She'll only be attacking because that's her default mode. It's what her gang want and expect.
Some not in her gang will need to be persuaded she's lovely and cuddly. That puts doing something 'dramatic' in a perspective.
The poll? She won't be worried about that because she and Gerry know they are doing so, so much better. The big message from the poll is those who want National to have September voting matching this poll need to galvanise themselves, encourage others and get out and vote. And have no Labour MPs, candidates or members do anything dumb.
Looks like Gerry has been given the job of responding. Keeps the easily influenced from joining the dots. Expect to see Collins everywhere when the inevitably better numbers come from tvnz's poll on Thursday.
The numbers might be "rogue", but having grumpy Gerry all over the media in response will help to make them less rogue. Collins alienates people but can appeal to the base, but Brownlee just alienates.
Listening to Hosking is unusual for me but I tuned in at the beginning this morning to see if my predictions about what he'd say were right. I was partly wrong.
By and large he said the poll was a rogue one, the results were wrong and polls don't mean anything.
So having worked out it meant nothing, was irrelevant and was wrong he ignored it? Or made a one sentence comment? Hell no! Every sentence was the knife being turned and another bitter pill. And every further word and sentence he uttered made me feel good? Hell yes!
Never forget 84's real support is a disgusting 45 % and it will return as soon as a finger-click. Make hay while the sun shines for the greater good. Of course, Labour doesn't have 't'Cause' in their heart. Which is to say, anyone furious and with the words that follow that. Any soapbox socialist in the 30s. We need to persuade now again and all we have is orderly progressions to high office rather than righteous anger.
I wondered if that's what's happening too, that people have had a guts full. Covid changed a lot of things including NZ values I suspect. Maybe we're less inclined to tolerate the shady patriarch bullshit now that we've directly experienced what a compassionate govt will do when we are in trouble.
Peters has been pronounced politically dead so many times that I suspect his literal death will be followed by half the medical profession witholding judgement for two electoral terms, just to be sure.
Quizzed about Swarbrick's higher profile and name recognition, White told RNZ: "I'd ask them whether they're looking for a celebrity or someone to do this job very seriously." Today, Swarbrick returned fire with a pointed tweet. "Before I fought my way into @NZParliament with @NZGreens, I was dismissed as having no life experience," she wrote. "Now I've put my head down & done the work to huge results, & a candidate preferring themselves the front runner is using the same attacks against me that misogynists do our PM?"
Helen is just demonstrating how serious she is. Has she also demonstrated that she's serious about decriminalising cannabis? If not, time for her to pull finger. Serious lawyers can add value to parliament if they are credible…
It's White's lack of respect for Swarbrick that's the issue here. It's one thing to say that you believe you'd serve the electorate better than another candidate, but to say what White said, particularly about a candidate from a party that's kind of on your side, says more about the kind of person White is than anything else.
The Epsom sheep are so used to being mustered into the polling booth to vote for ACT that if the NP withdraws support for ACT, Goldsmith will have to fight really hard to get the seat back and return to parliament.
No I did not confuse the difference, I am very aware of how MMP works and don't need patronising. What I was implying was that the Epsom sheep would go into the polling booth on automatic and habitually put a tick by Act, and again automatically put a tick by party vote National.
I’m sorry to hear that you feel patronised. What I meant was that others may be confused when reading your comment, not that you don’t know the difference. You’d be surprised how many others still don’t seem to fully understand MMP. To be clear, Epsom voted for Seymour on the Candidate List and for National on the Party List.
The media are calling Nationals disater polls crushing ironically.
Collins released her massive infrastructure spend after saying we will be spending less than Labour but no costings other than a wild guess which was much higher than Labours spending.
Goldsmith contradicted Collins saying the are going to cut $8 billion in spending ,yet in Australia their liberal govt,Nationals equivalent Party is spending more than our Labour govt on Covid recovery.Goldsmith hasn't put a foot right yet.He is well out of his depth in how modern economics work.
Even Boris Johnsto has a better understanding if the polls are right it will do National a favour and he will be gone along with much other of the dead wood (house) of Dirty politics.
National need to get rid of the Farrers and Slaters Jordan William's etc and get some honest farmers and business people if they want to be taken seriously.Ditch the Carpet baggers associated with the tobacco alcohol and monopolists lobbyists.
Bridges said he didn't vote for Collins.
Then Falloon and Collins Dirty retaliation over a Moral lapse as opposed to Sexual Harrassment.
National have no one to blame except the pollsters.
JLR one of their ex MP's is going to release more damming info on National .
Crushed Collins sounds like it should be a cocktail. Something bloody with a sour after taste that leaves you wondering why this reminds you of an unpleasant experience you had decades ago: one you hoped never to have to experience again.
The structure of representative democracy forces participants into idiocy nowadays. Because of the binary oppositional political psychology it induces. Example:
government announced it was abolishing some of the country’s most nonsensical and restrictive planning rules. Phil Twyford and Julie Anne Genter’s new national policy statement on urban development stops councils imposing minimum parking requirements for new developments, and ensures they can’t restrict building heights to fewer than six storeys in town centres of major cities.
Clever of the coalition to defuse the Nat's primary weapon, eh? Bureaucratic throttling of kiwis is a long-standing problem, and National's declared intent to gut the RMA was likely to be a pseudo-solution.
But look at how binary framing makes their spokesperson come across as wacky instead of sensible. The system of representative democracy is inexorable in dumbing everyone down. We need psychologists in the media pointing this out, using examples such as the above.
Yeah and she soon changed her tune once she was overruled by her party’s Transport Spokesperson. Having an MP from one of the sprawling, thinly populated rural electorates in the South Island as your Urban Development Spokesperson kinda sums up how lost National is as far as the 21st century challenges facing us.
For ages now I have been wanting the team in red to do this kind of politicking, negate the opposition's barking points by doing a simpler, small example of what the Tories propose.
Jamie-Lee Ross coalesces with the Public Party and has to support their conspiracy theories. It sounds like the Red/Yellow Peril has raised its head again.
Funny how foreign enemies arise when things are not going well at home.
But, the real learning from this is the fact that Ross was National's chief whip and as such was very powerful in the party, and in sync with its MPs.
Now he allies with conspiracy theorists.
Where does National get these thirty something aged men with their loopy ideas and behaviour? National needs a time in the political wilderness to find and recover its soul, review its selection practices, rediscover decency and balance.
It looks like it will get it. Been saying this for a time, but National has further to travel down yet. When it hits bottom, then it might acknowledge its need for reform.
As working class boomer balancing on the poverty line, I've observed many elections, disappointed by most, but have had a reasonable personal record of predicting the outcomes. This time I have a shocker that will see the final death throes of the Nats, and not before time. Two main factors sway this for me.
1. The Covid 19 shock influence.
2. The Jacinda example.
Covid has impacted greatly on the politcal awareness for the young vote, the vote that has been predicted in the past, but had not transpired.
Young people have now awoken and they love to love, and they Love Jacinda, thus my shock prediction. Firstly not a big shock, but Auckland Central goes green. The big two shocks though, is Northland and Epsom go Labour along with marginal Country seats. Bye bye Act, NZFirst and National floundering in the doldrums. Ah Bliss.
Labour might come through the middle and take the party vote in the Epsom seat, but I don’t see the electorate vote for MP changing. That will probably stay with ACT.
Crushed Collins sounds like it should be a cocktail. Something bloody with a sour after taste that leaves you wondering why this reminds you of an unpleasant experience you had decades ago: one you hoped never to have to experience again.
They are remarkably similar, not just in consisting of pious waffle bereft of any new policy, but also in that the rhetoric is almost identical.
