it might be better if Helen Clark stays out of nz politics etc , the tv3 boys are having a ball pushing the meme that clark still runs the labour party.. undermining Ardern she is
I just sold my older hunterway .he’s still use full but now I have a younger better one , he just gets in the way of the younger one reaching it’s potential
Am I missing something here? Is this really just over Helen Clark wanting to get rid of plastic bags? It does not sound like sufficient reason to put some kind of gagging order on her!
Indeed, Helen Clark should be deleted from the political history books and she (and Sir Michael Cullen) should sever all ties with the NZ Labour Party and all NZ politics for that matter. She should take up painting instead. The same was done with Sir Roger Douglas and the NZ Labour Party has never looked back since. [sarc]
Morning Duncan yea I back the plastic bag bann I would like to see all but the ecential plastic that can’t be replaced by renewable products.
Alcohol does a lot of damage to OUR WORLD SOCIETY 21 YEARS old min age and advising of the side effects should be legerslated and banned from supermarket
Alcohol is damageing he tangata more than any other drug. Ka kite ano
Helen Clark was the best PM labour have had since Michael Joseph Savage but the media set about dirty politics on her so she is needed now more than ever as Labour goes through this ‘minefield of National Party antics and attemptd wreck Labours changes to make NZ a more caring transparent, kinder more inclusive Government.
More heads are better than one, as we see national are wheeling all their old guard out at the same time are still using Don Brash ect’ elk and were using their past PM’s to from 1990’s like the both National PM’s from the 1990’s era so shouldn’t Labour?
Why pick on Helen Clark when she was at the Auckland Town Hall when jacinda gave her first pre-election speech so did you complain then as that speech is what set Jacinda on the path to victory?
Look Duncan no body is perfect.
If one is getting bombarded with conflicting information get it correct all the time is near impossible.
ECO MAORI likes some of the bold moves OUR new coalition government is making.
They benefit the 99.9 %.
One man has taken on my it’s all in the design house we could set up a factory next door to a wood mill that makes all
The kit set flat pack houses and wallar you have thousands of houses built obviously Would need more than one factory. We need to get away from concrete floors as there is to much greenhouse gas built in the production of concrete.
The previous generation got that right in a land that is known for EARTH QUAKEs
It is not logical to have concrete floors.
You can recycle a house with wooden floors. If the environment were the house placed become uninhabitable well you put it on a truck and relocation it to a new site. I say that all houses should be legerslated to have a design so one can truck it out.
Ka kite ano
Duncan when one Reads the book on
Te Ropata WahaWaha it was written over 150 years ago our society was totally different the settlers were trying to establish them selves.
So what better why to sway the minds of te tangata whenua that a story on a Great Maori man that supports the Queen and the settlers.
Over 70% of tangata could read and write and who who wrote this book a settlor.
He used this story to boost the Mana of the settlers religion to stop the other religions taking hold of tangata minds.
There are a couple of sentences that are designed to boost the settlers religion.
So a intelligent person will add this information into how they decifer this book into reality. Ropata WahaWaha is The most important man who shaped how OUR Atoearoa society is today.
We do not have a native class all living in squallar in the most unsophistical environment in Atoearoa like other colonised country’s have its not perfect but we have it better than most tangata whenua.
Kia kaha P.S I will support Radio NZ new channels I see why John Campbell stayed there. Ana to kai
Duncan Ropata WahaWaha was not just advised by his Whano the Missionary advised him on the reality of Atoearoa and Papatuanukue he new how much MANA Britain had so they made choice to leave to there mokos a bright prousperious future like ECO MAORI is doing. Ka pai Ka kite ano
Many thanks for the great post on Thestandard from the true Leftys I support your views as they are the same as
ECO MAORIs. You good people are putting up a lot of good links and intelligence post to back OUR views of a equal society for all the creations on Papatuanukue. Kia kaha.
Protesters. P.S I’m a bit busy at the minute with my own battle Ka kite ano
Morning Rumble Rock radio I get the big picture I will support you I see you get burn left and right I will be watching radio NZ news show.
And Mulls on channel 4 news.
There you go ECO MAORI just has to fart and the sandflys are spinning it out that I walk around with a _____in me pants all day lol.
. P.S I got a plan and its as cunning a a snake as black addar use to say
Kia kaha guys Ka kite ano
Morning Rumble I’m a bit late look like the sandflys have tipped 3 dosen Tui big
bottles of beer on one of my LAWNs every time I got to mow it it is half cut lol Ka kite ano
“Following the collapse of the TPPA in the wake of the US withdrawal, the election of the new Government put a spring in the step of many. The Labour Party, New Zealand First and the Green Party had all said they would not support ratification of the TPPA. During the parliamentary examination of the text, Labour cited concerns about sovereignty, secrecy and inadequate economic modelling leading to uncertainty in projected outcomes; the Greens added that the TPPA is “inimical to the imperative of sustainability”; and New Zealand First focused on the anticipated dangers of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).
What on earth happened? Labour has done a full U-turn, New Zealand First has joined in on the spin, and the Greens are very lukewarm in their disagreement.”
I’ve posted links here lots of times to the Labour Party policy (still on the website unchanged) that lays out the 5 bottom lines for the party. These are the things worked on since the election and either solved (eg control of land and housing sales to non-resident foreign buyers) or improve (eg limiting ISDS through side deals).
You might prefer it if Labour hadn’t signed the CPTTPA but that was never what was promised. Go back and check the record.
The Labour Party bottom-lines were strawmen, easily winnable, and not the issues that people were protesting about.
What is clear is that Labour is not being hypocritical by signing the revised TPPA. They were never against it in the first place. Which is one of the primary reasons I voted Green last election.
Labour hacks can tell themselves that but it’s not to late to do a u turn and save themselves as a political party in terms of public trust. It’s about perception in politics so I don’t think weasel words will work, nor will it when overseas people own more of the houses, drive around in Mercedes and bring in their own workers from high wages to low wages.
The media is being quiet so keep the pressure for Labour and NZ First to hang themselves on TPPA. Once they are committed guess what the favourite attack line will be!
On the new TPPA
“What’s different?
