State-owned Meridian Energy yesterday announced operating profit was down 6 per cent to $277.1 million for the December half year, and the underlying bottom line profit fell 11 per cent, excluding one-offs, to $88m.
Despite the lower underlying profit, Meridian declared a dividend of $99.8m to the Government, essentially all of its profits.
Essentially all of it’s profits? I would suggest that paying 11.8 million more than the profit is quite a different picture than that.
Would be interesting to see a table of profit versus dividend for each of the SOE’s since National came in – and I don’t have any difficulty with it going back further to see if Labour behaved any differently.
In some respects if successive governments have been taking money out of these entities left right and centre then we shouldn’t be moaning too much about having to pay for infrastructure costs. Can’t have it both ways.
Scams like making one power company sell the other 300 million worth of equipment though and then pay that to the government are just a con. The state owns no more but now has $300 million dollars more debt which is off the governments books.
Would be interesting to see a table of profit versus dividend for each of the SOE’s since National came in – and I don’t have any difficulty with it going back further to see if Labour behaved any differently.
No, Labour weren’t any different. Despite the massive surpluses that they ran they still pulled massive dividends from the SOEs. Either they don’t realise that that profit should be used to upgrade the infrastructure or they just don’t care. For National, I figure it’s the latter – especially as they have to cover the holes in the budget created when they cut taxes for the rich.
It’s remi niscent of the asset stripping indulged in by Brierley et al. The government has finessed this approach in business to the public’s assets that then makes the govt appear as successful financial and economy dealers.
Key won power on selling assets, he inherited
solid Energy, which he planned to sell. Four?
years on solid Energy goes bust,despite him
endorsing lignite development, despite not
seeing a business plan, despite his hands
off approach to asset sales. Key doesn’t know
how much his government will sell them for,
oh but he loves lignite.
Help Steve Keen complete his Minsky Project to reform University taught economics
He’s made his initial fundraising target of US$50K but could easily use thousands more to refine the Minsky modelling system his team is developing.
With this software, central banks and academics the world over will finally have a tool which will let them model the financial economy in a realistic way, instead of using false neoliberal models which exclude the impact of money, banks and debt in the macroeconomy.
The sign up process to donate is a bit of a pain in the ass, but this project is so worthwhile I urge you to consider supporting it, even if you can only donate US$5 or US$20.
Government privatized the print press, allowing banks to increase gearing on deposits and starting the great leveraging boom. Now government globally are heavily restricting gearing and retaking the role of printer of money. National hate the idea that the peoples taxation should be used to control public money or its printing, since they made their fortune in sweet deals with government money and never understood why they got wealthy.
The reality is that self-serving models that have made many very wealthy are false economies, since they create calls on wealth the future, planet, climate, cannot supply. So its about when change comes, and just to be difficult or because they think their self-serving model of capitalism will rebound shortly, they’re for not considering one possible change in course.
Well said…the financialised money flooding the world are calls on the future real wealth that the planet, the climate and that labour will never be able to supply.
There are going to be some very disappointed wealthy people out there, the further they push things in this way.
They are desperate not to be disappointed, thus they steal off with existing wealth.
Sell assets, lower wages, watch while prices rise and quality drops….
The giant vacuum cleaner, formally a trickle down now a massive suction machine misappropriating wealth from the poorest, the most powerless, the least connected.
The same process is intended here. assets sales and welfare state demolition as far as they can get away with it. Until we’re financial serfs in our own country. 🙁
Do you think you are being insightful by pointing out that the Labour Party launched the neoliberal shift of public assets to the wealthy and the rich, and that it continues to refuse to reverse almost all asset sales?
I’m pointing out that National are keeping majority ownership in the assets whereas the narrative coming from this site is that National is going to sell it all, which makes you all little scallywags
Mind you its also not bad to point out that Labour sold over 9 billion worth of assets without saying they would whereas National said they would partially privatize assets yet in two terms still haven’t
It’s not National or Labour who sell our stuff, it’s free-market neoliberals.
National is full of them. In the 80s Labour was full of them. By the 5th Labour govt not so much so as they’d mostly buggered off and formed ACT.
Still a few too many for there for my liking, and I’d have liked to have seen a lot more renationalisation from the 5th Labour govt, but that’s the right-wing revolution for you.
But this idea you’re pushing, that the current Labour party are some sort of threat to our assets, it’s a dog. And it can only bite those who do want to sell our stuff.
Three years later, when Labour won the 1984 elections, Goff was elevated to Cabinet, becoming its youngest member. He served as Minister of Housing and Minister of Employment. After the 1987 elections, Goff dropped the Housing portfolio, but also became Minister of Youth Affairs and Minister of Tourism. Later, after a significant rearrangement of responsibilities, Goff became Minister of Education. In the disputes between Roger Douglas (the reformist Finance Minister) and other Labour MPs, Goff generally positioned himself on the side of Douglas, supporting deregulation and free trade.
Annette King
In the 1984 elections, she stood as the party’s candidate for Horowhenua, and was successful. She was re-elected in the 1987 election.
Trevor Mallard
Mallard joined the Labour Party in 1972, while still at university. He held a number of internal party positions until the election of 1984 when he was elected as the party’s Member of Parliament (MP) for Hamilton West. Although he was re-elected in the 1987 elections, he lost his seat in the election of 1990.
Three years later, when Labour won the 1984 elections, Goff was elevated to Cabinet, becoming its youngest member. He served as Minister of Housing and Minister of Employment. After the 1987 elections, Goff dropped the Housing portfolio, but also became Minister of Youth Affairs and Minister of Tourism. Later, after a significant rearrangement of responsibilities, Goff became Minister of Education. In the disputes between Roger Douglas (the reformist Finance Minister) and other Labour MPs, Goff generally positioned himself on the side of Douglas, supporting deregulation and free trade.
Annette King
In the 1984 elections, she stood as the party’s candidate for Horowhenua, and was successful. She was re-elected in the 1987 election.
Trevor Mallard
Mallard joined the Labour Party in 1972, while still at university. He held a number of internal party positions until the election of 1984 when he was elected as the party’s Member of Parliament (MP) for Hamilton West. Although he was re-elected in the 1987 elections, he lost his seat in the election of 1990.
I’m pointing out that National are keeping majority ownership in the assets whereas the narrative coming from this site is that National is going to sell it all, which makes you all little scallywags
I’m pretty sure that, if they thought that they could get away with it, they’d have sold the whole lot. In fact, I’m still of the opinion that they’ll sell 50% now and their next time that they’re in government they’ll sell the rest if the next left government doesn’t renationalise them.
Well what you think is all well and good but we can only go what they say and on this subject National have kept their word though I would like them to speed things up a bit
National keeping their word is not something anyone would be wise to place much reliance on. I remember thinking this when the tax cuts came and everybody wasn’t better off and gst was increased. I had a vague idea Jonkey had given people the impression he wouldn’t raise gst during the slick and devious con job that was his first election campaign. Folk here have been pointing out numerous examples of how reliable Jonkey’s word is. It’s about as reliable as his memory when he gets caught out telling porkies.
Yes, you are right – the “old” brigade that knifed Mr Lange in the back is still there. Many, like me, who remember will not vote for labour because of their nasty school yard bullying ways. However, this does not mean that one shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
National has so far shown the same and worse. Mrs Richardson budget comes to mind and man, was that something else. Actually, I belief NZ has never really recovered from this purist capitalist approach. To many casualties, far too many people left in he dust. What an anti social approach in a so called western democracy. So in my opinion, National with their past and recent record do not seem to have a smart and inclusive plan for the future of NZ. The only party that has no negative ballast, is conservatively positive and mindful of the social effect of their policies is currently the Green Party.
Looking at the new shadow Cabernet put out by Labour, I ask the question what’s in it for the Greens if a coalition Government is formed after the next election.
At first blush I can see the role of Transport Minister going the Greens way. A good move if this transpires as the Greens are suitably qualified both in driving a clear vision in Transport and a well credentialed Genter to front this role.
Chris Trotter’s piece in te paper this morning hits the nail on the head.
New Zealand is corrupt.
The New Zealand government is corrupt.
The only reason we record “least corrupt country” is because we refuse to see it or acknowledge it. Because we are, in this sense, a hick town. The evidence is right there in front of us – most recently with the Skycity corruption and our PM John Key. So blatant and up front that even Key probably doesn’t recognise what he has done (Key may be sharp and witty in real life, but ffs he is one shallow arsehole). Then we could look at the Canterbury dictatorship and theft of natural resources by David Carter and others.
Nobody is going to go to jail for CCTV building. It should not have been built, it wasn’t inspected properly, and then to cap it off it was fully tenanted after the first 7.2? Earthquake when geologists know increase chances of aftershocks of size 6 are possible.
Sorry, I need to get this other thing out of my head. If you shoot a person, you can’t see, whose making a noise on the behind the toilet door, maybe on the toilet, it has to be murder or insanity. I get its S.A and the endemic gun crime, and how not letting ever own a gun again (if insanity) would require bodyguards for the rest of his life – but really – why haven’t the media woken up to the reality that gun owners, their kids, kill. Roads would be safer if nobody drove, there will always be an element who do not drive safety, and an element who have accidents, gun owners will always result in increased accidental deaths, in moments of insanity, in intentional acts, so
why should those spouses who are angry, get violent, allowed to keep their guns? Surely if any
good can come about from the tragedy, is that when a spouse cites abuse from their partner, any\guns in the house must be handed in to Police.
