taxing the 10s of thousands of vacant properties that have been sold to foreign buyers and those that don’t live here – i.e. those bought simply as an investment by people who show no committment to the country, especially while we have a housing crisis and homelessness
– applying immigration rules equitably regardless of source country (whether 1st, 2nd or 3rd World)
– listening to a few advocacy groups, not JUST ‘officials’ who’ve spent the past decade designing and implementing the system and structure
– etc., et., etc. There’s a helluva lot of unpicking to do
I am jut impressed that Prime Minister Helen Clark leader of the Labour government could apologize as Prime Minister but not as leader of the Labour Party.
Such an existential quandary!
Alwyn, it’s not racist to talk about lowering immigration rates.
“Prime Minister but not as leader of the Labour Party.
Such an existential quandary”.
You might think it would be a quandary but then you are not the Prime Minister. For them it appears to be a necessary talent.
Clark, Key and Ardern never had the slightest difficulty in the problem you are talking about. They all claimed that they did some things as Prime Minister and others as leader of their parties. They generally did that when they wanted to avoid OIA requests.
I don’t know about English. I’m not saying he was innocent but off hand I don’t remember a case.
You appear to be saying that Prime Minister Helen Clark was not able to deliver an apology as both Prime Minister and political leader of the Labour Party because of the way an OIA request to her was responded to.
Could you spell out the relationship between Helen Clark’s Prime Ministerial OIA responses and her apology about discrimination against Chinese people throughout New Zealand history?
So allowing NZ chinese to be eligible for old age pension in 1936 was ‘virulently anti chinese’ ?
The poll tax was being waived by 1934 and abolished in 1944.
After 1939 wives and children of Chinese men in New Zealand were allowed temporary entry as refugees from war-torn China.
Labour party didnt form government till Nov 35 – the Lib/Reform govern delayed it by a year hoping to gain time.
So Labour is responsible for the racist laws passed by the Liberals and later Reform parties who united to form…..National
Some things never change…. labour is always responsible even from the opposition benches. No mention of the actual politicians in charge
The Irish Times exit poll points to a landslide win for Yes in the referendum to legalise abortion in Ireland. 68-32. Which is even bigger than 2015’s marriage equality vote of 62-38.
none of the above…..until such time as a comprehensive and long term plan is developed for the needs of society any funding mechanism will simply continue the mistaken belief that the problem is funds and not sustainability…..even then it will ultimately be impossible but it may provide for a considerably longer lived and more equitable arrangement.
Do the issues councils face ever get any smaller? Does Central Government regularly increase demands on local body councils? “Councils never lower the rates do they?
I see Gisborne has Napier is doing it too; – so we pay for their office upgrades but when we ask for “sustainable services”they will say, “we dont have money for that” ; – it makes us all sick.
still stuck in that ‘funding’ mentality …..do you even know what needs to be funded?…and at what scale?…and for how long?….and are they needs or wants?….and what resources are available?…..are those resources renewable or finite?
When society has determined that then you can worry about funding…and it applies at the global, national and local level
What needs to be funded, at what scale and for how long etc is largely determined in council’s long term plan.
And while the public does have input into that, they have little teeth. They have no direct voting power over it nor any veto options. Therefore, this can and should be improved.
While households and a number of businesses are struggling, we can’t continue to ignore the negative impacts of current funding mechanisms. And soaring council rates, which they themselves are becoming unsustainable for many.
Id suggest that all that demonstrates the problem…..nobody is able to articulate what is needed, resulting in an assertion that what we currently have is insufficient, poorly targeted and unaffordable with no answer except to say ‘more money’ll fix it”….no it wont…..comprende?
You’re right there, Pat. Merely throwing more money at it via excessive rate increases isn’t the solution, it’s one of the problems I’m highlighting.
Moreover, in many cases I don’t believe nobody is able to articulate what is needed. Sometimes, there will be a contest of ideas. Nevertheless, we do require a more democratic process of consensus.
I don’t believe that, Chair. The increasing pressure on councils (regional esp) to manage the increasing degradation of the environment costs money; increased and increasing fines for polluters is one approach and I’m a supporter of such action, providing it is fair.
People and their activities. Sh*t creates a lot of work for councils, for starters, then there’s getting water to places it doesn’t naturally go; it’s all very expensive and increasing. We are doing it wrong. I blame civilisation 🙂
“Speaking to a Queenstown Chamber of Commerce business breakfast, Mr Bridges said he was interested in economic models that would give the region the ability to make more decisions on how the local economy is managed.
“That way you would be looking at both sides of the equation, living with the consequences of income and expenditure.” Mr Bridges likened the idea to the cantons of Switzerland where local authorities have much more say over how many aspects of the economy are managed. He said he liked to call the concept “localism.””
Interesting concept, but. I think soimon should just step back a bit, and run the “what could go wrong here” test on his ideas.
The reason Municipalities are struggling to fund core services is two sided, Central Government has “devolved” functions to a local level and not kept up the funding along with finding much more for councils to do. The other is a bureaucratic machine that devotes it’s energy to NOT fund things, especially under a National or National Lite government. We get smacked in Queenstown with this because a service will reach breaking point at the peak of a cycle, and by the time a project to resolve the issue gets to funding stage the cycle has eased, demand subsided and the bureaucrats say “what’s the problem, don’t need to fund this” So the Kawarau Bridge replacement kicked around for 30 years.
PS For 6 min of defensive politicking, and making promises he’s got no chance of keeping, check the video at the bottom of the link.
While I agree central Government are adding to council costs, we can’t overlook the impact that reckless and extravagant expenditure is adding. Nor the expense of the bureaucratic machine itself.
Therefore, reducing costs and expenditure while also looking at more progressive means of funding is what is required.
