IMHO Jacindas rise through Labours ranks to leader has been engineered by some very, very clever tactics. Andrew, with guidance and support set the party up to become a potential winner with Jacindar in mind some time ago. Her obvious -“to the backroom planners,” skills have been carefully kept up their sleeves until being unleashed these last few weeks Cloth caps off to all of you..
It’s got that look about it, and rather well done when you look at it from that angle. If you’ve read and understood Sun Tzu’s Art of War you will appreciate it even more. A lovely bait and switch.
lol…only credible if you believe Labour plan that far ahead, are organised enough t implement it …..oh, and control the votes of the districts and unions…..yeah,nah
Yep the look of happy realisation on everyone’s face from JA down shows that this was an unknown that has paid off. Big ups to JA – she alone has accepted the weight on her shoulders and she’s away, carrying it up the hill. We either help her or get out the road imo. That’s if we want a change of government of course.
Yeah, on steps of Reserve Bank NZ. The State is planning to erect a statue of a Hobbit with BROWN SKIN! Nazis are on to it. The Bolsheviks with be there throwing food, which is sure to attract big crowd of homeless folk. Looks like the poor bankers are going to get caught in the middle of it!
However, in this case Marty was aware of the report, thus there was no need. I wasn’t talking to everybody in this instance, I was replying directly to Marty.
By not speaking out on their policy short comings and telling people to get in behind and help her, you are accepting a lowering of the bar, Marty. And you are also encouraging others too. Can you not see that?
Moreover, by running down others (calling them naysayers, etc) and implying they shouldn’t speak out (claiming there is no justification) comes across as a bit standoverish. Bully boy.
Sure (deleted) lol – because you aren’t worth it chair. Your 2nd rate arguments, temperment and political nous are just not my cup of tea. Mate, you are a slimespinning bullshit artist who pretend cases for the ‘true left’ whilst putting the boot into labour every chance you get and then saying you’re doing it because you are voting Green. I. don’t. believe. you.
Sorry Pat, true. Refering to San and The D as both bots. But didn’t want to be toooo direct. Is it ok to call bots bots, or do we get points on our base-ball cards.
Amazing, only bloody bill was too weak to take the challenge and he got the piss taken out of him in that article. What an awesome confluence of stars have conspired to give us this wonderful situation.
Duncan Garner: After nine years in power, why is National’s report card so full of fails?
“Because the list of blind spots for National is too long. If this is success then our standards have slipped.
We have families living in cars. I saw one woman and her two kids the other night at the top of my street. It’s not how we do thing in New Zealand. Except now it is.
We have a Government that is too hands off. Let the market sort it. But markets fail. Markets don’t build emergency, social, state and affordable houses.
Governments, in partnership, lead and build. National utterly failed this group of struggling and increasingly bewildered and powerless New Zealanders.
The Government now buys entire motels to house the homeless and English says that’s a good thing, it’s unprecedented. Sure is. It’s National’s emblem of failure. The gap between the haves and have-nots appears starker than ever.
National also packed the immigrants in to the rafters in record numbers. Wages as a result have been suppressed.
They also forgot to plan where everyone will live. More than 140 people arrive in Auckland every day, sadly housing is provided for just 80 of them.
The poorest Kiwis have been squeezed to the sidelines. Auckland needs 14,000 homes built a year to meet demand.
After nine years of National the past year has seen just 7000 homes finished. Our infrastructure is creaking. The average price of a house in Auckland is more than $1m.
Good luck. First home buyers should be marching in the streets. They face renting for life. Or buying in Huntly or Levin.
National is also ambivalent on climate change, dirty rivers and our waterways. Action is needed now, not another kick for touch.
Polluters should pay. Get this into law. They do in Britain. Emissions have reduced. Why the free pass for our polluters?
Yes the headline numbers around the economy look good. And they are. But the family tree underneath is stressed and in some instances broken.
Over the next 28 days ask yourself this question: Am I living that promised Brighter Future?”
He did make a couple of odd comments about Labour in there.
Decade of deficits? Didnt Labour get to surplus only to spend it in 2008… like National are doing now? There is a reason Nats dont want to cool.immigration and housing because factor those into cpi and inflation and the truth of their management and many lives is laid bare.
Decade of deficits? Didnt Labour get to surplus only to spend it in 2008… like National are doing now? There is a reason Nats dont want to cool.immigration and housing because factor those into cpi and inflation and the truth of their management and many lives is laid bare.
The NZ governments spending capacity is unaffected by the surplus/deficit situation. As a currency issuer it can always afford to buy everything for sale in NZ dollers. The question of what gets funded in the budget and how much is one of values but never capacity.
Garmer doesn’t mention NZ government net debt that between 2008 and 2016 has risen from 5.4% of GDP (when Labour lost power) to 24.6% of GDP.
Net government debt at 2016 was $62 billion. If the Nats had kept the ratio the same as that bequeathed it by Labour debt would only be $14 billion.
The Nats always try to blame the $48 billion gap on the GFC and earthquakes, but after insurance inflows and the EQC the earthquakes cost less than $20 billion and NZ came out of the GFC largely unscathed.
THE FACT IS THE NATS HAVE BORROWED TO GIVE LOWER TAXES (or not increase or impose taxes) mostly to the better off. The first thing they did after winning in 2008 was to give tax cuts of over a billion a year to the better off. They also stopped contributions to the Cullen Fund (adding more billions to the $48 billion gap) leaving future governments to pick up the tab.
This is not sound or fair management of the economy; major fail.
The first thing they did after winning in 2008 was to give tax cuts of over a billion a year to the better off.
That’s not precisely correct. It lost the government a billion dollars of income but they actually decreased taxes upon the rich by quite a bit more than that. The difference was put upon the poor via higher GST.
Mike Hosking’s views and attitude dangerous to TVNZ’s integrity
‘To TVNZ: Hosking cannot speak our native language correctly. He didn’t apologise after making a mistake. He has not acknowledged the damage he may have done and for that.
After blaming the Māori Party for his own flippant remarks, can we really say he deserves his position as a TV commentator or the privilege of hosting our election debates?
TVNZ, Hosking’s poisonous attitude is dangerous to your company’s integrity. Get him off.’
True, but what’s more interesting is that these last two quoted articles are the top stories under the main story about the disastrous Afghanistan mission.
So three terms of the bad-cop seems to be enough. Let the good-cop deal with a tsunami from falling house prices. Remind us how good the bad-cop really was? Noooooooooo, the darkness has taken me. See the light, see the light, see the light!
National launch their campaign in Auckland this weekend, will be very interesting to see how many turn out compared with the thousands that flocked to see Jacinda last weekend.
Wonder if National will be renting a crowd? Wouldn’t put it past them.
Still reeling after list Mp Maureen Pughs supporter (maybe her campaign manager) assured my 12 year old that he was happy to swim in rivers where cows were shitting and she should have no problem with it as well. What a muppet.
Unfortunate gnat name with that story. I have so wanted to get Pugh and English (heh that goes together nicely) signs down over here – smug smiles and all but they are reminders of what we don’t want so all good. Sick of not seeing the new labour ones – come on Damien the election is just about here.
Marty, the new labour signs have just gone up here over the last few days and they look fantastic, no doubt they will go up down the coast soon as, maybe even this weekend.
Turns out Pugh has had two signs defaced here. “No Thanks” spray painted in large black letters, polite and to the point. She’s not well liked at all.
She said yesterday that she hadn’t set up an office in Motueka this election because she was sick of her office being vandalised during the last election.
It wasn’t me who broke her window, but I will raise my hand for taping up notices pointing out she was never in her office and questioning her record as mayor of Westland. Sure the notices snowballed as others decided to write down their feelings and tape them onto her doors and window, but thats not vandalism that is information sharing 😀
Marty she turned up to meet the candidates in collingwood wearing sparkly shoes, the farmers were not impressed.
Yes I heard the Collingwood crew had some head scratching going on. In the bay I want the new labour sign – maybe today cos it’s a good day for the market here.
Does anyone know if this is true?
NZ is increasing it’s military force in Afghanistan by 30%. It is putting in 3 more soldiers to increase it’s “non-combatants” to 13 !
WTF, are we really the laughing stock of the World?
Has Sue Bradford replaced herself with a stunt double on leaving parliament?