It runs much deeper/longer than than this govt VTO – But for those who pay attention, yes its becoming very blatant that NZ’s position as one the *perceived, least corrupt* nations, is the biggest lie attatched to NZ!
I do not believe that he has not a a better way of using Cunliffe’s talents.
David Shearer needs all talents available to him. Cunliffe has done suitable penance for the supposed misbehaviour. The continued sidelining is sending the wrong message to teh party and the public.
Shearer remains afraid of Cunliffe because he knows that he is up against a much better politician. In effect, what Shearer is so condescendingly saying now is “be a good little boy, obey your master implicitly, and one day (who knows when?) you will receive your reward”.
Sorry, I see no references to the fact that Shearer’s recent poll popularity stood at 10 re cent! I guess he hopes the new front bench will do it all for him.
lol
Oh, but Cunliffe was the picture of self-effacing nobility, wasn’t he? Never bucking or kicking out, certainly never threatening to bolt or throw the rider he was supposed to support, and yet Shearer brutally whipped him for no good reason! Terrible behaviour. /sarc
Now he’s a “strong horse” that needed skilled “handling”. Hmmm – the metaphors do shift a bit.
Sure there’s a change of narrative, and it depends on whether Shearer is a leader and a uniter, or whether he’s an overseer and an egomaniac. I’ll give you a clue, he’s been sold to us as the former not the latter.
The best leaders will use people with different skills then they possess themselves. Ooops, forgot – its kindergarten time and the fight for the favorite toy continues (place in the hierarchy).
He certainly was not going to challenge Shearer’s leadership at the conference and we do not know whether or not he would have done so at a later date. That would have depended upon his judgement of things on a number of levels. But get this McFlock. It is not outrageous that a party leader should be challenged. This happens from time to time. Leadership of a political party is not yours by right until you decide to relinquish it.
True enough, it is not outrageous that a leader should be challenged.
But there are ways of doing it, and other ways. For instances, spiking the keynote address at the annual conference with smug smiles and noncommittal answers as to whether the party leadership is stable, that was pretty outrageous to my mind. It was a bit like being in church while loudly planning a visit to a casino and brothel, and the relative merits and abilities of each professional. He couldn’t be a team player for even one weekend.
I agree that the best move would have been for shearer to publicly ask caucus to kick the february vote back to the new methodology. But a straight confidence vote was equally acceptable.
“…spiking the keynote address at the annual conference with smug smiles and noncommittal answers as to whether the party leadership is stable, that was pretty outrageous to my mind.”
As I understand it, Cunliffe did give support of the leader at the time. he simply refused to say how he would vote in a secret ballot 4 months in advance. He kept reiterating that it was a constitutional conference, not a leadership conference. He was effectively ambushed by media friends of the present regime. His refusal to buy into that line of questioning was then interpreted as an attempt to undermine the leader. What is outrageous is the framing of all this as an attempted coup so as to disadvantage a potential and legitimate competitor.
Watching it on telly hit me the other way. Ever hear of “damning with faint praise”? That in a nutshell. It was a party conference for fucksake. The one time of year that everybody needs to be a cheerleader to the public. And “ambushed” my arse – the definition of “ambush” is that you do’t know media will be there or asking. Again, party conference and he was the only other taker for the job.
It might not have been an “attempted coup” at the time, but it sure was a nice way to sabotage the conference. What is so difficult about “Shearer has my full support, and the full support of caucus”? How did the other supposed challengers deal with it, robertson etc?
I think that we have our positions and can only argue in circles McFlock, because neither of us are inclined to concede much ground. However, given that it was a constitutional conference, Cunliffe could have reasonably expected leadership questions to be easily brushed aside. And I do not think he sabotaged the conference. I think that senior caucus members decided that the conference was sabotaged because things did not go their way on the leadership election front.
Dunno about leadership opinions. But Cunliffe could have done his bit to brush aside the leadership questions. Or at least watched the news on day one, gone “oh shit” and issued an immediate clarification (even press complaint, if he was that badly misrepresented) once he saw the spin the journos were taking. Maybe arranged some buddy buddy things with shearer.
Most of the conference coverage was about cunliffe. He could at least have made it coverage about unity, not 3 months of internecine bickering to come. Basically, he should have done pretty much what he actually did just before the caucus confidence vote, but three months earlier.
He would probably agree with you, in the wisdom of hindsight. However, the media were after an A versus B story and would not have let up easily, whatever he had done.
aye, there’s a lot of hindsight at play in the entire year long situation – I’m not sure anyone except gower has come out of it without regret. And he should have, but I don’t think he believes he crossed the line between story reporting and story influencing.
Just listening to te national radio and the issue of building upgrade to earthquake standard right across the country. (firstly, an I told you so, predicted some moons ago post-Chch). The Councils and others are bleating baaah baah it costs too much…. without really thinking. Some anecdote from the depths of real Chch experience….
The buildings in Invercargill and Dunedin and Gore (and every single other comparable town in NZ) will collapse and kill people. Especially down south as more of them are unsupported masonry construction of a form.
What got people in Chch (other than the 2 major flawed building collapses CTV and PGC) were firstly verandahs and facades and secondly, rest of building.
What these Councils and building owners could should do is firstly support the verandahs. You know, those roofs that come off the buildings and extend over the footpaths. Support them, with posts or whatever. This is inexpenisve and easy. Most typical two storey old shop buildings could have this done in a weekend, it is that easy. Voila, lives saved already.
Second, the buildings that collapsed, collapsed outwards. Picture a box and then let the sides fall outwards and down. That is what happenned. So, second job is the facade, the wall that faces the street. This killed many people, including the ones in the buses. Strengthen the facade -a bigger job but still relatively minor compard to doing the whole building. This will save the most lives.
Third, the balance of the building. After step one in the first year, step two within five years, step three could take place in a timeframe after that.
Supporting the verandahs and the facades will save the vast bulk of lives when an earthquake (of mag 5 only imo) strikes at our small towns. This is cheap and easy. The balance of the building can come later.
As for paying for it – perhaps pick up on recent commentary around issuing zero-cost credit for new affordable homes to earthquake upgrade. Voila.
This is a truth. Verandahs and facades. In my opinion building owners should do this without even being required to do so, as it is easy and inexpensive and will save the most lives. Verandahs and facades.
In Christchurch we had six months between September and February. We didn’t do what was needed despite the graphic warning. The rest of the country has so far had a two year warning from an event that was even more graphic.
Establish a Govt Bond paying the going rate and than make that money available to owners for strengthening at 1%. Sure, it looks like a subsidy but the amount of extra tax generated ( wages, fuel, some materials, workers lunches and beers ) would easily cover the shortfall. Materials and labour costs are deductible of course but the increased value and rentals all add to the country’s wealth.
Adrian (assuming you are replying to post above), it is not a subsidy in the usual sense by any means. The works have a massive component of public good. Deeper analysis may reveal that the buildings will appreciate in value from their current position due to publicly funded works but that is, relatively, trifling. Or in reverse view – if the public want it done then the public have an obligation to assist in getting it done.
It’s a bit of a mix but crying “no money” is no excuse given the myriad means of resolution available over this issue.
… Imagine for a moment that another 7 or 8 mag quake is about to strike Southland tomorrow – what would our view then be if hundreds died, again, due to collapsed buildings? Buildings that could have been strengthened? I don’t think the public would be very happy….
Don’t need the government to issue bonds. Just have them create the money. In fact, the government issuing bonds just increases the rate of capital accumulation.
Stop building over three stories. Bexley the land sank & liquified, but central Chch is being pulled down because the higher buildings were harder hit. Economically a huge loss. I believe buildings really get moving between floors 3 and 6.
+1
Mike Williams has lost the facility of self awareness.
Sad at onlelevel, galling that he is on the payroll of the Party (Caucc) still.
Shearer, me thinks, still uses the 90s as his reference point.
He went away on his overseas gigs and lost touch with the changes.
The people and reference points he uses are actually 15ish years out of touch.
That explains to me why he thinks people like Mike Williams, Mike Smith, Tamihere, Jones, King, Mallard and Ian Fraser are current/connected/relevant.
The 16, 17, 18, 19 years olds who will vote for the first time in 2014 must be wondering where these dinosaurs came from.
That is why I’m unsettled by re-hiring King instead of re-instating Cunliffe, promoting Little and other fresh relevant talent.
There is something pre Clark about the profile Shearer has created!
Yeah the horrible thing is that mumblefuck and his careerist cohort could well lose the election for us. But we’re not meant to say anything because that might make him look bad. As if he needed our help!
the fish are escaping upstream to cooler, clearer water from the warm, salty Lake Ellesmere;
a goldfish in the brine?