Let’s be crystal clear. The “new” text is exactly the same, the only change being that 22 of the 1,000-plus original provisions have been suspended. These 22 provisions – mainly concerning intellectual property – have not been removed so that they can be revived if and when the United States comes back on board, as the Trump administration has indicated it is willing to do. When pushed on this point, the Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker said that New Zealand could veto any attempt by the United States to join if that would compromise the Labour Party’sfive bottom lines. That, of course, would not stop a different government from giving up important aspects of New Zealand’s sovereignty simply to reduce tariffs for a trifling increase in GDP. And what was the Minister’s response to that serious concern? “Time will tell.””
“In the case of Fu Wah and the Hyatt hotel project, at least one construction company disclosed to Radio NZ that they had attempted to tender for the contract;
However an Auckland company, which did not want to be named for fear of losing out on future work, told RNZ they had voiced their interest at the start of the project in 2016.
A staff member said soon after Hawkins and China Construction were appointed as the main contractors, his company was contacted about what the programme of work would be and asked whether they would be able to do it.
“We went back and said ‘yes, everything’s fine, things are going to be a little bit tight here, things will be fine here’, but nothing major that would lead us to believe we’d been crossed off as a potential subcontractor.”
He said while it was emphasised that they should lock in subcontractors early because of a busy schedule to meet the deadline, it was never an issue of lack of skills.
“At that point in time we more or less had a year or two to lock in labour resource, to build up the labour teams that we have if necessary. But we heard nothing for a couple of years, in fact we never even heard back in the end on whether we could tender for the main package.”
When asked whether they had the staff to do the work now, he said they did.”
Bomber Bradbury should go and find something to complain about.
CSCEC and Hawkins are a good combination and are delivering to time, cost and quality.
Different specialist teams are brought in all the time on jobs like this.
Finish line will be tight, but then again, it always is.
Bomber would I am sure like to bring back the Tourist Hotel Corporation, because every ‘radical’ like him adores are really, really, really powerful state.
If Bomber would care to visit the Auckland International Airport information centre, he would find you can’t get a hotel room or rental car unless you go out as far as Rotorua or Whangarei. That’s because we need more hotels built faster.
Bomber would be complaining even louder if there was a gang of 200 tilers roaming the country looking for work. Instead, the crew will be sent back straight after they are done, minimising local employment market distortion as intended.
” That’s because we need more hotels built faster.”
Is this satire? You know, along the lines of…
First accommodation failure came for the beneficiaries,
Then it came for the state home tenants…
Then it came for the working class….
Then it came for the middle class…
And now it comes for the tourists!
Something must be done!
The import of labour diminishes the impetus to ensure that the NZ labour force is trained and provided with skills to take us into the future. It also reduces the leverage gained that allows for better wages and work conditions.
If the hotel takes longer to build, then that is the consequence of that business not taking into account the scarcity of labour.
If you want to complain about a lack of skilled tilling, roofing or stonemason workforce in New Zealand, you are dead right.
I can just assure you that every construction company in the entire country is aware about the impact of scarce skilled labour on the deliverability of their programmes.
And each construction company is also watching its margins even more closely than before after watching the great falling satellite of clusterfuck called Fletcher Building.
I don’t want to complain. The building companies are doing that just fine.
What they are not doing – is setting in place apprenticeships in order to alleviate the lack of skills. They expect skilled workers to appear out of thin air. There is a decided expectation that the pool of workers in NZ is something to extract from, not contribute to.
Allowing companies to import workers for jobs, ensures that the shortage of skilled workers will continue into the future, and it removes any financial impetus or political pressure to sort out the problem effectively.
@Molly – “They expect skilled workers to appear out of thin air’ they do, air New Zealand, air China, Korean Air!
Know a lot of people in construction. One of the issues is that when building firms do apprenticeships there is a lot of red tape, a lot of training and then what was happening is that someone poaches the worker for a higher salary once trained or they leave and go onto higher wagers overseas in Australia. Therefore it has put off many firms from offering apprenticeships but it also has decimated the whole industry into a downward spiral of lack of staff, lack of training, lack of wages, lack of experience.
So not many people were able to enter the sector, they also had to pay and get in debt to do the polytechnic course and then even if they did many local firms were not getting the contracts to provide regular work and salary.
What the government need to do for qualified builders is to regulate that any building firm over 3 staff has to have to train apprentices on a ratio (aka for every 10 staff they train 1 apprentice, to keep their industry going) so that all the firms have to do it and you don’t get the greedy firms not doing their share.
You would hope that the firms could organise it themselves but generally many are too busy making money to bother training when they can just poach off another firm or these days like hire an illegal worker or get someone from Asia.
The problem with the current approach of bringing in overseas workers is that NZ is not creating any wealth it’s destroying it, by taking out jobs, skills and experience for locals, lowering wages and not getting the taxes from the booming construction industry and people are just illegal (note in the current bust, the guy was a permanent resident under a false identity and pulling in more and more illegal workers and the scam continues all of whom are taking up houses to live in, transport and health care in NZ)
With skills like stopping and tiling, it’s crazy to have a shortage as they are fairly easy skills to acquire. It’s a rout for an immigration scam.
If they want to get the provinces employed – a months training in the careers above obviously would not go a miss.
I agree with the red tape etc. leading to aversion of businesses to engage apprentices.
Also, I think the changes made to the apprenticeship pathway a couple of decades ago, is why the current situation has occurred. We are now feeling the long-term effects of those changes.
There are many builders who provide extensive apprenticeships, but there are others that do the bare minimum and don’t have the scope of work to cover all the techniques and skills that earlier tradespeople would be exposed to. A better pathway and support system needs to be created and implemented.
For that to occur, political pressure needs to be applied. And construction companies even if they do not want to run apprenticeships themselves, need to apply that pressure to government to sort this out. If we allow short-term labourers in for this purpose, that pressure will not happen.
I’m also not convinced that a hotel build is such a necessity that it requires importing labourers.
It’s a curiosity when a party built on and ostensibly dedicated to the interests of workers trots out the employers’ weaselly ‘reasons’ with such facility.
If the companies are aware of the lack of skilled workforce then it is their fault. The ITOs were supposed to be ensuring training in the areas of work that were wanted. Government stepped back because business knew what it was doing, had complete confidence in its efficacy, and were supposed to step forward to oversee the training.