National Security are shitting themselves. The rebellion has teamed up with the hobbits and has a cave network stretching the full length SH1! The State is helpless. If they evict hobbits, the loss of tourism will bring down the whole system!
Do you mean don’t blow her cover? She put the Greens on the map, but she out-grew the map. Then I liked her again. Folk like her are no good locked up in parliament. Glade Catherine D is free again. Sitting on the motor-way certainly did it for me. (that was the link, bit sloppy sorry) I would truly love to see her backed with a hobbit collaboration. Though I’ve no idea what she’s doing these days. That’s the blessing of being under cover I guess 😉
Rooster crows, sun to rise.
Decades pass, clucky Govt sits,
Wild chicken, hiding all the eggs.
Solving light rises in the East.
Labour know it in the 30’s ‘n’ 40’s.
Which came first, the money or the loan?
Thanks Cinny. It’s good to see. I still cannot resolve complete non-violence (as logical conclusion to non violence is lack of self defence: victims having a moral (non-violent) authority over Nazi prison guards in Auschwitz didn’t help their cause, when led to the gas chambers). Hopefully we, as humanity, can use non-violent methods against violent extremism.
Make no mistake, their violence is the everyday reality for the targets of their prejudice. Turning up in numbers might stop a hate-march but it won’t stop the lower-level street violence and discrimination.
Thanks for the link Cinny, I was busy this morning but just tried to watch it. The sound quality was horrendous with constant feedback – may try again later when I’m not on headphones.
Bradbury has a review of it, but he seems to be very biased towards Morgan – apparently he did well here (but then according to Bradbury, he also won the Māori TV debate too; something no one else noticed, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the banner ad TOP has taken out on TDB).
Arseholes never miss an opportunity to exercise their malice – immigration checkpoints will remain active during the evacuation. So the undocumented are left with the dilemma, do they stay at risk of their lives or do they evacuate at risk of getting nabbed and deported.
“As the election looms, the Sustainable Business Council Election Manifesto has revealed many leading New Zealand businesses are uneasy about the gap they see between the prosperous and the poor, and they see action on climate change as a priority.”
My reading of the article linked above and the manifesto linked within is of a quite explicit rejection of National’s leadership of our society and environment. It also aligns closely with Labour and Green intentions.
The members of this organisation are our top companies, so really interesting that they have come out like this.
Don’t forget the lie that the National Party encourages its followers to repeat to one another: no-one in the “real world” supports left wing policies.
The Sustainable Business Council just delivered yet another rebuttal of the lie. Not that that will stop the National Party spreading it. As DtB is fond of pointing out, if they didn’t lie about everything they represent, they’d never get elected.
It’ll be interesting to see how National respond to this, will they suddenly embrace climate change and sustainability (shit, that’ll be entertaining on KB and sewer) or do they tough it out and try and say Sustainable Business Council are deluded.
Either way, I think they are fucked. Both approaches are going to loose them votes.
Spent the last 2 weeks trying to get builders to pay their accounts for materials. There is a large amount of stress and poor cash flows with spec houses not selling and very few “design and builds” out there.
Hate to be the next govt as there is so much pent up stress within the industry(i image that other sectors within NZ are in a similar situation), and the Fletcher situation is just 1 large embodiment of this.
Not to worry, should Labour lead the next govt- National will have an out in 2020 as all the countries issues will be Labours fault … again.
I hope my observations are wrong, but this has been building up for over a year, it hasn’t presented itself in a manner that most can see.
There is a pile of cash flow pressure in the industry currently, a lack of skilled workforce to get through the workload and fast rising overhead costs have blown out pricing done 3-6months prior. It’s not pretty out there and it doesn’t take much to tip a reasonably large company over especially if they have financed large amounts to buy machinary to facilitate growth.
The lack of traditional 3-4 year apprenticeship training over the last 15 years or so is really hitting home now.
Damn near a generation of skills haven’t been passed on and there is some really shoddy work going on due to people not knowing better…
Pathetic is really the only description of this. It’s nothing new, just a tepid re-heat of the existing situation. A tired, out of touch government on the way out.
The freedom camping and AirBnB thing is starting to really piss people off down here. Hotel operators have had enough of paying full rates and compliance while the cowboys skim off the cream. Heard of a situation where a hotel is very quiet while the AirBnBs down the street are full and non-compliant, private investigators in the bushes with cameras, the whole nine yards. Hotel also can’t get staff because there’s no rental accomodation.
AirBnB should not be confused with Freedom Camping. Entirely separate issues.
Having said that I agree that AirBnb is an issue too-I live near Wanaka. The QLDC is able to do something about this through its rating policy and monitoring.
The extent of it getting beyond them IMO, and the 90 days / year threshold for consent makes it really hard to enforce quickly.
My conflating of the two issues was to point out that this government has badly mismanaged tourism, about the only thing they are doing well is destroying the industry’s value proposition and turning New Zealand into a destination for low value mass markets.
Backpackers are usually well-educated middle class people who spend hundreds of millions of dollars in our economy and then come back as yuppies 15-20 years later and spend oodles. That is if they have had a good experience here in the first place. Hassling them is not consistent with this.
The mismanagement I’m talking about is that tourism yield per visitor has gone down since 2008. We’re getting more visitors, but getting much less out of them. Also, the freedom camper is a subset of the backpacker market and the ones that are causing problems are a very small subset of visitors in vans.
National’s brain fart doesn’t say anything new, as I said it’s just stating what’s already happening, and missing the real issues . It also seems aimed at existing National voters which looks a bit desperate.
I get that freedom camping by tourists rankles with many. Although given the number of kiwis who are proud of doing similar on their OE, that does seem a bit churlish. Of course, no one wants their local public spaces to become open sewers, but I’m with BG that the answer to this is more facilities.
What concerns me is that anti-freedom camping laws are also anti-homeless laws. If people are reduced to living out of their cars, then a spot fine backed up by threat of legal action for noncompliance isn’t going to help matters. Only allowing vehicular habitation to those who can afford; a camper with contained toilet, means the poor who can’t afford such luxuries are the target. Maybe if buckets with chemicals in them were counted as self-contained toilets and available from foodbanks that might help? Though that brings the problem of spillage and question of where they can be emptied.
Otherwise, these are just vagrancy laws under another name.
I don’t suppose it would be possible to do both. You know, build more loos and compel their use. Of course the burden of building is going to fall on relatively few ratepayers.
LOL, ohh so we’ll have magic pixies patrolling Bill’s 10 billion worth of new roads that look like they are going to be paid for from the magic money tree
Henry Cooke is making things up again in the Herald today. He says:
“The Green Party’s late entry into the scene on Thursday, breaking an unspoken deal they had with Labour….”
Wrong Henry, there was no deal. The Greens withdrew their candidate as a favour to Labour, the sole reason being to give Greg O’Connor a better chance of beating Peter Dunne, and so reducing the Right’s voting power by one in parliament. When Dunne ran for the hills there was no longer any reason for the Greens not to have a candidate, so they are now treating Ohariu the same as all of the other electorates. Cooke is here:
What is most worrying is that the usually superb Gordon Campbell got the Ohariu situation wrong on his blog. Perhaps, like Vernon Small and the rest of the MSM, he has an anti-Green bias and would like to see them gone?
Labour will not be able to form a genuinely progressive government if the Greens fall below 5%. The MSM knows this.
Bearded Git
Even saying; “The Greens withdrew their candidate as a favour to Labour”, is overstating the amount of deal-making. More; the GP saw that it was in their own interest to not stand a candidate, but now that Dunne is no longer a factor have got the candidate from 2014 back to boost their profile.
Gordon Campbell has not had an anti-Green bias in the past, If anything he has pro-Green sympathies than he tries to keep in check in the pursuit of journalistic integrity. His piece reads to me as more a warning about feeding self-fulfilling perceptions of vulnerability rather than an attempt to kick a party when it is down.
Also the MOU, as I understand it, ends on Election Day.
There does seem to be a ghoulish desire to kill off the Greens. Almost lije the Press Gallery do not like a mirror held to them either. All the blind eyes turned, shallow reporting…
With Houston and Austin directly in the path of the new category 4 hurricane Harvey, the strongest storm to hit the US since 2005 could not come as a more brutal reminder of the weather and the climate to this US administration.