Kia kaha Jack Makuku (ahhh, the T.A courthouse…) ftp (feed the people)
a quote from a local- “land of the long black retribution”.-Pat Magill
W.A bracing for a Rusty nailing at 250km/h while Ben Barba’s personal life (and challenges) are thrown to the Dogs.
sadly, The Private Lives of Medieval Kings from their Illuminated Manuscripts (some In Bruge) has concluded. Libraries give us power.
anyway “The greatest good you can do for another person is not just show them your riches-but reveal to them their own.” -Disraeli.
13:22: A poor mans field may produce abundant food, yet injustice sweeps it away
or, an oreo,
13:17: A wicked messenger falls into trouble Rumplestiltskin, yet a trustworthy envoy brings healing.
If the conduct was so appalling that a blood thirsty Pashtun like Karzi ordered them out the notion of what was actually going on makes me feel quite ill.
John Key wants NZ to be a place for wealthy people to retire and play golf and for them to not pay too much for gardeners and nannies and cleaners and film crew.
Some thoughts from today’s news.
If we had an upper house, which tends to attract the conservative person, wouldn’t we be worse off than now? This thought after seeing that Berlusconi’s party is strongest in Italy’s upper house and likely to be a negative force on assistance for the ordinary man/woman. The wealthy and powerful do band together successfully to ensure that any goodies are channelled through are directed to themselves. (Berlusconi being an old guy has who pots and has managed to get the laws changed so that he owns or has major interests across all media there. And I bet that’s just part of his power. It seems like democracy fostering the growth of a king.)
And climate. Where can I find discussion on cloud-seeding etc? Can anybody direct me. It seems that if clouds could be encouraged to drop volumes at sea, floods could be alleviated. I have seen pictures of USA planes that fly into storms with antennae poking out in front and this was decades ago. What has been found out that might aid the world? Might have to have a world treaty about it too, so that one region doesn’t steal the others’ rain.
Ain’t that the truth! Especially if you’re one of the ‘new-minority’: the ‘un-assimilated’.
People clamour to get there mainly due to economic benefit, but in so doing, the multicultural nature of Australia morphs into the bland with perhaps the only stark l’etranger being the tribal indigenous.
In the 60s (when once an OZ citizen), the only Aboriginees I saw were those I babysat as a college student during school holidays – down from Mildura. 40-45 years on, the ‘browning’ of OZ and inter-racial mixes are noticeable – such as Aboriginal with Philippino (the result of a mother HAVING to go on the game, and offspring living on the street).
[Incidently – that sort of thing is an inevitable consequence of Planet Key policies here in NZuld. Expect to see a more Maori/Indian mixes in the BOP/ChCh; various others elsewhere].
Hone was correct (re John Howard) – not much has changed in that regard except the veneer of “we’re all immigrants” (JUST SO LONG AS YOU DON’T ARRIVE BY BOAT; or ‘queue-jump’; OR you’re not one of those top-end useless bastards that cause the rest of us so much trouble.
@ CV: Indeed it ain’t gonna be so lucky in the next 20-30 years.
Watch ‘Pull Murray Live’ sometime on SKY 90 to see the level of delusion (you might have to over several days)
You do know I ‘spose… that they actually have a “Closing the Gaps” programme.
Christ! Where did I hear that before!
and worse than that: what a spectacular choice! – not unlike ours: Gillard versus Abbot – the regular gal versus the Kethlik Boy; Shearer versus Key: The good-natured, regular guy with supposed impressive CV, versus the ideologue, feintly fick, used-car-salesman, noice goi Key. Why even Peter Jackson can’t resist the Krusmah
If we had an upper house, which tends to attract the conservative person, wouldn’t we be worse off than now?
Yes, we would be. In a party dominated political system, which representative democracy will inevitably become, then each house will be dominated by a party or coalition of parties. When each house is dominated by parties which are opposed to each other then effective policy making goes out the window in favour of “compromise” deals that are far worse as the right-wing don’t compromise.
It seems like democracy fostering the growth of a king.
No, it’s not democracy doing that but capitalism. As the wealth is channeled into fewer hands the representatives start to represent the rich and powerful instead of the people. As this cycle repeats even more wealth and power goes into fewer and fewer hands. The inevitable result will be an authoritarian state followed by collapse.
Where can I find discussion on cloud-seeding etc?
I’ve heard that China does it occasionally but that it’s not really worth it due to cost.
ropata
Thanks. Should have asked wikipedia. Now I ought to ask wikileaks as to what secret planning is going on. There aren’t many bounds on inventive thinking by governments when it comes to wanting to dominate inner or outer space and the resources therein. They have spent plenty on tech to go to Mars, no prob finding money for that.
Agreed. ABout time the Judiciary actually stood up and called time! I suspect there are a few that think it’s long overdue. Time for them to call bluff
What would it mean for the left? By which I mean left. I guess it would put the current set-up to the test. Key at this time would probably want to win, since he has not completed his mission, so they would probably be faced with a battle rather than a shift change.
Should the Supreme Court decision find against the Government over the question of the prior held water rights of Maori on the Waikato river i would imagine that Slippery will fall all over his feet racing to offer $$$$’s to the various claimants,
i cannot see how the Supreme Court can find anything but Maori will be severely disadvantaged in negotiations over such prior-held water rights if the States assets spanning parts of that river are sold,
As the Government counsel at the Waitangi Tribunal hearing had prior to the Supreme Court being asked to rule had implicitly admitted these prior held Maori rights to this river and it’s waters then the only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that changing anything that could effect such claims until such time as these claims are quantified and settled must disadvantage the Maori claimants,
The reasoning behind this is simply that the State owned assets on the Waikato River are, while the State still has ownership of them, subject to the provisions of settlement of such Treaty of Waitangi claims, and if sold into private ownership they are not…
Contrary to the government’s assertion, none of this information is “commercially sensitive”. It is however politically sensitive, both for the government and for Jackson. But that’s not a good reason to keep it secret. They made their political bed, and now they get to lie in it.
the other version is that governments should be allowed to conspire with prominent individuals to degrade the rights of ordinary New Zealanders, and have such deals kept secret in case ordinary New Zealanders got upset about it.
I was more thinking that some foreign git was trying to jeopardize a major movie deal being filmed in NZ just so he could sign up some more actors and get some more money for his union…irrespective of what damage he was going to be doing
Jackson and the Hollywood studios ready to make hundreds of millions from the movies
But wanted even more subsidies from the NZ tax payer (Jackson who has already profited so much through NZ government activities at the start of his career)
And to stop NZ actors receiving the same benefits as the foreign actors working on the same set
Boy c73 man up please and stand for your fellow citizens OK, not for the elite?
As the actors already acknowledged Peter Jackson treated them well yet some fat aussie comes over looking to swell bank balance and you’ll fall over yourselves sucking up to him, maybe you should try standing up for your fellow citizens and not be duped by foreigners
Shame he didn’t target any of the other foreign productions but then that wouldn’t have given him as much publicity
Yeah, those workers who got jobs out of the production staying here lost out, right. And those taxpayers who didn’t get the GST that wouldn’t have come to us if Warners had pulled out as they were going to, right? And those taxpayers who saw all those other taxpayers working on the project paying tax. They were losers too right?
Yeah those “serfs” who earn five times the minimum wage when they’re extras. And those sparkies and chippies and plumbers who earn more building sets and lighting rigs on contract to the production than they get when building a house.
any residuals deal, now or in the future is run through NZ not Australia. the Australian union has nothing to do with any money generated in NZ, and NZ performers fees go back to the NZ performers union, Equity.actually the Australian union, after the NZ performers voted to merge with it in 2006/07 invested upwards of half a million dollars establishing the office and infrastructure (by infrastructure i mean the one person paid part-time to run admin for Actors Equity) in NZ.
It is nigh on impossible for any individual actor or their agent to run their own residuals deal. the formula for percentages is highly complicated and depends on size of role, screen time, time on set, status of performer and many others, the information required to assess when and how much of a residual the performer is due must come (more often be demanded from) from the studio in good faith, and to accomplish this the actor would most often have to hire a specialist lawyer who’s fee would take most of any remaining residual.
everywhere in the world actors residuals are handled by an organisation affiliated to the actors union or professional body.
additionally, once the residuals deal is sorted, and agreed, who are the producers to say how actors choose to administer that? surely it is the actors who should choose who and how their small slice of future profits is administered…
The little I’ve seen on TVNZ makes Jackson look utterly paranoid and disconnected from reality, although that was merely the line he was spinning to ensure his company didn’t have to pay local actors a decent wage. Luckily for Jackson he had a government department headed by a complete moron who can’t handle complex issues. Like say the positive impacts of higher wages on the NZ economy and government coffers i.e.more taxesss, less ACC costs due to one employer to deal with and workers with more disposable income to buy moar stuff etc.
Oh yeah, there’s only really one word to describe Jackson’s actions in a nutshell – “pathetic”.
Yea well… he is actually pathetic IMO. One of those pathetic of the male persuasion that seeks credibility (and their masculinity) in the arms of their beloved.
OOOOOh Franny Fran …. them union ppl are being mean to me!
There’s a Wairarapa castle that attests to it all.
Pratt with a capital P.