AD before mouthing off as usual it might pay to read the link and work out the correct author.
Clearly your neoliberal cheerleading leaves a lot to be desired in the real world because we have multiple crisis in this country from wages, health, jobs, housing, etc etc
It kept Labour out of parliament for nearly a decade as they have not only embraced globalism but they also thought that getting the little guy to pay for it locally was the way to keep it all going, while banks, financial industry and big business were wooed.
Labour campaigned on TPPA being a dog and reducing immigration. They finally got back into power.
The neoliberal legacy is that people have got poorer, or their house earns more than they do. The next generation though, will be left with nothing as slowly but surely more individual wealth becomes eaten up with costs of day to day living as they struggle to pay for the welfare system that subsidises multinational corporations employers wages, tourist health costs and more.
The neoliberal policies and cheerleading of outsourcing as a good idea is clearly not working for NZ and many other countries like the UK and USA that started them.
Free market only works if you want to go back to a more feudal style of living. The average person doesn’t.
So, we are like Spain and Greece were way back when they brought in Brits at piece rates to do jobs, and sent them back to Britain at jobs end?
I can’t help thinking how Spain and Greece ended up.
Rich retirees buying up places cheaply, (including so called investment hotel apartments suites and rooms) locals paid very low wage rates, no or low GDP, high borrowings, market shift… and….crash!!
Sure you don’t currently have trades out of work, so then you can’t find tradies or apprentices. No security at all. The contractor’s death spiral.
I don’t know if you know but the reason the THC was formed was because the private sector would not take the risk in building hotels in out of the way places.
Tourism was wonderful in NZ and contributed to the economy – that is until they sold much of it off and now the money is going offshore to some international tax dodge to avoid taxes or park some ‘gold bricks’.
Now it’s neoliberalism 3.0 – they don’t even employ the Kiwi workers so there is actually nothing beneficial about tourism at all, it’s a loss because the locals are providing roads, health, ACC and environmental counters free to offset it all.
Then providing the welfare for the growing unemployed.
Then providing the welfare for the growing aged population due to the parents clause in immigration so that new residents can bring their parents over to ‘retire’ here.
We earn averagely $20 p/h – even the illegal Malaysian workers are better paid by their masters!
There is no evidence that china wants to take over NZ and make it into their strategic base in the South Pacific nor is there any evidence had planned for and invested in such a scenario…..hence 🙄
New Zealand is strategically very important for China, one as a source of food supply and protein but also strategically from a military point of view especially if it comes to military action with Australia & the USA.
Also a very cunning move getting an ex-spy strategically placed inside one of New Zealand’s leading political parties, to make contacts and understanding how the country operates ?
The reason that many of these companies can’t get skills is that they lack planning and rely on getting cheap exploitable labour in to compensate because they want to cut out local construction firms and workers.
The government should have a condition that the salary of workers being bought in for temporary or permanent construction labour needs to be $100,000 plus. There should also be a hefty fee, to cover the administration of these permits.
I know two migrants working in the construction industry. As soon as one got residency he quit because he hated the job and now seems to just work for cash in an unrelated industry as an odd jobs man, the other is just waiting to quit his job when he gets residency as he is paid well under the going rate in a high demand skill.
So the poor conditions and wages for locals and residency workers is biting the unregulated construction industry in the butts.
And the lies of more local jobs with foreign investment construction should be laughed at. It’s quite the opposite, foreign owners have no intention of employing local firms, who struggle to get contracts and therefore pay their staff poorly (often to compete with cheap overseas tenders with cheaper labour) their staff don’t get the skills on bigger projects. It’s a downward spiral.
There are definitely a few shoddy subbies of subbies of subbies. There usually are in a boom.
Buyer: don’t commit off the plans, and watch the construction take place regularly. If you are going to commit $700-$800k on an apartment, spend $10k for your own regular quality auditor.
Worker: get NZ certifications or even better a full degree, and join a union.
Otherwise – as is always the case – the unskilled and un-unoinised and unprepared will risk exploitation.
@Thank you oh wise one, Ad. and where do you think those reading the Standard would get the money for the “$700-$800k on an apartment, spend $10k for your own regular quality auditor.” considering wages in New Zealand averaged 20.83 NZD/Hour from 1989 until 2017,
Naki Man
All the people that comment on the Standard are expected to be concerned about others’ welfare, and should be making efforts to understand the effects of policy or lack of policy and bad implementation makes on the vulnerable as much as anyone who might be benefitted by it.
Agree you have to watch for short cuts and shoddy subbies.
In Australia the developer is allowed to change up to 20% of the contract AFTER it is signed. We talked to a couple who missed this small print in their contract.
Changes to outdoor area, lighting, tiling was very upsetting.
Always have a lawyer look at the contract before signing…buying off the plan is chancy on many levels.
New Zealand Companies do not put the time and resources into training and up skilling their staff, as they are too busy cost cutting and trying to drive wage rates through the floor ?
Look at all the good companies that did exist here in NZ that have been destroyed or bankrupted and are now overseas owned. Evidently Fletchers is 80% overseas
owned now ?
Likewise we have had successive Governments who have sold off $25.6 Billion of State Assets excluding houses and that money has just been squandered ?
A while ago it was completely different, Kiwi construction workers were considered better and Asian’s struggled to find work, due to the perception that their work was shoddy.
Now somehow the tables have turned. Asian construction better in the eyes of the government and Kiwi construction workers have a perception that they are drugged out and hopeless.
Cabinet has approved, in principle, a move to amend the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 to provide a statutory power for the senior courts to make declarations of inconsistency under the Bill of Rights Act, and to require Parliament to respond.
It’s not enough. All legislation should conform to the BoRA. That said, the National Party will now be forced to defend one of its core values: that some people have fewer human rights than others.
They will say that you can forfeit your human rights, by losing your job, for example. They won’t put it that way, of course, but that’s what “name the father” means.
Take bigger strides, Labour, not just these baby-steps. Expose National for what they are.
You are probably correct.
It is very sad that Nikki Kaye had her bout with cancer.
I think she would have been right out in front and would make a very good Opposition Leader and Prime Minister otherwise.
