Passfire is a term pyros use for moving flame. From the fuse to the lift charge on the ground, to the shell containing effects in the sky. Passfire is also the name of a movie celebrating firework culture around the globe. Worth a look to see some of the joy that pyrotechnics brings.
Covid19s effects aren't smoothing class structures here.
They are making them much stronger.
There are thousands of women who are now unemployed or underemployed. The 1% should employ more New Zealanders, and these look like good roles to get compared to the pay of most car workers.
childcare and cleaning rich peoples houses obviously is something for unemployed women to do, right? No man need apply, they get shovel ready jobs, women get to clean other peoples toilets.
i was an au pair and boys also can be au pair. That has long been changed. I am not coarse thinker, i just say the parts that you are uncomfortable with out loud. And sometimes you know, reality is coarse 🙂
Btw, i was an au pair, i got that way to France and ended up living there for about 10 years. Two boys, fairly well of to do family from Germany. Living in Super Cannes right above Vallauris. In fact that is what got me as a stray teenager of the road, work with accommodation attached. I was just lucky that it took me to the South of France, i was paid 1000$ a month, worked 6 days a week at Nannying, cooking, ironing, cleaning the toilets and had sunday off. So very last century and the only reason most Au pair do this is because it takes them to a different country, one where they might never go to on their own. Just saying, before you explain Au Pair to me in detail.
And yes, housekeeping – involves cleaning toilets. But hey, they will get paid minimum wage right 🙂 all these poor dear unemployed female that so far no one gives a flying fudge about. https://www.aupair.com/en/p-male-au-pair.php
” Au Pair is not a gender restricted job, so it is possible for boys to find a place in a Host Family. The truth is that it can take much longer for a male Au Pair to be placed, but some families are looking exactly for an elder brother for the kids.
House slaves and field slaves. I'm a house slave myself. I hope, come the revolution, I'll put aside my social culture and fight for the field slaves, despite their social culture.
I'm pretty sure I said "unemployed NZer's" not women so I'm not sure why you would suggest something different to what I said.
If you have an issue with only/mainly women doing that work take that up with the people who employ them. Besides that wasn't the point of my post – the point was about the fact they are lamenting the loss of their "cheap" overseas labour and want them deemed essential.
tion cheep the women, the men more about cheep. Sex our humanity human should not be allowed the exploitation that is here on our place our human world.
I wondered about that Muttonbird. There is the barrier of the bad publicity heard for decades. If there was an Academy for Maori Nannies and Au Pairs which had good standards, the Certification would give certainty.
We should be looking to ways to onshore some more of the customer call centre (Spark! and the other Telco's, insurance companiies and power companies) and other processing tha has gone offshore. If we pay the bills here we should have the jobs here!
We should shift them out of Auckland even now, Dunedin could benefit from something like that ( as well as provincial towns) good mix of students and older people.
I have to agree with you here Sabine. Rotorua used to have the branch or main offices of Doc, Tax, Maori Land Court…..slowly removed by BEnglish/Key's minions.
Business won't move into a town unless the infrastructure is there to support them. Most of the towns you listed simply don't have that infrastructure and so, if the government wants business to move there, they're going to have to build the infrastructure – and I'm not talking about roads.
That was shocking journalism from Stuff. No mention of the terms and conditions which are massively exploitive- third world in fact. They should enquire further not just regurgitate what they are told by the owner of the business.
Looking at the site NZ has one of the highest allowable working hours a week at 40 hours for suggested pocket money of $150 to $200 per week. so $3-$5 per hour for a full time job plus the board and lodging. I assume that no tax is paid on the pocket money or the assessed value of the lodgings although other taxpayers fork out.
Most of the other countries have very part time hours and better pay rates- so at least au pairs have some spare time for the the local culture.
Time the over entitled paid a proper wage – even if only part time.
most Au pair if done correctly work about 20 – 25 hours a week.
I was one in 1992 – and i got a 1000$ per month, plus accom, etc. It was a good deal then, considering that they paid the flights to and home, etc. w
40 hours per week is indeed exploitation, but again if you are 18 and want to come here it is a worthwhile deal. They pay the flight to and from which is several thousands of dollars depending on where you come from, and you get a visa that the host family will also pay. That is to keep in mind. Au pair is not really a job that one does as a career option, it is an opportunity to see the world while literally having no skills.
Yes maximum exploitation. Or the conditions that the visa is issued under need to limit hours to say 10 a week so it genuinely is just a cross cultural largely holiday thing.
Either way I would not consider them a priority class of inwards migrant. Would also be very interested in knowing what the fees being charged by the arranging organisations are – .
But having known people who have done childcare some employers do take advantage
If young people can travel the world before they settle down and know that they can get part paid for even on low wages then it's good for both.
Hours not too long, bed board okay, then it's a working holiday. The Woofers accept that too, and young people from all over the world get to meet and see other countries.
Honestly we need more then free consultancy. I consulted the crystal bowl, and i see lots of empty town ships devoid of people because unemployment, starvation rates in our benefits system and no stability in which to run your business.
We need a better definition of who is essential and can work through which levels.
Case: two days ago all the banks in AKL closed.
Why? Because suddenly they were told they are not essential and thus need to close during level 3, however they were open and classified as essential last time during Level 4. But maybe current Level 3 is just Level 4 hiding. Who knows.
But the banks are closed now until at least Sunday. For those that want to say INTERNET and we don't need no open banks, not everyone has internet, some only have internet via a Library which are also closed.
It is a small thing, but who can be open and who can not. How to open. Etc.
The hairdresser next to me took three month to work of the debt accumulated during the last lockdown until she could open up. She was busy – as expected – right after opening but now it has dropped off and with every closed business she and others like her in town are loosing business, one persona a time.
But unless she experiences a 40% drop in business she ain't getting no help other then a loan that she will have to pay back after a year. Generally i have no issues with that either, but she literally got herself a loan so that next time she needs to close for 8 – 12 weeks she can pay the bills for the shop cause the wage subsidy (if it still exists then) was not enough to pay the bills at home for her and her boy. Yes, she is a single mum.
Disclaimer: This is not to slag the PM, but it is to point out that we need governance now as this is going to stay with us for a few years, and businesses need to be able to plan ahead. And one of the big question is: Will i be open. or better, under what lock down restrictions can i open safely.
And frankly the wage subsidy set at 40% loss of revenue, lol, at that stage businesses start talking about closing shop and joining the unemployment queue.
My partner fixes ATMs and such, Banks were considered essential service under the last lockdown and worked under Level 4 for exactly the reasons i mentioned above, not everyone has access to internet and/or is set up for internet banking, and the few businesses that do work will also still need banking services.
However, and this was very surprising to us on Monday a directive came from the government that they are NOT essential and must close. Banks now in Auckland closed since Monday and will open again with drop to level two. And i know about this, because it reduced the work load for the engineers in Auckland that look after these machines.
Seriously people, stop pretending that it is the businesses that are screwing up, we are trying to function with the information form the government that we get and not with the information that we need.
This is government. Not the banks, nor the businesses. If the government changes its mind and tells you to close shop, you close shop. How hard is this to understand, considering that shops are closed in AKl, and are closing down for good up and down the country side?
Banks being told to close down and all emphasis being put on on-line transactions! This comes out of the tiny mind of some half-man of O who knows nothing about life, and everything about facilitating machine control of society including his/her own job. That seems all people are taught these days.
We have to close them down because they are not providing essential services! That is how to live our lives at a basic level and being able to access all that we need wherever possible.
HalfMen of O – Two youngsters are sent to help people being over-run by these dangerous characters. They are summoned to the beautiful land of O in a last-ditch attempt to save the planet from cruel Otis Claw and his followers, the evil Halfmen, who have lost every trace of human goodness and kindness. https://www.penguin.com.au/books/halfmen-of-o-9780143318347
Are we in a nation-wide filmset and don't even know it? I hope someone is documenting all this – it's better than Game of Thrones except not much nudity and the clothing is more mundane.
I may have heard tell of it, from a mysterious traveller who appeared in our midst and partook of our victuals, sharing a tale of dark market forces at large beyond the Shire before vanishing whence he came. Or it might have been on the radio.
Jacinda Ardern's office had to step in to help resolve an apparent botch-up over whether bank branches could open under the current alert level 3 in Auckland. On Sunday Dr Ashley Bloomfield, director general of Health, rejected an application for banks to be granted an exemption under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Order, which would have explicitly permitted bank branches to open with limited face-to-face contact with customers.
Throughout last week, banks had been nervous that they were operating outside the Ministry of Health's order, with the sector not included in a group of businesses which could operate face to face with customers under alert level 3.
The Ministry of Health order appeared to contradict information on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) website which suggested branches could open with social distancing.
snip
We were made aware by banks that they had closed their Auckland branches due to not being granted an exemption from the Ministry of Health to trade under level 3," a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said. "We need New Zealanders to be able to access money and bank services and we are aware that for many people this is done via a bank branch. So officials discussed the matter and the director general of health signed an exemption yesterday afternoon."
Why banks were not included in the original order was unclear last night. MBIE, the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Health variously referred questions to each other about the issue on Tuesday.
Seriously they need to get their stories straight, then they need to set binding rules, no of this weasely no accountabilty schmuck of 'can do, should do, bullshit' but rules. Proper rules.
It may be that Dr Bloomfield needs a short break (a day!) as while he has kept up the pressure on medical matters and society but he has kept it on himself for so long. Possibly the micro-management is getting to him and his staff, and their needs to be someone to step in and point out that banks aren't just any business, they are at the root of business and vital to us all in our present financial system.
It's high time a banking licence came with some service requirements rather that tellers pointing at bug ridden machines. Banking is a nightmare even every day transactions are now very difficult to complete.
3.1.1.1 commented on bank service levels. Not directly related to the essential bit as such – but outside the larger centre's and even within them – on the ground banking services whether teller or automated have diminished sharply. Not every one has the internet / skills but the banks are disenfranchising or privileging some groups over others with the dash to internet and automation only. But that is another day. BTW the machines certainly don't do every thing – I've had an interesting time completing some transactions.
It's off topic but it needed a bank cheque from a teller (otherwise I'd have had to track cash around.) And there are ATM's that only give out $50 notes – no 20's so if you don't have a lot of money you might be stuffed. And like it or not transaction timings and transferability between banks has diminished for a number of transactions and locations. No the government didn't need to create the confusion over the banks but please don't take it out on me with sarcasm when there are other people with different experiences of the use and availability of banking services.
The security or otherwise can also be questioned. Banks get hacked.
Why? Because suddenly they were told they are not essential and thus need to close during level 3, however they were open and classified as essential last time during Level 4.
Bank premises aren't essential as everything that anybody needs to do with the bank can be done online. I haven't been inside a bank in more than ten years.
But the banks are closed now until at least Sunday. For those that want to say INTERNET and we don't need no open banks, not everyone has internet, some only have internet via a Library which are also closed.
Those people need to join the 21st century and they've just received a lesson as to why.
Generally i have no issues with that either, but she literally got herself a loan so that next time she needs to close for 8 – 12 weeks she can pay the bills for the shop cause the wage subsidy (if it still exists then) was not enough to pay the bills at home for her and her boy.
And now you know the problem of ownership. After all, the capitalist needs to have their income from their assets even though they're not being used right?
Most people are already doing business online and so keeping shops open for the few who refuse to move out of the past is just getting more and more expensive per use as economies of scale keep dropping and it doesn't provide any societal value.
I shifted my mortgage from ANZ to BNZ using phone and internet while I was working out of a hotel in Singapore in 2018. Did the same for getting a car loan during the lockdown in April.
I could have done both using phone and mail. It was an option offered. It just takes longer.