That's because marketing to mainstreamers only succeeds on the basis of the lowest common denominator of intelligence, and Labour & National compete by copying each other most of the time. Binary politics.
Bizarrely the fifth plank of Labour’s five-point plan is predicated on the assertion that it will be an export-led recovery, even though in the same speech Ardern acknowledged that the International Monetary Fund expects global output to fall by nearly 5% this year.
Yes, but Labour must cling to the neoliberal myth. Reality can be postponed for a while yet – until after the election. Why get real too soon? Myth-promotion is how elections get won. Even if the mana of the PM looks like winning this one, better safe than sorry.
The reality is, however, that the ebb tide already running on globalisation pre-Covid has only intensified. Trade Minister David Parker was scathing about the leaked initial offer from the European Union under that negotiation, while observers of US trade policy warn not to expect a return to the status quo
Will we see National campaigning on economic growth while faced with a global recession? Probably. Rethinking is just too hard.
Ah, yes, the government always goes back to mercantalism. That's what an 'export led recovery' is. Export more, import less and we'll have more money is the implication. They always imply such and then it never really materialises.
The poor keep getting poorer while the rich get richer.
What we really need is a development led recovery where we develop the capability to get by without imports. Then we'll likely see a decrease in poverty.
Korea had an interesting take on exporting – develop products in the local market to an international standard – that way locals don't get neglected the way NZ does. A customer base, any customer base, is a valuable tool for innovation, not just short term profit taking.
Concerning customer base, you are correct, especially your locals.
I learnt this as a publican in a small rural town. Look after the locals. They will see you through the winters and when the dairy pay-out hits the floor.
Perhaps a global solution of working towards "Commonism" the principle of pursuing the common good. ( No, not communism).
What if we stopped upholding the myth by continually tagging the political system as "neoliberalism " ; a concept long surpassed while we are distracted looking at a box hoping for Schrödinger’s cat to come out alive?
What if we opened the lid and saw the dirtier, greedier system that has mutated as the norm we truly let reign?
How do you pose correct solutions if we are fighting a misnomer? If we shift our gaze and name what really exists and that is an accepted creeping of neocapitalism ( eg. save AMI, South Canterbury Finance, Tiwai ?) and onto a global rise of necrocapitilism both overt and covert – dispossess then kill them off !
"Sometimes this manifests itself as a certain fixation of the gaze, even bedazzlement, and then there are attempts to restore the imaginary, untrue, and above all, impossible past, a style of politics and management… called retrotopia. Leaders, managers, and politicians act as if they wanted to turn back time, which is, in itself, an absurd strategy. The past they refer to is a sentimental, nostalgic image that has more to do with the world of fairy tales than real history: " https://biennalewarszawa.pl/en/zarzadzanie-w-swiecie-schrodingera/
Still, we have yet to see a tax policy from Labour, despite the need to service the rapidly mounting public debt it is piling up. Interest rates will not stay this low indefinitely, or it will be a very bad sign if they do.
Dammit, the government needs to stop borrowing and start simply creating the money that it needs.
Yes, put some rules around how much can be created in relation to the economy but a government should never, ever borrow as that just gives the rich a government guaranteed income.
Its cut-price recovery will be achieved by focusing on the quality of public spending, as if that had not occurred to any Government before.
National's cut price recovery will, of course, cost us a lot more but will make their funders a lot richer.
Those splinters are from the shells cracked to let the nuts out. Did COVID-19 crack the shells and accelerate the 'nutterisation' of the right? Smarter people than me will opine.
Ive been driving around lower middle NZ. one thing I have noticed, compared to three yrs ago, way less nat billboards out in the country. dont know whether its less volunteers to put them up and down, less money to spend(dont forget ,they would have spent $$$ on toddler billboards),or less cockies willing to look like tools.
Governments operate economic policy in accord with advice on prevalent influential economic theories. Sometimes the winds of intellectual fashion blow these theories away. Austerity theory, for instance.
In the middle of the last recession, the GFC, the Europeans were very worried about debt. Many took on a policy called austerity, which involved cutting spending. It caused economic growth to fall further, and the result was completely paradoxical in some cases.
They harmed their economic growth so much that it became harder to manage debt, rather than easier. Reducing government spending is like closing down factories. It costs jobs and hurts people.
The theory that austerity was the best policy was based on a lot of academic work, including a very famous academic paper by two Harvard economists called Reinhart and Rogoff. The paper came out in 2010 and it said debt was bad because it caused growth to be lower.
One person bothered to check their working, a young man in his 20s called Thomas Herndon. What he found is they made a mistake in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that totally undermined their conclusion. It took a while for people to pay attention to what young Mr Herndon was saying, but eventually they did. We can now move forward knowing that research is flawed: debt is not necessarily a problem.
The writer explains why the govt in Oz will steer through the pandemic-induced recession via cheap govt debt. Bernard Hickey was in the media here advising the same a couple of months back. The economics paradigm has shifted.
The fallacy is that constant economic growth is sustainable. It is not and hence we see the up and downs, the growth the recessions and worst still depression when too much money is printed with no value behind. Oh, is this not what the fed and other countries as well as NZ do?
At the moment we have National supporting charging for the quarantining of returning Kiwis, while the government is going through the process of examination of such a regime.
For mine, there should be no retrospective charging at all – thus any charging only occurs for those who leave New Zealand after it is introduced.
Perhaps those NZs should just regard it as part of the cost of exciting overseas travel. At least they can return to Paradise like the Prodigal Son (and Daughter). They have been able to get away and have some OE and should be helped when they get back. But like education these days, their trip overseas will cost; perhaps it should come under the heading of Overseas Education and it can be put down as a Student Loan. There is no reason why they shouldn't be expected to pay towards this extra cost that is caused by the pandemic.
Costs should be known before a decision is taken not afterwards.
Many have come back in already and faced no costs, why a change?
PS An option is having two streams – one for those not charged and another for those who are prepared to pay for the cost (we already require non Kiwis to pay charges for coming in – businesses meet the cost).
Uh, because us already here have already bitten the bullet and paid the price to achieve the COVID-eliminated status the new arrivals wish to benefit from, so it's only fair for them to contribute to the cost of maintaining that status?
The new arrivals do not have any choice whether to 'benefit' or not. The whole conversation is underpinned by long-cultivated neoliberal notions of 'user pays' but it seems to be more of an emotional rather than logical attachment.
It might not be a viewpoint that's appealing (and personally I'm somewhat closer to to the view that returning is a right that should be able to be freely exercised without incurring a huge cost), but it's neither illogical nor emotional. It's simply one of those things on a continuum where reasonable minds may differ.
Sacha
No, it is underpinned by the rights of taxpayers who are basically being blackmailed to fork out the money for expats to resettle and god only knows for how long. Once all is clear, most will bugger off again and kiwis living here have to pay their millions. Lets say, like the education loan that many never paid back?
Since when is the tax paid by those who have contributed their share to maintain NZ health, education and infrastructure a free meal ticket with no accountability? Really, seriously?
Taxpayers are the people who are working here in NZ, many on minimum wage. My point is that their rights to a fair return is far greater than expats wanting to go home, many to get a benefit that is not available to them in the country of their choosing. At what point is the payers benefit a user pay to those who have not contributed?
A lot of people I know are out of pocket a shitload more than $3000 from the lockdown, even after government assistance. As well as all the other less tangible costs. So I find it quite easy to see where people are coming from when they think arrivals should be expected to cover their costs. Even if I think the counterargument has more merit.
Many have paid with their job or reduced hours, part time instead of full time. And we only saw the beginning. Just wait until end of September. We will see double digit unemployment figures.