She would certainly have kept her total dominance of Ardern going.
They have taken an innovative way to handle this, rather than our type of thinking which would be to just set laws or give advisory information and talk about the problem.
Norway is issuing all tourists with safety visibility vests to wear as they travel.
These will be a silent reminder of the safe way to behave, and if they do wear them they will be seen from a distance and other drivers can beware of the straying gogglers.
Chinese – two things on the news. One is that they had a two term limit on the President which the leader wants to waive. Dangerous but they are apparently talking about removing this law. Are they thinking of Robert Mugabe; and they are working on tech and genetics – what if they get that technology stretching lives with DNA recovery shots every day??
An Australian book exploring Chinese influence deep in politics and business etc – well we aren’t free of that, it is something to be aware of.
Got to be impressed with the hard right totalitarian regime in Burma. Who needs evidence of a crime against humanity – when you can just bulldoze it away.
Eco Maori will watch the project and see what they are up to I need to sort out a app for radio NZ new channel it will be good to see John Campbell again.
Ka kite ano
The National Association of School Resource Officers and many school shooting survivors, including those from Parkland, strenuously oppose plans to arm teachers. Teachers may not feel safe wielding arms; students could get ahold of the weapons or get caught in crossfire; law enforcement could mistake an armed teacher or other non-uniformed school staffer for an assailant. The prospect of something going wrong seems even higher with non-vetted, non-professional members of a conspiratorial militia group volunteering services that schools did not ask for.
Rhodes’ response? “Tough.”
“If they don’t like it, too bad,” Rhodes said. “We’re not there to make people feel warm and fuzzy; we’re there to stop murders.”
The sandflys search my shed illegally they know who storing there stuff in my shed they are so desperate to damage my Mana they spin that and say that it’s mine ECO MAORI doesn’t need a substitute. It was lucky I tidy up my shed and found the empty box and I clicked watching new at 7 last night what a bunch of turn coats how much did they pay you immature idiot Ana to kai.
TV News it does not matter what culture you are what counts is the way one behaves. If he has policy that benefit the 99.9 % and not just the 00.1% that is the people ECO MAORI wants in power.
So far Simon Bridge track record is not very good at all with that highway the Eastern link was a project of lineing the Tauranga people pocket at the expense of the Nation.Tom McRae
Ana to kai
SAMANTHA we don’t need the mokos seeing Alcohol in the supermarket when they are taken shopping at supermarket.
ECO MAORI Says ban the sale of Alcohol from supermarket that was joyce and his retail association move to line there pockets. Raise the age.
Rasing the tax will hurt the alcoholics the poor common ones and the mokos will miss out on the basic they need for a happy healthy life come on that is a basic logical equation. As for stats and data unless it is audited by independent practice than it will be minupulated to suite the organisation displays that data. There are a lot of cheats out there. Ana to kai. Ka kite ano
Hi good people from the Project some people are trying to imply that ECO MAORI viewers are from one part of OUR society.
But know my viewers are from all different age groups of the 99.9% of Common people of Atoearoa. Lisa
ECO MAORI Says the Lady Niki Kaye was a better candidate but a old dog doesn’t change it spots. We will have 10 good years of Labour so long as they don’t drop the ball good times for the common tangata /people and mokos /grandchildren. Ka kite ano
Men’s fertility rates are dropping because of all the poison and chemicals that are in our food and agriculture sprays wood preservers. You don’t get something for nothing there are allways concerquences. The multi national companies exposing us to these poison say that they are safe in minute quantities. This is how they justify putting these poison in our prosessed food for taste and preserveing OUR food We need to stop this bad behaviour by big businesses.
I try and eat unpreserved food as much as possible. Ka kite ano
On Saturday, 24 February, the UN Security Council passed a unanimous resolution for a 30 day ceasefire , to allow food in, and the evacuation of the wounded, to begin without delay!
But the bombings continue!
Russia refused to include a specific date that the ceasefire should begin, and are taking advantage of this loophole to continue bombing.
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
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it might be better if Helen Clark stays out of nz politics etc , the tv3 boys are having a ball pushing the meme that clark still runs the labour party.. undermining Ardern she is
Is this over the petition to ban plastic bags?
Surely she can support it if she wants to??
I just sold my older hunterway .he’s still use full but now I have a younger better one , he just gets in the way of the younger one reaching it’s potential
Am I missing something here? Is this really just over Helen Clark wanting to get rid of plastic bags? It does not sound like sufficient reason to put some kind of gagging order on her!
A.
IMHO Clark should stay out of the press when it comes to anything political .unless asked by Ardern .
I see what you mean but it really is up to her
Tv3 are perfectly capable of parroting whatever new attack lines the National Party gives them. A better course of action is to ignore them.
Garner and Richardson would say that.
They are both Tory bovver boys.
Ignore them and for your own sanity avoid their ghastly show.
Better still avoid the entire organisations low brow nuanced coverage of what it wants you to think.
Right a couple of half witted Tories without two brain cells to rub together ?
Indeed, Helen Clark should be deleted from the political history books and she (and Sir Michael Cullen) should sever all ties with the NZ Labour Party and all NZ politics for that matter. She should take up painting instead. The same was done with Sir Roger Douglas and the NZ Labour Party has never looked back since. [sarc]
Haven’t heard so much from Clark in the Media, as from Brash these days – is he still running ACT and the Nats?
Morning Duncan yea I back the plastic bag bann I would like to see all but the ecential plastic that can’t be replaced by renewable products.
Alcohol does a lot of damage to OUR WORLD SOCIETY 21 YEARS old min age and advising of the side effects should be legerslated and banned from supermarket
Alcohol is damageing he tangata more than any other drug. Ka kite ano
Helen Clark was the best PM labour have had since Michael Joseph Savage but the media set about dirty politics on her so she is needed now more than ever as Labour goes through this ‘minefield of National Party antics and attemptd wreck Labours changes to make NZ a more caring transparent, kinder more inclusive Government.
More heads are better than one, as we see national are wheeling all their old guard out at the same time are still using Don Brash ect’ elk and were using their past PM’s to from 1990’s like the both National PM’s from the 1990’s era so shouldn’t Labour?