I myself have not been to a bank in some years, and do all my banking online as well, but that does not mean that banking is not an essential service. Consider the essential services such as dairies, supermarkets, and petrol stations. Cash is still a valid form of currency, as far as I recall. Those places might have a decent amount of cash on hand at anyone time, and will need to deposit or exchange notes and coin. It is for this reason more than any other that banks need to remain open as businesses carrying large amounts of cash can become targets for robbery.
And I can recall the half hour or so of lost time taking the cash to the bank at the end of the day. Cash is expensive in so many ways never mind the increased threat of theft..
Those places might have a decent amount of cash on hand at anyone time, and will need to deposit or exchange notes and coin. It is for this reason more than any other that banks need to remain open as businesses carrying large amounts of cash can become targets for robbery.
Their's probably some way that the bank could take the cash while keeping their stores closed. Armourguard or similar.
The demise of legal tender is not something which I anticipate fondly, either as a customer or as someone who is occasionally involved in customer service.
Many's the time my arse has gotten home thanks to a sneaky $20 folded into the battery compartment of my cellphone. shit happens.
A couple of decades ago I would have agreed with you but I haven't carried cash in 15+ years. A time or two I've had to pull out my phone and transfer money across from my savings account into my on-call account so I could use EFT-POS.
I also have my HOP card so I can move around (don't own a car) which will work if it has some money on it when I get on the bus.
Cash is tactile, solid. Not abstract, not dependant on a fibre cable or the stores power supply, but portable and with no fees for use. Even the cash run can be done during quiet times when you'd be paying someone to stand around, anyway.
Beggars in the street don't usually carry eftpos machines, so if they want to eat, they need cash from strangers.
Someone who is blind can easily count well-designed cash. Not sure how they know that the cashier has accidentally overcharged them on the eftpos terminal.
I'm sure your utopia will be wonderful for everyone, but cash is disappearing by itself, not as part of a broader scheme to improve society.
The only place I carry cash is when I’m outside of NZ. I just had to get a new wallet because the old one fell apart after 20 years. The old one was a leather wallet for holding business cards. It was perfect for holding eftpos cards, credit cards, access cards for buildings and no cash. Turns out that leather rots if you’re working outside in Singapore for 5 months and have it in your sweaty pocket.
I’ve just replaced it with a Bellroy card holder. That is exactly the right size for what I usually carry.
I'm working on making my own – two external card slots for bus and staff card, internal compartments for various debit and business cards. Made a prototype, just finished a revised design.
And they have absolutely no excuse for that. The inevitable demise of shops has been obvious for decades. As long as the internet's been around in fact.
The fact that nearly all business can now be done online should have been a clue for them.
Society isn't going to hold still just because a few people want to stay in the 19th century.
In my world no-one has to choose between food and a smart phone+plan, but I can't help wondering – as neat as they are, just how tasty is a smart phone?
Businesses that are prepared to humour this luddite will continue to receive my custom until such time as they decide it's not a sufficiently profitable way to operate. Btw, if it's inconvenient that your immensely profitable bank is phasing out cheques, then switch to a bank that still supports them – easy as.
I don’t like change, but have switched or been morphed a few times without special assistance (Post Office Savings Bank –> PostBank –> Lloyds –> Trust Bank Central –> Westpac –> TSB –> TSB/Kiwibank/[PSIS –> Cooperative]) – admittedly my banking needs are simple.
No problem – and those two online help sites were easy to find too.
Most of my bank switching was done in person (by walking into a bank and filling in forms), sometimes aided by phonecalls (on a landline!) I enabled internet banking (with one bank only) about six months ago (when I finally got an internet connection at home), and it's OK. Larger online one-off payments were initially a bit of a pain (can't do text verification), but my bank provided a workaround.
And yes, it won't be ‘easy as’ for everyone (particularly if you can’t walk to or phone your old and new banks), but in my experience banks do try to assist even ordinary customers, especially the bank(s) you’re opening an account with.
Otoh, the way interest rates are trending a switch to the Bank of Mattress might be in order sooner rather than later! Just hope a cashless NZ is still some way off.
I did get your point and added to it that banks are aware of these and other issues with accessibility and offer a wide range of assistance. I would also add that the degree of inconvenience for customers who are not on-line is likely to increase over time. I do have personal experience with people being ‘off-line’, for all intents and purposes, and there no easy answers. I also know what it is like not using a mobile phone 🙂
I know how to fix the reply button now. There is however some annoying testing I have to do to make sure that fix isn’t worse isn’t worse than the original problem on a range of devices. It is a javascript issue, in this case the plugin using an older JQuery system that has been obsoleted.
Thing is, there's a law of decreasing returns that banks and online businesses (and covid app designers) will do the easy thing that hits almost everyone, and those outside the "almost" are buggered unless they make a big song and dance about having a need that the media can paint as "deserving".
Cash is just one of the things. It's cheaper to close stores and branches, so if someone wants to touch something before buying it, they're fucked. My local uni decided nowhere on campus will accept cash, none of their cafes, stores or whathaveyou. Fuck those guys.
Getting my mail is a bugger, because they closed the branch so if a parcel needs to be signed for then the box lobby is staffed half a day and forget about weekends. Get it delivered to my home? If the courier doesn't leave it to get nicked, they tap on the door then run like buggery so I have to find the depot.
Oh, I'm sure it's all fine for almost everyone else, but I'm noting quite a lot of "my way or the highway" bullshit from enterprises that theoretically want me to pay for their shit. It's almost like some of these industries are cabals or monopolies…
sorry, didn't quite follow that. The shops that have cash on premises this week, what are they supposed to do with it?
If you think everyone in NZ can afford a phone and internet, you *really haven't been paying attention.
My elderly parents don't do online banking. They use a branch. You can want everyone on e-money all you like, but the reality is that this week there are people still dependent on being able to visit a branch, and until the government signals well ahead of time that that will be ending, then it needs to be factored into covid response as an essential service.
The shops that have cash on premises this week, what are they supposed to do with it?
For this week they need to get to the bank. But considering that we had a level 4/3 a couple of months ago and knowing that it was going to happen again both the banks and the businesses should have got off their arse and planned for it.
The fact that they didn't just goes to show how terrible our business people are at basic business and accounting for risks. The idiots are still trying to go back to how things were when that simply isn't going to happen.
If you think everyone in NZ can afford a phone and internet, you *really haven't been paying attention.
If they're that poor then they should be signed up with WINZ and WINZ requires people to have a phone up to and including helping people get one. WINZ even provides the necessary bandwidth if you need it.
My elderly parents don't do online banking.
For which they have no excuse. Internet banking became available 20+ years ago in NZ and its never been hard to use.
As I said, it's been obvious for ages that shops were a thing of the past and that they would be going the way of the dodo in the near future. People should have been preparing for it. And, yes, that includes the government.
but the reality is that this week there are people still dependent on being able to visit a branch
Yes, this week shows just how stupid people are thinking that things were going to continue as is when there's a global pandemic and a possibility of a lock down happening with little to no warning.
Get with the program already and stop making excuses.
In the 60+ age bracket, the main way to bank is online (38%), followed by "in-person" (29%). If my everyday bank discontinued services such as in-branch banking and cheque accounts, then I'd switch to a bank that (still) offered them. The customer is always right, right? No-one’s going to force me to buy a cell phone, let alone a smart phone, until I'm good and ready.
Such a bizarre and bossy response – like customers need an excuse.
Things have changed. Thought I got that through in my last comment. The shops are closing so as to protect people from the pandemic. The services that some are saying are essential aren't because they can be done online.
The customer is always right, right?
You do realise that that's a marketing strategy right?
Its purpose is to stop the customer from being combative in something that's gone wrong. Then, after the salesperson has got the customer calmed down, to carefully explain to the customer why they're wrong and come to an equitable settlement that, hopefully, doesn't involve giving the customer any money. Getting the customer to spend more is a bonus.
No-one’s going to force me to buy a cell phone, let alone a smart phone, until I'm good and ready.
Its nice to know that you care so much about the health and well-being of your neighbours in these trying times of a global pandemic.
Banks are now again classified as essential services (as they were in the previous lockdown). It was a case of some official not being properly informed of all the circumstances. Ashley went over the matter, and explained how the mistake occurred, and how it was quickly rectified on this afternoons briefing.
…but Collins has a unique, theatrical way of asking questions that really gets under the Government's skin.
By her fifth supplementary question, Collins discovered the crack team of Heather Simpson and Brian Roche, drafted in to sort out the border-testing fiasco, didn't yet have any terms of reference, despite the pair being appointed a little less than a week ago.
That effectively means Simpson and Roche are flying blind, each knowing roughly what their job is, but with few specifics.
Ardern said those terms of reference were still in the process of being drafted. The questions appeared to get under Ardern’s skin – she eventually shot back at Collins that she was so proud of her Labour team that she’d happily have a reference to them on an election billboard – a dig at National’s hoardings which proclaim the party’s “strong team” despite months of brutal infighting.
I was watching also and feel Coughlan did capture the atmosphere accurately. Collins' supercilious laugh that greets Ardern's answers and precedes Collin's every question, is wearying to the soul and is, I believe, irritating Jacinda as evidenced by her slip into "snipping" at Collins over the "strong team" billboards. It's a trifling issue, and the PM will have given herself a stern talking-to for having let her guard down and allowing Collins to "slip one in" – Mallard was quick to rein it in – a slap-fest would be won by Collins hands-down, even if Jacinda made the cleverest jibes, as the fight itself would be seen, quite rightly, as a fail by the PM. But she'll have learned and it won't happen again, though Collins will try that door repeatedly and slyly. I'm always interested to read how others interpret scenes such as this one; the Kiwiblog crowd will have seen a thrashing of the PM by the hero, Judith, while here, as with your fair comment, aj, we'll have seen it differently and in favour of our "champion" – it's a genuinely interesting phenomenon – both sides fully confident that they saw things as they were. Of course, this is only my opinion and describes the way I saw it – there's no reason to believe that my interpretation isn't as coloured as anyone else; such it the mystery of perception.
Collins' supercilious laugh that greets Ardern's answers and precedes Collin's every question,
Bishop does this as well but I'm not sure it irritates the opposition. My take is it's childish. But I take your points, perceptions are always coloured. And I confess I was listening more than watching, while preparing vegetables for tonight's meal and may have missed nuance of body language. I do agree Collins quieter persona is more effective, but on the substance I gave it either a draw, or a points decision to Adern.
On the matter of essential international workers getting into the country and by-passing quarantine requirements, not news, win to Adern
On the testing at the border, this will always be a slight loss to labour but this is like flogging an almost dead horse now
On terms of reference for Simpson and Roche, a slight win for Adern. So what if they have been appointed but the terms of reference is still being written up?
Billboards – I thought it was a good dig, are you sure Collins would win a 'slap-fest' only on the optics I'd suggest, as Adern has positioned herself above that but I agree optics alone means she shouldn't dip into the muck too much.
I was watching also and feel Coughlan did capture the atmosphere accurately.
I was watching too and indeed he 's correct. Momentarily, Jacinda was irritated and Judith knew so she will try it again – no question. But Jacinda is a quick and smart thinker and I doubt she'll let it happen again.
What has happened to the video that had Jacinda Ardern visiting ESR? Last I heard about it was that it was taken down for editing. Does anybody know if it is back up?
"What has happened to the video that had Jacinda Ardern visiting ESR? Last I heard about it was that it was taken down for editing. Does anybody know if it is back up?" "Was it edited out then?"
So many questions Gossie – do let us know when you have some answers.
"That one doesn't have a lingering shot of Ashley Bloomfield."