Depends entirely on whether the different caucus factions were voting for him rather than against the other factions. Voting for the least-worst in their eyes might not mean voting for the most competent.
And if he doesn’t grow into the role, they can have another tilt later with a thinner herd to compete against.
So not so much a single plan, as him lucking out on the expedient independent decisions of others. It could just as easily have been mercenary mark, who couldn’t even handle 7Days without pity points.
“As a result, US lawmakers needed to consider whether New Zealand should be kicked out of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance because of problems at its “political core”
Yes please!!! Throw us out of the “Five eyes spy game network” please do; – as I dont want our country being a spy for any other counrty as we were under “Planet key”
“However, he said New Zealand “have denied that there’s a problem at all” and failed to follow Australia’s lead in setting up an inquiry into China’s activities.”
Lol the one thing this Labour Party won’t hold an inquiry into.
“The bombshell testimony included claims from a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst that “anything on China that was briefed to Bill English was briefed to Mr Yang Jian”, the National MP revealed last year as having trained spies for China.”
Ignoring the geoploitical aspects of hawkish claims misleading US congress, and also ignoring the civil liberties aspects of global intelligence surveillance, I’d like to see us kicked out of Five Eyes if only to watch paranoiacs and serious commenters alike express concerns about “Four Eyes”.
You can’t maintain an air of mystery if you share the nickname bestowed by school-yard bullies.
I’m sorry for a comment that isn’t related to the thread.
Hi standardistas. I know you have differences with people in New Zealand. But today a man in England was sentenced to death by the Tory government run by the Israeli interests in England for standing up for the working class girls of England.
This is bipartisan issue. If a Tory government can arrest people and sentence and imprison them within the hour for speech in the United Kingtom for standing up for British working class girls who were raped under Labour we are in dire straights.
Please stand up for free speech. Stand up for Tommy Robinson, defending the working class girls who were sacrificed to diversity.
The working class in England should be marching in the streets. This is bipartisan, genuine fascism. You want to see real fascism? Here it is.
I’m going to be doing daily posts on Tommy Robinson.
The British government and the overall British ruling class have no mandate by the British people. They have suspended their relations with the British people. They should be regarded as an illegitimate government ruling by force and their supposed authority should be suspended and they should be regarded as adversaries of the British people.
The people of England need to start arming themselves with anything they can find. This is real. This is terrifying. And justice needs to be served.
The rape of 1 million girls by the English ruling class deserves justice.
I hope that justice comes for the English ruling class, whatever form it takes. The English ruling class are aliens to England. I won’t state why, but they are not English. They are of another group of people who have a different agenda to the English.
Every day, I’m going to start writing about the English government and what it is doing.
New Zealand needs to put pressure on this regime and start divesting ourselves of the relationship until they restore the rule of law and the freedoms of western institutions to England.
God bless the English.
Everyone on the left in New Zealand needs to start looking at Tory fascism in England and the suspension of the rights and rule of law and persecution of brave men speaking out on behalf of the British working class.
1 million of these girls were raped. I’d gladly march with any one of you to free Great Britain from it’s ruling classes.
[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.]
[I’ve no idea why a comment supporting ex English Defense League joker got through on a thread about homelessness. I can’t be bothered to read the entire comment – suspect it should be trashed – but will leave sitting around here for now] – Bill
upandcomer…….are you talking about tommy robinson aka stephen yaxley, aka stephen lennon, aka andrew mcmaster, aka paul harris the far-right wing activist?
He’s done MANY lags before, mostly for violence, and a bit of fraud.
Lolz while doing time at Winchester Prison….. Robinson made friends with several Muslim prisoners. “Great lads … I cannot speak highly enough of the Muslim inmates I’m now living with”, he added at the time.
He’ll be fine in the big house, doubt he’s losing any sleep over it.
Far out dude…. where are you getting your shite info?
Here’s an even better idea: take your vile, fake, Islamophobic bullshit and ram it up your arse sideways. Then go and apologise to the family of Makram Ali, who was murdered by one of Robinson’s followers.
Good Morning The hui I say that there should be a majority of Iwi tangata whenua should have a say on there Waitangi Treaty settlement . There is still a lot of whenua that is not in the right Tupna ownership /caretakers hands .So I say Iwi should have the backing of hapu before Treaty Settlements are settled . P.S Ka Pai Wahine Maori those old men will change there minds on the Equal rights of Wahine
Ka kite ano
Eco Maori is starting this conversation I want a law that Maori Whenua can not be sold only leased to Preserve te Whenua for te mokopunas after all we are only caretakers of Whenua its te Mokopunas future that counts in my book. Ka kite ano music link
The Moko Kauae I was to busy to comment wisely on this topic its a Maori cultured Wahine birth right to have a moko kauae before one gets the moko kauae its was traditionally the kaumatua to whom one ask for there blessing on one getting a moko .
The men its was birth right or if one achieved some great task for te tangata to have the blessing of the kaumatua to get a ta moko .
I believe that I have achieved some great achievements as Eco Maori one man has told me this who I trust but untill most kaumatua tell me this I will not get my ta moko ie the blessing of te tangata. Ka kite ano link is below .
Good evening Newshub Tova those people that were ask how they think Winston Peters will do as temporary Prime Minister were all clearly national voters enough said. Does know one want to talk about the fines the sandflys let there European m8 off and hammer the brown tangata discrimination at its best .Theirs a couple of phenomenons that’s happening because the sandflys are so intent on harnessing Eco Maori ???????????
Ka pai to the Leaders Kim jong-u and Moon for there actions.
Its a good weekend of sports I quite like coach Hansen comments
With the League the Warriors will get there game on out when it counts .
Its a bit warmer this year than last year no.