Actually category 4 cyclones (as we call them) in historical terms are two a dime as the Yanks would say, so the chances of this administration seeing anything untoward is very remote. Even so, they are going to occur with ever increasing frequency but I doubt that will have much effect on them either. Deniers cannot see past the end of their noses because anything further is beyond their brains’ ability to cognate.
Tim Murphy @tmurphyNZ
Turns out those who said this mad election had one more explosive convulsion to come weren’t wrong. Could be soon. #motherofallscandals
1:16 PM · Aug 26, 2017
Tim Murphy
“You can strangle the rooster but the dawn will still come”
Kim Young Sam
“CoroDale 9
26 August 2017 at 8:27 am
Riddle Time
Rooster crows, sun to rise.
Decades pass, clucky Govt sits,
Wild chicken, hiding all the eggs.
Solving light rises in the East.
Labour know it in the 30’s ‘n’ 40’s.
Which came first, the money or the loan?”
Only a memorandum of understanding could qualify? Especially now that bow-tie has bowed out?
Lord, I remember when Brian Edwards was going to stand for labour in Mirimar, I think. Out came the news that he was ‘living in sin’. Hugely shocking back then – he had to withdraw.
So what can this new scandal be? Overdue library books??
Well, if it were about Todd Barclay’s criminal behaviour and the corruption stemming from it, it could hurt a lot of senior National Party pondscum, and that would fit the metaphor rather well.
Or it could be about Jacinda’s affair with Winston and James Shaw and Marama Fox. No, wait, that’s only four cards.
Yeah I read that, and if Bradbury knows what it is he’ll blab before Monday. The fact that he hasn’t already is a good indication that he has no clue. I won’t be surprised to be wrong about that too.
Brian Edwards DID stand for Labour in Miramar, he did not withdraw. He managed to lose the safeish Labour seat despite a swing to Labour nation wide.
He was living with another woman while still married, as the front page of Truth pointed out. The electorate took a dim view, but whether of his reputation or his TV persona, only they know.
Royal Flush – a set of cards that a player has in a card game (such as poker) that are all of the same suit (such as diamonds) and are the most valuable cards (the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten) in that suit.
Does a suit pertain to a particular political party and does it involve a lot of money changing hands in a clandestine manner?
I guess, although it hasn’t been retweeted that many times, so hard to know how much it’s gone beyond the people that would have picked it up quickly on Monday morning anyway. That against a bunch of people wild speculating and presumably mostly getting it wrong.
We are dealing with politicians, so we can’t really trust any of them.
So it doesn’t leave us with much choice. We can either work with what they commit too. Or we can think they are all full of shit and leave them to it. Waste of time commenting on policy if it’s all bullshit.
And when it comes to trust, Labour also have a lot to make up for. They are distrusted by a number on the left and on the right.
That flavour of bullshit you did just there is what we call a “false equivalence”.
Thing about most of the criticism of Labour from the left that I see is based on perceived holes in their policies, or matters of interpretation. Whereas national are less than outright liars, the actual truth is irrelevant to them, They’re bullshitters, like you.
We’re discussing the trustworthiness of policy promises.
My assertion regarded what I saw, being that it is the perceived shortcomings in policy that Labour is criticised for, not the truthfulness. It is my observation. You are welcome to show a “left wing” comment that says a Labour policy is an outright lie.
That is not equivalent to just being a load of bullshit.
Oh, so now you’re claiming that it wasn’t false equivalence, you merely shifted the goalposts so that you could bring Labour into it.
You’re so full of bullshit it’s hilarious.
In an argument as to whether Labour need to match national policy promises, your new goalposts are irrelevant. Labour don’t need to “up their game” simply to match promises that no sane person would trust.
If national promise unicorns, Labour don’t need to promise unicorns with rainbow farts. They just need reasonable policies that show they plan to govern competently.
You are the one claiming false equivalence. I never did.
I extended the discussion on trust to overall trust to show National isn’t the only one to have voter trust issues.
You seem to have forgotten Labour has just upped their game ($8 doctors visits) thus not only matching Nationals policy, but also bettering it.
And as for social housing. Not only do labour need to up their game because National is offering more (which Labour should find embarrassing) it may also cost them votes and may be problematic in the up and coming leaders debate.
On a side note,10,000 homes compared to 1000 state homes indicates to voters where their values sit. As a comparison, Hone is offering to build 10,000 state homes.
Additionally, and more importantly, Labour need to up their game in this area because what they’re offering is vastly insufficient. As you can see in the earlier link I provided you.
A number from the left haven’t regained the trust lost from Rogernomics ….
And fuck isn’t it annoyingly obvious on this blog’s comments threads every day. It isn’t 1986 any more, get over it. In the actually-existing Now, the one in which the 4th Labour government is 27 years in the past, you have two choices in this election: continuing the existing National-led government or replacing it with a Labour-led one. The Chairman’s perfect government isn’t on the menu – pick from the two options available, and keep in mind that “no vote” equates to “I choose to continue the current National-led government.”
If a person can be trusted it does not automatically follow that this person will be trusted. This choice is influenced by personal bias & prejudice (heuristics such as ‘common sense’), ignorance and false beliefs, irrational fear or desire, mental apathy & laziness, to name just a few. The point I want to make is that many people are projecting, psychologically speaking, when it comes to politicians (and many others for that matter). This includes projection of hope, which may be an important factor in the recent rise in the polls of Labour.
The Guardian is more than just MSM, they use words like; inimical. (survived two paragraphs and checked a paragraph or two, skimmed, and two more links, hoping for meat, but just got stuff like this:
Then please allow me to predict a little paradox to their statement and general tone: If our next govt was to, “back fiscal spending with state cash”, the action would not be inimical from internal economic factors (though I’m sure their supply-n-demand hypnosis would claim otherwise). It would be inimical from the external hand of our neo-liberal God-Fathers. And it would be the anti-thesis of liberty on their minds. Our currency would be sent to the time-out corner, for even thoughts of competing with their totalitarian control.
But genuine thanks for posting a link which is totally on-track regarding the next government’s inimical options. Points out just how big the challenge is, when even the mighty Scottish Guardian…
What my students and I conclude is that neo-liberalism consists of a corporate grab of the liberties that the enlightenment brought to citizens in a series of reforms, perhaps most notably the European spring. This is an impropriety in several ways, but perhaps most notably because corporations already enjoy the wealth and patronage of the most privileged classes. The investor/state rules adhering to the TPP are an example – claiming to limit the powers of government to regulate in the public interest effectively usurps the citizens’ franchise.
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You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – According to the respected Pew Research Centre, “In seven of eight [European] countries surveyed, the most trusted news outlet asked about is the public news organization in each country”. For example, “in Sweden, an overwhelming majority (90%) say they trust the public broadcaster SVT”. ...
David Farrar writes – Kata MacNamara reports: Details of Tony Blakely’s involvement in the New Zealand Government’s response to the pandemic raise serious questions about the work of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry over which he presides. It has long been clear that Blakely, a ...
Chris Trotter writes – Are you a Brahmin or a Merchant? Or, are you merely one of those whose lives are profoundly influenced by the decisions of Brahmins and Merchants? Those are the questions that are currently shaping the politics of New Zealand and the entire West. ...
RNZ reports – It’s supposed to be a haven of healing and spiritual awakening but residents of the Kawai Purapura community say they’ve been hurt and deceived. It’s the successor to the former Centrepoint commune, and has been on the bush block opposite Albany shopping centre since 2008. It ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. Usually we have a video chat to go with this wrap, but were unable to do one this week. We’ll be back next week.Several reports ...
The Transport Minister has set a hard 'fiscal envelope' of $6.54 billion for transport capital spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy is settling into a state of suspended animation as the Government’s funding freezes and job cuts chill confidence and combine with stubbornly high interest rates to ...
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land of Israel, and to (b)the subjugation of Palestinians by the Israeli state. By contrast, the term “anti-Semitism” means bigotry and racism directed at Jewish people, ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Because hurricanes are one of the big-ticket weather disasters that humanity has to face, climate misinformers spend a lot of effort muddying the waters on whether climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. With the official start to the hurricane ...
Yesterday the Mayor released what he calls his “plan to save public transport” which is part of his final proposal for the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP). This comes following consultation on the draft version that occurred in March which showed, once again, that people want more done on transport, especially ...