Yep. And imagine being charged $3,000 on top of that. There seems to be a perception that people overseas wanting to return home are well off and have jobs. I'd like to see some analysis of who is coming home and their situation.
Weka, I meant the Kiwis here in NZ.
Expats have been overseas for years and coming home because of job losses and not getting any benefit in the country they have earned and paid taxes. On the suspicion of sounding cruel, NZ is in debt by billions of dollars, many people who have been living here, paying their fair share into the Government coffers and are entitled to assistance are now being asked to pay for those who could not be bothered to contribute. Not only are we now being "asked" to pay 3 k for each returnee, no no no that is not the end of it, we now will have to pay a benefit too. Maybe that comes on top of the unpaid education loan from years back? Sorry, but it is fair to ask of those "coming home" to pay their isolation cost. You will be surprised how many people are actually quite aback with the audacity to "sue" the government because they don't cough up the money. I have my own thoughts on that…
overall, it's a pissy little cost to bother with, in my opinion. And even if it were substantial, I don't have a problem with the govt paying it for a couple of years until we have a clear picture of things like vaccines and effective treatments coming online.
It's the humane thing to do, and it's also a good way to keep the economy and hotels operating. A multi-thousand-dollar fee is a barrier to entry more than the isolation itself. And govt iso at least figures out pretty quickly when someone's done a bunk (and keeps the rate low).
I know. I was pointing out that Kiwis overseas who lost their job because of covid might have to pay $3,000 on top of that. Why them and not the Kiwis at home that lost their jobs? I don't get why they are being judged differently.
Or we could head down the aussie route. I'm sure I saw a story where the inwards numbers allowed were so small the airlines sold only business and first class seats. Maybe charges pro rata to the airfare?
Why did you use a dehumanising label, just one of those " Eco Maori " is he ? In recent rhetoric about Billy Te Kahika has also been other tags as one type of tactic to blank and cancel out a right in a democracy to have a voice. Rebel, radical, extreme… a joke guy that Billy T James would've mocked. Truly?
Yes, it is more than Te Tai Tokerau. It's millions globally asking for justice, self-determination and the return of their stolen assets.
Is Gutteres, Secretary-General UN one of those Eco radicals too when he points out that just 26 of the richest people in the world hold as much wealth as half the global population of 8 billion people?
Ouch! What is 'disunify'ing in calling out on tags that subversively nullify others, even if it's inadvertent? Applying a blanket name with a peg on your nose, to dismiss others such as those "____________" over there, is an underlying factor creating inequality.
Calling " jerk " ( same tactic ) doesn't make entrenched prejudices go away.
Calling for my demise to go underground is ironical in that the same maggots that will eat me once dead won't be discriminating and will feast on you too.
That depends on how you view being told how to avoid repeating an error, yet using it as outlined above, removes misunderstandings and subsequent retaliatory tit for tat posts.
I'm not the greatest with grammar and punctuation, and I welcome all thoughtful, well intended correction.
A little gentle jesting is something that regular commenters can add for spice to tease or joust, I think. It's all a matter of striking the right balance. And wouldn't it be good if we all mainly looked outwards at the wide issues and left the fine unpicking to those who want to pick oakum.*
I have been reading Anne Perry and the punishments and jobs for the unemployed they dished out in old Victorian times, which may be revived in some highly developed countries! Now that's a mighty leap – from the downward direction of contentious people's comments, to the downward gaze of a workhouse resident earning their daily meal.
* Oakum–picking was the teasing out of fibres from old ropes and was very hard on the fingers. The loose fibres were often sold to ship-builders for mixing with tar to seal the lining of wooden craft. They could also be used to make matting or bandaging.
I agree but some comments are so hard to parse that we either have to make assumptions or take them through the gobbledygook reverse-translator. None of this makes for good debate.
To be fair…I thought GreyWS was asking the question to a regular TS commentor called Eco Maori.
I tried to listen to an interview of Billy on talkback, but sean plunket was talking too much.
My take on it….. people who are against the system often don't vote, we've seen it before with the internet party. Part of the reason is a reluctance to share their personal details.
What a fascinating election it's turning into, jlr and Billy hooking up, what the actual? Talk about polar opposites, keep your eyes wide open Billy.
I'd probably have all sorts of problems with what Billy Te Kahika is saying if I looked more closely, but I know people that are into what he is talking about, and it's a big mistake for the left/progressives to ridicule them, call them nutters, and think they will just somehow disappear as a part of the culture rather than growing.
Is she going to ask the PM if he paid for his ‘managed isolation’ on Manus Island and if not, why not? I’m sure this is the burning question that’s on the mind of Kiwis and keeps them awake at night. What other reason could Mushy Collins have for asking patsypesky questions during QT in Parliament?
Been thinking about that Op leader going on about crushing Fairy/star dust.Instead of being a blow hard,she needs a vaccum because all she will manage is the spreading of good will to more of the people,truely short sighted an most deffinitely not PM material.
Best part of the article is media continuing to use the photo of Judith wearing her MAGA hat ( albeit a blue one) then her Trumpism comes out, "He seems to me to have come here on a very dodgy idea of some sort of author's visa or something. Well I'm an author too, and I can tell you I don't think anyone's going to give me a special visa."
A mind like lightning. One quick flash of light and then darkness.
“They all eat, they all love me, they all kiss my ass,” Trump reportedly told journalist Timothy O’Brien, author of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald. “And then they all leave and say, ‘Isn’t he horrible.’ But I’m the king.”
I'd like to see Collins write a book using a smuggled smart phone. She has such poor insight into why a person in detention on Manus Island for years would want to return there after writing a book about the harsh conditions.
Maybe some of the conditions in Collin's recent book were of her own making and her choice to write about her parliamentary life.
And hopefully the government will take the opportunity to remind us all that the government Collins was part of gave Peter Thiel full citizenship in about 12 days, no questions asked.
Hopefully there won't have to be further episodes – by now I'm hopefully that 'nice' guys' outwardly, aren't necessarily nice people – be they politicians, senior public servants or anyone else pushing their own agendas above all else.
Hypocrisy and double standards that have become the Normal Normal it seems. Things like moralising, judging and conflating the concepts of arranged marriages and forced marriages on the one hand whilst all the while getting ones rocks off over a conference call to the woifey and whanau with a bit on the side on the other.
Thankfully Labour have a few more 'decent blokes and blokessess' to hold it all together, and there's always the Greens to fall back on. Let's hope it doesn't take any more episodes because they'd be liable to get very seedy. It might be time for the senior ranks of the public service to have a bit of a hydroxycloroclean – even if it needs to trickle down
I found that article a bit under researched and some what over emotional.
It added together the student visa's which were just an income earning scam for dodgy private education providers and have only existed since National brought them in, the young under 30 visa's for international travel which have never really been seen as a residency pathway, the RSE visas which are seasonal (and there has been help & repatriation on offer here) plus the other visa's and only around 10,000 of these have been here for over 5 years usually on a motley collection of short term visa's.
Frankly the ire would be better directed at the employer sponsored visa's who used them for cheap labour or some level of scam then walked away from them, the national party who decided to use visa's to bid down employment wages and conditions for all or the businesses who can't be bothered to train and educate available youth.
Our Neets unemployment is huge, in part because visa workers mean that the labour force in the early entry years of employment is swollen by half as much (50,000 becomes 75000) .
Lastly if most of the central Auckland electorate is not native born that is colonisation rather than immigration and services are clearly not being provided to the wider community at any level.
"I found that article a bit under researched and some what over emotional."
Unfortunately if Mr Fonseka were to begin to describe his research, it'd require a book, and I'll excuse the emotion considering the damage some immigrants have suffered due to NZ's oh-so-suphusticated best practice policies. And it's not as if people haven't been warning the government of the complete bugger's muddle of things for over the lifetime of the current government.