Don't worry, there should be more than enough lingering shots of senior public servant Dr Bloomfield to satisfy you in the lead up to the general election.
All part of the pandemic response service don't you know
I know where collins has been these last few days . They've had her in the shop for full rebuild a much less severe looking and less snarky one was on display on tv this am . No less sneaky though .
It’s a topsy turvy world. On Morning Report this morning we had a Labour Finance Minister preaching fiscal discipline and defending the lack of the wage subsidy for the extra four days of Level 3 lockdown in Auckland while the National Party leader demanded the subsidy get paid, even if it means more borrowing and went so far as to suggest the government should just pay extra if it was too hard to part pay the four days out of a week. Collins incidentally was as nice as pie too, a noticeable shift in tone.
Strange times.
There sems to be a tidal wave of right wing nut jobs critisising Ardern and the Govt for protecting the lives of NZers, even Peters has joined the march
None of the criticism has any basis on Fact and is little more than Hyperbole, electioneering for the right who have no credibility and seem to have conveniently forgotten all the mishandling of a few weeks ago with Boag, all the resignations, 3 leadership spills and no new policies except to privatise the Covid Response so their friends so they can profit from the pandemic.
Fake News is at all time High in the NZ Media, surprise, surprise.
Just Is. 100%. Media unrelentingly negative at the moment. Their bosses must have set them an assignment to go out and find any angle on our current situation that makes the govt look bad. They are trying to win National the election. It’s unrelentingly
Pataua4life, I guess you are referring to the roll out of testing staff at the border. The Govt had understood it was happening. Even although it wasn't we have one outbreak. one cluster and despite the exhaustive testing it hasn't come from the border.
Everyone morning I checked the Covid numbers worldwide. Today NZ has gone from 140 to 142 in terms of case numbers. We continue to be surpassed by other countries and have for months. We need perspective here. We have had none by the media. I believe they are undermining and therefore endangering our Covid response
"If you game enough to read blogs from the other side you would see the exact same statements going the other way."
I have been there and read the comments, what is clear is that most who comment their are are completely illiterate and live in a parallel universe.
"Plus the fact that the NZ media has been brought by the current Govt for 50 million pieces of silver."
Proof to support that unsubstantiated claim.
Just a quick reminder, NZ has the very best response to this Pandemic of any country in the world today, there have no stuff ups as suggested by some, ie testing, as there simply is no evidence to support it, there have only been reports of stuff ups from those who wish there were some, yet there is not a single shred of evidence to support that claim, no matter how many times it's repeated by Collins or the media, it doesn't make true, basically FAKE NEWS
anyone in the media that people like to complain about are in the highest available income section in NZ that is available after Minister or plastic surgery doctor.
So they are as partisan as they can be as they want their low taxes, their loopholes, and they want people to come back in to rent all the fancy Air BnB owned by these people.
so why would you expect these guys to be fair and objective? Because that is what you were told? They are stenographers nor journalists.
No, they're peddlers of Fake News, the strategy used by the right as they have nothing else, confuse and disrupt.
Opposition Policies are non existent, the media don't care, they just want their mates to win at any cost, anybody claiming the media are not bias must be a Nat supporter.
there is no such thing as fake news no matter how many times the orange shitshow utters these two words. There are news you support and stand behind and then there are those that you don't support and don't stand behind. Simple as. Hoskins and his ilk however will stand behind those that give them tax cuts, and investment loopholes, and privilege and access. Non of that is fake, its currency and they want it. So they will never support anyone who will not give them these baubles.
Once you understand and accept that type of relationship between a political party and its bullhorn its paid of and fully owned stenographers you can get on with life and stop listening to them. Most of us already do.
The system is no longer binary – left vs right or whatever – there is now a significant fraction of news chatter devoted to bringing the whole system down. Fake news is not a matter of different interpretations of the same facts, but a deliberate attempt to detach fact from civic discourse. Once it’s gone, anything goes.
Even homo profugo Woodhouseiensis – homeless man – was not fake news. The story was rebuttable, and its truth or untruth mattered. Fake news is more the crap Billy TK is channeling – an outgrowth of active measures.
Marc Daalder writes a well informed column about the unlikelihood of Lockdowns 3 or 4. Pretty refreshing and optimistic
There's a widespread conception that New Zealand's elimination strategy requires the country to enter a Level 3 or Level 4 lockdown every time a single case makes it past the border.
This idea that New Zealand is committed to "rolling lockdowns" has been promulgated by political columnists, misguided academics and electoral hopefuls. It is, however, false – the elimination strategy doesn't depend only on lockdowns and it never has.
The ‘reply’ function is not working on any of my devices. It hasn’t worked for over six months on the iPad I use but up until a couple of days ago I could reply using my iPhone (an 11). Now that’s not working either. I always have to generate a primary comment which is very frustrating. Is there something I can do to correct this? I can’t be the only commenter in here that has this problem?
…. unlikelihood of Lockdowns 3 or 4. Pretty refreshing and optimistic
New Zealand will be relying on a small number of people working their butts off for this to succeed, and I hope the public realise this. When I say 'small' it's still thousands of people: border workers, health workers, testing staff, scientists, transport, police and military . I'm mindful of what people coming through quarantine have been saying, "its a different world" and while we go down to level 1, it's never level 1for the frontline staff in this long battle against Covid which will be relentless. They have a huge responsibility and all the stress that goes with it. A big thumbs up for their work so far and into the future.
An unrealistic expectation mpledger, it's been shown by academics the media have a bias to national.
Both in the lack of an objective approach and the sheer number of pieces that are effectively shilling a national led gov't as the solution. This was a reply to 10.1 that’s ended up on it’s own sorry.
Sabine what you raise is the conversation which must be had. It is crunch time and finding ways to lessen the pain without losing the fight with Covid is what needs to occur.
any time now they can start conversing about it, because we are getting tired, council fees just gone up, supplies are going up, rents will go up and there is no NO guidance to us and no help other then a loan and a wage subsidy that is too little too late and that the dear neo liberal Grant Robertson rather not pay out, mind his lifelyhood is secured, he gets paid every week without fault. he ain't worried about his family eating and paying mortgage.
Scientists are now warning that this may explain outbreaks in countries which have not had any coronavirus cases for long periods – and could potentially lead to future spikes.
I like to know on what basis MBIE "ruled out" Americold as the source of the Auckland outbreak. It looks like there's not sufficient scientific consensus to say it couldn't happen.
This of course wouldn't support the narrative the opposition is running that it was definitely a failure of testing at the border.
"This of course wouldn't support the narrative the opposition is running that it was definitely a failure of testing at the border."
The media have gone along for the ride as well and as expected.
Facts don't seem to matter when there's an election around the corner and the medias "team" are on the back foot, replacing the Leader 3 times, embarrassed at being caught out trying to release information about the names of people in quarantine, having 15 Nat members resign from parliament prior to the election and having Collins as the Leader and hopeful PM, what an embarrassment.
Can anyone realistically see Collins as PM, it would be the end of civilisation as we know it today in NZ.
In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, surely you have to go with the strongest lead which is the first case at Americold. No matter how unlikely, it is still the most likely, with the evidence available.
After all, how many border workers have tested positive?
One. That’s it!
And that was because some cow from America didn’t wash her hands and wasn’t wearing a mask when she left her room.
because some cow from America didn’t wash her hands and wasn’t wearing a mask when she left her room.
You don't understand Mb. It contravenes their constitutional rights of FREEDOM.
I am reminded of an incident prior to the anti nuclear legislation passed in 1986, when we used to have naval and air exercises with the Americans out in the Auckland Gulf. A former colleague of mine was giving a flying crew a weather briefing prior to departure when in walked the Yanks. Some fool among them yelled out :
"MAKE WAY FOR THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS".
It was quietly greeted with laughter and derision. Idiots.
After their environmental policy release today, I'd say it fits
Judith saying (stupidly) that we should only keep the "swimming parts of the rivers clean and not worry too much about the rest", we need to look after the farming sector.
How do you isolate sections of rivers where people swim in them from the rest of the flowing river???
She might be right, she has gone to the top of a major Party. How's that for a little girl from the Styx. (Don't know about her background but couldn't resist.)
This one should be interesting …. it's now long enough to get a firm steer on Collin's leadership, plus no-one can complain that CB does any favours to the left.
.
With notable exceptions, Lab/Govt partisans tend to feel there'll be either zero swing to the Nats or, in fact, a consolidation of Labour's huge advantage in the wake of this latest outbreak … while for Nat/Oppo partisans it's, of course, vice versa.
I suspect (pure speculation) that we'll see a mild flow back to the Nats in the next poll … but one that won't even remotely compensate for the huge Nat-to-Lab Realignment during the Level 4 lockdown earlier in the year. Perhaps up to a third of the 400k plus former Nats returning to the Blue fold (albeit tentatively, possibly with some ready to head back in the Govt's direction if all goes well) .. two-thirds remaining with Labour. So perhaps Lab down to late 40s in CB (but a little higher than that in the next TV3 Poll).
Could be wrong … but that's my guess.
I'm assuming Colmar Brunton will still go ahead with their polling schedule despite the Auckland lockdown & Election delay.
[* 100k + swinging back from Lab to Nat wouldn’t normally be considered “mild” exactly … but relative to that massive Realignment … it esentially is]
i am interested in the % for the gods squad parties, the new conservatives and vision. That could be interesting. A good amount of signs here in middle country. N/God Party signs outweigh labour signs.
Mind it is rotorua, and the town has been hit hard. Very hard.
.
Thanks so much for asking, Patricia. Really appreciated.
After a particularly bloody horrendous 6 months from Nov 2019 to April 2020 – an intensification of the situation they'd had to endure over the previous 2 years – (major explosions of violent intimidation from their neighbour for hours throughout night & early morning, vandalising their property, running onto their front yard & threatening at 1, 2, 3 in the morning, & frequent all-night swearing-aggressive drinking / parties … with all the extreme stress & sleep deprivation that that entails) … they got a much needed 6 week break from mid-May through to early-July. The neighbour suddenly disappeared for just over 3 weeks & then was back only very sporadically over the following 3.
So, for the first time in ages, they were allowed to go to sleep at night & have 8 hours sleep … and enjoy relative peace & quiet during the day … a 90 yo & an 89 yo permitted basic human rights that most people enjoy.
Unfortunately (but entirely predictably) things have started to deteriorate since he properly moved back mid-July. Nowhere near as bad as before … but I can see it's slowly but surely moving back in that direction.
Carrying out one or two plans to try to get something done … but not very optimistic … and getting to the point where I may take the law into my own hands … draw a red line in the sand … make it clear to certain authorities that this is outrageous & has gone on for far too long.
We all had real hopes back in Jan / Feb that he'd be out … a number of Policewomen & a Social Worker who aids the elderly forcefully going in to bat for them … but HNZ response shaped by Govt's tacit No Eviction policy … that'd be the Labour Party that my parents & grandparents have been longtime activists for.
Anyway, sorry for ranting … I'm aware that people who go on about personal issues on social media quickly become a boring scratched record … but, again, it was very nice of you to ask … and I passed your implicit moral support on to my Parents (as I've done in the past with Redlogix & a number of others). Both asked me to thank you & let you know how much they appreciate it. Cheers.
There's always a concerted drive by the media and opposition during the "polling period", it was always very noticeable when Simple Simon was Leader, he was hard out drumming up support, barking at every passing car.
This time Collins and Co have got their wealthy friends to do the complaining for them.
With respect to the testing at the border regardless of what was actually happening it would have been prudent for the government to have managed expectations better than they did. Had they said all the way through that while things weren’t perfect at the border they were getting it sorted, I think most of the public would have cut them some slack. Instead we were treated to blithe assurances that everything was hunky dory. And then it turned out it really wasn’t.