Draco, have been reading too.. It appears the govt at no stage spoke to or with anyone on the other side of the story. Jackson is passionate doesnt mean he is right about other people espesh when he perceives they threaten his toy
As the actors already acknowledged Peter Jackson treated them well yet some fat aussie comes over looking to swell his bank balance and you all fall over yourselves sucking up to him, maybe you should try standing up for your fellow citizens and not be duped by foreigners
Shame he didn’t target any of the other foreign productions but then that wouldn’t have given him as much publicity
Gawd Strewth!… I’m watching Cunliffe at the mo in Parly r mint Debates shovving it too the opposition with such force his colleagues could only dream of. Yet his dear leader doesn’t see reason to include him in anything meaningful.
Stance confirmed! Labour will not get my party vote.
Really, do you know how the Parliament works???, for Cunliffe to be on His feet questioning the Opposition he must have been allotted time via the Labour Whips office,
In other words the Hierarchy has deliberately given Cunliffe time to speak in the House, i know that’s not what you want to hear but that is the reality…
It is being reported on twitter that Louisa Wall has been removed from the Maori Affairs select committee by Shearer. Henare says she was not told beforehand.
If so this is a bad show. Wall is one of the best performing MPs that Labour has right now. Why would he do this?
Some more detail has come out and it is not so bad.
The Herald reports that “[s]he told the Herald that Labour is replacing her with Nanaia Mahuta, the former education spokeswoman, who is now the Maori development spokeswoman after yesterday’s reshuffle.
Louisa Wall, the MP for Manurewa, has become an associate health spokeswoman and will join Annette King on the health committee, which clashes with the Maori affairs committee. She had not realised until today she would have to move.”
Unfortunately not unprecedented (Parker replacing Cunliffe), so I sadly have to conclude that it’s sheer incompetence which Shearer’s office has no desire to actually address.
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”.. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for dollars – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on) These are possibly the 5 best sentences you’ll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Take this piece of wing-nut propaganda and shove it where the sun does not shine, this is simply tr**lling that has been used here over and over by the wing-nut fraternity and deserves no other answer than derision…
bad12 just to let you that someone posting something you don’t agree isn’t trolling, yes I know you don’t like it when someone offers a differing opinion but that still doesn’t make it trolling
some Pizza on the Q.T;
key-“potential for lignite dev. in NZ
English-‘SOE’s: prices to be revised downwards”
English-talk about extrapolating “increased PAYE to ” mean a whole lot of insulfluff!
Robertson-“net loss of 30,000 jobs; HLFS
concession to key; fudging and casualties aside, he is a “master of his universe” and that is observable
regrettably
though occasionally he gets hung on his own petard, particularly by WP or the “duck”
(Hipkins? w.a.p imo)
TFC-On The Border.
Cosgrove / Ryall: M of SOE’s “took steps in 2009”. Ryally?
(read a lot of “familiar” words in the MSM Paddy 😉 )
“if I were the President of this land, I’d declare War on The Pusher Man”
The Wolf bites back; Shiraz / Grenache, $7.48 (it’s criminal Ned)
wanna re-engrave His-story? siege-machines; manpower and cold steel over the wall.feel me.
consider “outclassed” putting it firmly and politely (mite goin check out you-know-WhO)
kinda’ like Martha Stewart.
meanwhile, back in the bay; Trials all gone to the Dogs (and we may have gone to spectate) due to Drought conditions Allied Farmers are in the drench.
Riddle Me Out On The Street Alistair http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e80qhyovOnA
Carry On. as you were.
Variety is the spice of life, up to point, then it’s time to Settle Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uxzw3mb6p4
(be good, and if you can’t be good, be safe, and if you can’t be safe, Name them after me) 🙂
Take Care out There Everybody, she’s a Hill Street Blues.
Bill from Dipton, ”Solid Energy is all Labour’s fault”,
Perlease cannot the Finance Minister either read or add 1 plus 1???,
id not the Finance minister notice that in September 2008 mere month’s befor He became Finance Minister the international price of coal dropped by a third from $150 a tonne to $111.50 a tonne,
Perhaps Bill from Dipton was too busy with the election at that time but only the dullest of knives in the draw could have failed to have noticed that the price of coal by October 2010, 2 years into this abysmal National Governments first term, the international price had dropped to $71.50 for a tonne of the black stuff,
That’s not a mistake and that along with this Governments failure to address the high NZ$ which has also served to help turn the States coal miner into a basket case can only be described as pig ignorance and a gross dereliction of the member from Dipton’s duty as the Finance Minister…
btw,
“push your old numbers
let your phone ring
It’s not this quiet
slide down your receiver
sprint across the wire
follow her number
slide into her hand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g26ed_ujqcM
(i take it from your whisper that you’re not that tough)
Debate in the House today included the second reading of the bill which extends the time that the Canterbury Region will be without an elected Governance structure as democracy according to the Slippery National Government is not a right but is granted upon the basis of their whim,
Included in the bill is further provision for Canterbury farmers to suck the life from the regions waterways with specific provision in part to of the Act denying anyone the right of appeal against such mis-use,
i have to wonder here how loud the screams of protest would be if the National Party were abolished by legislation of the next Parliament and specifically within such legislation denied any right of appeal,
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 ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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Maths and reporters clearly don’t mix.
State-owned Meridian Energy yesterday announced operating profit was down 6 per cent to $277.1 million for the December half year, and the underlying bottom line profit fell 11 per cent, excluding one-offs, to $88m.
Despite the lower underlying profit, Meridian declared a dividend of $99.8m to the Government, essentially all of its profits.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/8350206/Outcome-unclear-in-Meridians-Rio-Tinto-talks
Essentially all of it’s profits? I would suggest that paying 11.8 million more than the profit is quite a different picture than that.
Would be interesting to see a table of profit versus dividend for each of the SOE’s since National came in – and I don’t have any difficulty with it going back further to see if Labour behaved any differently.
In some respects if successive governments have been taking money out of these entities left right and centre then we shouldn’t be moaning too much about having to pay for infrastructure costs. Can’t have it both ways.
Scams like making one power company sell the other 300 million worth of equipment though and then pay that to the government are just a con. The state owns no more but now has $300 million dollars more debt which is off the governments books.
No, Labour weren’t any different. Despite the massive surpluses that they ran they still pulled massive dividends from the SOEs. Either they don’t realise that that profit should be used to upgrade the infrastructure or they just don’t care. For National, I figure it’s the latter – especially as they have to cover the holes in the budget created when they cut taxes for the rich.
It’s remi niscent of the asset stripping indulged in by Brierley et al. The government has finessed this approach in business to the public’s assets that then makes the govt appear as successful financial and economy dealers.
Key won power on selling assets, he inherited
solid Energy, which he planned to sell. Four?
years on solid Energy goes bust,despite him
endorsing lignite development, despite not
seeing a business plan, despite his hands
off approach to asset sales. Key doesn’t know
how much his government will sell them for,
oh but he loves lignite.
Help Steve Keen complete his Minsky Project to reform University taught economics
He’s made his initial fundraising target of US$50K but could easily use thousands more to refine the Minsky modelling system his team is developing.
With this software, central banks and academics the world over will finally have a tool which will let them model the financial economy in a realistic way, instead of using false neoliberal models which exclude the impact of money, banks and debt in the macroeconomy.
The sign up process to donate is a bit of a pain in the ass, but this project is so worthwhile I urge you to consider supporting it, even if you can only donate US$5 or US$20.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2123355930/minsky-reforming-economics-with-visual-monetary-mo
To learn more about Steve Keen’s debt deflation perspective, try this:
A worthy cause indeed.
I’d be surprised if any organisation took it up by choice. The models they use are self-serving, so why would they change?
Government privatized the print press, allowing banks to increase gearing on deposits and starting the great leveraging boom. Now government globally are heavily restricting gearing and retaking the role of printer of money. National hate the idea that the peoples taxation should be used to control public money or its printing, since they made their fortune in sweet deals with government money and never understood why they got wealthy.
The reality is that self-serving models that have made many very wealthy are false economies, since they create calls on wealth the future, planet, climate, cannot supply. So its about when change comes, and just to be difficult or because they think their self-serving model of capitalism will rebound shortly, they’re for not considering one possible change in course.
Its all good, smile and wave, look no hands.
Well said…the financialised money flooding the world are calls on the future real wealth that the planet, the climate and that labour will never be able to supply.
There are going to be some very disappointed wealthy people out there, the further they push things in this way.
They are desperate not to be disappointed, thus they steal off with existing wealth.
Sell assets, lower wages, watch while prices rise and quality drops….
The giant vacuum cleaner, formally a trickle down now a massive suction machine misappropriating wealth from the poorest, the most powerless, the least connected.
+ a big kaleidoscope
“NHS everything for SALE; full privatisation revealed”
The Artistic taxi driver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t88Zr2KVwZw&list=UUGThM-ZZBba1Zl9rU-XeR-A&index=2
The same process is intended here. assets sales and welfare state demolition as far as they can get away with it. Until we’re financial serfs in our own country. 🙁
Absolute fucking drivel.
Protecting the nations assets absolutely fucking drivel? Yeah, a privateer would say that.