Hopefully Faafoi is merely a placeholder as well, even if he is a damn site more ethical and less sleazy
I do realise that some individuals have suffered damage but conflating all the various visa types into one "wrong" doesn't help his story. The student who got stuck here while in holiday transit, could go home but now wants a work visa is a long way from the 10,000 who have been here a considerable time. But plenty of the non migrant population are suffering too.
And I do agree NZ has had dreadful settings (pretty much under all the right wing governments since 1990 who just wanted to bid down the employment market). Prior to covid, Labour was gradually deflating the visa market, putting an income limit in was one, plus moving up the course and study limits and providing training for Neets. Then there are the employer sponsored – who should sort out their own mess not dump it on others.
Labour didn't have the margin in the polls to move faster but now everything has hit at once and they are having to deal with a 20-30 year backlog of poor policy and decisions balancing fairness and local jobs and welfare payments plus employer (& scam) situations.
The only other comment I found odd was the one "doing us a favour". Err if it's for our benefit then umm why the desperation to stay.
And for the record I have seen several arranged marriages. Female autonomy in the decision was varied – from basically none to a lot- but I wonder if this point of view occurs to the males who benefit from the process.
This morning, Collins told Magic Talk she would not have sacked Iain Lees-Galloway for having an affair.
"That's between him and his spouse".
She added that when she passed on the information to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, she did not know herself he was accused of an affair – but she accused the PM of knowing prior to their conversation.
"I didn't know anything about it, I think she probably did."
But when asked this afternoon if she thought Ardern had lied, she said: "No I'm saying that I did not know. I simply said to her that I've had a message from someone, an email, saying that they had some information that is even worse than what has come out about our then-MP and I passed it to her and she asked me who it was about and I said, 'Ian Lees-Galloway'.
"I did not have the detail and I said I didn't want to receive the detail and I asked them to contact her office.
"And when I said 'It's Iain Lees-Galloway', she said 'Oh yes, right'."
When asked if the implication was that Ardern had "joined the dots because she already knew about the affair", Collins said: "I didn't know about the affair and I'm not interested in all the grubby details. It's not my business. She needs to front up with what she meant by 'an abuse of office' and frankly that's for her to answer. I'm not her minder and if I was, she would be much better at her job."
Pressed again, she said again: "She said to me 'Who is it?' And I said 'It's about Iain Lees-Galloway' and she said, 'Oh yes' and then she walked off. So we arranged for me to make sure that everything went to her.
This is truly baffling stuff from Judith and raises many questions about her version of events:
1) Why did she bail up the Prime Minister on the floor of parliament to tell her about a vague allegation against ILG of which she had no knowledge of the substance?
2) Who is this informant that she trusted enough to warrant telling the Prime Minister about such a vague allegation that ILG had done something "even worse" than what Falloon had done?
3) Does she accept her informant is a liar or at least has a very skewed moral compass given that she is now saying that she would not have fired ILG for doing something which the informant had said supposed to be "much worse" than what Falloon had done?
4) Is she not used to people replying "Oh yes, right" and walking away for the sake of ending the conversation and getting away from her? Not because they have the faintest idea of what she is talking about.
5) How did they arrange for the informant to go directly to the Prime Minister (as he must have if Judith did not know the content of the allegation until it was publicly released) if the full extent of the conversation was the Prime Minister saying "Oh yes, right" and walking off? Unless the reference to “we” is her office.
6) Is she really suggesting that the Prime Minister was dumb enough to go and fire ILG without bothering to wait for the informant to contact her with the details of the allegation, and then deny she knew about it until the informant contacted her? Or did the Prime Minister just go and tell ILG about her vague conversation with Judith and ILG, knowing that the game was up based on absolutely nothing, immediately spilled his guts about the affair and handed in his resignation?
Simple. Collins is trying to justify that she is not the CAUSE of ILG being drawn and quartered by her FILTHY politics.
The problem with the ILG resignation is that it was done to take responsibility for the high standard the PM sets for her ministers. ILG would not have resigned were there not an election in 8 weeks.
Rowling did not stand up to Muldoon over what was done to Moyle 5 November 1975.
Ardern needs to put ILG on the party list and tell Collins that Ardern is holding an inquiry into Collins emailer.
Collins is trying to prove she is so righteous when she needs to front up about what her true intention was, to improve her ratings by damaging a Labour minister.
Never mind the family of ILG. Being a teenager is not easy when your parent is a minister or a leader.
Haha. Yeah, Gerry has been pretty much off the rails today. I’d be amazed if he managed to claw back even one vote from Labour. And another day goes by where the Nats are really just talking about themselves (what ring road in Palmy?).
I think we're so used to saying "Why are they doing this? There must be a devious plan, what is it, what are they up to?". Especially after years of National discipline and message control.
But sometimes it's just a mess. This is one of those times. Like when it's your last day in a job, and you might as well get drunk and photocopy your butt.
The PM can’t win. One moment she has too much airtime, the next she’s a part-time PM.
I don’t mind giving Judith and Gerry more airtime but could they please keep their mouths shut when they’re on air or camera. It will be an improvement for them as well as for the public AKA a win-win. Thanks in advance.
Plastic are a problem that needs to be sorted start by charging the prouduce of plastic a fee and recycle and remanufacture the stuff ourselves creating jobs in Aotearoa.
Congratulations. Paris
Not just twins it's better to treat all your offspring equally.
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
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RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
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How will Judith respond to last night's poll? She can't just let it go, she will have to attack.
Bound to be dramatic…
She'll only be attacking because that's her default mode. It's what her gang want and expect.
Some not in her gang will need to be persuaded she's lovely and cuddly. That puts doing something 'dramatic' in a perspective.
The poll? She won't be worried about that because she and Gerry know they are doing so, so much better. The big message from the poll is those who want National to have September voting matching this poll need to galvanise themselves, encourage others and get out and vote. And have no Labour MPs, candidates or members do anything dumb.
Looks like Gerry has been given the job of responding. Keeps the easily influenced from joining the dots. Expect to see Collins everywhere when the inevitably better numbers come from tvnz's poll on Thursday.
The numbers might be "rogue", but having grumpy Gerry all over the media in response will help to make them less rogue. Collins alienates people but can appeal to the base, but Brownlee just alienates.
Wonder if they have anyone else they trust enough to wheel out instead?
They've still got one Todd left, 3rd time lucky?
'Rogue' maybe. "Rouge' definitely.
There's always one. Lets hope we've seen it happen already and there will no more.
As the ILG brouhaha showed, Labour MPs can't have done anything wrong in the short to medium distance past, let alone in the next few weeks.
Interesting how the MSM will behave. Do they allow her bluster or question her ability and judgement over the non bounce in polling.
They're claiming that their polls have a 10% swing from Labour to National, so around 50% to 35% instead of 60% to 25%.
Pretty dire if that's all they can claim
It's the only performance metric that counts for their caucus – how many of them have to find a new job after the election.
I wonder if Duncan Garner will be declaring his own network’s poll a rogue this morning on behalf of Judith?
Radio silence possibly from Dunky–our local Nat patsy question champ, “Happy Days” to Hosking too!
Listening to Hosking is unusual for me but I tuned in at the beginning this morning to see if my predictions about what he'd say were right. I was partly wrong.
By and large he said the poll was a rogue one, the results were wrong and polls don't mean anything.
So having worked out it meant nothing, was irrelevant and was wrong he ignored it? Or made a one sentence comment? Hell no! Every sentence was the knife being turned and another bitter pill. And every further word and sentence he uttered made me feel good? Hell yes!