And it's a pleasure that I have knownAnd it's a treasure that I have gainedAotearoa’s coalition government is fragile. It’s held together by the obsequious sycophancy of Christopher Luxon, who willingly contorts his party into the fringe positions of his junior coalition partners and is unwilling to contradict them. The ...
The Select Committee hearing submissions on the fast-track consenting legislation is starting to become a beat-up of regional councils. The inflexibility and slow workings of the Councils were prominent in two submissions yesterday. One, from the Coromandel Marine Farmers Association, simply said that the Waikato Regional Council’s planning decisions were ...
Back in April, the High Court surprised everyone by ruling that Ministers are above the law, at least as far as the Waitangi Tribunal is concerned. The reason for this ruling was "comity" - the idea that the different branches of government shouldn't interfere with each other's functions. Which makes ...
Buzz from the BeehiveTolling was mentioned when Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the government was re-introducing the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) programme, with 15 “crucial” projects to support economic growth and regional development across New Zealand. All RoNS would be four-laned, grade-separated highways, and all funding, financing, and ...
or the past 14 years, ever since the Spanish government cheated on an autonomy deal, Catalonia has reliably given pro-independence parties a majority of seats in their regional parliament. But now that seems to be over. Catalans went to the polls yesterday, and stripped the Catalan parties of their majority. ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ report: Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said the Electoral Commission should make sure the system ran smoothly and “taking away the right of thousands of people to vote” was not the answer. “Thousands of people enroled and voted on the day. If ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The instability comes as the party tries to refresh its brand after six years of being part of a right-wing, pro-imperialist government with both the Labour Party and, from 2017-2020, the far-right NZ First Party. ...
Based on the latest Treasury forecasts, New Zealand Government debt will tick above $90,000 per household for the first time ever at 10pm today, Sunday 19 May 2024. The Taxpayers’ Union is calling it “$90k Debt Day”. Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ ...
Arawata Shane Arawata Shane had wandered long In the wild tangled hills of the West Coast. He came to a stop on the mighty range And looked down at the wide river flats. He breathed in the clean air, And he took in the shadows playing across The face of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:Islands Business in Suva Today is the 24th anniversary of renegade and failed businessman George Speight’s coup in 2000 Fiji. The elected coalition government headed by Mahendra Chaudhry, the first and only Indo-Fijian prime minister of Fiji, was held hostage at gunpoint for 56 days in the country’s ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist and Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific digital journalist Police have used tear gas and stun grenades on rioters at an airport near Nouméa as the chaos in New Caledonia stretched into its sixth day. Five people, including two police officers, have died and hundreds of ...
Asia Pacific ReportThe global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on France to not “misuse” a crackdown in the ongoing unrest in the non-self-governing French Pacific territory of Kanaky New Caledonia in the wake of a controversial vote by the French Parliament to adopt a bill changing the territory’s ...
A major provider of school lunches fears the government's new $3 limit for most students will see them eating more pre-packaged and processed food. ...
The star of Dark City: The Cleaner takes us through his life in TV, including the VHS revolution and the John Campbell impression that started it all. Best known for his comedic roles, Cohen Holloway says he struggled at times to maintain the stone cold facade of serial killer on ...
David Hill remembers an old friend, who you’ve probably never heard of. My friend Doug never travelled; he had little interest in the world beyond his own tiny rural town. I’ve rarely known anyone who radiated such contentment. Doug (I’ll call him that) died in March. You won’t know him. ...
Some of the earliest photos of life in Aotearoa are on display at Auckland Museum right now – but the identities of some of the people in them are a mystery.What was it like to be one of the first people in New Zealand to have their photo taken? ...
Since its founding almost a decade ago, Featherston Booktown has grown into one of the country’s most interesting and idiosyncratic literary events. Erin Banks reports from the audience. “Come in, have you had lunch? I’m about to make a cheese toastie.” Mary Biggs, operations manager of Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival, ...
After 33 years abroad, Loveni Enari recently returned to Aotearoa and Samoa in what a friend joked was an “existential crisis”. He learnt and re-learnt so much about his family, friends and both countries. Almost as an afterthought, he got a Samoan tatau. This is his story. (Accompanying it are ...
Nearly 30 years ago, two people told me they’d killed a woman they knew. I thought the truth would come out, that others would tell it. In the end, I had to. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Fact: in 1995, Angela Blackmoore ...
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IMHO Jacindas rise through Labours ranks to leader has been engineered by some very, very clever tactics. Andrew, with guidance and support set the party up to become a potential winner with Jacindar in mind some time ago. Her obvious -“to the backroom planners,” skills have been carefully kept up their sleeves until being unleashed these last few weeks Cloth caps off to all of you..
Multi Choice Response
A) BAU
B) Think I’m missing your point.
C) Was that post from a bot?
D) Why am I responding to that?
It’s got that look about it, and rather well done when you look at it from that angle. If you’ve read and understood Sun Tzu’s Art of War you will appreciate it even more. A lovely bait and switch.
lol…only credible if you believe Labour plan that far ahead, are organised enough t implement it …..oh, and control the votes of the districts and unions…..yeah,nah
Yep the look of happy realisation on everyone’s face from JA down shows that this was an unknown that has paid off. Big ups to JA – she alone has accepted the weight on her shoulders and she’s away, carrying it up the hill. We either help her or get out the road imo. That’s if we want a change of government of course.
We require more than a change of Government, Marty. So why don’t you stop accepting a lowering of the bar and help us achieve that?
Are rumors true that the Nazis are planing a march outside the Reserve Bank? Tidy dog owners may be able to help.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26082017/#comment-1373743
Yeah, on steps of Reserve Bank NZ. The State is planning to erect a statue of a Hobbit with BROWN SKIN! Nazis are on to it. The Bolsheviks with be there throwing food, which is sure to attract big crowd of homeless folk. Looks like the poor bankers are going to get caught in the middle of it!
Chairman I’m not interested in your bullshit – i don’t believe what you say sorry.
You’re free to believe whatever you like, Marty. But do refrain from calling “bullshit” unless you are prepared to substantiate it.
Nevertheless, do tell us, do you also think the Salvation Army report is “bullshit”?
Asks for substantiation of bullshit allegation, then provides it with random, imprecise, passive-aggressive segue.
“Then provides it with random, imprecise, passive-aggressive segue.”
No, it was a question actually.
I was trying to establish what Marty is running around crying bullshit over.
Because the sallys have only ever written one report?
But the answer to your question is simple. Your comment.
I’m not (a bullshitter) and I do (provide links).
However, in this case Marty was aware of the report, thus there was no need. I wasn’t talking to everybody in this instance, I was replying directly to Marty.
So at best that removes “imprecise”.
Good for you.
Marty knew which report I was referring too.
And if you were more informed, perhaps you would too.
My comment was a question and it wasn’t bullshit, so hell knows what you are on about. Are you on the turps?
If you weren’t a bullshitter, you’d provide links so everyone would know what you’re talking about.
You are overlooking the fact it was a genuine question and not a passive-aggressive segue.
I don’t believe you.
No chair just you are the bullshitter bullshitting about bullshit. Clear enough noddy?
“No chair just you are the bullshitter bullshitting about bullshit.”
Really? Where is this “bullshit” you’re asserting too, Marty?
You said I accepted a lowering of the bar in your first comment to me upthread – that is bullshit and a lie, completely made up and fabricated.
By not speaking out on their policy short comings and telling people to get in behind and help her, you are accepting a lowering of the bar, Marty. And you are also encouraging others too. Can you not see that?
Moreover, by running down others (calling them naysayers, etc) and implying they shouldn’t speak out (claiming there is no justification) comes across as a bit standoverish. Bully boy.
Sure (deleted) lol – because you aren’t worth it chair. Your 2nd rate arguments, temperment and political nous are just not my cup of tea. Mate, you are a slimespinning bullshit artist who pretend cases for the ‘true left’ whilst putting the boot into labour every chance you get and then saying you’re doing it because you are voting Green. I. don’t. believe. you.
“Because you aren’t worth it chair.”
It’s not about me, Marty. It’s about doing what’s right.
Marty, you called me a bullshitter, yet you didn’t refute my comeback that showed you up for what you are.
I rather vote Labour, Marty, but can’t bring myself to accept their lowering of the bar. Hence, I’m trying to do something about it.