Ka kite ano
About bloody time that 4th estate are starting dig around about this sorry state of affairs and I hope they start asking some very hard questions at Carter, Guy and Fed Farmers also I’ll like to see Jandals have a Royal Commission on what, where, when, why and how we the nation got to this point as someone or people should get a ****ing Ass kicking.
The so-called custodians of the Land probably need to take a very long look at themselves for the bloody mess they have caused to this once great country of ours and talk about shitting on ones nest.
No bloody wonder that Bridges is MIA on this one atm.
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Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
“As we head into one of the busiest times of the year for Police, and family violence and sexual violence response services, it’s a good time to remind everyone what to do if they experience violence or are worried about others,” Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence ...
Kiwis planning a swim or heading out on a boat this summer should remember to stop and think about water safety, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop and ACC and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand’s beaches, lakes and rivers are some of the most beautiful in the ...
The Government is urging Kiwis to drive safely this summer and reminding motorists that Police will be out in force to enforce the road rules, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This time of year can be stressful and result in poor decision-making on our roads. Whether you are travelling to see ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji MP Lynda Tabuya has been dismissed as the country’s Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said in a statement that in light of the recent events concerning the conduct of Lynda Tabuya, and in consideration of: the Oath she has taken ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent, French Pacific desk New Caledonia’s territorial government has been toppled on Christmas Eve, due to a mass resignation within its ranks. Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier said he was resigning from the cabinet, with immediate effect. Katidjo-Monnier was the sole representative from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Clarke, Senior Lecturer in History, specialising in built heritage and material culture, University of the Sunshine Coast Big Things first appeared in Australia in the 1960s, beginning with the Big Scotsman (1962) in Medindie, South Australia, the Big Banana (1964) in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By H. Peter Soyer, Professor of Dermatology, The University of Queensland Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock Australia has one of the highest skin cancer rates globally, with nearly 19,000 Australians diagnosed with invasive melanoma – the most lethal type of skin cancer – each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacquie Rand, Emeritus Professor of Companion Animal Health, The University of Queensland Elena Vorman/Shutterstock Learning a pet has diabetes can be a shock. Sadly, about 20% of diabetic cats and dogs are euthanised within a year of diagnosis due to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Hadigheh, Senior Lecturer, Structural Engineering, University of Sydney Pavel1964/Shutterstock In the early days of the modern Olympics and Paralympics, athletes competed using heavy, non-aerodynamic equipment. The record for throwing a javelin, for instance, has almost doubled since 1908, when the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW Sydney MarKord/Shutterstock Many swimming schools have temporarily closed for the summer holidays. But this doesn’t mean you should take a break from helping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthea Gerrard, Assistant Professor of Law, Bond University ELEVATE/Pexels Beer has existed for thousands of years. It was the drink of choice in ancient Egypt, in northern Europe in the Middle Ages and, of course, remains popular around the world ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruari Elkington, Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries & Chief Investigator at QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Queensland University of Technology Dendy Powerhouse Outdoor Cinema In December 1916, as war raged in Europe, an entrepreneurial pearl diver took a chance on ...
Alex Casey chats to David Lomas about the art of finding needles in haystacks.The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.There are around 100 ...
Summer reissue: Megan Dunn’s mer-moir, The Mermaid Chronicles, is an immersive, moving and funny search for the meaning of mermaids and the anchors of interests and family in the ebb and flow of life. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these ...
Summer reissue: The groundbreaking show has had mixed reviews over the past two decades. Madeleine Chapman revisits a classic. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member ...
Summer reissue: After three decades of inhaling American-dominated, disproportionately New York-based media, Sharon Lam’s first time in the city became a traipse through a collage of movie sets rather than any real place.The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds ...
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John Key’s New Zealand was full of arrogant, smug Pakeha racists. The last time I heard such unabashed racism was before the 1981 Springbok tour. Their man might be long gone, but white racism (fueled on the North Shore by significant white South African immigration IMHO) has been emboldened.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/104218555/please-speak-in-a-language-99-of-us-understand-racist-remarks-derail-maunga-meeting
I can’t believe the restraint shown to these racist assholes. They deserved a good hiding with a taiaha. That would have made for a salutary lesson on price to be paid for being an ignorant racist.
Nice generalisations, smears and bigotry Sanctuary plus an added bonus for the call to violence.
When was the last Haka party at the Auckland Engineering School again?
How should I know ?
Hahahahahaha
Have you been smoking your own psilocybine tainted crud ?
I sure remember those – without smoking much more than a Peter Stuyvesant mild filter fag back in the day. They were pathetic.
So some of them couldn’t understand the mihi, rather than listen, or feel the words spoken while watching body language and wait until they had finished speaking, someone got their knickers in a twist because they couldn’t understand the language.
It’s ego related, did the person feel stupid due to their lack of te reo knowledge which resulted in them packing a tantrum?
That’s what it looks like from where this white girl is sitting. Shame, makes him look even more stupid lololz.
Sanctuary, was listening to an old soldier on talk back the other night, he said te reo should have been taught in NZ schools 100 years ago. His reasoning/angle, from the self-confessed war veteran, both the Germans and Japanese had knowledge of the English language; if all the kiwi soldiers spoke Maori it would have given them a huge advantage, especially in Japanese POW camps.
So many reasons to learn the language, I thought the old soldiers’ angle was an interesting twist.
Used to live in Devonport, it’s rather awesome up Mt Vic, well worth the short, steep walk. Would be wicked as if it was developed/preserved, being in the middle of town, it would only enhance their community.
He he – the conversations in te reo might not have gone so well around the Japanese soldiers. When Derek Fox ( fluent te reo speaker) went to Japan on a scholarship some years back he was able to go to the fishing villages and have conversations with the locals because there is seemingly enough similarity in the languages to allow for this
🙂 Jan 🙂 what a crack up lolololz 🙂
I wish I could remember the details @Jan M that my brother related to me before his death – fluent in Te Reo and Christened in a church near Whanganui.