Why pick on Helen Clark when she was at the Auckland Town Hall when jacinda gave her first pre-election speech so did you complain then as that speech is what set Jacinda on the path to victory?
Look Duncan no body is perfect.
If one is getting bombarded with conflicting information get it correct all the time is near impossible.
ECO MAORI likes some of the bold moves OUR new coalition government is making.
They benefit the 99.9 %.
One man has taken on my it’s all in the design house we could set up a factory next door to a wood mill that makes all
The kit set flat pack houses and wallar you have thousands of houses built obviously Would need more than one factory. We need to get away from concrete floors as there is to much greenhouse gas built in the production of concrete.
The previous generation got that right in a land that is known for EARTH QUAKEs
It is not logical to have concrete floors.
You can recycle a house with wooden floors. If the environment were the house placed become uninhabitable well you put it on a truck and relocation it to a new site. I say that all houses should be legerslated to have a design so one can truck it out.
Ka kite ano
Eco you will improve your day if you switch off Garner and Richardson’s toxic propaganda.
Yes He should live in a dark little echo chamber next to yours a?
Duncan when one Reads the book on
Te Ropata WahaWaha it was written over 150 years ago our society was totally different the settlers were trying to establish them selves.
So what better why to sway the minds of te tangata whenua that a story on a Great Maori man that supports the Queen and the settlers.
Over 70% of tangata could read and write and who who wrote this book a settlor.
He used this story to boost the Mana of the settlers religion to stop the other religions taking hold of tangata minds.
There are a couple of sentences that are designed to boost the settlers religion.
So a intelligent person will add this information into how they decifer this book into reality. Ropata WahaWaha is The most important man who shaped how OUR Atoearoa society is today.
We do not have a native class all living in squallar in the most unsophistical environment in Atoearoa like other colonised country’s have its not perfect but we have it better than most tangata whenua.
Kia kaha P.S I will support Radio NZ new channels I see why John Campbell stayed there. Ana to kai
Duncan Ropata WahaWaha was not just advised by his Whano the Missionary advised him on the reality of Atoearoa and Papatuanukue he new how much MANA Britain had so they made choice to leave to there mokos a bright prousperious future like ECO MAORI is doing. Ka pai Ka kite ano
Many thanks for the great post on Thestandard from the true Leftys I support your views as they are the same as
ECO MAORIs. You good people are putting up a lot of good links and intelligence post to back OUR views of a equal society for all the creations on Papatuanukue. Kia kaha.
Protesters. P.S I’m a bit busy at the minute with my own battle Ka kite ano
Morning Rumble Rock radio I get the big picture I will support you I see you get burn left and right I will be watching radio NZ news show.
And Mulls on channel 4 news.
There you go ECO MAORI just has to fart and the sandflys are spinning it out that I walk around with a _____in me pants all day lol.
. P.S I got a plan and its as cunning a a snake as black addar use to say
Kia kaha guys Ka kite ano
Morning Rumble I’m a bit late look like the sandflys have tipped 3 dosen Tui big
bottles of beer on one of my LAWNs every time I got to mow it it is half cut lol Ka kite ano
Any clues on where I can get a copy of this book the old families had ties to the East Coast, when Major Ropata was alive ?
Maybe Auckland University Library may have a copy ?
“Following the collapse of the TPPA in the wake of the US withdrawal, the election of the new Government put a spring in the step of many. The Labour Party, New Zealand First and the Green Party had all said they would not support ratification of the TPPA. During the parliamentary examination of the text, Labour cited concerns about sovereignty, secrecy and inadequate economic modelling leading to uncertainty in projected outcomes; the Greens added that the TPPA is “inimical to the imperative of sustainability”; and New Zealand First focused on the anticipated dangers of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).
What on earth happened? Labour has done a full U-turn, New Zealand First has joined in on the spin, and the Greens are very lukewarm in their disagreement.”
https://itsourfuture.org.nz/nationwide-day-action-tppa-11/
I’ve posted links here lots of times to the Labour Party policy (still on the website unchanged) that lays out the 5 bottom lines for the party. These are the things worked on since the election and either solved (eg control of land and housing sales to non-resident foreign buyers) or improve (eg limiting ISDS through side deals).
You might prefer it if Labour hadn’t signed the CPTTPA but that was never what was promised. Go back and check the record.
The Labour Party bottom-lines were strawmen, easily winnable, and not the issues that people were protesting about.
What is clear is that Labour is not being hypocritical by signing the revised TPPA. They were never against it in the first place. Which is one of the primary reasons I voted Green last election.
Same here
Labour have been talking utter bullshit in regard ISDS. If this issue had been sorted the Greens would be supporting TPP also.
When is a “bottom line” not a bottom line?
So what is the reason for Winston & NZF doing the big U Turn on the TPPA Agreement as they were vehemently opposed to it in recent years ?
Labour hacks can tell themselves that but it’s not to late to do a u turn and save themselves as a political party in terms of public trust. It’s about perception in politics so I don’t think weasel words will work, nor will it when overseas people own more of the houses, drive around in Mercedes and bring in their own workers from high wages to low wages.
The media is being quiet so keep the pressure for Labour and NZ First to hang themselves on TPPA. Once they are committed guess what the favourite attack line will be!
On the new TPPA
“What’s different?
Let’s be crystal clear. The “new” text is exactly the same, the only change being that 22 of the 1,000-plus original provisions have been suspended. These 22 provisions – mainly concerning intellectual property – have not been removed so that they can be revived if and when the United States comes back on board, as the Trump administration has indicated it is willing to do. When pushed on this point, the Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker said that New Zealand could veto any attempt by the United States to join if that would compromise the Labour Party’sfive bottom lines. That, of course, would not stop a different government from giving up important aspects of New Zealand’s sovereignty simply to reduce tariffs for a trifling increase in GDP. And what was the Minister’s response to that serious concern? “Time will tell.””
https://itsourfuture.org.nz/nationwide-day-action-tppa-11/
The “free” market can’t even build a bloody hotel?!
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/02/26/the-free-market-cant-even-build-a-bloody-hotel/
“In the case of Fu Wah and the Hyatt hotel project, at least one construction company disclosed to Radio NZ that they had attempted to tender for the contract;
However an Auckland company, which did not want to be named for fear of losing out on future work, told RNZ they had voiced their interest at the start of the project in 2016.