Never forget 84's real support is a disgusting 45 % and it will return as soon as a finger-click. Make hay while the sun shines for the greater good. Of course, Labour doesn't have 't'Cause' in their heart. Which is to say, anyone furious and with the words that follow that. Any soapbox socialist in the 30s. We need to persuade now again and all we have is orderly progressions to high office rather than righteous anger.
Winston's grandstanding NZ has had a guts full and are not taking anymore of him. Shane Jones has turned supporters off every time he opens his mouth.
I wondered if that's what's happening too, that people have had a guts full. Covid changed a lot of things including NZ values I suspect. Maybe we're less inclined to tolerate the shady patriarch bullshit now that we've directly experienced what a compassionate govt will do when we are in trouble.
otoh, Peters is the master of the bounce back, so let's wait and see. Otooh, it's not the first time he's misjudged the electorate.
Peters has been pronounced politically dead so many times that I suspect his literal death will be followed by half the medical profession witholding judgement for two electoral terms, just to be sure.
😆
Helen the lawyer vs Chloe the celeb: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12351075
Helen is just demonstrating how serious she is. Has she also demonstrated that she's serious about decriminalising cannabis? If not, time for her to pull finger. Serious lawyers can add value to parliament if they are credible…
Why would a lawyer want to decriminalise anything?
because it's the right thing to do.
Fair enough, that's a hallmark of lawyers.
maybe that's a reflection of the lawyers you know?
Lawyers are fine – it's only the 99% that give the rest a bad name you need to watch out for.
[most lawyers I’ve mentioned this joke to think it’s hilarious for some reason!]
It's White's lack of respect for Swarbrick that's the issue here. It's one thing to say that you believe you'd serve the electorate better than another candidate, but to say what White said, particularly about a candidate from a party that's kind of on your side, says more about the kind of person White is than anything else.
The Epsom sheep are so used to being mustered into the polling booth to vote for ACT that if the NP withdraws support for ACT, Goldsmith will have to fight really hard to get the seat back and return to parliament.
Nope. The party vote in Epsom went to National and only 696 voted for ACT. You confuse it with the candidate vote.
https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2017/electorate-details-12.html
No I did not confuse the difference, I am very aware of how MMP works and don't need patronising. What I was implying was that the Epsom sheep would go into the polling booth on automatic and habitually put a tick by Act, and again automatically put a tick by party vote National.
I’m sorry to hear that you feel patronised. What I meant was that others may be confused when reading your comment, not that you don’t know the difference. You’d be surprised how many others still don’t seem to fully understand MMP. To be clear, Epsom voted for Seymour on the Candidate List and for National on the Party List.
HTH and have a nice day.
national naked
For all their Wealth, their grandeur, their extraordinary strange behaviours, national has entirely ruined it's persona and standing.
At what point do nicknames change?
Are we at the point when the Crusher becomes the Crushed?
The media are calling Nationals disater polls crushing ironically.
Collins released her massive infrastructure spend after saying we will be spending less than Labour but no costings other than a wild guess which was much higher than Labours spending.
Goldsmith contradicted Collins saying the are going to cut $8 billion in spending ,yet in Australia their liberal govt,Nationals equivalent Party is spending more than our Labour govt on Covid recovery.Goldsmith hasn't put a foot right yet.He is well out of his depth in how modern economics work.
Even Boris Johnsto has a better understanding if the polls are right it will do National a favour and he will be gone along with much other of the dead wood (house) of Dirty politics.
National need to get rid of the Farrers and Slaters Jordan William's etc and get some honest farmers and business people if they want to be taken seriously.Ditch the Carpet baggers associated with the tobacco alcohol and monopolists lobbyists.
Bridges said he didn't vote for Collins.
Then Falloon and Collins Dirty retaliation over a Moral lapse as opposed to Sexual Harrassment.
National have no one to blame except the pollsters.
JLR one of their ex MP's is going to release more damming info on National .
Crushed Collins sounds like it should be a cocktail. Something bloody with a sour after taste that leaves you wondering why this reminds you of an unpleasant experience you had decades ago: one you hoped never to have to experience again.
Sorry, but NZ's all out.
The structure of representative democracy forces participants into idiocy nowadays. Because of the binary oppositional political psychology it induces. Example:
Clever of the coalition to defuse the Nat's primary weapon, eh? Bureaucratic throttling of kiwis is a long-standing problem, and National's declared intent to gut the RMA was likely to be a pseudo-solution.
But look at how binary framing makes their spokesperson come across as wacky instead of sensible. The system of representative democracy is inexorable in dumbing everyone down. We need psychologists in the media pointing this out, using examples such as the above.
You seem to be building a rather large thing out of one provincial dunce out of her depth. Sometimes a fool is just a fool.
Yeah and she soon changed her tune once she was overruled by her party’s Transport Spokesperson. Having an MP from one of the sprawling, thinly populated rural electorates in the South Island as your Urban Development Spokesperson kinda sums up how lost National is as far as the 21st century challenges facing us.
I heard the cost of putting in a car park to a build was 50 k.
If it’s in an underground parking basement the cost can get up to 70k per car park.
They hate public transport, cycle lanes and car free urban spaces beloved by the modern cities of the world.
The love of cars, extending to car parks – is making this party the dinosaurs of the age.
Great example Dennis, thanks.
For ages now I have been wanting the team in red to do this kind of politicking, negate the opposition's barking points by doing a simpler, small example of what the Tories propose.
1. With the dissolution of parliament on 12 August does this mean that a caucus will no longer have their weekly meeting?
2. If so, then how does a political party mobilise and tweak their strategy and manifesto?
3. Do the MPs who are resigning work from their electorate office right up until the election?
I do realise there are election debates and press releases.
12 August will probably be a day of relief for some in the National Party.
Jamie-Lee Ross coalesces with the Public Party and has to support their conspiracy theories. It sounds like the Red/Yellow Peril has raised its head again.
Funny how foreign enemies arise when things are not going well at home.
But, the real learning from this is the fact that Ross was National's chief whip and as such was very powerful in the party, and in sync with its MPs.
Now he allies with conspiracy theorists.
Where does National get these thirty something aged men with their loopy ideas and behaviour? National needs a time in the political wilderness to find and recover its soul, review its selection practices, rediscover decency and balance.
It looks like it will get it. Been saying this for a time, but National has further to travel down yet. When it hits bottom, then it might acknowledge its need for reform.
As working class boomer balancing on the poverty line, I've observed many elections, disappointed by most, but have had a reasonable personal record of predicting the outcomes. This time I have a shocker that will see the final death throes of the Nats, and not before time. Two main factors sway this for me.
1. The Covid 19 shock influence.
2. The Jacinda example.
Covid has impacted greatly on the politcal awareness for the young vote, the vote that has been predicted in the past, but had not transpired.
Young people have now awoken and they love to love, and they Love Jacinda, thus my shock prediction. Firstly not a big shock, but Auckland Central goes green. The big two shocks though, is Northland and Epsom go Labour along with marginal Country seats. Bye bye Act, NZFirst and National floundering in the doldrums. Ah Bliss.
Labour might come through the middle and take the party vote in the Epsom seat, but I don’t see the electorate vote for MP changing. That will probably stay with ACT.
Nice one, good to see some thinking outside the box.
I've been wondering if National will drop below 20%. How far can the go?
18% my low for them.
32% my high for them.
Crushed Collins sounds like it should be a cocktail. Something bloody with a sour after taste that leaves you wondering why this reminds you of an unpleasant experience you had decades ago: one you hoped never to have to experience again.
A Tom Collins, hold the sweetening, add bitters.