Once day I’ll search the attic.
Basically, a challenge between loyalties towards the House of the Rising Sun versus the House of the Rising Moon. Difficulties in determining whether they should remain with the coloniser they were already familiar with, or whether some other colonial power offering treats and trinkets might be better.
Dilemma dilemma.
(Then another option came along a lot later – dressed up as an ideology called neo-liberalism). It made more promises than both of the previous options and allowed one to feel good about not having to worry about trivial matters such as greed and avarice, the idea of a society, that various disparities are OK because we’re only committed to the self and our own ambitions, etc. etc.
Thanks for sharing Tim, that’s really interesting, what a fascinating narrative. Please do search the attic sometime 🙂
@ Sanctuary ….. it’s what happens when your immigration policy is designed to be inherently classist/racist/imperialist.
You either have to have lots of filthy lucre (often ‘black’ in nature ready to be laundered), or come from somewhere your currency is worth substantially more than the $NZ
Mind you, I don’t think the idea of passing on public land to tribal entities that, as always, restrict access.
“John Key’s New Zealand was full of arrogant, smug Pakeha racists”
Would you prefer they moved on to people with “Chinese sounding names”?
But I laugh that you are going about racist then pick out one particular race to blame it on.
You should address your issues with “Chinese sounding” anything to the (possibly pseudonymous) bigoted racist shitbag “Simon Clark” in the report, who is reported at one point to have wibbled on about “Cantonese, Mandarin…” etc. languages.
:… who is reported at one point to have wibbled on about “Cantonese, Mandarin…” etc. languages…”
The other language he mentioned was “Eskimo”, a racist term in itself which nicely revealed the depths of his miserably ignorant racism.
No its not. Yes the various tribes, Iñupiat, Inuit and Yupik have their own names and arent just a single people.
“Eskimo” derives from phrases that Algonquin tribes used for their northern neighbors”
“a person who laces a snowshoe” and isnt a derogatory term
Want to know what’s really going on in the world.
Listen to George Galloway’s show.
George Galloway: “The truth about Syria is finally being told.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nBFgANaAQ0M
I’m starting to think your Galloway. Sending out your daily have you read my post today “I’m brilliant”.
Have you seen the videos of him crawling around pretending to be a pussy cat? – best thing he’s put out imho.
“The day will come when we’ll look back on our role in Syria & conclude we’ve never done anything worse than being the Air Force, armourer & treasurer of ISIS/Al Qaeda and alphabet soup that has soaked the beautiful multicultural multi-faith Levantine Mediterranean land of Syria”
George Galloway
On a lighter note Steve Braunius has a wicked item on our favourite Paula Bennett.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12058347
I read the Braunias one on poor picked on Paula. It was brilliant. I see that apparently Mallard has a vendetta against her. Nothing to do with the fact that as usual she hasn’t read the Parliamentary rules so doesn’t have to abide by them. So it’s poor little her fighting injustice and bullying yada yada etc. Saw Gerry being interviewed in foyer. Paula comes out of lift. Sees cameras. Big toothy smile. Ours her arms out and does a wiggle/Sashay and rushed over to stand by Gerry. Gerry kept talking. Paula elbows him out of the way and takes over interview. Hugely entertaining. And why is she always dressed as if she’s on her way to a cocktail party.? Spanxed to the Max.
More importantly. How in the hell did she get the position she’s in? It beggars belief.
“Oim leevung” (set to the descant)
“How long?” says the bovver boy
/probably as long as it takes for moi consultant to complete his ‘re-imaging’ of moi (going forward). En!!!!! en!!!! ez long ez Soimon tears me its OK. And now that I got me stomach under control and me truck stop mates realise who’s boss. the Whurl is Moi Oysta
Maybe a little Little Feet would be appropriate about now
The list of drivers is short
..
What keeps types such as PB going…it’s not her own energy…
Dark energy keeps certain types performing the way she does…
Apply same to [name the politician/business person]
Only now do you recognise the true power of the Dark Side of the Force!
Paula will have gone through the basic checks – white teeth, looks, good at twisting questions, ability to reply to questions with return questions or diversionary, retaliatory answer speed, prepared to attack or feint whatever needed, agreeable to makeover, botox, stomach stapling, whatever it takes. All the usual tests for National suitability for high office in politics.
Chris Trotter on Bowalley Road and The Daily Blog says that Trevor Mallard will be enjoying all this argy-bargy.
Parliament’s Poacher-Turned-Gamekeeper: Mallard positively twinkles in the Speaker’s Chair. His many years in the Chamber have armed him against every trick in the Opposition play-book. Hardly surprising, since Mallard has, at one time or another, played every one of them. Knowing exactly what to expect, this parliamentary poacher-turned-gamekeeper lies in wait for the lumbering Nats and daily spoils their fun by dispensing a judicious measure of galling intellectual acuity and dead-eyed malice.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2018/05/testing-speaker.html
26th May 2018, The Nation; – Lisa Owens was toxic to labour today on ‘the nation’ overtalking Megan Woods all the time.
Then in the next interview lisa Owens treated Judge Bancroft (The childrens commisioner) respect in the next interview with full time to answer questiomns without any ‘interjection’.
So Lisa Owens is pure ‘National biased’ and should be removed from The Nation as when she asked Megan Woods a question she did not give the same grace time to respond to her that she gave judge Bancroft.
What a sad watch The nation was and someone needs to place complaints about Lisa Owens over-baised unresonable interview of Labour MP for Energy Meagan Woods on 26/5/18 episode of “The Nation”.
Yes, when she’s on a roll to try and destroy a politician from the left she reminds me of a vulture with those beady eyes and pokey fingers -ugh!