They gave the Opposition and the media a stick to beat them with. You can’t really blame them for using it.
I could link to The Telegraph which carried the same article if that is more your thing? I didn't because it is paywalled and I wanted people to be able to read it.
A quick read of Newshub. Collins said it was "silly" of the Government not to pay the wage subsidy for the extra days. BUT then backed down and said she would not have done so, under questioning from Garner. Maybe Garner thought a little bit of balance was due and caught her out.
I don’t have a laptop or desktop. Haven’t really needed one since my ancient MacBook crapped out a couple of years ago. Hopefully mods can get it sorted if possible.
"This has become the Covid-K recovery: fantastic for the rich and an awful repeat of the much-talked-about 1990-92 recession that Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have said they want to avoid repeating."
While theres much in this article that overlooks the nuance it is true that a property bubble fuelled by migration is the only strategy our leaders (?) have…..and it will be even more so under National
The already rich are on the line heading upwards – getting richer because of a range of Government policies aimed at responding to Covid-19. Meanwhile, renters, beneficiaries and the working poor are getting poorer because their rents are rising, their incomes are falling and they have received no more direct help than they got before the pandemic.
and looking at the 'offerings' by labour to the working poor and non working poor , there will be nothing forthcoming.
"Meanwhile, renters, beneficiaries and the working poor are getting poorer because their rents are rising, their incomes are falling and they have received no more direct help than they got before the pandemic."
And that is the nuance overlooked….the response HAS provided direct assistance to those groups but the fact is that ultimately the support of asset prices undermines that assistance.
As part of the relief package, beneficiaries are receiving a permanent, $25 weekly increase to their benefit. This comes at a total cost of $2.8 billion, which also includes the doubling of the Winter Energy Payment – $1400 for couples and people with dependent children and $900 for singles.
the winter payment is over as per my friend who recieved it. It came to about 40$ per week which will stop next week as she said. However her rent just increased by 40.
The 25 $ increase is on the base benefit, which in many cases can and will a reduction in fringe benefits. So you could argue that while on paper these people got a trickle down, it cost them more then it was worth.
The government here failed. And if we safe the system on the backs of the poor, why on earth would they vote for the government?
There are those…AND the wage subsidy, the income relief payment, the apprenticeship subsidy, the housing of the homeless (despite the incompetence) , IRD business loans, rent freeze, leave support, migrant support and foodbank support.
What would National have done do you think?
The system is designed for the investor class so why wouldnt it be saved on the backs of the poor?…..its what we voted for for the past 40 years
I don't care what National would do as i don't vote for them.
Rent freeze is over, rents are going up everywhere and by quite a bit to make up for the 'only once a year' rule.
The homeless are no longer housed they were kicked out a few weeks ago and are now roaming the streets again. Well a few are back in emergency housing but never mind. (well 1200 rooms have been retained 🙂 )
IRD business loans, payable back in a year time. Hope you still have a business then.
Foodbanks, cause yeah, Foodbanks are a sign of the times and government is doing good if everyone gets a food voucher for a food bank courtesy of WINZ if they get someone to answer the phone there.
Nah, sorry, not good enough. Not at all good enough, and if this would have been done by National all you guys would be jumping up and down yelling not good enough.
The Government has spent $13 billion on wage subsidy payments to large and small businesses alike, but not a cent extra to the already jobless, those on a benefit, or to the working poor, other than through a legislated increase in the minimum wage. Many of those with multiple gig economy jobs or part time jobs have seen their incomes fall as the hospitality, retail and office servicing jobs dried up.
Those businesses with the best connections to Government have received the biggest amounts and the most support. Fletcher Building, The Warehouse and Sky City received over $170 million worth of wage subsidies between them, but decided to sack 2,700 workers anyway after pocketing the money.
Banks saw their capital requirements relaxed, their lending restrictions relaxed and were offered guarantees funded by the Government to encourage lending to businesses. Barely any new business lending has been done, but banks are back lending at ever-lower mortgage rates to property investors, renovators, downsizers, upsizers and first home buyers.
IRD loans are not repayable in one year, they are interest free if paid in a year but run for 5 years at 3% after one year
Foodbanks exist…they would be less capable without the gov support
'IF' this had been done by National….I doubt much of it would, it certainly wasnt in the 90s
The Gov to date has been restrained (in the face of massive pressure) in direct support of big business and the (private) banks lack of support of business despite Gov underwrites should be indicative to you (and everyone) of the need to revisit the current business model despite the liquidity being made available.
The asset inflation has destroyed disposable income and the answer isnt more asset inflation…..and that requires the system to fail (reset) and that aint going to be a picnic either.
There is no painless way out, but what is being done is simply delaying the inevitable and wasting resources in the process…Labour if they were true to their history could provide a path out….National not so.
We will discover in 52 days whether theres a slim chance or none.
The Winter Energy Allowance finishes from the end of September. It is $40 weekly per single person and $63 weekly for couples and families.
For nearly 6 months benefits have continued on with no need to review or verify tenancy /disability costs ; I believe this will start to change in another month.
Homeless have not been evicted from emergency housing ; the odd person who felt constricted “living indoors” might have gone back to the streets but the choice was theirs. Some homeless have now been housed in permanent accommodation. Many new Kainga Ora flats and houses becoming available in Auckland.
I'm disappointed – you are doing a Nat of just reporting part of a comment which gives the wrong impression of what was written.
Swordfish said this amongst other things:
I suspect (pure speculation) that we'll see a mild flow back to the Nats in the next poll … but one that won't even remotely compensate for the huge Nat-to-Lab Realignment during the Level 4 lockdown earlier in the year.
So you accuse me of cherry-picking some of swordfish’s comments by, ahem, cherry-picking some of swordfish’s comment? Nice one.
As it happens I tend agree with everything swordfish has said. Lab/Govt partisans will be hoping for no change, Nat/Oppo partisans will be hoping for a decent shift back to their party. And the most likely outcome will be a ‘mild flow back to the Nats’ (swordfish’s own words). Sorry if I didn’t spell that out more clearly in my original comment but there is life to be getting on with eh? As for disappointing you – believe it or not that’s probably the least of my worries. Your response to my comment was bloody condescending.
So is yours you twit. I read your comment and it sounded as if swordfish was saying that the swing to Labour was over. Seeing that is the last thing we want I protested. Sorry to hurt your delicate feelings.
Shane Reti in question time in the House, comes across as a nit-picking fuckwit who asks the same question in various wordings and doesn't listen to the answers.
Trying to make a case for Day 3 testing being compulsory. Hipkins told him several times that day 12 testing was more relevant but . . . ??
The answer is almost irrelevant. The point is to seed doubt that there is something fundamentally wrong at the borders and that this is the Government’s doing.
If you're manually typing in the "href" stuff, you need to be in "Source" mode on the gui. Otherwise write "borders" then select it and press the chainlink icon (to the right of the "A" buttons) to fill in the hyperlink fields
If you are using a laptop all I do is have the story open on another tab in the browser. I click on the website link – so that it is highlighted in blue. Then I go "ctrl C" and then click on the 'leave a Comments panel" that I am using and go "ctrl V" and that's all that is needed. it's copy and paste. Just leave some spaces around it. Using firefox
The investment wanks love to say how crap BB are to other savings schemes, but that's through their lens of the moneyed gentry. Fuck those guys.
For me, BB were a fees-free way to save up a couple of hundred over a few months, and I'd get all my money back to make a big purchase. It was like a lottery ticket where you got your money back even if you didn't win.
waa waa you didn't get inflation adjustments. Fucksake, anyone on a low income gets shafted by banks for much more than the cost of inflation. Was it my retirement plan? No. Was it useful and moderately interesting? Yes.
Any winnings were also tax free and certainly those in the early days also saw it as a way of supporting government – the trade off was no interest while the government used your money but you had a chance of winning something. It was’t all about what you could get – it was about helping out – part of socialist thinking.
One of my relatives won $60,000 the second draw she was eligible. Made an enormous difference to her life. I know lots of old people who would bring in half a dozen or more $20-00 cheques each month into the bank my cousin managed. It was regular non-taxed income for them.
Two people I know have said he’d make a good PM (Hipkins). I agree and then I hear Jacinda and it’s very clear how exceptional she is. Good though yet another competent team member
A conflict of interests exists ‘where a reasonable and informed person would perceive that you could be influenced by a private interest when carrying out your public duty.’ A ‘private interest’ may be either ‘pecuniary’ or ‘non-pecuniary’.
What would the Auditor General deem in consideration of whether a non-pecuniary or pecuniary conflict of interest arises when MP's with vested monetary interests in farms then vote on bills surrounding ' farm practice' ?
David Bennet as opposition Spokesperson on Agriculture (like other MPs) has direct gain when involved in the repealing of freshwater farm practices. Others also have substance of an association or relationship involved.
The number of properties owned by New Zealand MPs .
But what is in Bentit's interests is by definition in the National interest, so no possible conflict. It's just like smuggling swamp kauri (depending on who the smuggler is).
Cost of Divert our SUBURBS TREES DEVISE AS WE EXPAND. Planing, cost our payers comp ,laining about traffic and hold ups so tree cutting is progress why, build a billion billion road to where, motor bike boy, time to stop pushing get lost in your homestead lot.
Oh I forgot, with his three farms on the Parliamentary declared interests list , DBennet is now one of the doctorly experts on the Strong Team. So of course doctor of farming ! 🙃
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
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Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
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I didn't realise this was being considered, but I am relieved to find out the private sale of fireworks hasn't been outlawed.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122492350/private-sale-of-fireworks-wont-be-banned-after-proposal-rejected-by-mps
Passfire is a term pyros use for moving flame. From the fuse to the lift charge on the ground, to the shell containing effects in the sky. Passfire is also the name of a movie celebrating firework culture around the globe. Worth a look to see some of the joy that pyrotechnics brings.
This is a trailer for an up coming series;
I think freedom should include fireworks and seatbelts. While believing in strong democratic government.
Oh no the well off have lost their cheap child-care labour and now have to pay New Zealanders proper wages.
"Dream Au Pair usually manages 600 au pairs around the country, but now only has 15 – all of which are expected to leave in the next few months."
They want au pairs to be classed as "essential workers".
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/122539891/coronavirus-parents-struggle-as-hundreds-of-au-pairs-leave-nz
and in case you are wondering what the difference between a nanny and an au pair is:
https://www.aupair.com/en/p-au-pair-nanny.php
Covid19s effects aren't smoothing class structures here.
They are making them much stronger.
There are thousands of women who are now unemployed or underemployed. The 1% should employ more New Zealanders, and these look like good roles to get compared to the pay of most car workers.
Aye. There's plenty of opportunity to employ laid off and unemployed NZer's but of course they aren't as cheap.
childcare and cleaning rich peoples houses obviously is something for unemployed women to do, right? No man need apply, they get shovel ready jobs, women get to clean other peoples toilets.
Oh my, the generosity.
You are such a coarse thinker.
Au Pairs are almost 100% female. Just the way it is.
Any time you want to come and do some heavy infrastructure work Sabine, let us know.
i was an au pair and boys also can be au pair. That has long been changed. I am not coarse thinker, i just say the parts that you are uncomfortable with out loud. And sometimes you know, reality is coarse 🙂
Btw, i was an au pair, i got that way to France and ended up living there for about 10 years. Two boys, fairly well of to do family from Germany. Living in Super Cannes right above Vallauris. In fact that is what got me as a stray teenager of the road, work with accommodation attached. I was just lucky that it took me to the South of France, i was paid 1000$ a month, worked 6 days a week at Nannying, cooking, ironing, cleaning the toilets and had sunday off. So very last century and the only reason most Au pair do this is because it takes them to a different country, one where they might never go to on their own. Just saying, before you explain Au Pair to me in detail.