Two weeks ago Brian Fallow (ex-economics editor, NZH) published this appraisal comparing the economic recovery plans of National & Labour: https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/106021/brian-fallow-examines-economic-priorities-outlined-so-far-leaders-two-main-political
That's because marketing to mainstreamers only succeeds on the basis of the lowest common denominator of intelligence, and Labour & National compete by copying each other most of the time. Binary politics.
Yes, but Labour must cling to the neoliberal myth. Reality can be postponed for a while yet – until after the election. Why get real too soon? Myth-promotion is how elections get won. Even if the mana of the PM looks like winning this one, better safe than sorry.
Will we see National campaigning on economic growth while faced with a global recession? Probably. Rethinking is just too hard.
Well if we're importing even less than we're exporting, that'll work in praxis, eh.
Ah, yes, the government always goes back to mercantalism. That's what an 'export led recovery' is. Export more, import less and we'll have more money is the implication. They always imply such and then it never really materialises.
The poor keep getting poorer while the rich get richer.
What we really need is a development led recovery where we develop the capability to get by without imports. Then we'll likely see a decrease in poverty.
Korea had an interesting take on exporting – develop products in the local market to an international standard – that way locals don't get neglected the way NZ does. A customer base, any customer base, is a valuable tool for innovation, not just short term profit taking.
Concerning customer base, you are correct, especially your locals.
I learnt this as a publican in a small rural town. Look after the locals. They will see you through the winters and when the dairy pay-out hits the floor.
Perhaps a global solution of working towards "Commonism" the principle of pursuing the common good. ( No, not communism).
What if we stopped upholding the myth by continually tagging the political system as "neoliberalism " ; a concept long surpassed while we are distracted looking at a box hoping for Schrödinger’s cat to come out alive?
What if we opened the lid and saw the dirtier, greedier system that has mutated as the norm we truly let reign?
How do you pose correct solutions if we are fighting a misnomer? If we shift our gaze and name what really exists and that is an accepted creeping of neocapitalism ( eg. save AMI, South Canterbury Finance, Tiwai ?) and onto a global rise of necrocapitilism both overt and covert – dispossess then kill them off !
From neoliberalism to necrocapitalism in 20 years
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/neoliberalism-necrocapitalism-20-years-200715082702159.html
"Sometimes this manifests itself as a certain fixation of the gaze, even bedazzlement, and then there are attempts to restore the imaginary, untrue, and above all, impossible past, a style of politics and management… called retrotopia. Leaders, managers, and politicians act as if they wanted to turn back time, which is, in itself, an absurd strategy. The past they refer to is a sentimental, nostalgic image that has more to do with the world of fairy tales than real history: "
https://biennalewarszawa.pl/en/zarzadzanie-w-swiecie-schrodingera/
Dammit, the government needs to stop borrowing and start simply creating the money that it needs.
Yes, put some rules around how much can be created in relation to the economy but a government should never, ever borrow as that just gives the rich a government guaranteed income.
National's cut price recovery will, of course, cost us a lot more but will make their funders a lot richer.
driving around in middle nuzillind
lots of hanna tamaki billboards – homes and jobs
lots of new conservatie billboards – free speech, right to guns, all lives matter (yes)
some maori party billboards – vote for me / trust me
some nz first party billboards – drove by to fast to see the message underneath
lots of national/candidate billboards – vote national
and a fair consistent labour /candidate billboards – keep moving
will be interesting to see how this will work out with all the new splinter groups on the right
"with all the new splinter groups on the right"
Those splinters are from the shells cracked to let the nuts out. Did COVID-19 crack the shells and accelerate the 'nutterisation' of the right? Smarter people than me will opine.
comment of the day.AB
Ive been driving around lower middle NZ. one thing I have noticed, compared to three yrs ago, way less nat billboards out in the country. dont know whether its less volunteers to put them up and down, less money to spend(dont forget ,they would have spent $$$ on toddler billboards),or less cockies willing to look like tools.
Governments operate economic policy in accord with advice on prevalent influential economic theories. Sometimes the winds of intellectual fashion blow these theories away. Austerity theory, for instance.
The writer explains why the govt in Oz will steer through the pandemic-induced recession via cheap govt debt. Bernard Hickey was in the media here advising the same a couple of months back. The economics paradigm has shifted.
The fallacy is that constant economic growth is sustainable. It is not and hence we see the up and downs, the growth the recessions and worst still depression when too much money is printed with no value behind. Oh, is this not what the fed and other countries as well as NZ do?
As expected, Duncan Garner's Newshub whinge is sour and sulky.
A vegan lifestyle change for a year will sort him out!
At the moment we have National supporting charging for the quarantining of returning Kiwis, while the government is going through the process of examination of such a regime.
For mine, there should be no retrospective charging at all – thus any charging only occurs for those who leave New Zealand after it is introduced.
Perhaps those NZs should just regard it as part of the cost of exciting overseas travel. At least they can return to Paradise like the Prodigal Son (and Daughter). They have been able to get away and have some OE and should be helped when they get back. But like education these days, their trip overseas will cost; perhaps it should come under the heading of Overseas Education and it can be put down as a Student Loan. There is no reason why they shouldn't be expected to pay towards this extra cost that is caused by the pandemic.
Costs should be known before a decision is taken not afterwards.
Many have come back in already and faced no costs, why a change?
PS An option is having two streams – one for those not charged and another for those who are prepared to pay for the cost (we already require non Kiwis to pay charges for coming in – businesses meet the cost).
Quarantine is for the benefit of us already here, not the traveller. How does it make sense to charge them for it?
Uh, because us already here have already bitten the bullet and paid the price to achieve the COVID-eliminated status the new arrivals wish to benefit from, so it's only fair for them to contribute to the cost of maintaining that status?
The new arrivals do not have any choice whether to 'benefit' or not. The whole conversation is underpinned by long-cultivated neoliberal notions of 'user pays' but it seems to be more of an emotional rather than logical attachment.
It might not be a viewpoint that's appealing (and personally I'm somewhat closer to to the view that returning is a right that should be able to be freely exercised without incurring a huge cost), but it's neither illogical nor emotional. It's simply one of those things on a continuum where reasonable minds may differ.
What's logical about mis-identifying the 'user' if promoting user-pays?
Not gonna be baited into your framing.
What, that asking returnees to pay quarantine costs is about user-pays? How is that controversial?
Sacha
No, it is underpinned by the rights of taxpayers who are basically being blackmailed to fork out the money for expats to resettle and god only knows for how long. Once all is clear, most will bugger off again and kiwis living here have to pay their millions. Lets say, like the education loan that many never paid back?
Since when is the tax paid by those who have contributed their share to maintain NZ health, education and infrastructure a free meal ticket with no accountability? Really, seriously?
Taxpayers' rights? I believe you are making my point.
Taxpayers are the people who are working here in NZ, many on minimum wage. My point is that their rights to a fair return is far greater than expats wanting to go home, many to get a benefit that is not available to them in the country of their choosing. At what point is the payers benefit a user pay to those who have not contributed?
We didn't have to pay $3,000 to go into lock down though, so the cost of that was spread amongst everyone.
A lot of people I know are out of pocket a shitload more than $3000 from the lockdown, even after government assistance. As well as all the other less tangible costs. So I find it quite easy to see where people are coming from when they think arrivals should be expected to cover their costs. Even if I think the counterargument has more merit.
I agree with you, just noting the larger resonance of any conversation in NZ about user pays.
And if they are coming home for a holiday,ie short term travellers.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2007/S00227/international-arrivals-in-may-lowest-in-61-years.htm
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/122184704/coronavirus-isolation-experience-at-hamilton-hotel-leaves-guest-impressed
Weka
Many have paid with their job or reduced hours, part time instead of full time. And we only saw the beginning. Just wait until end of September. We will see double digit unemployment figures.