JanM;
Yes Lisa Owens was certainly on a rampage ‘roll’ today and we saw her do this overbearing ‘interjecting’ last year before the election when she treated Winston perters in the same overbearing manner, so today for the second time we sent another request to the Newshub ‘Compliaints comittee to request they review the eposode and ‘moderate her interview and to allow the same time to respond to her questions that she gives others as she did following the Megan Woods interview.
If they fail we will send the complaint on to Broadcasting Standards Authority as they have last year ruled on issues complants against the Newshub before last in 2017.
Generally Newshub are fine but sometimes are spoilt by self imposed biased views of some.
We do invite others to send a complaint to the Broadcast committee first as we have if they dont like seeing some MP’s given proper opportunity to explain the questions asked of them.
standardscommittee@mediaworks.co.nz
When we make a complaint to a media outlet it is best to go to them first not as Alwyn wrongly suggests, – as you need to allow the media outlet to respond first otherwise you will be sent back from BSA to do just that we were advsed last year when we sent a complaint into BSA.
” it is best to go to them first not as Alwyn wrongly suggests”
You are quite correct that most complaints should start by going to the broadcaster first. I am sorry you took my comment confused you. That is all covered in the BSA link I pointed you to.
https://bsa.govt.nz/complaints/making-a-complaint
It seemed somewhat unnecessary to repeat all that in a comment when it was all explained in the detailed exposition I referenced.
Russel Norman was stellar as always on the following panel relating to Megan’s interview, he was excellent.
The story about MMP was not a good look for the tories.
Missed the interview with Megan, I quite like Lisa Owen, will check it out later.
“someone needs to place complaints “.
Have you considered showing a little bit of initiative and doing it yourself?
Why, like so many on the left, do you always see things as being
“someone else’s” responsibility?
You make complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
It is all explained here. Go on “Just Do It”.
https://bsa.govt.nz/complaints/making-a-complaint
Alwyn;
What a nasty message you sent there.
We see you just as a pure biased national stooge it seems.
Yes we did already send our comoplaint so are you?
OOpppps of course not; – as you are a national prop, how could i forget that!!!!
Next you’ll want to see what we sent?
“Yes we did already send our comoplaint so are you”.
Well congratulations. A man with the courage of his convictions.
Why didn’t you word your comment as calling on people to join you in that activity instead of being as if you were calling on people to do it for you?
Have I complained?
Of course not. I didn’t watch the program so complaining about it would be quite dishonest. In fact it would be just as dishonest as lying about someone you don’t know and describing them as “a national prop”.
But then smears and lying come very easily to you don’t they?
As for your claim
“What a nasty message you sent there”.
You really are easily offended aren’t you? I was merely, in my usual benevolent manner, trying to help you with something that you didn’t appear to know about.
“Next you’ll want to see what we sent”
Seems quite a good idea. Best you’ve had in ages. Why don’t you post a copy of the complaint you put in? That would no doubt help people who want to back up your complaint by giving them a model.
Come on. Post it here.
Why didn’t they word the comment as calling on people to join them in that activity instead of being as if they were calling on people to do it for them?
Probably assumed that anyone with an average level of literacy and comprehension would have thought that it was a call for people to join them in that activity. Average nine year old that is.
Haven’t seen it yet cleangreen – usually watch it on a Sunday. I don’t know what’s in the water at Flower Street these days, if it’s not Lisa Owen on The Nation, it’s Tova O’Brien and Jenny Lynch during the week equally as toxic and seemingly enjoying themselves. Now that I’m retired, not sufficiently wide awake in the mornings to be bothered with the AM Show either, sounds like it would do nothing to help the blood pressure!!
Jilly bee,
Yes we both were sitting there screaming at her (Lisa owens) when she cut-off Megan woods from responding to her questions.
It was a horrible experience that raised our blood pressue not really worthy of good media balance as it was one sided until Lisa was finished with Megan then she changed like a camelion and sat quietly listening to Judge Bancroft answers, as such a change.
It was frustrating really.
Don’t give in to the emotional drama, cleangreen…
That is the purpose of scripted and managed media…
It exists on the energy of those who feed it…
Fearless Phil Twyford will be chortling away happily to himself this morning.
He can now start talking again about how he is going to save New Zealand from the Yellow Peril.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12057851
He’ll also no doubt have the welcome mat out if Australia dumps their pseudo asylum seekers here and Ardern welcomes them with open arms.
Why are we rejecting people who actually seem to want to contribute to this country?
Is our Labour-led Government really still as racist as was the New Zealand Labour Party a hundred years ago? Was Clark’s apology merely a smokescreen and has Labour gone back to its roots. As Michael Joseph Savage demonstrated, and Twyford continues to show, bigotry against those with “Chinky” sounding names is very deeply ingrained in New Zealand’s parties of the left.
“In early 2002 Labour prime minister Helen Clark apologised to New Zealanders of Chinese descent for racist treatment through the immigration poll tax which was in place from 1881 to 1944. What she didn’t do, of course, was apologise for the Labour Party, whose early leaders and MPs were virulently anti-Chinese and who campaigned for expanding the White New Zealand policies and attempted to outdo the Liberal and Reform parties to see who could be most racist against the Chinese in the few years after the First World War leading up to the legislation of 1920 which shut off Chinese immigration to New Zealand.”
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/labours-racist-roots-2/
alwyn, From that article you posted….
“Most were temporary migrants who arrived on student and work visas, experts believe. Immigration policy changes introduced last year have made it harder for temporary migrants to gain residency.”
Flashback to international students being exploited re their visa scandal under the previous government…
Also from the same article….
” Donny Lai, 50, a former university lecturer from Hong Kong, will next week be returning home with his wife and young son after three years of struggling to secure a decent job.