A staff member said soon after Hawkins and China Construction were appointed as the main contractors, his company was contacted about what the programme of work would be and asked whether they would be able to do it.
“We went back and said ‘yes, everything’s fine, things are going to be a little bit tight here, things will be fine here’, but nothing major that would lead us to believe we’d been crossed off as a potential subcontractor.”
He said while it was emphasised that they should lock in subcontractors early because of a busy schedule to meet the deadline, it was never an issue of lack of skills.
“At that point in time we more or less had a year or two to lock in labour resource, to build up the labour teams that we have if necessary. But we heard nothing for a couple of years, in fact we never even heard back in the end on whether we could tender for the main package.”
When asked whether they had the staff to do the work now, he said they did.”
Bomber Bradbury should go and find something to complain about.
CSCEC and Hawkins are a good combination and are delivering to time, cost and quality.
Different specialist teams are brought in all the time on jobs like this.
Finish line will be tight, but then again, it always is.
Bomber would I am sure like to bring back the Tourist Hotel Corporation, because every ‘radical’ like him adores are really, really, really powerful state.
If Bomber would care to visit the Auckland International Airport information centre, he would find you can’t get a hotel room or rental car unless you go out as far as Rotorua or Whangarei. That’s because we need more hotels built faster.
Bomber would be complaining even louder if there was a gang of 200 tilers roaming the country looking for work. Instead, the crew will be sent back straight after they are done, minimising local employment market distortion as intended.
” That’s because we need more hotels built faster.”
Is this satire? You know, along the lines of…
First accommodation failure came for the beneficiaries,
Then it came for the state home tenants…
Then it came for the working class….
Then it came for the middle class…
And now it comes for the tourists!
Something must be done!
The import of labour diminishes the impetus to ensure that the NZ labour force is trained and provided with skills to take us into the future. It also reduces the leverage gained that allows for better wages and work conditions.
If the hotel takes longer to build, then that is the consequence of that business not taking into account the scarcity of labour.
If you want to complain about a lack of skilled tilling, roofing or stonemason workforce in New Zealand, you are dead right.
I can just assure you that every construction company in the entire country is aware about the impact of scarce skilled labour on the deliverability of their programmes.
And each construction company is also watching its margins even more closely than before after watching the great falling satellite of clusterfuck called Fletcher Building.
I don’t want to complain. The building companies are doing that just fine.
What they are not doing – is setting in place apprenticeships in order to alleviate the lack of skills. They expect skilled workers to appear out of thin air. There is a decided expectation that the pool of workers in NZ is something to extract from, not contribute to.
Allowing companies to import workers for jobs, ensures that the shortage of skilled workers will continue into the future, and it removes any financial impetus or political pressure to sort out the problem effectively.
@Molly – “They expect skilled workers to appear out of thin air’ they do, air New Zealand, air China, Korean Air!
Know a lot of people in construction. One of the issues is that when building firms do apprenticeships there is a lot of red tape, a lot of training and then what was happening is that someone poaches the worker for a higher salary once trained or they leave and go onto higher wagers overseas in Australia. Therefore it has put off many firms from offering apprenticeships but it also has decimated the whole industry into a downward spiral of lack of staff, lack of training, lack of wages, lack of experience.
So not many people were able to enter the sector, they also had to pay and get in debt to do the polytechnic course and then even if they did many local firms were not getting the contracts to provide regular work and salary.
What the government need to do for qualified builders is to regulate that any building firm over 3 staff has to have to train apprentices on a ratio (aka for every 10 staff they train 1 apprentice, to keep their industry going) so that all the firms have to do it and you don’t get the greedy firms not doing their share.
You would hope that the firms could organise it themselves but generally many are too busy making money to bother training when they can just poach off another firm or these days like hire an illegal worker or get someone from Asia.
The problem with the current approach of bringing in overseas workers is that NZ is not creating any wealth it’s destroying it, by taking out jobs, skills and experience for locals, lowering wages and not getting the taxes from the booming construction industry and people are just illegal (note in the current bust, the guy was a permanent resident under a false identity and pulling in more and more illegal workers and the scam continues all of whom are taking up houses to live in, transport and health care in NZ)
With skills like stopping and tiling, it’s crazy to have a shortage as they are fairly easy skills to acquire. It’s a rout for an immigration scam.
If they want to get the provinces employed – a months training in the careers above obviously would not go a miss.
I agree with the red tape etc. leading to aversion of businesses to engage apprentices.
Also, I think the changes made to the apprenticeship pathway a couple of decades ago, is why the current situation has occurred. We are now feeling the long-term effects of those changes.
There are many builders who provide extensive apprenticeships, but there are others that do the bare minimum and don’t have the scope of work to cover all the techniques and skills that earlier tradespeople would be exposed to. A better pathway and support system needs to be created and implemented.
For that to occur, political pressure needs to be applied. And construction companies even if they do not want to run apprenticeships themselves, need to apply that pressure to government to sort this out. If we allow short-term labourers in for this purpose, that pressure will not happen.
I’m also not convinced that a hotel build is such a necessity that it requires importing labourers.
It’s a curiosity when a party built on and ostensibly dedicated to the interests of workers trots out the employers’ weaselly ‘reasons’ with such facility.
If the companies are aware of the lack of skilled workforce then it is their fault. The ITOs were supposed to be ensuring training in the areas of work that were wanted. Government stepped back because business knew what it was doing, had complete confidence in its efficacy, and were supposed to step forward to oversee the training.
Shame we don’t train New Zealanders for employment, easier to import labour from overseas and leave New Zealanders sitting on the scrap heap ?
AD before mouthing off as usual it might pay to read the link and work out the correct author.
Clearly your neoliberal cheerleading leaves a lot to be desired in the real world because we have multiple crisis in this country from wages, health, jobs, housing, etc etc
It kept Labour out of parliament for nearly a decade as they have not only embraced globalism but they also thought that getting the little guy to pay for it locally was the way to keep it all going, while banks, financial industry and big business were wooed.
Labour campaigned on TPPA being a dog and reducing immigration. They finally got back into power.