Yep. And imagine being charged $3,000 on top of that. There seems to be a perception that people overseas wanting to return home are well off and have jobs. I'd like to see some analysis of who is coming home and their situation.
Weka, I meant the Kiwis here in NZ.
Expats have been overseas for years and coming home because of job losses and not getting any benefit in the country they have earned and paid taxes. On the suspicion of sounding cruel, NZ is in debt by billions of dollars, many people who have been living here, paying their fair share into the Government coffers and are entitled to assistance are now being asked to pay for those who could not be bothered to contribute. Not only are we now being "asked" to pay 3 k for each returnee, no no no that is not the end of it, we now will have to pay a benefit too. Maybe that comes on top of the unpaid education loan from years back? Sorry, but it is fair to ask of those "coming home" to pay their isolation cost. You will be surprised how many people are actually quite aback with the audacity to "sue" the government because they don't cough up the money. I have my own thoughts on that…
overall, it's a pissy little cost to bother with, in my opinion. And even if it were substantial, I don't have a problem with the govt paying it for a couple of years until we have a clear picture of things like vaccines and effective treatments coming online.
It's the humane thing to do, and it's also a good way to keep the economy and hotels operating. A multi-thousand-dollar fee is a barrier to entry more than the isolation itself. And govt iso at least figures out pretty quickly when someone's done a bunk (and keeps the rate low).
"Weka, I meant the Kiwis here in NZ."
I know. I was pointing out that Kiwis overseas who lost their job because of covid might have to pay $3,000 on top of that. Why them and not the Kiwis at home that lost their jobs? I don't get why they are being judged differently.
Or we could head down the aussie route. I'm sure I saw a story where the inwards numbers allowed were so small the airlines sold only business and first class seats. Maybe charges pro rata to the airfare?
What do you think of this Eco Maori? It is more than just Tai Tokerau isn't it?
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/07/27/billy-te-kahika-takes-democracy-fight-to-the-heart-of-government-advance-new-zealand/
Billy T James would build a new character, Uncle Te Kookiha more English than the Northland National Party …
Why did you use a dehumanising label, just one of those " Eco Maori " is he ? In recent rhetoric about Billy Te Kahika has also been other tags as one type of tactic to blank and cancel out a right in a democracy to have a voice. Rebel, radical, extreme… a joke guy that Billy T James would've mocked. Truly?
Yes, it is more than Te Tai Tokerau. It's millions globally asking for justice, self-determination and the return of their stolen assets.
Is Gutteres, Secretary-General UN one of those Eco radicals too when he points out that just 26 of the richest people in the world hold as much wealth as half the global population of 8 billion people?
Why don't you stick your head in the ground you jerk Paddy OT. Looking for something to moan about and create disunity.
Ouch! What is 'disunify'ing in calling out on tags that subversively nullify others, even if it's inadvertent? Applying a blanket name with a peg on your nose, to dismiss others such as those "____________" over there, is an underlying factor creating inequality.
Calling " jerk " ( same tactic ) doesn't make entrenched prejudices go away.
Calling for my demise to go underground is ironical in that the same maggots that will eat me once dead won't be discriminating and will feast on you too.
Eco maori is a contributor here,
https://thestandard.org.nz/search/eco+maori/?search_comments=true&search_posts=true&search_sortby=date
though it may have saved your pearls from a hard fist clutching, if the 'offending' sentence was written
What do you think of this, Eco Maori?
Great minds 🙂 and all that Allen 🙂
Pointing our proper punctuation is pedantic and patronising.
That depends on how you view being told how to avoid repeating an error, yet using it as outlined above, removes misunderstandings and subsequent retaliatory tit for tat posts.
I'm not the greatest with grammar and punctuation, and I welcome all thoughtful, well intended correction.
One comma made all the difference!
BTW, I should have included an emoticon to indicate that I was joking.
The smiley would have helped but I stand by both comm
asents. 😆I commend you on your comment.
How abour spelling?
F7
A little gentle jesting is something that regular commenters can add for spice to tease or joust, I think. It's all a matter of striking the right balance. And wouldn't it be good if we all mainly looked outwards at the wide issues and left the fine unpicking to those who want to pick oakum.*
I have been reading Anne Perry and the punishments and jobs for the unemployed they dished out in old Victorian times, which may be revived in some highly developed countries! Now that's a mighty leap – from the downward direction of contentious people's comments, to the downward gaze of a workhouse resident earning their daily meal.
* Oakum–picking was the teasing out of fibres from old ropes and was very hard on the fingers. The loose fibres were often sold to ship-builders for mixing with tar to seal the lining of wooden craft. They could also be used to make matting or bandaging.
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/tour/oakum.shtml
I agree but some comments are so hard to parse that we either have to make assumptions or take them through the gobbledygook reverse-translator. None of this makes for good debate.
My first questions to Uncle Billy would be
1. do you subscribe to the David Icke You Tube channel?
2. does the Chinese money bag man have a plan to reduce inequality, and if not, why partner up with him?
To be fair…I thought GreyWS was asking the question to a regular TS commentor called Eco Maori.
I tried to listen to an interview of Billy on talkback, but sean plunket was talking too much.
My take on it….. people who are against the system often don't vote, we've seen it before with the internet party. Part of the reason is a reluctance to share their personal details.
What a fascinating election it's turning into, jlr and Billy hooking up, what the actual? Talk about polar opposites, keep your eyes wide open Billy.
I'd probably have all sorts of problems with what Billy Te Kahika is saying if I looked more closely, but I know people that are into what he is talking about, and it's a big mistake for the left/progressives to ridicule them, call them nutters, and think they will just somehow disappear as a part of the culture rather than growing.
Collins gets ever more desperate:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/judith-collins-plans-to-grill-jacinda-ardern-on-behrouz-boochani-s-refugee-status.html
Presumably targeting the vast pool of voters from New Conservatives, Advance and NZ First.
“She plans to raise it when she goes up against the Prime Minister in Parliament. … “I’m sick to death of this stuff.”
She has only 4 more sittings to tackle Ardern, and this is how she wants to use them?
Is she going to ask the PM if he paid for his ‘managed isolation’ on Manus Island and if not, why not? I’m sure this is the burning question that’s on the mind of Kiwis and keeps them awake at night. What other reason could Mushy Collins have for asking
patsypesky questions during QT in Parliament?Been thinking about that Op leader going on about crushing Fairy/star dust.Instead of being a blow hard,she needs a vaccum because all she will manage is the spreading of good will to more of the people,truely short sighted an most deffinitely not PM material.
Edit,,spell check please.a wee note to weka.
Hey pile these awkward points on – she is 'sick to death' of them. So…..
Best part of the article is media continuing to use the photo of Judith wearing her MAGA hat ( albeit a blue one) then her Trumpism comes out, "He seems to me to have come here on a very dodgy idea of some sort of author's visa or something. Well I'm an author too, and I can tell you I don't think anyone's going to give me a special visa."
A mind like lightning. One quick flash of light and then darkness.
“They all eat, they all love me, they all kiss my ass,” Trump reportedly told journalist Timothy O’Brien, author of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald. “And then they all leave and say, ‘Isn’t he horrible.’ But I’m the king.”
I'd like to see Collins write a book using a smuggled smart phone. She has such poor insight into why a person in detention on Manus Island for years would want to return there after writing a book about the harsh conditions.
Maybe some of the conditions in Collin's recent book were of her own making and her choice to write about her parliamentary life.
+1. Anyone who writes a 350 book on a phone gets automatic entry as far as I'm concerned.