Lai describes himself as a “highly qualified IT professional” ande (lolz shabby proofreading at the herald) moved here in April 2015 because he believed the education system here was better for his 9-year-old son Justin.”
Looks like he is doing what’s best for his family by moving back home because he can’t find work here.
+100 and see above.
It’s interesting how the right continue to scream xenophobia and racism when the real racist, and classist policies were implemented – primarily around money and the almighty dollar.
The coalition government might not quite be there yet but at least they’ve recognised there is a problem with exploitation and treating people like shit – including Donny Lai and others (in that article and elsewhere). Ten years of crap policy takes a while to unpick.
That’s not to say I’m happy with current policy which still allows treating people like shit – unless of course they have loads of filthy (black) lucre or come from countries where the value of their dollars is sometimes worth double NZ’s.
Check out the intent of that ‘demogrphic profiling’ for example that the system and structure put in place under the past administration, and which thankfully got canned – at least officially – though it still exists by way of organisational culture.
By the way, if we/they (the government) really wanted to effectively reduce exploitation and immigration numbers ethically:
– they’d be penalising the exploiters not their victims,
such as by way of not bonding people to a specific employer; ensuring decent salaries and wages were paid; ensuring adequate oversight of immigration consultants – i.e. those claiming to be lawyers rather than having passed an exam or two; proper resourcing and monitoring of PTEs; rescinding the PR status of exploiters ripping off their victims and heavily fining those with citizenship.
– taxing the 10s of thousands of vacant properties that have been sold to foreign buyers and those that don’t live here – i.e. those bought simply as an investment by people who show no committment to the country, especially while we have a housing crisis and homelessness
– applying immigration rules equitably regardless of source country (whether 1st, 2nd or 3rd World)
– listening to a few advocacy groups, not JUST ‘officials’ who’ve spent the past decade designing and implementing the system and structure
– etc., et., etc. There’s a helluva lot of unpicking to do
I am jut impressed that Prime Minister Helen Clark leader of the Labour government could apologize as Prime Minister but not as leader of the Labour Party.
Such an existential quandary!
Alwyn, it’s not racist to talk about lowering immigration rates.
It’s all in how it’s done.
“Prime Minister but not as leader of the Labour Party.
Such an existential quandary”.
You might think it would be a quandary but then you are not the Prime Minister. For them it appears to be a necessary talent.
Clark, Key and Ardern never had the slightest difficulty in the problem you are talking about. They all claimed that they did some things as Prime Minister and others as leader of their parties. They generally did that when they wanted to avoid OIA requests.
I don’t know about English. I’m not saying he was innocent but off hand I don’t remember a case.
You appear to be saying that Prime Minister Helen Clark was not able to deliver an apology as both Prime Minister and political leader of the Labour Party because of the way an OIA request to her was responded to.
Could you spell out the relationship between Helen Clark’s Prime Ministerial OIA responses and her apology about discrimination against Chinese people throughout New Zealand history?
Anti chinese ?
So allowing NZ chinese to be eligible for old age pension in 1936 was ‘virulently anti chinese’ ?
The poll tax was being waived by 1934 and abolished in 1944.
After 1939 wives and children of Chinese men in New Zealand were allowed temporary entry as refugees from war-torn China.
Labour party didnt form government till Nov 35 – the Lib/Reform govern delayed it by a year hoping to gain time.
So Labour is responsible for the racist laws passed by the Liberals and later Reform parties who united to form…..National
Some things never change…. labour is always responsible even from the opposition benches. No mention of the actual politicians in charge
Trump trolls Ad,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/25/donald-trump-north-korea-summit-reversal
The Irish Times exit poll points to a landslide win for Yes in the referendum to legalise abortion in Ireland. 68-32. Which is even bigger than 2015’s marriage equality vote of 62-38.
Dont get too excited
The new law will only be equal to NZs current restrictive system, rather than ‘a womens choice’
Ever increasing council rates are adding to the cost of home ownership and high rents.
Councils nationwide are facing public furore over rate rises.
What is the solution?
Should council rates be abolished and replaced with funding via income tax?
Should local Mayors, CEOs and councilors be replaced by local Ministers within central Government?
Should local residents be able to vote on the prioritization of expenditure?
none of the above…..until such time as a comprehensive and long term plan is developed for the needs of society any funding mechanism will simply continue the mistaken belief that the problem is funds and not sustainability…..even then it will ultimately be impossible but it may provide for a considerably longer lived and more equitable arrangement.
100% Pat correctly said.
“the mistaken belief that the problem is funds and not sustainability”
Councils never lower the rates ever do they?
Do the issues councils face ever get any smaller? Does Central Government regularly increase demands on local body councils? “Councils never lower the rates do they?
Unless “sustainability” is going to cost far less, funding will continue to be a problem, Pat.
I notice they never struggle to build new council HQs. Comes down to priorities.
Indeed, Stuart.
True too Stuart;
I see Gisborne has Napier is doing it too; – so we pay for their office upgrades but when we ask for “sustainable services”they will say, “we dont have money for that” ; – it makes us all sick.
still stuck in that ‘funding’ mentality …..do you even know what needs to be funded?…and at what scale?…and for how long?….and are they needs or wants?….and what resources are available?…..are those resources renewable or finite?
When society has determined that then you can worry about funding…and it applies at the global, national and local level
What needs to be funded, at what scale and for how long etc is largely determined in council’s long term plan.
And while the public does have input into that, they have little teeth. They have no direct voting power over it nor any veto options. Therefore, this can and should be improved.
While households and a number of businesses are struggling, we can’t continue to ignore the negative impacts of current funding mechanisms. And soaring council rates, which they themselves are becoming unsustainable for many.