And yes, housekeeping – involves cleaning toilets. But hey, they will get paid minimum wage right 🙂 all these poor dear unemployed female that so far no one gives a flying fudge about.
https://www.aupair.com/en/p-male-au-pair.php
” Au Pair is not a gender restricted job, so it is possible for boys to find a place in a Host Family. The truth is that it can take much longer for a male Au Pair to be placed, but some families are looking exactly for an elder brother for the kids.
Boys generally don't get hired as au pairs, so the reverse sexism you propose is trite.
No, they get a bunch more than minimum wage – and clearly you know the difference yourself.
Did you read the article that i just posted. Boys don't get hired easily, but are hired by family who want to hire boys. Boys can be Au Pair Boys.
Seriously, dude, It ain't reverse sexism, it literally is something that happens. I have met boy Au pairs. The only sexist that i see here is you.
You were wrong. bye now.
House slaves and field slaves. I'm a house slave myself. I hope, come the revolution, I'll put aside my social culture and fight for the field slaves, despite their social culture.
It's gone all "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" in here.
Back on track, people.
I'm pretty sure I said "unemployed NZer's" not women so I'm not sure why you would suggest something different to what I said.
If you have an issue with only/mainly women doing that work take that up with the people who employ them. Besides that wasn't the point of my post – the point was about the fact they are lamenting the loss of their "cheap" overseas labour and want them deemed essential.
tion cheep the women, the men more about cheep. Sex our humanity human should not be allowed the exploitation that is here on our place our human world.
There's no way the 1% are going to let Maori women into their homes, much less near their offspring.
I know some who do. It's a skilled job.
White women need not apply to clean the shitters of the rich? Oh dear…….
I wondered about that Muttonbird. There is the barrier of the bad publicity heard for decades. If there was an Academy for Maori Nannies and Au Pairs which had good standards, the Certification would give certainty.
We should be looking to ways to onshore some more of the customer call centre (Spark! and the other Telco's, insurance companiies and power companies) and other processing tha has gone offshore. If we pay the bills here we should have the jobs here!
It would give a better variety of jobs.
And put them elsewhere then Auckland. There is no reason why Morrinsville, or Tokoroa could not house a call centre.
We should shift them out of Auckland even now, Dunedin could benefit from something like that ( as well as provincial towns) good mix of students and older people.
Should have done this when the housing crisis started to become the new normal in Auckland at the latest.
Gisborne, Dunedin, Invercargill, Toks, Taupo, Rotorua etc all are good places for some call centres or even gasp Government offices.
And it would take the pressure of Auckland re infrastructure, housing, schools etc.
Not gonna happen tho, not unless there is a will to legislate.
I have to agree with you here Sabine. Rotorua used to have the branch or main offices of Doc, Tax, Maori Land Court…..slowly removed by BEnglish/Key's minions.
Business won't move into a town unless the infrastructure is there to support them. Most of the towns you listed simply don't have that infrastructure and so, if the government wants business to move there, they're going to have to build the infrastructure – and I'm not talking about roads.
DTB Got it in one. Build infrastructure and let roads wait.
That was shocking journalism from Stuff. No mention of the terms and conditions which are massively exploitive- third world in fact. They should enquire further not just regurgitate what they are told by the owner of the business.
Looking at the site NZ has one of the highest allowable working hours a week at 40 hours for suggested pocket money of $150 to $200 per week. so $3-$5 per hour for a full time job plus the board and lodging. I assume that no tax is paid on the pocket money or the assessed value of the lodgings although other taxpayers fork out.
Most of the other countries have very part time hours and better pay rates- so at least au pairs have some spare time for the the local culture.
Time the over entitled paid a proper wage – even if only part time.
+1
most Au pair if done correctly work about 20 – 25 hours a week.
I was one in 1992 – and i got a 1000$ per month, plus accom, etc. It was a good deal then, considering that they paid the flights to and home, etc. w
40 hours per week is indeed exploitation, but again if you are 18 and want to come here it is a worthwhile deal. They pay the flight to and from which is several thousands of dollars depending on where you come from, and you get a visa that the host family will also pay. That is to keep in mind. Au pair is not really a job that one does as a career option, it is an opportunity to see the world while literally having no skills.
Ah, so the au-pair is, essentially, slave labour.
Obviously needs to be made illegal.
Yes maximum exploitation. Or the conditions that the visa is issued under need to limit hours to say 10 a week so it genuinely is just a cross cultural largely holiday thing.
Either way I would not consider them a priority class of inwards migrant. Would also be very interested in knowing what the fees being charged by the arranging organisations are – .
But having known people who have done childcare some employers do take advantage
If young people can travel the world before they settle down and know that they can get part paid for even on low wages then it's good for both.
Hours not too long, bed board okay, then it's a working holiday. The Woofers accept that too, and young people from all over the world get to meet and see other countries.
https://wwoof.nz/how-it-works/
I would like business owners to be able to get free consultancy as it has got to the stage where a business may no longer be able to stay afloat.
Covid brings uncertainty and it is disruptive and for some a decision to fold the business is a hard reality.
Honestly we need more then free consultancy. I consulted the crystal bowl, and i see lots of empty town ships devoid of people because unemployment, starvation rates in our benefits system and no stability in which to run your business.
We need a better definition of who is essential and can work through which levels.
Case: two days ago all the banks in AKL closed.
Why? Because suddenly they were told they are not essential and thus need to close during level 3, however they were open and classified as essential last time during Level 4. But maybe current Level 3 is just Level 4 hiding. Who knows.
But the banks are closed now until at least Sunday. For those that want to say INTERNET and we don't need no open banks, not everyone has internet, some only have internet via a Library which are also closed.
It is a small thing, but who can be open and who can not. How to open. Etc.
The hairdresser next to me took three month to work of the debt accumulated during the last lockdown until she could open up. She was busy – as expected – right after opening but now it has dropped off and with every closed business she and others like her in town are loosing business, one persona a time.
But unless she experiences a 40% drop in business she ain't getting no help other then a loan that she will have to pay back after a year. Generally i have no issues with that either, but she literally got herself a loan so that next time she needs to close for 8 – 12 weeks she can pay the bills for the shop cause the wage subsidy (if it still exists then) was not enough to pay the bills at home for her and her boy. Yes, she is a single mum.
Disclaimer: This is not to slag the PM, but it is to point out that we need governance now as this is going to stay with us for a few years, and businesses need to be able to plan ahead. And one of the big question is: Will i be open. or better, under what lock down restrictions can i open safely.
And frankly the wage subsidy set at 40% loss of revenue, lol, at that stage businesses start talking about closing shop and joining the unemployment queue.
Were the banks told they weren't essential, or did they grab the opportunity to continue with their march towards tellerless service?
Nope they did NOT GRAB anything.
My partner fixes ATMs and such, Banks were considered essential service under the last lockdown and worked under Level 4 for exactly the reasons i mentioned above, not everyone has access to internet and/or is set up for internet banking, and the few businesses that do work will also still need banking services.
However, and this was very surprising to us on Monday a directive came from the government that they are NOT essential and must close. Banks now in Auckland closed since Monday and will open again with drop to level two. And i know about this, because it reduced the work load for the engineers in Auckland that look after these machines.
Seriously people, stop pretending that it is the businesses that are screwing up, we are trying to function with the information form the government that we get and not with the information that we need.
This is government. Not the banks, nor the businesses. If the government changes its mind and tells you to close shop, you close shop. How hard is this to understand, considering that shops are closed in AKl, and are closing down for good up and down the country side?
Banks being told to close down and all emphasis being put on on-line transactions! This comes out of the tiny mind of some half-man of O who knows nothing about life, and everything about facilitating machine control of society including his/her own job. That seems all people are taught these days.
We have to close them down because they are not providing essential services! That is how to live our lives at a basic level and being able to access all that we need wherever possible.
HalfMen of O – Two youngsters are sent to help people being over-run by these dangerous characters.
They are summoned to the beautiful land of O in a last-ditch attempt to save the planet from cruel Otis Claw and his followers, the evil Halfmen, who have lost every trace of human goodness and kindness.
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/halfmen-of-o-9780143318347
Are we in a nation-wide filmset and don't even know it? I hope someone is documenting all this – it's better than Game of Thrones except not much nudity and the clothing is more mundane.
Also the march to tellerless service – aka automation – is pretty much the future now specially with covid.
And again this too is not only banks, but supermarkets, gas stations, and so on and so forth. Have you heard of online shopping?
I may have heard tell of it, from a mysterious traveller who appeared in our midst and partook of our victuals, sharing a tale of dark market forces at large beyond the Shire before vanishing whence he came. Or it might have been on the radio.
ah, obviuosly the Government re-thougth and re-decided that banks are an essential service.
Can't make that shit up.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12359535
of course its behind the pay wall.
snip
Seriously they need to get their stories straight, then they need to set binding rules, no of this weasely no accountabilty schmuck of 'can do, should do, bullshit' but rules. Proper rules.
It may be that Dr Bloomfield needs a short break (a day!) as while he has kept up the pressure on medical matters and society but he has kept it on himself for so long. Possibly the micro-management is getting to him and his staff, and their needs to be someone to step in and point out that banks aren't just any business, they are at the root of business and vital to us all in our present financial system.
It's high time a banking licence came with some service requirements rather that tellers pointing at bug ridden machines. Banking is a nightmare even every day transactions are now very difficult to complete.
what has that got to do with the blunder at hand of declaring them essential then not essential then essential again?
And funny, there is a lot of people out there that like the bug ridden machine rather then a human cause 'its faster'. 🙂
3.1.1.1 commented on bank service levels. Not directly related to the essential bit as such – but outside the larger centre's and even within them – on the ground banking services whether teller or automated have diminished sharply. Not every one has the internet / skills but the banks are disenfranchising or privileging some groups over others with the dash to internet and automation only. But that is another day. BTW the machines certainly don't do every thing – I've had an interesting time completing some transactions.
oh what was it, tell me all about it. 🙂 My partner fixes these darn machines and i am sure could tell you exactly what went wrong.
Calm down Sabine. You are right that it's damn hard to cope with, daft moves from government on top of the controls that are needed.
It's off topic but it needed a bank cheque from a teller (otherwise I'd have had to track cash around.) And there are ATM's that only give out $50 notes – no 20's so if you don't have a lot of money you might be stuffed. And like it or not transaction timings and transferability between banks has diminished for a number of transactions and locations. No the government didn't need to create the confusion over the banks but please don't take it out on me with sarcasm when there are other people with different experiences of the use and availability of banking services.
The security or otherwise can also be questioned. Banks get hacked.
Bank premises aren't essential as everything that anybody needs to do with the bank can be done online. I haven't been inside a bank in more than ten years.
Those people need to join the 21st century and they've just received a lesson as to why.
And now you know the problem of ownership. After all, the capitalist needs to have their income from their assets even though they're not being used right?
Yes DTB you are so logical, from your own POV which isn't one that reflects what is good for most people in the short and long run in my opinion.
Most people are already doing business online and so keeping shops open for the few who refuse to move out of the past is just getting more and more expensive per use as economies of scale keep dropping and it doesn't provide any societal value.
I vaguely remember going into a bank in 2012.
I shifted my mortgage from ANZ to BNZ using phone and internet while I was working out of a hotel in Singapore in 2018. Did the same for getting a car loan during the lockdown in April.
I could have done both using phone and mail. It was an option offered. It just takes longer.