Ok so how many assets has Labour sold vs how many assets have National partially sold
Do you think you are being insightful by pointing out that the Labour Party launched the neoliberal shift of public assets to the wealthy and the rich, and that it continues to refuse to reverse almost all asset sales?
Smart man A+ for you dude
I’m pointing out that National are keeping majority ownership in the assets whereas the narrative coming from this site is that National is going to sell it all, which makes you all little scallywags
Mind you its also not bad to point out that Labour sold over 9 billion worth of assets without saying they would whereas National said they would partially privatize assets yet in two terms still haven’t
It’s not National or Labour who sell our stuff, it’s free-market neoliberals.
National is full of them. In the 80s Labour was full of them. By the 5th Labour govt not so much so as they’d mostly buggered off and formed ACT.
Still a few too many for there for my liking, and I’d have liked to have seen a lot more renationalisation from the 5th Labour govt, but that’s the right-wing revolution for you.
But this idea you’re pushing, that the current Labour party are some sort of threat to our assets, it’s a dog. And it can only bite those who do want to sell our stuff.
I don’t know, Kings been around for awhile, Mallards still there, Goffs still there and Shearer certainly has some good ideas in the area…
King Mallard and Goff were in govt for 9 years from 1999 to 2008.
What did they sell?
What have they said they’ll sell?
What indication of any sort do you have that they want to sell anything?
Are you at all serious about this? Because I’m starting to think I’m being pranked…
Seriously?
Phil Goff
Cabinet minister
Three years later, when Labour won the 1984 elections, Goff was elevated to Cabinet, becoming its youngest member. He served as Minister of Housing and Minister of Employment. After the 1987 elections, Goff dropped the Housing portfolio, but also became Minister of Youth Affairs and Minister of Tourism. Later, after a significant rearrangement of responsibilities, Goff became Minister of Education. In the disputes between Roger Douglas (the reformist Finance Minister) and other Labour MPs, Goff generally positioned himself on the side of Douglas, supporting deregulation and free trade.
Annette King
In the 1984 elections, she stood as the party’s candidate for Horowhenua, and was successful. She was re-elected in the 1987 election.
Trevor Mallard
Mallard joined the Labour Party in 1972, while still at university. He held a number of internal party positions until the election of 1984 when he was elected as the party’s Member of Parliament (MP) for Hamilton West. Although he was re-elected in the 1987 elections, he lost his seat in the election of 1990.
Don’t think me thank wikipedia
Seriously?
Phil Goff
Cabinet minister
Three years later, when Labour won the 1984 elections, Goff was elevated to Cabinet, becoming its youngest member. He served as Minister of Housing and Minister of Employment. After the 1987 elections, Goff dropped the Housing portfolio, but also became Minister of Youth Affairs and Minister of Tourism. Later, after a significant rearrangement of responsibilities, Goff became Minister of Education. In the disputes between Roger Douglas (the reformist Finance Minister) and other Labour MPs, Goff generally positioned himself on the side of Douglas, supporting deregulation and free trade.
Annette King
In the 1984 elections, she stood as the party’s candidate for Horowhenua, and was successful. She was re-elected in the 1987 election.
Trevor Mallard
Mallard joined the Labour Party in 1972, while still at university. He held a number of internal party positions until the election of 1984 when he was elected as the party’s Member of Parliament (MP) for Hamilton West. Although he was re-elected in the 1987 elections, he lost his seat in the election of 1990.
Don’t thank me thank wikipedia
yes.
They learned at least some lessons from the fuckup that was rogernomics – what did they sell 1999-2008?
Key is following 200 year old out of context principles to repeat 30 year old mistakes.
crihs73 pls
I’m pretty sure that, if they thought that they could get away with it, they’d have sold the whole lot. In fact, I’m still of the opinion that they’ll sell 50% now and their next time that they’re in government they’ll sell the rest if the next left government doesn’t renationalise them.
Well what you think is all well and good but we can only go what they say and on this subject National have kept their word though I would like them to speed things up a bit
What they don’t sell, they destroy: solid energy, NZRail. Although one could argue that Hillside Workshops is an asset strip and sale, too.
Most people wish they wouldn’t
Stop positioning their destruction of NZ assets as some kind of sick virtue
National keeping their word is not something anyone would be wise to place much reliance on. I remember thinking this when the tax cuts came and everybody wasn’t better off and gst was increased. I had a vague idea Jonkey had given people the impression he wouldn’t raise gst during the slick and devious con job that was his first election campaign. Folk here have been pointing out numerous examples of how reliable Jonkey’s word is. It’s about as reliable as his memory when he gets caught out telling porkies.
Yes, you are right – the “old” brigade that knifed Mr Lange in the back is still there. Many, like me, who remember will not vote for labour because of their nasty school yard bullying ways. However, this does not mean that one shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
National has so far shown the same and worse. Mrs Richardson budget comes to mind and man, was that something else. Actually, I belief NZ has never really recovered from this purist capitalist approach. To many casualties, far too many people left in he dust. What an anti social approach in a so called western democracy. So in my opinion, National with their past and recent record do not seem to have a smart and inclusive plan for the future of NZ. The only party that has no negative ballast, is conservatively positive and mindful of the social effect of their policies is currently the Green Party.
Sorry, should read:
this does not mean that one should throw the baby out with the bath water.
c73aiD
You are naive about business if you think that having a majority automatically means that shareholder has control of it.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/government/assets/saleshistory
Go and educate yourself
Didn’t know Warren Buffet bought some…well, well, well
Have you watched the video link ?
Hi higherstandard
You should rename yourself as deludedstandard. You haven’t a clue what’s happening in the World.
Looking at the new shadow Cabernet put out by Labour, I ask the question what’s in it for the Greens if a coalition Government is formed after the next election.
At first blush I can see the role of Transport Minister going the Greens way. A good move if this transpires as the Greens are suitably qualified both in driving a clear vision in Transport and a well credentialed Genter to front this role.
What say you on this and other postings?
* Cabinet
Chris Trotter’s piece in te paper this morning hits the nail on the head.
New Zealand is corrupt.
The New Zealand government is corrupt.
The only reason we record “least corrupt country” is because we refuse to see it or acknowledge it. Because we are, in this sense, a hick town. The evidence is right there in front of us – most recently with the Skycity corruption and our PM John Key. So blatant and up front that even Key probably doesn’t recognise what he has done (Key may be sharp and witty in real life, but ffs he is one shallow arsehole). Then we could look at the Canterbury dictatorship and theft of natural resources by David Carter and others.
David Carter is corrupt. John Key is corrupt.
The New Zealand government is corrupt.
+1
Took me a while to realise that but, yeah, once you start to see it becomes obvious fairly quickly.
Nobody is going to go to jail for CCTV building. It should not have been built, it wasn’t inspected properly, and then to cap it off it was fully tenanted after the first 7.2? Earthquake when geologists know increase chances of aftershocks of size 6 are possible.
Sorry, I need to get this other thing out of my head. If you shoot a person, you can’t see, whose making a noise on the behind the toilet door, maybe on the toilet, it has to be murder or insanity. I get its S.A and the endemic gun crime, and how not letting ever own a gun again (if insanity) would require bodyguards for the rest of his life – but really – why haven’t the media woken up to the reality that gun owners, their kids, kill. Roads would be safer if nobody drove, there will always be an element who do not drive safety, and an element who have accidents, gun owners will always result in increased accidental deaths, in moments of insanity, in intentional acts, so
why should those spouses who are angry, get violent, allowed to keep their guns? Surely if any
good can come about from the tragedy, is that when a spouse cites abuse from their partner, any\guns in the house must be handed in to Police.
It runs much deeper/longer than than this govt VTO – But for those who pay attention, yes its becoming very blatant that NZ’s position as one the *perceived, least corrupt* nations, is the biggest lie attatched to NZ!
outa sight
link pse ?
Here you go.
There must be something more to Shearer’s plan.
I do not believe that he has not a a better way of using Cunliffe’s talents.
David Shearer needs all talents available to him. Cunliffe has done suitable penance for the supposed misbehaviour. The continued sidelining is sending the wrong message to teh party and the public.
Shearer remains afraid of Cunliffe because he knows that he is up against a much better politician. In effect, what Shearer is so condescendingly saying now is “be a good little boy, obey your master implicitly, and one day (who knows when?) you will receive your reward”.
Sorry, I see no references to the fact that Shearer’s recent poll popularity stood at 10 re cent! I guess he hopes the new front bench will do it all for him.
Doing a Blair/Gordon Brown you mean?
“up against a much better politician”?
But Cunliffe was never going to challenge Shearer’s leadership, so Shearer’s vicious treatment of Cunliffe was completely unprovoked… /sarc
Leaders who can’t handle a stable of strong horses without putting some down aren’t really leaders, are they.
lol
Oh, but Cunliffe was the picture of self-effacing nobility, wasn’t he? Never bucking or kicking out, certainly never threatening to bolt or throw the rider he was supposed to support, and yet Shearer brutally whipped him for no good reason! Terrible behaviour. /sarc
Now he’s a “strong horse” that needed skilled “handling”. Hmmm – the metaphors do shift a bit.