The neoliberal legacy is that people have got poorer, or their house earns more than they do. The next generation though, will be left with nothing as slowly but surely more individual wealth becomes eaten up with costs of day to day living as they struggle to pay for the welfare system that subsidises multinational corporations employers wages, tourist health costs and more.
The neoliberal policies and cheerleading of outsourcing as a good idea is clearly not working for NZ and many other countries like the UK and USA that started them.
Free market only works if you want to go back to a more feudal style of living. The average person doesn’t.
+111
So, we are like Spain and Greece were way back when they brought in Brits at piece rates to do jobs, and sent them back to Britain at jobs end?
I can’t help thinking how Spain and Greece ended up.
Rich retirees buying up places cheaply, (including so called investment hotel apartments suites and rooms) locals paid very low wage rates, no or low GDP, high borrowings, market shift… and….crash!!
Sure you don’t currently have trades out of work, so then you can’t find tradies or apprentices. No security at all. The contractor’s death spiral.
I don’t know if you know but the reason the THC was formed was because the private sector would not take the risk in building hotels in out of the way places.
Yes Peter, Public money used to provide tourist infrastructure.
Fine ’till greedies sell it to their friends.
Tourism was wonderful in NZ and contributed to the economy – that is until they sold much of it off and now the money is going offshore to some international tax dodge to avoid taxes or park some ‘gold bricks’.
Now it’s neoliberalism 3.0 – they don’t even employ the Kiwi workers so there is actually nothing beneficial about tourism at all, it’s a loss because the locals are providing roads, health, ACC and environmental counters free to offset it all.
Then providing the welfare for the growing unemployed.
Then providing the welfare for the growing aged population due to the parents clause in immigration so that new residents can bring their parents over to ‘retire’ here.
We earn averagely $20 p/h – even the illegal Malaysian workers are better paid by their masters!
Bomber nails it again.
Be outraged.
About sea ice levels in the Bering Sea.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/02/26/that-gross-60minute-interview-and-twitter-offence/
China wants to eventually take over NZ, and build it in their dream to be their strategic “base of the south Pacific”
National Inc’ had already planned for this and invested for this also.
CG
Evidence for these frankly ludicrous claims?
Professor Brady
🙄
She talks of China’s influence on our political parties.
Did you not read that?
🙄
Is it just me, but using an emoticon just a perverse way to enter a debate?
Actually it’s not having a debate, but more than bit like swing a phallus around.
Just an observation using words.
adam
+1 Agree (but a short code is all right for that I reckon.)
Ah, so like all RWNJs, you’re ignoring the evidence because it doesn’t suit you.
There is no evidence that china wants to take over NZ and make it into their strategic base in the South Pacific nor is there any evidence had planned for and invested in such a scenario…..hence 🙄
Except all the research done by an academic that you’re ignoring because it doesn’t suit your ideology.
New Zealand is strategically very important for China, one as a source of food supply and protein but also strategically from a military point of view especially if it comes to military action with Australia & the USA.
Also a very cunning move getting an ex-spy strategically placed inside one of New Zealand’s leading political parties, to make contacts and understanding how the country operates ?
Shame we don’t train New Zealanders for employment, easier to import labour from overseas and leave New Zealanders sitting on the scrap heap ?
They won’t need to invade there buying it bit by bit and farm by farm.
The reason that many of these companies can’t get skills is that they lack planning and rely on getting cheap exploitable labour in to compensate because they want to cut out local construction firms and workers.
The government should have a condition that the salary of workers being bought in for temporary or permanent construction labour needs to be $100,000 plus. There should also be a hefty fee, to cover the administration of these permits.
I know two migrants working in the construction industry. As soon as one got residency he quit because he hated the job and now seems to just work for cash in an unrelated industry as an odd jobs man, the other is just waiting to quit his job when he gets residency as he is paid well under the going rate in a high demand skill.
So the poor conditions and wages for locals and residency workers is biting the unregulated construction industry in the butts.
And the lies of more local jobs with foreign investment construction should be laughed at. It’s quite the opposite, foreign owners have no intention of employing local firms, who struggle to get contracts and therefore pay their staff poorly (often to compete with cheap overseas tenders with cheaper labour) their staff don’t get the skills on bigger projects. It’s a downward spiral.
There are definitely a few shoddy subbies of subbies of subbies. There usually are in a boom.
Buyer: don’t commit off the plans, and watch the construction take place regularly. If you are going to commit $700-$800k on an apartment, spend $10k for your own regular quality auditor.
Worker: get NZ certifications or even better a full degree, and join a union.
Otherwise – as is always the case – the unskilled and un-unoinised and unprepared will risk exploitation.
Otherwise, your comments are wrong.
@Thank you oh wise one, Ad. and where do you think those reading the Standard would get the money for the “$700-$800k on an apartment, spend $10k for your own regular quality auditor.” considering wages in New Zealand averaged 20.83 NZD/Hour from 1989 until 2017,
https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/wages
Even the illegal Mayasian stoppers were earning more $20 – $40 cash!
You assume that everyone that reads the Standard is on the bones of their arse.
Naki Man
All the people that comment on the Standard are expected to be concerned about others’ welfare, and should be making efforts to understand the effects of policy or lack of policy and bad implementation makes on the vulnerable as much as anyone who might be benefitted by it.
“Comments are wrong” Wow!! Rather sweeping Ad.
Agree you have to watch for short cuts and shoddy subbies.
In Australia the developer is allowed to change up to 20% of the contract AFTER it is signed. We talked to a couple who missed this small print in their contract.
Changes to outdoor area, lighting, tiling was very upsetting.
Always have a lawyer look at the contract before signing…buying off the plan is chancy on many levels.
New Zealand Companies do not put the time and resources into training and up skilling their staff, as they are too busy cost cutting and trying to drive wage rates through the floor ?
Look at all the good companies that did exist here in NZ that have been destroyed or bankrupted and are now overseas owned. Evidently Fletchers is 80% overseas
owned now ?
Likewise we have had successive Governments who have sold off $25.6 Billion of State Assets excluding houses and that money has just been squandered ?
Yes…. Where was that money used? Did it fill one of English/Joyce budget holes??