If you think discussing policy is putting the boot in, you need to harden up. I haven’t even got my boots on yet.
Like i said before, Marty, you’re free to believe what you like.
Mr Chairman, your concern trolling is always a bore.
+1 to Marty and McFlock.
This is the literal exemplar of publicity you can’t buy:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11909313
Great stuff!!
lol….another fan (and vote no doubt)
C) Bot
?…wrong thread perhaps?
Sorry Pat, true. Refering to San and The D as both bots. But didn’t want to be toooo direct. Is it ok to call bots bots, or do we get points on our base-ball cards.
+ 1 yep so great to see the leader of labour like this – i thought we had more winter but spring is here thank the gods.
to marty mars at 2.2 : Bring on summer!
Amazing, only bloody bill was too weak to take the challenge and he got the piss taken out of him in that article. What an awesome confluence of stars have conspired to give us this wonderful situation.
Duncan Garner: After nine years in power, why is National’s report card so full of fails?
“Because the list of blind spots for National is too long. If this is success then our standards have slipped.
We have families living in cars. I saw one woman and her two kids the other night at the top of my street. It’s not how we do thing in New Zealand. Except now it is.
We have a Government that is too hands off. Let the market sort it. But markets fail. Markets don’t build emergency, social, state and affordable houses.
Governments, in partnership, lead and build. National utterly failed this group of struggling and increasingly bewildered and powerless New Zealanders.
The Government now buys entire motels to house the homeless and English says that’s a good thing, it’s unprecedented. Sure is. It’s National’s emblem of failure. The gap between the haves and have-nots appears starker than ever.
National also packed the immigrants in to the rafters in record numbers. Wages as a result have been suppressed.
They also forgot to plan where everyone will live. More than 140 people arrive in Auckland every day, sadly housing is provided for just 80 of them.
The poorest Kiwis have been squeezed to the sidelines. Auckland needs 14,000 homes built a year to meet demand.
After nine years of National the past year has seen just 7000 homes finished. Our infrastructure is creaking. The average price of a house in Auckland is more than $1m.
Good luck. First home buyers should be marching in the streets. They face renting for life. Or buying in Huntly or Levin.
National is also ambivalent on climate change, dirty rivers and our waterways. Action is needed now, not another kick for touch.
Polluters should pay. Get this into law. They do in Britain. Emissions have reduced. Why the free pass for our polluters?
Yes the headline numbers around the economy look good. And they are. But the family tree underneath is stressed and in some instances broken.
Over the next 28 days ask yourself this question: Am I living that promised Brighter Future?”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/96138164/duncan-garner-after-nine-years-in-power-why-is-nationals-report-card-so-full-of-fails
He did make a couple of odd comments about Labour in there.
Decade of deficits? Didnt Labour get to surplus only to spend it in 2008… like National are doing now? There is a reason Nats dont want to cool.immigration and housing because factor those into cpi and inflation and the truth of their management and many lives is laid bare.
Decade of deficits? Didnt Labour get to surplus only to spend it in 2008… like National are doing now? There is a reason Nats dont want to cool.immigration and housing because factor those into cpi and inflation and the truth of their management and many lives is laid bare.
The NZ governments spending capacity is unaffected by the surplus/deficit situation. As a currency issuer it can always afford to buy everything for sale in NZ dollers. The question of what gets funded in the budget and how much is one of values but never capacity.
+111
My point wias Garner got his facts wrong. Not the merits of running deficits
Garmer doesn’t mention NZ government net debt that between 2008 and 2016 has risen from 5.4% of GDP (when Labour lost power) to 24.6% of GDP.
Net government debt at 2016 was $62 billion. If the Nats had kept the ratio the same as that bequeathed it by Labour debt would only be $14 billion.
The Nats always try to blame the $48 billion gap on the GFC and earthquakes, but after insurance inflows and the EQC the earthquakes cost less than $20 billion and NZ came out of the GFC largely unscathed.
THE FACT IS THE NATS HAVE BORROWED TO GIVE LOWER TAXES (or not increase or impose taxes) mostly to the better off. The first thing they did after winning in 2008 was to give tax cuts of over a billion a year to the better off. They also stopped contributions to the Cullen Fund (adding more billions to the $48 billion gap) leaving future governments to pick up the tab.
This is not sound or fair management of the economy; major fail.
That’s not precisely correct. It lost the government a billion dollars of income but they actually decreased taxes upon the rich by quite a bit more than that. The difference was put upon the poor via higher GST.
Thanks draco
Mike Hosking’s views and attitude dangerous to TVNZ’s integrity
‘To TVNZ: Hosking cannot speak our native language correctly. He didn’t apologise after making a mistake. He has not acknowledged the damage he may have done and for that.
After blaming the Māori Party for his own flippant remarks, can we really say he deserves his position as a TV commentator or the privilege of hosting our election debates?
TVNZ, Hosking’s poisonous attitude is dangerous to your company’s integrity. Get him off.’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/96152694/mike-hoskings-views-and-attitude-dangerous-to-tvnzs-integrity
TVNZ’s integrity is just nostalgia from when we where pure and innocent.
+1
True, but what’s more interesting is that these last two quoted articles are the top stories under the main story about the disastrous Afghanistan mission.
The tide does seem to turn at times.
So three terms of the bad-cop seems to be enough. Let the good-cop deal with a tsunami from falling house prices. Remind us how good the bad-cop really was? Noooooooooo, the darkness has taken me. See the light, see the light, see the light!
National launch their campaign in Auckland this weekend, will be very interesting to see how many turn out compared with the thousands that flocked to see Jacinda last weekend.
Wonder if National will be renting a crowd? Wouldn’t put it past them.
Still reeling after list Mp Maureen Pughs supporter (maybe her campaign manager) assured my 12 year old that he was happy to swim in rivers where cows were shitting and she should have no problem with it as well. What a muppet.
At Sky City?
Yesah, at the local casino to which Hosking is an ambassador.
Surprise, surprise…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/movies/news/article.cfm?c_id=200&objectid=10795401
TVNZ does sometimes act to stop Hosking.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10795215
Unfortunate gnat name with that story. I have so wanted to get Pugh and English (heh that goes together nicely) signs down over here – smug smiles and all but they are reminders of what we don’t want so all good. Sick of not seeing the new labour ones – come on Damien the election is just about here.
Marty, the new labour signs have just gone up here over the last few days and they look fantastic, no doubt they will go up down the coast soon as, maybe even this weekend.
Turns out Pugh has had two signs defaced here. “No Thanks” spray painted in large black letters, polite and to the point. She’s not well liked at all.
She said yesterday that she hadn’t set up an office in Motueka this election because she was sick of her office being vandalised during the last election.
It wasn’t me who broke her window, but I will raise my hand for taping up notices pointing out she was never in her office and questioning her record as mayor of Westland. Sure the notices snowballed as others decided to write down their feelings and tape them onto her doors and window, but thats not vandalism that is information sharing 😀
Marty she turned up to meet the candidates in collingwood wearing sparkly shoes, the farmers were not impressed.
Wondering where she is on the list this time
Yes I heard the Collingwood crew had some head scratching going on. In the bay I want the new labour sign – maybe today cos it’s a good day for the market here.
Gosh yes the “Clean Rivers’ sign would look super in the bay, was sure I heard yesterday they were going up this weekend.
Clean rivers signs up today aroubd Selwyn…
Maureen Pugh is 44 on the list. Pretty invisible so far in our part of the electorate.
Maureen Pugh sounds very frightened…
Who should I vote for? Poverty policy at a glance
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/who-should-i-vote-for-poverty-policy-at-a-glance.html
Does anyone know if this is true?
NZ is increasing it’s military force in Afghanistan by 30%. It is putting in 3 more soldiers to increase it’s “non-combatants” to 13 !
WTF, are we really the laughing stock of the World?
True
Recommended viewing
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/the-valley/#
More a recognition of our logistical and planning nous than our ability to kill people I would have thought.
Why are we even in Afghanistan?
Competing for the International Fair Play Award?
Smiley face failed to appear..
Can anyone confirm, deign or spread this rumor:
Has Sue Bradford replaced herself with a stunt double on leaving parliament?
National Security are shitting themselves. The rebellion has teamed up with the hobbits and has a cave network stretching the full length SH1! The State is helpless. If they evict hobbits, the loss of tourism will bring down the whole system!