Sure there’s a change of narrative, and it depends on whether Shearer is a leader and a uniter, or whether he’s an overseer and an egomaniac. I’ll give you a clue, he’s been sold to us as the former not the latter.
So let’s fucking see it.
We might have done, depending on whether Cunliffe was divisive or not.
the 5th labour; clean the Augean Stables
The best leaders will use people with different skills then they possess themselves. Ooops, forgot – its kindergarten time and the fight for the favorite toy continues (place in the hierarchy).
He certainly was not going to challenge Shearer’s leadership at the conference and we do not know whether or not he would have done so at a later date. That would have depended upon his judgement of things on a number of levels. But get this McFlock. It is not outrageous that a party leader should be challenged. This happens from time to time. Leadership of a political party is not yours by right until you decide to relinquish it.
Shearer should have been confident in his caucus numbers and the votes from the membership and affiliates.
He clearly wasn’t.
True enough, it is not outrageous that a leader should be challenged.
But there are ways of doing it, and other ways. For instances, spiking the keynote address at the annual conference with smug smiles and noncommittal answers as to whether the party leadership is stable, that was pretty outrageous to my mind. It was a bit like being in church while loudly planning a visit to a casino and brothel, and the relative merits and abilities of each professional. He couldn’t be a team player for even one weekend.
I agree that the best move would have been for shearer to publicly ask caucus to kick the february vote back to the new methodology. But a straight confidence vote was equally acceptable.
“…spiking the keynote address at the annual conference with smug smiles and noncommittal answers as to whether the party leadership is stable, that was pretty outrageous to my mind.”
As I understand it, Cunliffe did give support of the leader at the time. he simply refused to say how he would vote in a secret ballot 4 months in advance. He kept reiterating that it was a constitutional conference, not a leadership conference. He was effectively ambushed by media friends of the present regime. His refusal to buy into that line of questioning was then interpreted as an attempt to undermine the leader. What is outrageous is the framing of all this as an attempted coup so as to disadvantage a potential and legitimate competitor.
Watching it on telly hit me the other way. Ever hear of “damning with faint praise”? That in a nutshell. It was a party conference for fucksake. The one time of year that everybody needs to be a cheerleader to the public. And “ambushed” my arse – the definition of “ambush” is that you do’t know media will be there or asking. Again, party conference and he was the only other taker for the job.
It might not have been an “attempted coup” at the time, but it sure was a nice way to sabotage the conference. What is so difficult about “Shearer has my full support, and the full support of caucus”? How did the other supposed challengers deal with it, robertson etc?
I think that we have our positions and can only argue in circles McFlock, because neither of us are inclined to concede much ground. However, given that it was a constitutional conference, Cunliffe could have reasonably expected leadership questions to be easily brushed aside. And I do not think he sabotaged the conference. I think that senior caucus members decided that the conference was sabotaged because things did not go their way on the leadership election front.
Dunno about leadership opinions. But Cunliffe could have done his bit to brush aside the leadership questions. Or at least watched the news on day one, gone “oh shit” and issued an immediate clarification (even press complaint, if he was that badly misrepresented) once he saw the spin the journos were taking. Maybe arranged some buddy buddy things with shearer.
Most of the conference coverage was about cunliffe. He could at least have made it coverage about unity, not 3 months of internecine bickering to come. Basically, he should have done pretty much what he actually did just before the caucus confidence vote, but three months earlier.
He would probably agree with you, in the wisdom of hindsight. However, the media were after an A versus B story and would not have let up easily, whatever he had done.
aye, there’s a lot of hindsight at play in the entire year long situation – I’m not sure anyone except gower has come out of it without regret. And he should have, but I don’t think he believes he crossed the line between story reporting and story influencing.
Just listening to te national radio and the issue of building upgrade to earthquake standard right across the country. (firstly, an I told you so, predicted some moons ago post-Chch). The Councils and others are bleating baaah baah it costs too much…. without really thinking. Some anecdote from the depths of real Chch experience….
The buildings in Invercargill and Dunedin and Gore (and every single other comparable town in NZ) will collapse and kill people. Especially down south as more of them are unsupported masonry construction of a form.
What got people in Chch (other than the 2 major flawed building collapses CTV and PGC) were firstly verandahs and facades and secondly, rest of building.
What these Councils and building owners could should do is firstly support the verandahs. You know, those roofs that come off the buildings and extend over the footpaths. Support them, with posts or whatever. This is inexpenisve and easy. Most typical two storey old shop buildings could have this done in a weekend, it is that easy. Voila, lives saved already.
Second, the buildings that collapsed, collapsed outwards. Picture a box and then let the sides fall outwards and down. That is what happenned. So, second job is the facade, the wall that faces the street. This killed many people, including the ones in the buses. Strengthen the facade -a bigger job but still relatively minor compard to doing the whole building. This will save the most lives.
Third, the balance of the building. After step one in the first year, step two within five years, step three could take place in a timeframe after that.
Supporting the verandahs and the facades will save the vast bulk of lives when an earthquake (of mag 5 only imo) strikes at our small towns. This is cheap and easy. The balance of the building can come later.
As for paying for it – perhaps pick up on recent commentary around issuing zero-cost credit for new affordable homes to earthquake upgrade. Voila.
This is a truth. Verandahs and facades. In my opinion building owners should do this without even being required to do so, as it is easy and inexpensive and will save the most lives. Verandahs and facades.
+1 Couldn’t agree more.
smart and focussed
wished our pollies could be half as lucid
Very good suggestion.
In Christchurch we had six months between September and February. We didn’t do what was needed despite the graphic warning. The rest of the country has so far had a two year warning from an event that was even more graphic.
The clock is ticking.
Establish a Govt Bond paying the going rate and than make that money available to owners for strengthening at 1%. Sure, it looks like a subsidy but the amount of extra tax generated ( wages, fuel, some materials, workers lunches and beers ) would easily cover the shortfall. Materials and labour costs are deductible of course but the increased value and rentals all add to the country’s wealth.
Adrian (assuming you are replying to post above), it is not a subsidy in the usual sense by any means. The works have a massive component of public good. Deeper analysis may reveal that the buildings will appreciate in value from their current position due to publicly funded works but that is, relatively, trifling. Or in reverse view – if the public want it done then the public have an obligation to assist in getting it done.
It’s a bit of a mix but crying “no money” is no excuse given the myriad means of resolution available over this issue.
… Imagine for a moment that another 7 or 8 mag quake is about to strike Southland tomorrow – what would our view then be if hundreds died, again, due to collapsed buildings? Buildings that could have been strengthened? I don’t think the public would be very happy….
many landlords / commercial property investors “crying no money” apparently
review the building stock across the entire country and dynamite any that aren’t up to code
The direct method. I like it.
Or, just nationalise the buildings at scrap value and upgrade them to full strength, and turn them into low cost socialised apartments.
Don’t need the government to issue bonds. Just have them create the money. In fact, the government issuing bonds just increases the rate of capital accumulation.
Stop building over three stories. Bexley the land sank & liquified, but central Chch is being pulled down because the higher buildings were harder hit. Economically a huge loss. I believe buildings really get moving between floors 3 and 6.
Easy to build 30 story buildings with no problems with earthquakes of course.
NZ pioneered some of the technology
We just wanna do everything on the cheap cutting corners.
Mike Williams on RadioNZ says that John Armstrong is ‘the guru of political commentary in NZ’.
Fuck off, Mike.
+1
Mike Williams has lost the facility of self awareness.
Sad at onlelevel, galling that he is on the payroll of the Party (Caucc) still.
Shearer, me thinks, still uses the 90s as his reference point.
He went away on his overseas gigs and lost touch with the changes.
The people and reference points he uses are actually 15ish years out of touch.
That explains to me why he thinks people like Mike Williams, Mike Smith, Tamihere, Jones, King, Mallard and Ian Fraser are current/connected/relevant.
The 16, 17, 18, 19 years olds who will vote for the first time in 2014 must be wondering where these dinosaurs came from.
That is why I’m unsettled by re-hiring King instead of re-instating Cunliffe, promoting Little and other fresh relevant talent.
There is something pre Clark about the profile Shearer has created!
Wrong direction boys and girls!
Indeed, it’s pretty laughable. Let’s do the Time Warp.
It’s not just a jump to the left.
More like a step to the right.
Yeah the horrible thing is that mumblefuck and his careerist cohort could well lose the election for us. But we’re not meant to say anything because that might make him look bad. As if he needed our help!
He can’t lose the election “for us” if he’s not actually acting on our behalf.
The real guru should be the ever-persevering John Minto, but I fear he is hated for his honesty.
good old Ak aye; a brighter future eh?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10867719
the fish are escaping upstream to cooler, clearer water from the warm, salty Lake Ellesmere;
a goldfish in the brine?
Kia kaha Jack Makuku (ahhh, the T.A courthouse…) ftp (feed the people)
a quote from a local- “land of the long black retribution”.-Pat Magill
W.A bracing for a Rusty nailing at 250km/h while Ben Barba’s personal life (and challenges) are thrown to the Dogs.
sadly, The Private Lives of Medieval Kings from their Illuminated Manuscripts (some In Bruge) has concluded. Libraries give us power.
anyway “The greatest good you can do for another person is not just show them your riches-but reveal to them their own.” -Disraeli.