Id suggest that all that demonstrates the problem…..nobody is able to articulate what is needed, resulting in an assertion that what we currently have is insufficient, poorly targeted and unaffordable with no answer except to say ‘more money’ll fix it”….no it wont…..comprende?
You’re right there, Pat. Merely throwing more money at it via excessive rate increases isn’t the solution, it’s one of the problems I’m highlighting.
Moreover, in many cases I don’t believe nobody is able to articulate what is needed. Sometimes, there will be a contest of ideas. Nevertheless, we do require a more democratic process of consensus.
How could a Regional Council reduce its investment (financial) in science around water quality?
Why do you believe council’s investment in water quality requires reducing, Robert?
They could look at attaining better efficiency. They could look at increasing fines for polluters, offsetting the cost of investment.
I don’t believe that, Chair. The increasing pressure on councils (regional esp) to manage the increasing degradation of the environment costs money; increased and increasing fines for polluters is one approach and I’m a supporter of such action, providing it is fair.
What do you believe is driving this increasing degradation and increasing pressure on councils, Robert?
People and their activities. Sh*t creates a lot of work for councils, for starters, then there’s getting water to places it doesn’t naturally go; it’s all very expensive and increasing. We are doing it wrong. I blame civilisation 🙂
What would you prescribe, Robert?
Effluent to fuel?
The leader of the opposition was in Queenstown last week, while his deputy was throwing her toys in the house, talking about regional funding.
https://crux.org.nz/community/simon-bridges-pushes-more-local-autonomy-for-southern-lakes/
“Speaking to a Queenstown Chamber of Commerce business breakfast, Mr Bridges said he was interested in economic models that would give the region the ability to make more decisions on how the local economy is managed.
“That way you would be looking at both sides of the equation, living with the consequences of income and expenditure.” Mr Bridges likened the idea to the cantons of Switzerland where local authorities have much more say over how many aspects of the economy are managed. He said he liked to call the concept “localism.””
Interesting concept, but. I think soimon should just step back a bit, and run the “what could go wrong here” test on his ideas.
The reason Municipalities are struggling to fund core services is two sided, Central Government has “devolved” functions to a local level and not kept up the funding along with finding much more for councils to do. The other is a bureaucratic machine that devotes it’s energy to NOT fund things, especially under a National or National Lite government. We get smacked in Queenstown with this because a service will reach breaking point at the peak of a cycle, and by the time a project to resolve the issue gets to funding stage the cycle has eased, demand subsided and the bureaucrats say “what’s the problem, don’t need to fund this” So the Kawarau Bridge replacement kicked around for 30 years.
PS For 6 min of defensive politicking, and making promises he’s got no chance of keeping, check the video at the bottom of the link.
While I agree central Government are adding to council costs, we can’t overlook the impact that reckless and extravagant expenditure is adding. Nor the expense of the bureaucratic machine itself.
Therefore, reducing costs and expenditure while also looking at more progressive means of funding is what is required.
Bridges will be gone as leader inside 12 months….as must have been the plan
Dunno about plans, but he’s one of their weakest performing members.
I reckon the next tilt for leadership will be between Bennett and Collins.
mustve been a plan….surely they realised how s**t he would be…after all theyve worked with him for years.
Depends entirely on whether the different caucus factions were voting for him rather than against the other factions. Voting for the least-worst in their eyes might not mean voting for the most competent.
And if he doesn’t grow into the role, they can have another tilt later with a thinner herd to compete against.
So not so much a single plan, as him lucking out on the expedient independent decisions of others. It could just as easily have been mercenary mark, who couldn’t even handle 7Days without pity points.
lol…yes saw Mr Mitchell’s ‘effort’ last night…maybe Bridges is the best of a very bad lot
I’ll bet that in the next 9 years the nats will have fewer leaders than labour had over the next 9 years!!
Nat got a head start with 2 to 1 already.
Statistically, what’re the odds on you being around to pay/collect in 9 years babby?
they’ll be commenting as hornetinthemiddleor something lol
I suspect that depends on how many leaders Judith needs to knife in the back until she gets what she wants.
“Councils nationwide are facing public furore over rate rises.”
A bit hyperbolic there, Chair – all councils? “Furore”?
One would be hard-pressed to name a region where there isn’t ratepayer discontent over excessive council rate increases, Robert.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12058818
Reds under the bed or in the back pockets of nz labour
Donald will have to out bid them. That’s the trouble with isolationism, when you step away, someone else steps in to fill the gap.
And National flew on the wings of blue dragons…..
“As a result, US lawmakers needed to consider whether New Zealand should be kicked out of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance because of problems at its “political core”
Yes please!!! Throw us out of the “Five eyes spy game network” please do; – as I dont want our country being a spy for any other counrty as we were under “Planet key”
One would need to detect an independent foreign policy from this government.
No sign yet, but there’s time.
“However, he said New Zealand “have denied that there’s a problem at all” and failed to follow Australia’s lead in setting up an inquiry into China’s activities.”
Lol the one thing this Labour Party won’t hold an inquiry into.
So, no more analyses based on “Chinese sounding names” then?
“Police back on China expert’s burglary case after PM expresses concern.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11998283
Ignoring the geoploitical aspects of hawkish claims misleading US congress, and also ignoring the civil liberties aspects of global intelligence surveillance, I’d like to see us kicked out of Five Eyes if only to watch paranoiacs and serious commenters alike express concerns about “Four Eyes”.
You can’t maintain an air of mystery if you share the nickname bestowed by school-yard bullies.
very good
I’m sorry for a comment that isn’t related to the thread.
Hi standardistas. I know you have differences with people in New Zealand. But today a man in England was sentenced to death by the Tory government run by the Israeli interests in England for standing up for the working class girls of England.