Leave Sue alone bud.
Do you mean don’t blow her cover? She put the Greens on the map, but she out-grew the map. Then I liked her again. Folk like her are no good locked up in parliament. Glade Catherine D is free again. Sitting on the motor-way certainly did it for me. (that was the link, bit sloppy sorry) I would truly love to see her backed with a hobbit collaboration. Though I’ve no idea what she’s doing these days. That’s the blessing of being under cover I guess 😉
Are you trying too hard?
Overreaching is the word you’re looking for perhaps?
Mmmmm.
Riddle Time
Rooster crows, sun to rise.
Decades pass, clucky Govt sits,
Wild chicken, hiding all the eggs.
Solving light rises in the East.
Labour know it in the 30’s ‘n’ 40’s.
Which came first, the money or the loan?
Imaginative response to a planned alt-right March in San Francisco this weekend… Turd Reich
Its’s interesting to see non-violence as a deterrent.
That’s hard case as, thanks for sharing.
Sans Cle, seen this on Al Jazeera?
“More than 2,100 people have “adopted a Nazi” in the US, raising more than $134,000 to help neo-Nazis and white supremacists “fund their own demise”.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/nazi-groups-countering-neo-nazis-170824072656258.html
Thanks Cinny. It’s good to see. I still cannot resolve complete non-violence (as logical conclusion to non violence is lack of self defence: victims having a moral (non-violent) authority over Nazi prison guards in Auschwitz didn’t help their cause, when led to the gas chambers). Hopefully we, as humanity, can use non-violent methods against violent extremism.
Make no mistake, their violence is the everyday reality for the targets of their prejudice. Turning up in numbers might stop a hate-march but it won’t stop the lower-level street violence and discrimination.
Leaders debate on The Nation this morning at 9:30 am
Edit: it’s just started
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows.html
Greens
Maori
TOP
Act
Mana Leaders debating
Thanks for the link Cinny, I was busy this morning but just tried to watch it. The sound quality was horrendous with constant feedback – may try again later when I’m not on headphones.
Bradbury has a review of it, but he seems to be very biased towards Morgan – apparently he did well here (but then according to Bradbury, he also won the Māori TV debate too; something no one else noticed, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the banner ad TOP has taken out on TDB).
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/08/26/the-nation-minor-party-leaders-debate/
When is the next round of polls due, anyone know?
Expecting a Newshub Reid Research in the not too distant future
An humanitarian disaster in the making – nearly half a million people living in more than two thousand colonias, and category 4 hurricane Harvey.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/11/living-edges-life-colonias-texas-161103082854630.html
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/torrential-rain-to-evolve-into-flooding-disaster-as-hurricane-harvey-moves-inland/70002548
Arseholes never miss an opportunity to exercise their malice – immigration checkpoints will remain active during the evacuation. So the undocumented are left with the dilemma, do they stay at risk of their lives or do they evacuate at risk of getting nabbed and deported.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/25/16205040/hurricane-harvey-checkpoints-immigration-border
Apparently the climate change cabal never miss an opportunity.
https://twitter.com/Forrest4Trees/status/901196241769558016
The Sustainable Business Council released its Election Manifesto yesterday,
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/25-08-2017/leave-no-new-zealander-behind-a-sustainable-business-election-manifesto/
“As the election looms, the Sustainable Business Council Election Manifesto has revealed many leading New Zealand businesses are uneasy about the gap they see between the prosperous and the poor, and they see action on climate change as a priority.”
My reading of the article linked above and the manifesto linked within is of a quite explicit rejection of National’s leadership of our society and environment. It also aligns closely with Labour and Green intentions.
The members of this organisation are our top companies, so really interesting that they have come out like this.
Don’t forget the lie that the National Party encourages its followers to repeat to one another: no-one in the “real world” supports left wing policies.
The Sustainable Business Council just delivered yet another rebuttal of the lie. Not that that will stop the National Party spreading it. As DtB is fond of pointing out, if they didn’t lie about everything they represent, they’d never get elected.
It’ll be interesting to see how National respond to this, will they suddenly embrace climate change and sustainability (shit, that’ll be entertaining on KB and sewer) or do they tough it out and try and say Sustainable Business Council are deluded.
Either way, I think they are fucked. Both approaches are going to loose them votes.
Spent the last 2 weeks trying to get builders to pay their accounts for materials. There is a large amount of stress and poor cash flows with spec houses not selling and very few “design and builds” out there.
Hate to be the next govt as there is so much pent up stress within the industry(i image that other sectors within NZ are in a similar situation), and the Fletcher situation is just 1 large embodiment of this.
Not to worry, should Labour lead the next govt- National will have an out in 2020 as all the countries issues will be Labours fault … again.
I hope my observations are wrong, but this has been building up for over a year, it hasn’t presented itself in a manner that most can see.
There is a pile of cash flow pressure in the industry currently, a lack of skilled workforce to get through the workload and fast rising overhead costs have blown out pricing done 3-6months prior. It’s not pretty out there and it doesn’t take much to tip a reasonably large company over especially if they have financed large amounts to buy machinary to facilitate growth.
The lack of traditional 3-4 year apprenticeship training over the last 15 years or so is really hitting home now.
Damn near a generation of skills haven’t been passed on and there is some really shoddy work going on due to people not knowing better…
I am in Rolleston in Christchurch. Today while walking the dogs we counted 42 homes under construction and about 5 which have been for sale since Feb.
Labour has just announced $8 Dr. visits for community card holders, among other improvements. More for the poor.
And a great populist media-catch that will ruin National’s weekend. Excellent work again from Labour.
Labour ready to overtake National in the polls.
So private/public partnerships are ok when the private partner is unemployed?
Quit screwing around Labour and fully fund healthcare for the poor.
Latest policy from National-freedom campers. Vans without toilet facilities will not be able to overnight less than 200 metres from toilet facilities.
Apart from being pathetic-there are surely bigger issues-this is very Nanny State. it is also probably impossible to realistically enforce.
The way to go is to build more facilities at rest stops to welcome our tourists, not hassle them.
We are looking at a dying regime.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/96183631/nationals-tough-new-crackdown-on-freedom-campers
Pathetic is really the only description of this. It’s nothing new, just a tepid re-heat of the existing situation. A tired, out of touch government on the way out.
The freedom camping and AirBnB thing is starting to really piss people off down here. Hotel operators have had enough of paying full rates and compliance while the cowboys skim off the cream. Heard of a situation where a hotel is very quiet while the AirBnBs down the street are full and non-compliant, private investigators in the bushes with cameras, the whole nine yards. Hotel also can’t get staff because there’s no rental accomodation.
This is another one from last week, https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/tourism-tensions-boil-queenstown
AirBnB should not be confused with Freedom Camping. Entirely separate issues.
Having said that I agree that AirBnb is an issue too-I live near Wanaka. The QLDC is able to do something about this through its rating policy and monitoring.
The extent of it getting beyond them IMO, and the 90 days / year threshold for consent makes it really hard to enforce quickly.
My conflating of the two issues was to point out that this government has badly mismanaged tourism, about the only thing they are doing well is destroying the industry’s value proposition and turning New Zealand into a destination for low value mass markets.
Backpackers are usually well-educated middle class people who spend hundreds of millions of dollars in our economy and then come back as yuppies 15-20 years later and spend oodles. That is if they have had a good experience here in the first place. Hassling them is not consistent with this.
The mismanagement I’m talking about is that tourism yield per visitor has gone down since 2008. We’re getting more visitors, but getting much less out of them. Also, the freedom camper is a subset of the backpacker market and the ones that are causing problems are a very small subset of visitors in vans.
National’s brain fart doesn’t say anything new, as I said it’s just stating what’s already happening, and missing the real issues . It also seems aimed at existing National voters which looks a bit desperate.
I get that freedom camping by tourists rankles with many. Although given the number of kiwis who are proud of doing similar on their OE, that does seem a bit churlish. Of course, no one wants their local public spaces to become open sewers, but I’m with BG that the answer to this is more facilities.