13:22: A poor mans field may produce abundant food, yet injustice sweeps it away
or, an oreo,
13:17: A wicked messenger falls into trouble Rumplestiltskin, yet a trustworthy envoy brings healing.
John Key is a cunt.
nah, if he’s a bodily organ he’s an arsehole.
Used as a disparaging term for a person one dislikes or finds extremely disagreeable.
This is the meaning I intended.
Freud would write a book about it. Probably did.
Personally, I think you malign one of the most agreeable bits of anatomy around.
You’re a dick.
Also not very comparable to John Key, given that my dick gives me immense amounts of pleasure, where as John Key is just a pain in the arse.
It seems like there is a shuffle of ideas in that sentence that I am assuming you would not be in to, McFlock
🙂
The speech from Team America World Police. At the end… you know the great one.
http://youtu.be/32iCWzpDpKs
So we wonder if the rumours are right around Hawkins following Mainzeal down the dunny ……
wouldn’t the consequences be something ….
some “wishful” chinking
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10867690
If the conduct was so appalling that a blood thirsty Pashtun like Karzi ordered them out the notion of what was actually going on makes me feel quite ill.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/24/17076037-afghan-president-orders-us-forces-out-of-key-province?lite
here we go again?
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/israel-fears-new-palestinian-uprising-could-erupt
fittin’ the Battle of Jericho (“and the walls, came tumblin’ tumblin'”; Mother do you think they’ll drop the bomb…mother will they put thee in the firin’ line…ooh baby, ooh baby baby, momma’s gonna make all of your nightmares come true!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matriarchy
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10867876
seriously ? 25c per hour increase min wage ? can’t think of how these Gnats could be more callous or inept or corrupt.
John Key wants NZ to be a place for wealthy people to retire and play golf and for them to not pay too much for gardeners and nannies and cleaners and film crew.
I’m expecting a bigger rise in election year…possibly even to $14.50/hr
Yes, yeshe, “seriously” – it is tempting to think it a shocking attempt at a joke.
I thought it was a typo when I read the headline ….
Some thoughts from today’s news.
If we had an upper house, which tends to attract the conservative person, wouldn’t we be worse off than now? This thought after seeing that Berlusconi’s party is strongest in Italy’s upper house and likely to be a negative force on assistance for the ordinary man/woman. The wealthy and powerful do band together successfully to ensure that any goodies are channelled through are directed to themselves. (Berlusconi being an old guy has who pots and has managed to get the laws changed so that he owns or has major interests across all media there. And I bet that’s just part of his power. It seems like democracy fostering the growth of a king.)
And climate. Where can I find discussion on cloud-seeding etc? Can anybody direct me. It seems that if clouds could be encouraged to drop volumes at sea, floods could be alleviated. I have seen pictures of USA planes that fly into storms with antennae poking out in front and this was decades ago. What has been found out that might aid the world? Might have to have a world treaty about it too, so that one region doesn’t steal the others’ rain.
Australia ain’t gonna be so lucky in the next 20-30 years.
Ain’t that the truth! Especially if you’re one of the ‘new-minority’: the ‘un-assimilated’.
People clamour to get there mainly due to economic benefit, but in so doing, the multicultural nature of Australia morphs into the bland with perhaps the only stark l’etranger being the tribal indigenous.
In the 60s (when once an OZ citizen), the only Aboriginees I saw were those I babysat as a college student during school holidays – down from Mildura. 40-45 years on, the ‘browning’ of OZ and inter-racial mixes are noticeable – such as Aboriginal with Philippino (the result of a mother HAVING to go on the game, and offspring living on the street).
[Incidently – that sort of thing is an inevitable consequence of Planet Key policies here in NZuld. Expect to see a more Maori/Indian mixes in the BOP/ChCh; various others elsewhere].
Hone was correct (re John Howard) – not much has changed in that regard except the veneer of “we’re all immigrants” (JUST SO LONG AS YOU DON’T ARRIVE BY BOAT; or ‘queue-jump’; OR you’re not one of those top-end useless bastards that cause the rest of us so much trouble.
@ CV: Indeed it ain’t gonna be so lucky in the next 20-30 years.
Watch ‘Pull Murray Live’ sometime on SKY 90 to see the level of delusion (you might have to over several days)
You do know I ‘spose… that they actually have a “Closing the Gaps” programme.
Christ! Where did I hear that before!
and worse than that: what a spectacular choice! – not unlike ours: Gillard versus Abbot – the regular gal versus the Kethlik Boy; Shearer versus Key: The good-natured, regular guy with supposed impressive CV, versus the ideologue, feintly fick, used-car-salesman, noice goi Key. Why even Peter Jackson can’t resist the Krusmah
great doco ’bout “assimilation” on Maori TV last evening
Yes, we would be. In a party dominated political system, which representative democracy will inevitably become, then each house will be dominated by a party or coalition of parties. When each house is dominated by parties which are opposed to each other then effective policy making goes out the window in favour of “compromise” deals that are far worse as the right-wing don’t compromise.
No, it’s not democracy doing that but capitalism. As the wealth is channeled into fewer hands the representatives start to represent the rich and powerful instead of the people. As this cycle repeats even more wealth and power goes into fewer and fewer hands. The inevitable result will be an authoritarian state followed by collapse.
I’ve heard that China does it occasionally but that it’s not really worth it due to cost.
@noseviper
There are some wacky schemes outlined in wikipedia’s list of geoengineering proposals.
ropata
Thanks. Should have asked wikipedia. Now I ought to ask wikileaks as to what secret planning is going on. There aren’t many bounds on inventive thinking by governments when it comes to wanting to dominate inner or outer space and the resources therein. They have spent plenty on tech to go to Mars, no prob finding money for that.
Apparently, Key isn’t ruling out a snap election if the court’s decision on water rights this week does not go his way.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbpol/398717084-key-not-ruling-out-snap-election-over-water-rights
This’ll be very interesting
the PM not so subtly putting pressure on the judiciary too
Agreed. ABout time the Judiciary actually stood up and called time! I suspect there are a few that think it’s long overdue. Time for them to call bluff
What would it mean for the left? By which I mean left. I guess it would put the current set-up to the test. Key at this time would probably want to win, since he has not completed his mission, so they would probably be faced with a battle rather than a shift change.
Should the Supreme Court decision find against the Government over the question of the prior held water rights of Maori on the Waikato river i would imagine that Slippery will fall all over his feet racing to offer $$$$’s to the various claimants,
i cannot see how the Supreme Court can find anything but Maori will be severely disadvantaged in negotiations over such prior-held water rights if the States assets spanning parts of that river are sold,
As the Government counsel at the Waitangi Tribunal hearing had prior to the Supreme Court being asked to rule had implicitly admitted these prior held Maori rights to this river and it’s waters then the only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that changing anything that could effect such claims until such time as these claims are quantified and settled must disadvantage the Maori claimants,
The reasoning behind this is simply that the State owned assets on the Waikato River are, while the State still has ownership of them, subject to the provisions of settlement of such Treaty of Waitangi claims, and if sold into private ownership they are not…
And then we would be rewarded with Shearer as P.M. Oh, my God, if people will not vote Green, what a fix we are in!
Well, that would be the end of this government. Would be interesting to see what we get if he does call a snap election.
The Hobbit Files have been released:
Thats one view of it
the other version is that governments should be allowed to conspire with prominent individuals to degrade the rights of ordinary New Zealanders, and have such deals kept secret in case ordinary New Zealanders got upset about it.
I was more thinking that some foreign git was trying to jeopardize a major movie deal being filmed in NZ just so he could sign up some more actors and get some more money for his union…irrespective of what damage he was going to be doing
lol boy you are gullible
Jackson and the Hollywood studios ready to make hundreds of millions from the movies
But wanted even more subsidies from the NZ tax payer (Jackson who has already profited so much through NZ government activities at the start of his career)
And to stop NZ actors receiving the same benefits as the foreign actors working on the same set
Boy c73 man up please and stand for your fellow citizens OK, not for the elite?
As the actors already acknowledged Peter Jackson treated them well yet some fat aussie comes over looking to swell bank balance and you’ll fall over yourselves sucking up to him, maybe you should try standing up for your fellow citizens and not be duped by foreigners
Shame he didn’t target any of the other foreign productions but then that wouldn’t have given him as much publicity
Someones bank balances was swollen by this incident certainly.
Peter Jackson’s. And some Hollywood moguls.
The losers: workers and the NZ tax payer.
Yeah, those workers who got jobs out of the production staying here lost out, right. And those taxpayers who didn’t get the GST that wouldn’t have come to us if Warners had pulled out as they were going to, right? And those taxpayers who saw all those other taxpayers working on the project paying tax. They were losers too right?
Yep. Jackson reduced them to serfs without union protection.
The same union protection he likes to enjoy himself, and which he allows foreign actors (but not NZ actors) to enjoy.
Yeah those “serfs” who earn five times the minimum wage when they’re extras. And those sparkies and chippies and plumbers who earn more building sets and lighting rigs on contract to the production than they get when building a house.