This is bipartisan issue. If a Tory government can arrest people and sentence and imprison them within the hour for speech in the United Kingtom for standing up for British working class girls who were raped under Labour we are in dire straights.
Please stand up for free speech. Stand up for Tommy Robinson, defending the working class girls who were sacrificed to diversity.
The working class in England should be marching in the streets. This is bipartisan, genuine fascism. You want to see real fascism? Here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irhQtamQ6Mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRt-iFANWKg
If Tommy Robinson dies in prison because he’s murdered by muslims, it’s time for bad things to start happening to the British ruling classes.
The man was imprisoned over nothing, and then sentenced and imprisoned within the hour. No jury. No trial.
https://www.menofthewest.net/the-murder-of-tommy-robinson-how-britain-became-the-kebab-archipelago/
I’m going to be doing daily posts on Tommy Robinson.
The British government and the overall British ruling class have no mandate by the British people. They have suspended their relations with the British people. They should be regarded as an illegitimate government ruling by force and their supposed authority should be suspended and they should be regarded as adversaries of the British people.
The people of England need to start arming themselves with anything they can find. This is real. This is terrifying. And justice needs to be served.
The rape of 1 million girls by the English ruling class deserves justice.
I hope that justice comes for the English ruling class, whatever form it takes. The English ruling class are aliens to England. I won’t state why, but they are not English. They are of another group of people who have a different agenda to the English.
Every day, I’m going to start writing about the English government and what it is doing.
New Zealand needs to put pressure on this regime and start divesting ourselves of the relationship until they restore the rule of law and the freedoms of western institutions to England.
God bless the English.
Everyone on the left in New Zealand needs to start looking at Tory fascism in England and the suspension of the rights and rule of law and persecution of brave men speaking out on behalf of the British working class.
1 million of these girls were raped. I’d gladly march with any one of you to free Great Britain from it’s ruling classes.
[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.]
[I’ve no idea why a comment supporting ex English Defense League joker got through on a thread about homelessness. I can’t be bothered to read the entire comment – suspect it should be trashed – but will leave sitting around here for now] – Bill
upandcomer…….are you talking about tommy robinson aka stephen yaxley, aka stephen lennon, aka andrew mcmaster, aka paul harris the far-right wing activist?
He’s done MANY lags before, mostly for violence, and a bit of fraud.
Lolz while doing time at Winchester Prison….. Robinson made friends with several Muslim prisoners. “Great lads … I cannot speak highly enough of the Muslim inmates I’m now living with”, he added at the time.
He’ll be fine in the big house, doubt he’s losing any sleep over it.
Far out dude…. where are you getting your shite info?
Listening Post is on, tune in to that instead.
Good on the Poms for locking up the spiteful little Nazi. It would be good if he was left to rot in prison… but he’s probably only going down for three months because that’s the suspended sentence that was already on the books. More info. here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/tommy-robinson-arrested-leeds-court-child-grooming-trial-edl-founder-latest-a8368821.html
Amazing.
Just amazing.
Go and read the Rotherham Royal Commission report.
What an incredible response.
Duly observed.
Some vile little nazi exploits rape to parrot his sick nazi gobshite, you approve of him, and your point is?
Here’s an even better idea: take your vile, fake, Islamophobic bullshit and ram it up your arse sideways. Then go and apologise to the family of Makram Ali, who was murdered by one of Robinson’s followers.
Okay noted.
Good Morning The hui I say that there should be a majority of Iwi tangata whenua should have a say on there Waitangi Treaty settlement . There is still a lot of whenua that is not in the right Tupna ownership /caretakers hands .So I say Iwi should have the backing of hapu before Treaty Settlements are settled . P.S Ka Pai Wahine Maori those old men will change there minds on the Equal rights of Wahine
Ka kite ano
Eco Maori is starting this conversation I want a law that Maori Whenua can not be sold only leased to Preserve te Whenua for te mokopunas after all we are only caretakers of Whenua its te Mokopunas future that counts in my book. Ka kite ano music link
https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4
The Moko Kauae I was to busy to comment wisely on this topic its a Maori cultured Wahine birth right to have a moko kauae before one gets the moko kauae its was traditionally the kaumatua to whom one ask for there blessing on one getting a moko .
The men its was birth right or if one achieved some great task for te tangata to have the blessing of the kaumatua to get a ta moko .
I believe that I have achieved some great achievements as Eco Maori one man has told me this who I trust but untill most kaumatua tell me this I will not get my ta moko ie the blessing of te tangata. Ka kite ano link is below .
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104128733/T-moko-is-not-a-fashion-statement-or-scribble-its-about-birthright
Good evening Newshub Tova those people that were ask how they think Winston Peters will do as temporary Prime Minister were all clearly national voters enough said. Does know one want to talk about the fines the sandflys let there European m8 off and hammer the brown tangata discrimination at its best .Theirs a couple of phenomenons that’s happening because the sandflys are so intent on harnessing Eco Maori ???????????
Ka pai to the Leaders Kim jong-u and Moon for there actions.
Its a good weekend of sports I quite like coach Hansen comments
With the League the Warriors will get there game on out when it counts .
Its a bit warmer this year than last year no.
Ka kite ano
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/104228661/duncan-garner-alert-alert-mad-cows-on-loose-mpi-in-deep-coma
About bloody time that 4th estate are starting dig around about this sorry state of affairs and I hope they start asking some very hard questions at Carter, Guy and Fed Farmers also I’ll like to see Jandals have a Royal Commission on what, where, when, why and how we the nation got to this point as someone or people should get a ****ing Ass kicking.
The so-called custodians of the Land probably need to take a very long look at themselves for the bloody mess they have caused to this once great country of ours and talk about shitting on ones nest.
No bloody wonder that Bridges is MIA on this one atm.