I myself have not been to a bank in some years, and do all my banking online as well, but that does not mean that banking is not an essential service. Consider the essential services such as dairies, supermarkets, and petrol stations. Cash is still a valid form of currency, as far as I recall. Those places might have a decent amount of cash on hand at anyone time, and will need to deposit or exchange notes and coin. It is for this reason more than any other that banks need to remain open as businesses carrying large amounts of cash can become targets for robbery.
For now but for how much longer?
Store refuses to take cash payment
And I can recall the half hour or so of lost time taking the cash to the bank at the end of the day. Cash is expensive in so many ways never mind the increased threat of theft..
Their's probably some way that the bank could take the cash while keeping their stores closed. Armourguard or similar.
The demise of legal tender is not something which I anticipate fondly, either as a customer or as someone who is occasionally involved in customer service.
Many's the time my arse has gotten home thanks to a sneaky $20 folded into the battery compartment of my cellphone. shit happens.
A couple of decades ago I would have agreed with you but I haven't carried cash in 15+ years. A time or two I've had to pull out my phone and transfer money across from my savings account into my on-call account so I could use EFT-POS.
I also have my HOP card so I can move around (don't own a car) which will work if it has some money on it when I get on the bus.
So you don't need it, therefore no worries, huh.
Cash is tactile, solid. Not abstract, not dependant on a fibre cable or the stores power supply, but portable and with no fees for use. Even the cash run can be done during quiet times when you'd be paying someone to stand around, anyway.
I'll miss it.
No, nobody needs it.
The problem is that some people want it but in a global pandemic those people become dangerous to others.
The fees are an issue but the solution to that is the government going full cashless, as I've mentioned before.
I won't – horrible stuff.
Beggars in the street don't usually carry eftpos machines, so if they want to eat, they need cash from strangers.
Someone who is blind can easily count well-designed cash. Not sure how they know that the cashier has accidentally overcharged them on the eftpos terminal.
I'm sure your utopia will be wonderful for everyone, but cash is disappearing by itself, not as part of a broader scheme to improve society.
As for the dangers of cash, get a grip.
The only place I carry cash is when I’m outside of NZ. I just had to get a new wallet because the old one fell apart after 20 years. The old one was a leather wallet for holding business cards. It was perfect for holding eftpos cards, credit cards, access cards for buildings and no cash. Turns out that leather rots if you’re working outside in Singapore for 5 months and have it in your sweaty pocket.
I’ve just replaced it with a Bellroy card holder. That is exactly the right size for what I usually carry.
I'm working on making my own – two external card slots for bus and staff card, internal compartments for various debit and business cards. Made a prototype, just finished a revised design.
Fun wee project for these times.
Not everyone has a phone or internet.
Shops need to bank the cash they take in through their till.
And they have absolutely no excuse for that. The inevitable demise of shops has been obvious for decades. As long as the internet's been around in fact.
The fact that nearly all business can now be done online should have been a clue for them.
Society isn't going to hold still just because a few people want to stay in the 19th century.
In my world no-one has to choose between food and a smart phone+plan, but I can't help wondering – as neat as they are, just how tasty is a smart phone?
Businesses that are prepared to humour this luddite will continue to receive my custom until such time as they decide it's not a sufficiently profitable way to operate. Btw, if it's inconvenient that your immensely profitable bank is phasing out cheques, then switch to a bank that still supports them – easy as.
easy as…IF you have someone to assist you.
Not everyone does
I don’t like change, but have switched or been morphed a few times without special assistance (Post Office Savings Bank –> PostBank –> Lloyds –> Trust Bank Central –> Westpac –> TSB –> TSB/Kiwibank/[PSIS –> Cooperative]) – admittedly my banking needs are simple.
https://www.nzba.org.nz/consumer-information/smarter-banking/switching-banks/
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/savings/how-to-switch-banks
and you have usefully provided two online help sites…for those computer literate and connected
https://www.nzba.org.nz/consumer-information/code-banking-practice/older-and-disabled-customer-guidelines/
No problem – and those two online help sites were easy to find too.
Most of my bank switching was done in person (by walking into a bank and filling in forms), sometimes aided by phonecalls (on a landline!) I enabled internet banking (with one bank only) about six months ago (when I finally got an internet connection at home), and it's OK. Larger online one-off payments were initially a bit of a pain (can't do text verification), but my bank provided a workaround.
And yes, it won't be ‘easy as’ for everyone (particularly if you can’t walk to or phone your old and new banks), but in my experience banks do try to assist even ordinary customers, especially the bank(s) you’re opening an account with.
Otoh, the way interest rates are trending a switch to the Bank of Mattress might be in order sooner rather than later! Just hope a cashless NZ is still some way off.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-09/australia-can-learn-from-swedens-move-to-a-cashless-society/12282764
Its contagious
Some are vulnerable to infection, some aren’t 😉
Methinks you miss the point….there is all sorts of advice, govt services and help. medical assistance etc….ONLINE.
Indeed increasingly almost exclusively online.
I did get your point and added to it that banks are aware of these and other issues with accessibility and offer a wide range of assistance. I would also add that the degree of inconvenience for customers who are not on-line is likely to increase over time. I do have personal experience with people being ‘off-line’, for all intents and purposes, and there no easy answers. I also know what it is like not using a mobile phone 🙂
I know how to fix the reply button now. There is however some annoying testing I have to do to make sure that fix isn’t worse isn’t worse than the original problem on a range of devices. It is a javascript issue, in this case the plugin using an older JQuery system that has been obsoleted.
It will be the weekend before I can get to it.
Thing is, there's a law of decreasing returns that banks and online businesses (and covid app designers) will do the easy thing that hits almost everyone, and those outside the "almost" are buggered unless they make a big song and dance about having a need that the media can paint as "deserving".
Cash is just one of the things. It's cheaper to close stores and branches, so if someone wants to touch something before buying it, they're fucked. My local uni decided nowhere on campus will accept cash, none of their cafes, stores or whathaveyou. Fuck those guys.
Getting my mail is a bugger, because they closed the branch so if a parcel needs to be signed for then the box lobby is staffed half a day and forget about weekends. Get it delivered to my home? If the courier doesn't leave it to get nicked, they tap on the door then run like buggery so I have to find the depot.
Oh, I'm sure it's all fine for almost everyone else, but I'm noting quite a lot of "my way or the highway" bullshit from enterprises that theoretically want me to pay for their shit. It's almost like some of these industries are cabals or monopolies…
sorry, didn't quite follow that. The shops that have cash on premises this week, what are they supposed to do with it?
If you think everyone in NZ can afford a phone and internet, you *really haven't been paying attention.
My elderly parents don't do online banking. They use a branch. You can want everyone on e-money all you like, but the reality is that this week there are people still dependent on being able to visit a branch, and until the government signals well ahead of time that that will be ending, then it needs to be factored into covid response as an essential service.
For this week they need to get to the bank. But considering that we had a level 4/3 a couple of months ago and knowing that it was going to happen again both the banks and the businesses should have got off their arse and planned for it.
The fact that they didn't just goes to show how terrible our business people are at basic business and accounting for risks. The idiots are still trying to go back to how things were when that simply isn't going to happen.
If they're that poor then they should be signed up with WINZ and WINZ requires people to have a phone up to and including helping people get one. WINZ even provides the necessary bandwidth if you need it.
For which they have no excuse. Internet banking became available 20+ years ago in NZ and its never been hard to use.
As I said, it's been obvious for ages that shops were a thing of the past and that they would be going the way of the dodo in the near future. People should have been preparing for it. And, yes, that includes the government.
Yes, this week shows just how stupid people are thinking that things were going to continue as is when there's a global pandemic and a possibility of a lock down happening with little to no warning.
Get with the program already and stop making excuses.
Such a bizarre and bossy response – like customers need an excuse.
In the 60+ age bracket, the main way to bank is online (38%), followed by "in-person" (29%). If my everyday bank discontinued services such as in-branch banking and cheque accounts, then I'd switch to a bank that (still) offered them. The customer is always right, right? No-one’s going to force me to buy a cell phone, let alone a smart phone, until I'm good and ready.
Things have changed. Thought I got that through in my last comment. The shops are closing so as to protect people from the pandemic. The services that some are saying are essential aren't because they can be done online.
You do realise that that's a marketing strategy right?
Its purpose is to stop the customer from being combative in something that's gone wrong. Then, after the salesperson has got the customer calmed down, to carefully explain to the customer why they're wrong and come to an equitable settlement that, hopefully, doesn't involve giving the customer any money. Getting the customer to spend more is a bonus.
Its nice to know that you care so much about the health and well-being of your neighbours in these trying times of a global pandemic.
/sarc
Things have always changed, and that won’t change. You’re free to roll with changes as you see fit, and so am I.
Thank you DtB, I do try to keep an eye on the neighbours (although I could always do more), and they look out for me – bless 'em.
Banks are now again classified as essential services (as they were in the previous lockdown). It was a case of some official not being properly informed of all the circumstances. Ashley went over the matter, and explained how the mistake occurred, and how it was quickly rectified on this afternoons briefing.
They have been reading Sabine. A genuine complaint that got acted on. Wouldn't that be great if that was what happened.
Thomas Coughlan might have been watching something different than I did. This article doesn't reflect the atmosphere in QT yesterday at all.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300091230/election-2020-judith-collins-tries-new-tactic-in-the-extratime-parliament
I was watching also and feel Coughlan did capture the atmosphere accurately. Collins' supercilious laugh that greets Ardern's answers and precedes Collin's every question, is wearying to the soul and is, I believe, irritating Jacinda as evidenced by her slip into "snipping" at Collins over the "strong team" billboards. It's a trifling issue, and the PM will have given herself a stern talking-to for having let her guard down and allowing Collins to "slip one in" – Mallard was quick to rein it in – a slap-fest would be won by Collins hands-down, even if Jacinda made the cleverest jibes, as the fight itself would be seen, quite rightly, as a fail by the PM. But she'll have learned and it won't happen again, though Collins will try that door repeatedly and slyly. I'm always interested to read how others interpret scenes such as this one; the Kiwiblog crowd will have seen a thrashing of the PM by the hero, Judith, while here, as with your fair comment, aj, we'll have seen it differently and in favour of our "champion" – it's a genuinely interesting phenomenon – both sides fully confident that they saw things as they were. Of course, this is only my opinion and describes the way I saw it – there's no reason to believe that my interpretation isn't as coloured as anyone else; such it the mystery of perception.
Bishop does this as well but I'm not sure it irritates the opposition. My take is it's childish. But I take your points, perceptions are always coloured. And I confess I was listening more than watching, while preparing vegetables for tonight's meal and may have missed nuance of body language. I do agree Collins quieter persona is more effective, but on the substance I gave it either a draw, or a points decision to Adern.
Billboards – I thought it was a good dig, are you sure Collins would win a 'slap-fest' only on the optics I'd suggest, as Adern has positioned herself above that but I agree optics alone means she shouldn't dip into the muck too much.
I was watching too and indeed he 's correct. Momentarily, Jacinda was irritated and Judith knew so she will try it again – no question. But Jacinda is a quick and smart thinker and I doubt she'll let it happen again.
What has happened to the video that had Jacinda Ardern visiting ESR? Last I heard about it was that it was taken down for editing. Does anybody know if it is back up?
This?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12358336
That one doesn't have a lingering shot of Ashley Bloomfield. Was it edited out then?
Yawn
So many questions Gossie – do let us know when you have some answers.
Don't worry, there should be more than enough lingering shots of senior public servant Dr Bloomfield to satisfy you in the lead up to the general election.