Not only that they destroyed the people too.
A while ago it was completely different, Kiwi construction workers were considered better and Asian’s struggled to find work, due to the perception that their work was shoddy.
Now somehow the tables have turned. Asian construction better in the eyes of the government and Kiwi construction workers have a perception that they are drugged out and hopeless.
Clearly money, talks.
A baby-step in the right direction.
It’s not enough. All legislation should conform to the BoRA. That said, the National Party will now be forced to defend one of its core values: that some people have fewer human rights than others.
They will say that you can forfeit your human rights, by losing your job, for example. They won’t put it that way, of course, but that’s what “name the father” means.
Take bigger strides, Labour, not just these baby-steps. Expose National for what they are.
I wonder how the “Spying on NZers bill” would have fared?
Or the raid on Dotcom and family?
Amy Adams….. with Bridges the runner up. /myreckons
Plus Joyce with a key front bench role. Very off-putting line up, tho.
You are probably correct.
It is very sad that Nikki Kaye had her bout with cancer.
I think she would have been right out in front and would make a very good Opposition Leader and Prime Minister otherwise.
She would certainly have kept her total dominance of Ardern going.
…nah dizzy blonde methinks ?
Heard her speak at a few meetings, don’t rate her IMO.
Seems that Norway has trouble with tourists stopping on the road to take photos of stunning scenery. Our problem too.
https://www.thelocal.no/20180219/norway-road-authority-buys-reflective-vests-for-tourists
They have taken an innovative way to handle this, rather than our type of thinking which would be to just set laws or give advisory information and talk about the problem.
Norway is issuing all tourists with safety visibility vests to wear as they travel.
These will be a silent reminder of the safe way to behave, and if they do wear them they will be seen from a distance and other drivers can beware of the straying gogglers.
Chinese – two things on the news. One is that they had a two term limit on the President which the leader wants to waive. Dangerous but they are apparently talking about removing this law. Are they thinking of Robert Mugabe; and they are working on tech and genetics – what if they get that technology stretching lives with DNA recovery shots every day??
An Australian book exploring Chinese influence deep in politics and business etc – well we aren’t free of that, it is something to be aware of.
Bridges leader and Paula Bennett offsider. Official.
One more thing we don’t talk about from the impact of cars.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/351311/large-canterbury-tyre-fire-still-burning
That is a shocker.
Still more impact: there’s still a lot of natural rubber used in tyres – massive tropical forest clearance for monoculture plantations.
Got to be impressed with the hard right totalitarian regime in Burma. Who needs evidence of a crime against humanity – when you can just bulldoze it away.
http://www.businessinsider.com/myanmar-bulldozes-rohingya-villages-evidence-of-ethnic-cleansing-2018-2/?r=AU&IR=T
Eco Maori will watch the project and see what they are up to I need to sort out a app for radio NZ new channel it will be good to see John Campbell again.
Ka kite ano
The British government’s incompetent smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn
is the funniest piece of dark comedy since Brass Eye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKMpctRuLA
A militia wingnut arrested last year following a fight that involved his use of a weapon has stationed himself outside high school with an AR-15.
And if teachers or students don’t like it? Tough.
( OAB’s prescience )
The National Association of School Resource Officers and many school shooting survivors, including those from Parkland, strenuously oppose plans to arm teachers. Teachers may not feel safe wielding arms; students could get ahold of the weapons or get caught in crossfire; law enforcement could mistake an armed teacher or other non-uniformed school staffer for an assailant. The prospect of something going wrong seems even higher with non-vetted, non-professional members of a conspiratorial militia group volunteering services that schools did not ask for.
Rhodes’ response? “Tough.”
“If they don’t like it, too bad,” Rhodes said. “We’re not there to make people feel warm and fuzzy; we’re there to stop murders.”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/oath-keepers-want-armed-members-volunteer-schools-after-parkland
Tory twit comes unstuck under relentless questioning.
Andrew Neill at his best!
Watch and enjoy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5keoT4PvPs
The sandflys search my shed illegally they know who storing there stuff in my shed they are so desperate to damage my Mana they spin that and say that it’s mine ECO MAORI doesn’t need a substitute. It was lucky I tidy up my shed and found the empty box and I clicked watching new at 7 last night what a bunch of turn coats how much did they pay you immature idiot Ana to kai.
TV News it does not matter what culture you are what counts is the way one behaves. If he has policy that benefit the 99.9 % and not just the 00.1% that is the people ECO MAORI wants in power.
So far Simon Bridge track record is not very good at all with that highway the Eastern link was a project of lineing the Tauranga people pocket at the expense of the Nation.Tom McRae
Ana to kai
SAMANTHA we don’t need the mokos seeing Alcohol in the supermarket when they are taken shopping at supermarket.
ECO MAORI Says ban the sale of Alcohol from supermarket that was joyce and his retail association move to line there pockets. Raise the age.
Rasing the tax will hurt the alcoholics the poor common ones and the mokos will miss out on the basic they need for a happy healthy life come on that is a basic logical equation. As for stats and data unless it is audited by independent practice than it will be minupulated to suite the organisation displays that data. There are a lot of cheats out there. Ana to kai. Ka kite ano
No understanding of the life of an activist woman in a repressive, hostile country.
I wonder who is on the tribunal?
http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/turkish-woman-deported-despite-discrimination-and-sexual-violence-fears
Hi good people from the Project some people are trying to imply that ECO MAORI viewers are from one part of OUR society.
But know my viewers are from all different age groups of the 99.9% of Common people of Atoearoa. Lisa
ECO MAORI Says the Lady Niki Kaye was a better candidate but a old dog doesn’t change it spots. We will have 10 good years of Labour so long as they don’t drop the ball good times for the common tangata /people and mokos /grandchildren. Ka kite ano
Men’s fertility rates are dropping because of all the poison and chemicals that are in our food and agriculture sprays wood preservers. You don’t get something for nothing there are allways concerquences. The multi national companies exposing us to these poison say that they are safe in minute quantities. This is how they justify putting these poison in our prosessed food for taste and preserveing OUR food We need to stop this bad behaviour by big businesses.
I try and eat unpreserved food as much as possible. Ka kite ano
Stop the delay, ceasefire now!