What concerns me is that anti-freedom camping laws are also anti-homeless laws. If people are reduced to living out of their cars, then a spot fine backed up by threat of legal action for noncompliance isn’t going to help matters. Only allowing vehicular habitation to those who can afford; a camper with contained toilet, means the poor who can’t afford such luxuries are the target. Maybe if buckets with chemicals in them were counted as self-contained toilets and available from foodbanks that might help? Though that brings the problem of spillage and question of where they can be emptied.
Otherwise, these are just vagrancy laws under another name.
I don’t suppose it would be possible to do both. You know, build more loos and compel their use. Of course the burden of building is going to fall on relatively few ratepayers.
I am surprised they are not blaming the freedom campers for the dirty rivers
Exactly. Which magic pixies will be enforcing this?
LOL, ohh so we’ll have magic pixies patrolling Bill’s 10 billion worth of new roads that look like they are going to be paid for from the magic money tree
Sorry repeating myself, but if you care about the world as a whole you should read this.
So, well corporations are the enemy. They do deceit, and only worship money. They do not care about you or your family.
The biggest oil company lied for 40 years knowing that Global Warming is a major issue.
https://www.wired.com/story/more-evidence-exxon-misled-the-public-about-climate-change/
Henry Cooke is making things up again in the Herald today. He says:
“The Green Party’s late entry into the scene on Thursday, breaking an unspoken deal they had with Labour….”
Wrong Henry, there was no deal. The Greens withdrew their candidate as a favour to Labour, the sole reason being to give Greg O’Connor a better chance of beating Peter Dunne, and so reducing the Right’s voting power by one in parliament. When Dunne ran for the hills there was no longer any reason for the Greens not to have a candidate, so they are now treating Ohariu the same as all of the other electorates. Cooke is here:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96140935/doorknocking-through-the-most-interesting-electorate-in-the-country
What is most worrying is that the usually superb Gordon Campbell got the Ohariu situation wrong on his blog. Perhaps, like Vernon Small and the rest of the MSM, he has an anti-Green bias and would like to see them gone?
Labour will not be able to form a genuinely progressive government if the Greens fall below 5%. The MSM knows this.
Bearded Git
Even saying; “The Greens withdrew their candidate as a favour to Labour”, is overstating the amount of deal-making. More; the GP saw that it was in their own interest to not stand a candidate, but now that Dunne is no longer a factor have got the candidate from 2014 back to boost their profile.
Gordon Campbell has not had an anti-Green bias in the past, If anything he has pro-Green sympathies than he tries to keep in check in the pursuit of journalistic integrity. His piece reads to me as more a warning about feeding self-fulfilling perceptions of vulnerability rather than an attempt to kick a party when it is down.
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2017/08/24/gordon-campbell-on-the-greens-ongoing-problems/
Also the MOU, as I understand it, ends on Election Day.
There does seem to be a ghoulish desire to kill off the Greens. Almost lije the Press Gallery do not like a mirror held to them either. All the blind eyes turned, shallow reporting…
And the Confederacy loses again… one left hook at a time.
Never met a Colleen I didn’t like.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Video-of-Racist-Woman-Beatdown-at-Coral-Springs-Hotel-Goes-Viral-441748103.html
With Houston and Austin directly in the path of the new category 4 hurricane Harvey, the strongest storm to hit the US since 2005 could not come as a more brutal reminder of the weather and the climate to this US administration.
Actually category 4 cyclones (as we call them) in historical terms are two a dime as the Yanks would say, so the chances of this administration seeing anything untoward is very remote. Even so, they are going to occur with ever increasing frequency but I doubt that will have much effect on them either. Deniers cannot see past the end of their noses because anything further is beyond their brains’ ability to cognate.
Let’s see. It’s a big hit in to Texas.
Texas has been turning blue forever. Believe it when I see it.
Journalist Tim Murphy on Twitter…
Tim Murphy @tmurphyNZ
Turns out those who said this mad election had one more explosive convulsion to come weren’t wrong. Could be soon. #motherofallscandals
1:16 PM · Aug 26, 2017
Tim Murphy @tmurphyNZ
Could be real collateral damage.
1:18 PM · Aug 26, 2017
Tim Murphy @tmurphyNZ
Replying to @cazz_h
Soon. This could be the Royal Flush of scandals….
Tim goes on to later say that the metaphor he used is not random. He adds that the news will likely break Monday.
Is Jacinda’s loo still not in compliance?
Yes! That will be it! I knew there was something lurking in the sewers that would arise to smite down the new hope!
Royal Flush – Kingmaker?
Nothing would surprise me, including if it turned out this isn’t about Bill English’s text messages.
Who’s out of the country apart from…John Key!
John Key smoked a spliff in the Queen’s loo at Buck House?
It was a Balmoral loo actually.
Yeah well, we shall see. Not getting my hopes up.
Yeah 😆
Momentwhimper of truth 2.0Someone suggested it could be to do with gambling?
Tim Murphy
“You can strangle the rooster but the dawn will still come”
Kim Young Sam
“CoroDale 9
26 August 2017 at 8:27 am
Riddle Time
Rooster crows, sun to rise.
Decades pass, clucky Govt sits,
Wild chicken, hiding all the eggs.
Solving light rises in the East.
Labour know it in the 30’s ‘n’ 40’s.
Which came first, the money or the loan?”
Peter Thiel?
between “collateral” and the cards, maybe someone’s been playing silly buggers with someone else’s cash.
Damage that hurts more than one party…
Only a memorandum of understanding could qualify? Especially now that bow-tie has bowed out?
Lord, I remember when Brian Edwards was going to stand for labour in Mirimar, I think. Out came the news that he was ‘living in sin’. Hugely shocking back then – he had to withdraw.
So what can this new scandal be? Overdue library books??
Well, if it were about Todd Barclay’s criminal behaviour and the corruption stemming from it, it could hurt a lot of senior National Party pondscum, and that would fit the metaphor rather well.
Or it could be about Jacinda’s affair with Winston and James Shaw and Marama Fox. No, wait, that’s only four cards.
Time will tell.
Tim Murphy tweet it wasn’t about Tim Barclay.
Plus Bomber reckons another scandal is breaking on Monday – or it could be the same one…..
Oh well that’s that theory blown.
Newsroom have been doing very good work. I’ll be surprised if it’s trivial.
Martyn Bradbury would not be able to contain himself until Monday.
Sean Plunkett reckoned it was about Barclay and the tapes. Murphy said Nah.
Yeah I read that, and if Bradbury knows what it is he’ll blab before Monday. The fact that he hasn’t already is a good indication that he has no clue. I won’t be surprised to be wrong about that too.
I still think that the overdue library books records could have a grim tale to tell. But do we now have enough good investigative journalists?
Or it implicates the Left and he is in church praying it isnt going to happen?
I assume it is the Left implicated?
Not necessarily. Some see Tim Murphy as wanting an end to the NACT government.
Brian Edwards DID stand for Labour in Miramar, he did not withdraw. He managed to lose the safeish Labour seat despite a swing to Labour nation wide.
He was living with another woman while still married, as the front page of Truth pointed out. The electorate took a dim view, but whether of his reputation or his TV persona, only they know.
Correction accepted. I remember being disappointed.. I would think it was the ‘living in sin’ thing that counted..
Does a suit pertain to a particular political party and does it involve a lot of money changing hands in a clandestine manner?
I’ll run with that line anyway. 😈
Maybe someone just wants a republic…
But that ain’t a scandal.
Are you saying it’s about Ardern’s call for a discussion on a republic?
Double Dipper is a monarchist. Or it’s a cryptic segue derived from the metaphor…or it means that every single party leader left will have to resign 😈
We have Royal Flush (royalties? Kingmaker?). We have Collateral Damage (Afghanistan?). We have Mother of all scandals (budget? Shipley?). 3 clues.
His parting comment was “I’ve said too much, I’ve said too little” (Andrew?).
The stuff before the fact is called “hype”. That said, I’ll stop speculating until something concrete emerges.
…except to say this: something concrete has emerged re: English’s text messages, Murphy says “no-one has” them. I take it that includes Dickson.
emerged today?
Not sure what the point of Murphy’s text was tbh. Apart from ragging on tweeps.
Looks like marketing to me.
I guess, although it hasn’t been retweeted that many times, so hard to know how much it’s gone beyond the people that would have picked it up quickly on Monday morning anyway. That against a bunch of people wild speculating and presumably mostly getting it wrong.
Maybe Murphy was also signalling to other media that Newsroom had the story and was running it soon.