All part of the pandemic response service don't you know![wink wink](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png)
I know where collins has been these last few days . They've had her in the shop for full rebuild a much less severe looking and less snarky one was on display on tv this am . No less sneaky though .
It’s a topsy turvy world. On Morning Report this morning we had a Labour Finance Minister preaching fiscal discipline and defending the lack of the wage subsidy for the extra four days of Level 3 lockdown in Auckland while the National Party leader demanded the subsidy get paid, even if it means more borrowing and went so far as to suggest the government should just pay extra if it was too hard to part pay the four days out of a week. Collins incidentally was as nice as pie too, a noticeable shift in tone.
Strange times.
There sems to be a tidal wave of right wing nut jobs critisising Ardern and the Govt for protecting the lives of NZers, even Peters has joined the march
None of the criticism has any basis on Fact and is little more than Hyperbole, electioneering for the right who have no credibility and seem to have conveniently forgotten all the mishandling of a few weeks ago with Boag, all the resignations, 3 leadership spills and no new policies except to privatise the Covid Response so their friends so they can profit from the pandemic.
Fake News is at all time High in the NZ Media, surprise, surprise.
What should they report on, Politicians telling us one thing and yet something quite different was happening?
If you game enough to read blogs from the other side you would see the exact same statements going the other way.
Plus the fact that the NZ media has been brought by the current Govt for 50 million pieces of silver.
Pataua4life, I guess you are referring to the roll out of testing staff at the border. The Govt had understood it was happening. Even although it wasn't we have one outbreak. one cluster and despite the exhaustive testing it hasn't come from the border.
Everyone morning I checked the Covid numbers worldwide. Today NZ has gone from 140 to 142 in terms of case numbers. We continue to be surpassed by other countries and have for months. We need perspective here. We have had none by the media. I believe they are undermining and therefore endangering our Covid response
"If you game enough to read blogs from the other side you would see the exact same statements going the other way."
I have been there and read the comments, what is clear is that most who comment their are are completely illiterate and live in a parallel universe.
"Plus the fact that the NZ media has been brought by the current Govt for 50 million pieces of silver."
Proof to support that unsubstantiated claim.
Just a quick reminder, NZ has the very best response to this Pandemic of any country in the world today, there have no stuff ups as suggested by some, ie testing, as there simply is no evidence to support it, there have only been reports of stuff ups from those who wish there were some, yet there is not a single shred of evidence to support that claim, no matter how many times it's repeated by Collins or the media, it doesn't make true, basically FAKE NEWS
What did you expect? That everyone would play nice in the lead up to the election? What a quaint notion.
There is an expectation that the media would be objective and fair.
no there is not
anyone in the media that people like to complain about are in the highest available income section in NZ that is available after Minister or plastic surgery doctor.
So they are as partisan as they can be as they want their low taxes, their loopholes, and they want people to come back in to rent all the fancy Air BnB owned by these people.
so why would you expect these guys to be fair and objective? Because that is what you were told? They are stenographers nor journalists.
No, they're peddlers of Fake News, the strategy used by the right as they have nothing else, confuse and disrupt.
Opposition Policies are non existent, the media don't care, they just want their mates to win at any cost, anybody claiming the media are not bias must be a Nat supporter.
there is no such thing as fake news no matter how many times the orange shitshow utters these two words. There are news you support and stand behind and then there are those that you don't support and don't stand behind. Simple as. Hoskins and his ilk however will stand behind those that give them tax cuts, and investment loopholes, and privilege and access. Non of that is fake, its currency and they want it. So they will never support anyone who will not give them these baubles.
Once you understand and accept that type of relationship between a political party and its bullhorn its paid of and fully owned stenographers you can get on with life and stop listening to them. Most of us already do.
There is fake news, unfortunately.
The system is no longer binary – left vs right or whatever – there is now a significant fraction of news chatter devoted to bringing the whole system down. Fake news is not a matter of different interpretations of the same facts, but a deliberate attempt to detach fact from civic discourse. Once it’s gone, anything goes.
Even homo profugo Woodhouseiensis – homeless man – was not fake news. The story was rebuttable, and its truth or untruth mattered. Fake news is more the crap Billy TK is channeling – an outgrowth of active measures.
Marc Daalder writes a well informed column about the unlikelihood of Lockdowns 3 or 4. Pretty refreshing and optimistic
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/eliminating-covid-19-without-lockdowns
[Shortened link]
“There is an expectation that the media would be objective and fair.”
Good luck with that.
Question for mods.
The ‘reply’ function is not working on any of my devices. It hasn’t worked for over six months on the iPad I use but up until a couple of days ago I could reply using my iPhone (an 11). Now that’s not working either. I always have to generate a primary comment which is very frustrating. Is there something I can do to correct this? I can’t be the only commenter in here that has this problem?
Scott, Ive had that same problem on my S7, can't reply, the best way around it is to use a computer or lap top which is what I've had to revert to.
No dam spell checker though, which always takes longer to respond.
it's the system. You can try switching to desktop from mobile on your phone (or vice versa, can't remember which way round).
The issue in the past few days is being worked on.
Use to happen to me. I found making a new post, then deleting it, brings the reply option back again.
Thanks I might try that next time
New Zealand will be relying on a small number of people working their butts off for this to succeed, and I hope the public realise this. When I say 'small' it's still thousands of people: border workers, health workers, testing staff, scientists, transport, police and military . I'm mindful of what people coming through quarantine have been saying, "its a different world" and while we go down to level 1, it's never level 1for the frontline staff in this long battle against Covid which will be relentless. They have a huge responsibility and all the stress that goes with it. A big thumbs up for their work so far and into the future.
An unrealistic expectation mpledger, it's been shown by academics the media have a bias to national.
Both in the lack of an objective approach and the sheer number of pieces that are effectively shilling a national led gov't as the solution. This was a reply to 10.1 that’s ended up on it’s own sorry.
For Sabine @3.1 reply not working.
Sabine what you raise is the conversation which must be had. It is crunch time and finding ways to lessen the pain without losing the fight with Covid is what needs to occur.
any time now they can start conversing about it, because we are getting tired, council fees just gone up, supplies are going up, rents will go up and there is no NO guidance to us and no help other then a loan and a wage subsidy that is too little too late and that the dear neo liberal Grant Robertson rather not pay out, mind his lifelyhood is secured, he gets paid every week without fault. he ain't worried about his family eating and paying mortgage.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12472456/coronavirus-frozen-meat-fish-three-weeks/
I like to know on what basis MBIE "ruled out" Americold as the source of the Auckland outbreak. It looks like there's not sufficient scientific consensus to say it couldn't happen.
This of course wouldn't support the narrative the opposition is running that it was definitely a failure of testing at the border.
"This of course wouldn't support the narrative the opposition is running that it was definitely a failure of testing at the border."
The media have gone along for the ride as well and as expected.
Facts don't seem to matter when there's an election around the corner and the medias "team" are on the back foot, replacing the Leader 3 times, embarrassed at being caught out trying to release information about the names of people in quarantine, having 15 Nat members resign from parliament prior to the election and having Collins as the Leader and hopeful PM, what an embarrassment.
Can anyone realistically see Collins as PM, it would be the end of civilisation as we know it today in NZ.
In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, surely you have to go with the strongest lead which is the first case at Americold. No matter how unlikely, it is still the most likely, with the evidence available.
After all, how many border workers have tested positive?
One. That’s it!
And that was because some cow from America didn’t wash her hands and wasn’t wearing a mask when she left her room.
You don't understand Mb. It contravenes their constitutional rights of FREEDOM.
I am reminded of an incident prior to the anti nuclear legislation passed in 1986, when we used to have naval and air exercises with the Americans out in the Auckland Gulf. A former colleague of mine was giving a flying crew a weather briefing prior to departure when in walked the Yanks. Some fool among them yelled out :
It was quietly greeted with laughter and derision. Idiots.
Muttonbird
Agreed, the borders being protected, were protected, the evidence proves that no matter how you twist it.
This virus is Highly contagious, if it wasn't we wouldn't be Locking Down.
Just Is That's what I reckon. I see someone being creative in naming Judeath.![angry angry](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/angry_smile.png)
greywarshark
After their environmental policy release today, I'd say it fits
Judith saying (stupidly) that we should only keep the "swimming parts of the rivers clean and not worry too much about the rest", we need to look after the farming sector.
How do you isolate sections of rivers where people swim in them from the rest of the flowing river???
She obviously thinks Kiwis are not to bright.
She might be right, she has gone to the top of a major Party. How's that for a little girl from the Styx. (Don't know about her background but couldn't resist.)
Colmar Brunton tomorrow ?
Haven't heard owt … but they almost always poll Saturday to Wednesday … then release on Thurs. (often final week of month)..
This one should be interesting …. it's now long enough to get a firm steer on Collin's leadership, plus no-one can complain that CB does any favours to the left.
.
With notable exceptions, Lab/Govt partisans tend to feel there'll be either zero swing to the Nats or, in fact, a consolidation of Labour's huge advantage in the wake of this latest outbreak … while for Nat/Oppo partisans it's, of course, vice versa.
I suspect (pure speculation) that we'll see a mild flow back to the Nats in the next poll … but one that won't even remotely compensate for the huge Nat-to-Lab Realignment during the Level 4 lockdown earlier in the year. Perhaps up to a third of the 400k plus former Nats returning to the Blue fold (albeit tentatively, possibly with some ready to head back in the Govt's direction if all goes well) .. two-thirds remaining with Labour. So perhaps Lab down to late 40s in CB (but a little higher than that in the next TV3 Poll).
Could be wrong … but that's my guess.
I'm assuming Colmar Brunton will still go ahead with their polling schedule despite the Auckland lockdown & Election delay.
[* 100k + swinging back from Lab to Nat wouldn’t normally be considered “mild” exactly … but relative to that massive Realignment … it esentially is]
i am interested in the % for the gods squad parties, the new conservatives and vision. That could be interesting. A good amount of signs here in middle country. N/God Party signs outweigh labour signs.
Mind it is rotorua, and the town has been hit hard. Very hard.
Swordfish how are your parents faring?
.
Thanks so much for asking, Patricia. Really appreciated.
After a particularly bloody horrendous 6 months from Nov 2019 to April 2020 – an intensification of the situation they'd had to endure over the previous 2 years – (major explosions of violent intimidation from their neighbour for hours throughout night & early morning, vandalising their property, running onto their front yard & threatening at 1, 2, 3 in the morning, & frequent all-night swearing-aggressive drinking / parties … with all the extreme stress & sleep deprivation that that entails) … they got a much needed 6 week break from mid-May through to early-July. The neighbour suddenly disappeared for just over 3 weeks & then was back only very sporadically over the following 3.
So, for the first time in ages, they were allowed to go to sleep at night & have 8 hours sleep … and enjoy relative peace & quiet during the day … a 90 yo & an 89 yo permitted basic human rights that most people enjoy.
Unfortunately (but entirely predictably) things have started to deteriorate since he properly moved back mid-July. Nowhere near as bad as before … but I can see it's slowly but surely moving back in that direction.
Carrying out one or two plans to try to get something done … but not very optimistic … and getting to the point where I may take the law into my own hands … draw a red line in the sand … make it clear to certain authorities that this is outrageous & has gone on for far too long.
We all had real hopes back in Jan / Feb that he'd be out … a number of Policewomen & a Social Worker who aids the elderly forcefully going in to bat for them … but HNZ response shaped by Govt's tacit No Eviction policy … that'd be the Labour Party that my parents & grandparents have been longtime activists for.