And are forbidden by their paymasters from forming a union to negotiate their pay and conditions, yes.
you do realise that one persons opinion of another doesnt equal facty things dont you?
you do realise that one persons opinion of another doesnt equal facty things dont you?
Chris, that’s not the way it works.
any residuals deal, now or in the future is run through NZ not Australia. the Australian union has nothing to do with any money generated in NZ, and NZ performers fees go back to the NZ performers union, Equity.actually the Australian union, after the NZ performers voted to merge with it in 2006/07 invested upwards of half a million dollars establishing the office and infrastructure (by infrastructure i mean the one person paid part-time to run admin for Actors Equity) in NZ.
It is nigh on impossible for any individual actor or their agent to run their own residuals deal. the formula for percentages is highly complicated and depends on size of role, screen time, time on set, status of performer and many others, the information required to assess when and how much of a residual the performer is due must come (more often be demanded from) from the studio in good faith, and to accomplish this the actor would most often have to hire a specialist lawyer who’s fee would take most of any remaining residual.
everywhere in the world actors residuals are handled by an organisation affiliated to the actors union or professional body.
additionally, once the residuals deal is sorted, and agreed, who are the producers to say how actors choose to administer that? surely it is the actors who should choose who and how their small slice of future profits is administered…
Yes but it’s not unusual for tories to want to negotiate both sides of a deal.
The little I’ve seen on TVNZ makes Jackson look utterly paranoid and disconnected from reality, although that was merely the line he was spinning to ensure his company didn’t have to pay local actors a decent wage. Luckily for Jackson he had a government department headed by a complete moron who can’t handle complex issues. Like say the positive impacts of higher wages on the NZ economy and government coffers i.e.more taxesss, less ACC costs due to one employer to deal with and workers with more disposable income to buy moar stuff etc.
Oh yeah, there’s only really one word to describe Jackson’s actions in a nutshell – “pathetic”.
Yea well… he is actually pathetic IMO. One of those pathetic of the male persuasion that seeks credibility (and their masculinity) in the arms of their beloved.
OOOOOh Franny Fran …. them union ppl are being mean to me!
There’s a Wairarapa castle that attests to it all.
Pratt with a capital P.
Draco, have been reading too.. It appears the govt at no stage spoke to or with anyone on the other side of the story. Jackson is passionate doesnt mean he is right about other people espesh when he perceives they threaten his toy
Better hope theres a smoking gun…people supported The Hobbit and they don’t forget
They should have supported NZ actors receiving the same protections and union membership as foreign actors
As the actors already acknowledged Peter Jackson treated them well yet some fat aussie comes over looking to swell his bank balance and you all fall over yourselves sucking up to him, maybe you should try standing up for your fellow citizens and not be duped by foreigners
Shame he didn’t target any of the other foreign productions but then that wouldn’t have given him as much publicity
What the hell is this tr**lling doing here,making the same comment numerous times is not debate…
bda12 pls…
It is interesting that when National supporters claim that we are providing misinformation, they never specify what it is. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/blind-support-for-failing-government.html
Gawd Strewth!… I’m watching Cunliffe at the mo in Parly r mint Debates shovving it too the opposition with such force his colleagues could only dream of. Yet his dear leader doesn’t see reason to include him in anything meaningful.
Stance confirmed! Labour will not get my party vote.
Really, do you know how the Parliament works???, for Cunliffe to be on His feet questioning the Opposition he must have been allotted time via the Labour Whips office,
In other words the Hierarchy has deliberately given Cunliffe time to speak in the House, i know that’s not what you want to hear but that is the reality…
It is being reported on twitter that Louisa Wall has been removed from the Maori Affairs select committee by Shearer. Henare says she was not told beforehand.
If so this is a bad show. Wall is one of the best performing MPs that Labour has right now. Why would he do this?
IF this is true, then the spitefulness of the Shearer/Robertson camp knows no bounds. Who’d they put on instead – Shane Jones?
Some more detail has come out and it is not so bad.
The Herald reports that “[s]he told the Herald that Labour is replacing her with Nanaia Mahuta, the former education spokeswoman, who is now the Maori development spokeswoman after yesterday’s reshuffle.
Louisa Wall, the MP for Manurewa, has become an associate health spokeswoman and will join Annette King on the health committee, which clashes with the Maori affairs committee. She had not realised until today she would have to move.”
Whew. A shift sideways; just sounds like some communications issues which could have been handled a bit better.
Unfortunately not unprecedented (Parker replacing Cunliffe), so I sadly have to conclude that it’s sheer incompetence which Shearer’s office has no desire to actually address.
Something for the lefties:
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”.. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for dollars – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on) These are possibly the 5 best sentences you’ll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Take this piece of wing-nut propaganda and shove it where the sun does not shine, this is simply tr**lling that has been used here over and over by the wing-nut fraternity and deserves no other answer than derision…
bad12 just to let you that someone posting something you don’t agree isn’t trolling, yes I know you don’t like it when someone offers a differing opinion but that still doesn’t make it trolling
Silly silly douche, don’t you realise google is so totes easy to use to cluebat/fact check with?:
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/socialism.asp
Downloading stuff via steam seems to stuff up the comment editor, anyhow:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×6117657
trololololol, turns out the basic premise was also in the doorstop/toilet paper known as Atlas Shrugged.
It seems you have no idea what “wealth” and “prosperity” actually are. Clue: its not the printed linen put out by the Federal Reserve.
some Pizza on the Q.T;
key-“potential for lignite dev. in NZ
English-‘SOE’s: prices to be revised downwards”
English-talk about extrapolating “increased PAYE to ” mean a whole lot of insulfluff!
Robertson-“net loss of 30,000 jobs; HLFS
concession to key; fudging and casualties aside, he is a “master of his universe” and that is observable
regrettably
though occasionally he gets hung on his own petard, particularly by WP or the “duck”
(Hipkins? w.a.p imo)
TFC-On The Border.
Cosgrove / Ryall: M of SOE’s “took steps in 2009”. Ryally?
Mojo-“Kiwi Rail cutting 2-300M 2013-2015
Horan-Ambulance Chasing (suplise suplise)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163988/
Bringing Out The Dead
or Leaving Las Vegas
(read a lot of “familiar” words in the MSM Paddy 😉 )
“if I were the President of this land, I’d declare War on The Pusher Man”
The Wolf bites back; Shiraz / Grenache, $7.48 (it’s criminal Ned)
wanna re-engrave His-story? siege-machines; manpower and cold steel over the wall.feel me.
consider “outclassed” putting it firmly and politely (mite goin check out you-know-WhO)
kinda’ like Martha Stewart.
meanwhile, back in the bay; Trials all gone to the Dogs (and we may have gone to spectate) due to Drought conditions Allied Farmers are in the drench.
Riddle Me Out On The Street Alistair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e80qhyovOnA
Carry On. as you were.
I have an edit button.
Thank you very much.
use it or lose it
Of course it didn’t work, not bringing up my comment to edit, but it’s nice to have it all the same.
“use it or lose it”
The curse of married men everywhere.
Variety is the spice of life, up to point, then it’s time to Settle Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uxzw3mb6p4
(be good, and if you can’t be good, be safe, and if you can’t be safe, Name them after me) 🙂
Take Care out There Everybody, she’s a Hill Street Blues.
Apparently, the agency did tell me it was a solo mission before I signed up.
“be good”
Sage.
Bill from Dipton, ”Solid Energy is all Labour’s fault”,
Perlease cannot the Finance Minister either read or add 1 plus 1???,
id not the Finance minister notice that in September 2008 mere month’s befor He became Finance Minister the international price of coal dropped by a third from $150 a tonne to $111.50 a tonne,
Perhaps Bill from Dipton was too busy with the election at that time but only the dullest of knives in the draw could have failed to have noticed that the price of coal by October 2010, 2 years into this abysmal National Governments first term, the international price had dropped to $71.50 for a tonne of the black stuff,
That’s not a mistake and that along with this Governments failure to address the high NZ$ which has also served to help turn the States coal miner into a basket case can only be described as pig ignorance and a gross dereliction of the member from Dipton’s duty as the Finance Minister…
btw,
“push your old numbers
let your phone ring
It’s not this quiet
slide down your receiver
sprint across the wire
follow her number
slide into her hand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g26ed_ujqcM
(i take it from your whisper that you’re not that tough)
A new set of talking points in… 3…2….
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/weather-extremes-provoked-by-trapping-of-giant-waves-in-the-atmosphere
Interesting joe90
Debate in the House today included the second reading of the bill which extends the time that the Canterbury Region will be without an elected Governance structure as democracy according to the Slippery National Government is not a right but is granted upon the basis of their whim,
Included in the bill is further provision for Canterbury farmers to suck the life from the regions waterways with specific provision in part to of the Act denying anyone the right of appeal against such mis-use,
i have to wonder here how loud the screams of protest would be if the National Party were abolished by legislation of the next Parliament and specifically within such legislation denied any right of appeal,
i could really begin to like that idea…
+
FFS. Mark Mitchell, National mp, horrible bogan and former policeman struggles to get to grips with the world around him
Phone, Mark. It’s called a phone.
it’s witchcraft I tells ya!