Yep game playing.
You mean Honest Bill hasn’t asked his Telcom to retrieve his messages so he can be transparent????
Peters loves the flutter on the horses
Royal flush / top of the deck / they’re all involved?
Royal flush=leadership change=Paula Benefit fraud.
Well, since there are two scandals (according to M Bradbury) coming, my pick is that’s one of them.
Why are we assuming it is to do with nats? Wouldnt they have had the wallet out trawling for scandals since little was rolled/resigned?
Oh dear.
Worst couplet: “Three things taught me conservative love / Jesus, Ronald Reagan, plus Atlas Shrugged”
[…]
Worst couplet: “People want to go against the word of God and live alternative / the media wants to crucify conservatives”
[…]
Worst couplet: “After spending goes up, you gotta borrow some mo’ / borrowin’ from the Chinese like (Oh, my lawd!)”
[…]
Worst couplet: “I just want to make America great / I just want to have a Trump Steak on my plate.”
https://theoutline.com/post/2178/the-infinite-awfulness-of-conservative-rap
Sounds a bit Vogon…
Good to see Labour upping their game and outplaying National in this regard (see link below).
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/labour-announces-8-gp-visits-for-community-cardholders.html
Now we need to see them outplay National on social housing. National are offering to build 2000 state homes compared to Labour’s 1000.
regardless of whether what you say is true, national promises are worthless.
If you were more informed, you’d know it’s true.
At around 00:55 in the link below
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2017/08/the-housing-debate.html
Regardless if it turns out to be worthless, we can only work with what they commit too.
And like the $18 doctors visits, National have upped their game.
However, Labour have just outplayed them on the cost of doctors visits, now we need to see them up their game and outplay them in social housing.
There’s a joke going around Dunedin lately: “last election we were promised a hospital, and all we got were frozen meals trucked down from Auckland”.
Only a fool works with the promises of a proven liar.
We are dealing with politicians, so we can’t really trust any of them.
So it doesn’t leave us with much choice. We can either work with what they commit too. Or we can think they are all full of shit and leave them to it. Waste of time commenting on policy if it’s all bullshit.
And when it comes to trust, Labour also have a lot to make up for. They are distrusted by a number on the left and on the right.
That flavour of bullshit you did just there is what we call a “false equivalence”.
Thing about most of the criticism of Labour from the left that I see is based on perceived holes in their policies, or matters of interpretation. Whereas national are less than outright liars, the actual truth is irrelevant to them, They’re bullshitters, like you.
I’m not a bullshitter. And despite your bluster, seeing as you haven’t substantiated your assertion, it makes you look like one.
A number from the left haven’t regained the trust lost from Rogernomics and the grip the right within still hold today.
So much for your false equivalence fallacy.
We’re discussing the trustworthiness of policy promises.
My assertion regarded what I saw, being that it is the perceived shortcomings in policy that Labour is criticised for, not the truthfulness. It is my observation. You are welcome to show a “left wing” comment that says a Labour policy is an outright lie.
That is not equivalent to just being a load of bullshit.
Your initial assertion was directed at the lack of trust of National.
When I made this comment: “And when it comes to trust, Labour also have a lot to make up for.” I extended it out from policy to overall trust.
And then went on to say: “They are distrusted by a number on the left and on the right.” Hence, my point stands.
Oh, so now you’re claiming that it wasn’t false equivalence, you merely shifted the goalposts so that you could bring Labour into it.
You’re so full of bullshit it’s hilarious.
In an argument as to whether Labour need to match national policy promises, your new goalposts are irrelevant. Labour don’t need to “up their game” simply to match promises that no sane person would trust.
If national promise unicorns, Labour don’t need to promise unicorns with rainbow farts. They just need reasonable policies that show they plan to govern competently.
You are the one claiming false equivalence. I never did.
I extended the discussion on trust to overall trust to show National isn’t the only one to have voter trust issues.
You seem to have forgotten Labour has just upped their game ($8 doctors visits) thus not only matching Nationals policy, but also bettering it.
And as for social housing. Not only do labour need to up their game because National is offering more (which Labour should find embarrassing) it may also cost them votes and may be problematic in the up and coming leaders debate.
On a side note,10,000 homes compared to 1000 state homes indicates to voters where their values sit. As a comparison, Hone is offering to build 10,000 state homes.
Additionally, and more importantly, Labour need to up their game in this area because what they’re offering is vastly insufficient. As you can see in the earlier link I provided you.
lol Labour don’t need to do a thing you suggest (shifting goalposts included). But I’m sure they’d thank you for your concern.
A number from the left haven’t regained the trust lost from Rogernomics ….
And fuck isn’t it annoyingly obvious on this blog’s comments threads every day. It isn’t 1986 any more, get over it. In the actually-existing Now, the one in which the 4th Labour government is 27 years in the past, you have two choices in this election: continuing the existing National-led government or replacing it with a Labour-led one. The Chairman’s perfect government isn’t on the menu – pick from the two options available, and keep in mind that “no vote” equates to “I choose to continue the current National-led government.”
“The Chairman’s perfect government isn’t on the menu”
But it could be, if more were unwilling to accept Labour’s lowering of the bar and opted to vote for another party on the left.
If we can get Labour to up their game, that would be great. They don’t need to be perfect, but they do need to be a lot better.
Alternatively, if we want genuine change of more significance we need to get the Greens up higher.
So the question the left needs to ask is do we just want to change the Government or do we want more significant change?
To achieve this we need to apply more pressure on Labour and/or vote Green and help give them more clout.
Oh, BS.
There’s some politicians we can actually trust. They’re not in National or ACT.
You may (trust them). A good number don’t.
lol “a good number” 🙄
If a person can be trusted it does not automatically follow that this person will be trusted. This choice is influenced by personal bias & prejudice (heuristics such as ‘common sense’), ignorance and false beliefs, irrational fear or desire, mental apathy & laziness, to name just a few. The point I want to make is that many people are projecting, psychologically speaking, when it comes to politicians (and many others for that matter). This includes projection of hope, which may be an important factor in the recent rise in the polls of Labour.
Trust, like facts in general, aren’t a popularity contest.
“There’s a joke going around Dunedin lately: “last election we were promised a hospital, and all we got were frozen meals trucked down from Auckland”.
Only a fool works with the promises of a proven liar.”
Very good.
National have upped their game.
…by telling the same lies they’ve been telling for the last forty thousand years, with greater frequency.
Only Labour could lose to this gameplan.
I hope that the chairman does not realise that his cover failed ages ago. This way he remains harmless..
Paranoid much, Vino?
“Cover”, ha.
I admire your obtuse persistence. Little else.
Guardian on neoliberalism: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/aug/18/neoliberalism-the-idea-that-changed-the-world
The Guardian is more than just MSM, they use words like; inimical. (survived two paragraphs and checked a paragraph or two, skimmed, and two more links, hoping for meat, but just got stuff like this:
“Attempts to limit competition are treated as inimical to liberty.” (from neo-liberal perspective) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot
Then please allow me to predict a little paradox to their statement and general tone: If our next govt was to, “back fiscal spending with state cash”, the action would not be inimical from internal economic factors (though I’m sure their supply-n-demand hypnosis would claim otherwise). It would be inimical from the external hand of our neo-liberal God-Fathers. And it would be the anti-thesis of liberty on their minds. Our currency would be sent to the time-out corner, for even thoughts of competing with their totalitarian control.
But genuine thanks for posting a link which is totally on-track regarding the next government’s inimical options. Points out just how big the challenge is, when even the mighty Scottish Guardian…
Oh, I read some more. (Could have better used my time in the cow shed.)
There was some flag waving for “real democracy” or something, and a bit of stuff like that, and this:
“…but from humanistic values such as public spiritedness, conscience or the longing for justice.”
Kinda seemed to be their conclusion.
Right, I’ll go check on the cows, see if they can’t offer me a few insights.
What my students and I conclude is that neo-liberalism consists of a corporate grab of the liberties that the enlightenment brought to citizens in a series of reforms, perhaps most notably the European spring. This is an impropriety in several ways, but perhaps most notably because corporations already enjoy the wealth and patronage of the most privileged classes. The investor/state rules adhering to the TPP are an example – claiming to limit the powers of government to regulate in the public interest effectively usurps the citizens’ franchise.