Anyway, sorry for ranting … I'm aware that people who go on about personal issues on social media quickly become a boring scratched record … but, again, it was very nice of you to ask … and I passed your implicit moral support on to my Parents (as I've done in the past with Redlogix & a number of others). Both asked me to thank you & let you know how much they appreciate it. Cheers.
swordfish
There's always a concerted drive by the media and opposition during the "polling period", it was always very noticeable when Simple Simon was Leader, he was hard out drumming up support, barking at every passing car.
This time Collins and Co have got their wealthy friends to do the complaining for them.
Reply to anker at 9.1.1
With respect to the testing at the border regardless of what was actually happening it would have been prudent for the government to have managed expectations better than they did. Had they said all the way through that while things weren’t perfect at the border they were getting it sorted, I think most of the public would have cut them some slack. Instead we were treated to blithe assurances that everything was hunky dory. And then it turned out it really wasn’t.
They gave the Opposition and the media a stick to beat them with. You can’t really blame them for using it.
Reply to Muttonbird @17
Things have come to a pretty pass when The Sun is the go-to for evidence based scientific info in here?
There’s no citation of the study the article is referring to and the only named comment comes from a Veterinarian.
I could link to The Telegraph which carried the same article if that is more your thing? I didn't because it is paywalled and I wanted people to be able to read it.
A quick read of Newshub. Collins said it was "silly" of the Government not to pay the wage subsidy for the extra days. BUT then backed down and said she would not have done so, under questioning from Garner. Maybe Garner thought a little bit of balance was due and caught her out.
Reply to Just Is @13.1
I don’t have a laptop or desktop. Haven’t really needed one since my ancient MacBook crapped out a couple of years ago. Hopefully mods can get it sorted if possible.
Sorry, only Lprent can, when he has time.
Shit 24 deaths overnight in Victoria. And 149 new cases.
Hasn't our government done well!
University of Queensland has released corona vaccine pre-clinical trial data claiming a ‘good level of protection’.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-26/uq-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-safe-and-working-on-hamsters/12594726
[Shortened link]
Good news from the University of Queensland team who are reporting solid progress with their COVID vaccine development.
Maybe I'm biased because I live in Brisbane, but this looks promising.
"This has become the Covid-K recovery: fantastic for the rich and an awful repeat of the much-talked-about 1990-92 recession that Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have said they want to avoid repeating."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/nzs-k-shaped-covid-19-recovery
While theres much in this article that overlooks the nuance it is true that a property bubble fuelled by migration is the only strategy our leaders (?) have…..and it will be even more so under National
this is it tho,…
from your link
and looking at the 'offerings' by labour to the working poor and non working poor , there will be nothing forthcoming.
"Meanwhile, renters, beneficiaries and the working poor are getting poorer because their rents are rising, their incomes are falling and they have received no more direct help than they got before the pandemic."
And that is the nuance overlooked….the response HAS provided direct assistance to those groups but the fact is that ultimately the support of asset prices undermines that assistance.
The priority is to save the system.
this? Is this what you are talking about?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/04/25-benefit-increase-making-a-difference-for-beneficiaries-during-lockdown-carmel-sepuloni.html
the winter payment is over as per my friend who recieved it. It came to about 40$ per week which will stop next week as she said. However her rent just increased by 40.
The 25 $ increase is on the base benefit, which in many cases can and will a reduction in fringe benefits. So you could argue that while on paper these people got a trickle down, it cost them more then it was worth.
The government here failed. And if we safe the system on the backs of the poor, why on earth would they vote for the government?
There are those…AND the wage subsidy, the income relief payment, the apprenticeship subsidy, the housing of the homeless (despite the incompetence) , IRD business loans, rent freeze, leave support, migrant support and foodbank support.
What would National have done do you think?
The system is designed for the investor class so why wouldnt it be saved on the backs of the poor?…..its what we voted for for the past 40 years
You get the Government you deserve
I don't care what National would do as i don't vote for them.
Rent freeze is over, rents are going up everywhere and by quite a bit to make up for the 'only once a year' rule.
The homeless are no longer housed they were kicked out a few weeks ago and are now roaming the streets again. Well a few are back in emergency housing but never mind. (well 1200 rooms have been retained 🙂 )
IRD business loans, payable back in a year time. Hope you still have a business then.
Foodbanks, cause yeah, Foodbanks are a sign of the times and government is doing good if everyone gets a food voucher for a food bank courtesy of WINZ if they get someone to answer the phone there.
Nah, sorry, not good enough. Not at all good enough, and if this would have been done by National all you guys would be jumping up and down yelling not good enough.
from the above link.
Again…the nuance is ignored.
Rent freeze is not over yet
IRD loans are not repayable in one year, they are interest free if paid in a year but run for 5 years at 3% after one year
Foodbanks exist…they would be less capable without the gov support
'IF' this had been done by National….I doubt much of it would, it certainly wasnt in the 90s
The Gov to date has been restrained (in the face of massive pressure) in direct support of big business and the (private) banks lack of support of business despite Gov underwrites should be indicative to you (and everyone) of the need to revisit the current business model despite the liquidity being made available.
The asset inflation has destroyed disposable income and the answer isnt more asset inflation…..and that requires the system to fail (reset) and that aint going to be a picnic either.
There is no painless way out, but what is being done is simply delaying the inevitable and wasting resources in the process…Labour if they were true to their history could provide a path out….National not so.
We will discover in 52 days whether theres a slim chance or none.
The Winter Energy Allowance finishes from the end of September. It is $40 weekly per single person and $63 weekly for couples and families.
For nearly 6 months benefits have continued on with no need to review or verify tenancy /disability costs ; I believe this will start to change in another month.
Homeless have not been evicted from emergency housing ; the odd person who felt constricted “living indoors” might have gone back to the streets but the choice was theirs. Some homeless have now been housed in permanent accommodation. Many new Kainga Ora flats and houses becoming available in Auckland.
@swordfish 18.1.1
I’m a Lab/Govt partisan and I’m expecting a realignment back to National. I hope I’m wrong.
ScittGN @ 27
I'm disappointed – you are doing a Nat of just reporting part of a comment which gives the wrong impression of what was written.
Swordfish said this amongst other things:
I suspect (pure speculation) that we'll see a mild flow back to the Nats in the next poll … but one that won't even remotely compensate for the huge Nat-to-Lab Realignment during the Level 4 lockdown earlier in the year.
You were absolutely one of the notable exceptions I was thinking of, Scott![smiley smiley](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png)
A parable for our times.
https://twitter.com/leunigcartoons/status/1298395238801735682
@greywarshark 27.1
So you accuse me of cherry-picking some of swordfish’s comments by, ahem, cherry-picking some of swordfish’s comment? Nice one.
As it happens I tend agree with everything swordfish has said. Lab/Govt partisans will be hoping for no change, Nat/Oppo partisans will be hoping for a decent shift back to their party. And the most likely outcome will be a ‘mild flow back to the Nats’ (swordfish’s own words). Sorry if I didn’t spell that out more clearly in my original comment but there is life to be getting on with eh? As for disappointing you – believe it or not that’s probably the least of my worries. Your response to my comment was bloody condescending.
So is yours you twit. I read your comment and it sounded as if swordfish was saying that the swing to Labour was over. Seeing that is the last thing we want I protested. Sorry to hurt your delicate feelings.
@Muttonbird 23.1
Yes they have! That’s why I’m annoyed they’ve got sidetracked by the Opposition’s politicking around border testing.
Shane Reti in question time in the House, comes across as a nit-picking fuckwit who asks the same question in various wordings and doesn't listen to the answers.
Trying to make a case for Day 3 testing being compulsory. Hipkins told him several times that day 12 testing was more relevant but . . . ??
The answer is almost irrelevant. The point is to seed doubt that there is something fundamentally wrong at the borders and that this is the Government’s doing.
But the bright sparks don't see any evidence that there is anything fundamentally wrong with our borders, so and simply dismiss it
The tyrant speaks.
Judith's more shit for everyone election promise.
"National leader Judith Collins has told voters the Government’s freshwater regulations would be “gone by lunchtime” if she is elected in September."
" I'm so over people bossing everyone else around, so I think we should just 'boss out' those regulations,” Collins said.
"Most rivers in urban and rural areas are polluted, according to a recent report from the Ministry for the Environment.",
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300091736/election-2020-judith-collins-says-freshwater-regulations-will-be-gone-by-lunchtime-and-government-is-destroying-this-country?cid=app-android
I was told a year ago that it was a cross-party plan. Clearly not.
<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12359312"> borders</a>
Trying to get the right linkage. What did I do wrongly?
If you're manually typing in the "href" stuff, you need to be in "Source" mode on the gui. Otherwise write "borders" then select it and press the chainlink icon (to the right of the "A" buttons) to fill in the hyperlink fields
If you are using a laptop all I do is have the story open on another tab in the browser. I click on the website link – so that it is highlighted in blue. Then I go "ctrl C" and then click on the 'leave a Comments panel" that I am using and go "ctrl V" and that's all that is needed. it's copy and paste. Just leave some spaces around it. Using firefox
So ANZ is winding up Bonus Bonds.
Personally, I am sorry to see it go.
The investment wanks love to say how crap BB are to other savings schemes, but that's through their lens of the moneyed gentry. Fuck those guys.
For me, BB were a fees-free way to save up a couple of hundred over a few months, and I'd get all my money back to make a big purchase. It was like a lottery ticket where you got your money back even if you didn't win.
waa waa you didn't get inflation adjustments. Fucksake, anyone on a low income gets shafted by banks for much more than the cost of inflation. Was it my retirement plan? No. Was it useful and moderately interesting? Yes.
Any winnings were also tax free and certainly those in the early days also saw it as a way of supporting government – the trade off was no interest while the government used your money but you had a chance of winning something. It was’t all about what you could get – it was about helping out – part of socialist thinking.
One of my relatives won $60,000 the second draw she was eligible. Made an enormous difference to her life. I know lots of old people who would bring in half a dozen or more $20-00 cheques each month into the bank my cousin managed. It was regular non-taxed income for them.
Just listening to an interview with Hipkins and Ryan Bridges on Magic.
Pretty impressive bloke really, especially given how much shit he has to now deal with.
Of course he is. We're lucky to have him. The pile on up-thread is misguided and mean.
Chris Hipkins will probably be the next Prime Minister. And a good one too.
Deputy PM, sorry Kelvin, you're a good bloke and have done a great job but communication is not your thing
A conflict of interests exists ‘where a reasonable and informed person would perceive that you could be influenced by a private interest when carrying out your public duty.’ A ‘private interest’ may be either ‘pecuniary’ or ‘non-pecuniary’.
What would the Auditor General deem in consideration of whether a non-pecuniary or pecuniary conflict of interest arises when MP's with vested monetary interests in farms then vote on bills surrounding ' farm practice' ?
David Bennet as opposition Spokesperson on Agriculture (like other MPs) has direct gain when involved in the repealing of freshwater farm practices. Others also have substance of an association or relationship involved.
The number of properties owned by New Zealand MPs .
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/the-number-of-properties-owned-by-new-zealand-mps-revealed.html
https://dpmc.govt.nz/our-business-units/cabinet-office/supporting-work-cabinet/cabinet-manual/2-ministers-crown-6
But what is in Bentit's interests is by definition in the National interest, so no possible conflict. It's just like smuggling swamp kauri (depending on who the smuggler is).
Cost of Divert our SUBURBS TREES DEVISE AS WE EXPAND. Planing, cost our payers comp ,laining about traffic and hold ups so tree cutting is progress why, build a billion billion road to where, motor bike boy, time to stop pushing get lost in your homestead lot.
@ Gabby ( reply not working)
Oh I forgot, with his three farms on the Parliamentary declared interests list , DBennet is now one of the doctorly experts on the Strong Team. So of course doctor of farming ! 🙃