And what's this rubbish the Nats were spouting the other day that we should have consulted Australia first. Australia can get f**ked.
Was he not seeking asylum from Strollya?
And hopefully the government will take the opportunity to remind us all that the government Collins was part of gave Peter Thiel full citizenship in about 12 days, no questions asked.
Exactly. Give me Boochani any day.
Frankly, with that long tousled hair and dreamboat eyes he can stay as long as he likes 🙂
What impact will the new party Heartland have on nats? Seen boards in Waikato.
Episode 5: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/a-useless-handbrake-is-released
Hopefully there won't have to be further episodes – by now I'm hopefully that 'nice' guys' outwardly, aren't necessarily nice people – be they politicians, senior public servants or anyone else pushing their own agendas above all else.
Hypocrisy and double standards that have become the Normal Normal it seems. Things like moralising, judging and conflating the concepts of arranged marriages and forced marriages on the one hand whilst all the while getting ones rocks off over a conference call to the woifey and whanau with a bit on the side on the other.
Thankfully Labour have a few more 'decent blokes and blokessess' to hold it all together, and there's always the Greens to fall back on. Let's hope it doesn't take any more episodes because they'd be liable to get very seedy. It might be time for the senior ranks of the public service to have a bit of a hydroxycloroclean – even if it needs to trickle down
Well at least there's a new visa coming that lets employees change jobs.
I found that article a bit under researched and some what over emotional.
It added together the student visa's which were just an income earning scam for dodgy private education providers and have only existed since National brought them in, the young under 30 visa's for international travel which have never really been seen as a residency pathway, the RSE visas which are seasonal (and there has been help & repatriation on offer here) plus the other visa's and only around 10,000 of these have been here for over 5 years usually on a motley collection of short term visa's.
Frankly the ire would be better directed at the employer sponsored visa's who used them for cheap labour or some level of scam then walked away from them, the national party who decided to use visa's to bid down employment wages and conditions for all or the businesses who can't be bothered to train and educate available youth.
Our Neets unemployment is huge, in part because visa workers mean that the labour force in the early entry years of employment is swollen by half as much (50,000 becomes 75000) .
Lastly if most of the central Auckland electorate is not native born that is colonisation rather than immigration and services are clearly not being provided to the wider community at any level.
"I found that article a bit under researched and some what over emotional."
Unfortunately if Mr Fonseka were to begin to describe his research, it'd require a book, and I'll excuse the emotion considering the damage some immigrants have suffered due to NZ's oh-so-suphusticated best practice policies. And it's not as if people haven't been warning the government of the complete bugger's muddle of things for over the lifetime of the current government.
Hopefully Faafoi is merely a placeholder as well, even if he is a damn site more ethical and less sleazy
.
I do realise that some individuals have suffered damage but conflating all the various visa types into one "wrong" doesn't help his story. The student who got stuck here while in holiday transit, could go home but now wants a work visa is a long way from the 10,000 who have been here a considerable time. But plenty of the non migrant population are suffering too.
And I do agree NZ has had dreadful settings (pretty much under all the right wing governments since 1990 who just wanted to bid down the employment market). Prior to covid, Labour was gradually deflating the visa market, putting an income limit in was one, plus moving up the course and study limits and providing training for Neets. Then there are the employer sponsored – who should sort out their own mess not dump it on others.
Labour didn't have the margin in the polls to move faster but now everything has hit at once and they are having to deal with a 20-30 year backlog of poor policy and decisions balancing fairness and local jobs and welfare payments plus employer (& scam) situations.
The only other comment I found odd was the one "doing us a favour". Err if it's for our benefit then umm why the desperation to stay.
And for the record I have seen several arranged marriages. Female autonomy in the decision was varied – from basically none to a lot- but I wonder if this point of view occurs to the males who benefit from the process.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12351277
This is truly baffling stuff from Judith and raises many questions about her version of events:
1) Why did she bail up the Prime Minister on the floor of parliament to tell her about a vague allegation against ILG of which she had no knowledge of the substance?
2) Who is this informant that she trusted enough to warrant telling the Prime Minister about such a vague allegation that ILG had done something "even worse" than what Falloon had done?
3) Does she accept her informant is a liar or at least has a very skewed moral compass given that she is now saying that she would not have fired ILG for doing something which the informant had said supposed to be "much worse" than what Falloon had done?
4) Is she not used to people replying "Oh yes, right" and walking away for the sake of ending the conversation and getting away from her? Not because they have the faintest idea of what she is talking about.
5) How did they arrange for the informant to go directly to the Prime Minister (as he must have if Judith did not know the content of the allegation until it was publicly released) if the full extent of the conversation was the Prime Minister saying "Oh yes, right" and walking off? Unless the reference to “we” is her office.
6) Is she really suggesting that the Prime Minister was dumb enough to go and fire ILG without bothering to wait for the informant to contact her with the details of the allegation, and then deny she knew about it until the informant contacted her? Or did the Prime Minister just go and tell ILG about her vague conversation with Judith and ILG, knowing that the game was up based on absolutely nothing, immediately spilled his guts about the affair and handed in his resignation?
She's seeding the media again. Feeding them their lines so she can lie about the PM.
Simple. Collins is trying to justify that she is not the CAUSE of ILG being drawn and quartered by her FILTHY politics.
The problem with the ILG resignation is that it was done to take responsibility for the high standard the PM sets for her ministers. ILG would not have resigned were there not an election in 8 weeks.
Rowling did not stand up to Muldoon over what was done to Moyle 5 November 1975.
Ardern needs to put ILG on the party list and tell Collins that Ardern is holding an inquiry into Collins emailer.
Correction
5 November 1976.
Is Mushy Collins trying to convince NZ that she feels sorry for what
shethe PM has done to ILG???Collins is trying to prove she is so righteous when she needs to front up about what her true intention was, to improve her ratings by damaging a Labour minister.
Never mind the family of ILG. Being a teenager is not easy when your parent is a minister or a leader.
If it's true that the last lot of absconders popped into a retirement village one has to question their judgment. To say the least.
In a single day, Collins and Brownlee have done more dopey than you'd expect in a month from any coherent political leadership.
The latest:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/newshub-poll-jacinda-ardern-getting-the-benefit-of-so-much-airtime-during-covid-19-gerry-brownlee.html
Ardern enjoying so much airtime? I can't recall National ever having as much wall-to-wall media coverage as they've had over the last few weeks.
Sure, it's been self-destructive airtime, but whose fault is that?
Haha. Yeah, Gerry has been pretty much off the rails today. I’d be amazed if he managed to claw back even one vote from Labour. And another day goes by where the Nats are really just talking about themselves (what ring road in Palmy?).
They are obsessed with Palmerston North, aren't they? Perhaps the plan is so get William Wood into parliament then straight on to the leadership.
I think we're so used to saying "Why are they doing this? There must be a devious plan, what is it, what are they up to?". Especially after years of National discipline and message control.
But sometimes it's just a mess. This is one of those times. Like when it's your last day in a job, and you might as well get drunk and photocopy your butt.
gerry's spent the day doing a trump.
The PM can’t win. One moment she has too much airtime, the next she’s a part-time PM.
I don’t mind giving Judith and Gerry more airtime but could they please keep their mouths shut when they’re on air or camera. It will be an improvement for them as well as for the public AKA a win-win. Thanks in advance.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
The weather has been warm and local environment is awesome at the minute Ingrid.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
That's the way Te Mokopuna are very important.
Its great to see local Iwi and council working together to provide whare for their Tangata.
That's good researching the effects rongo have on diabetes.
That's is what it's all about what the people want not just the few in power in Te Tairawhiti a Maori ward is needed.
I think lowering the voting age is a good topic.
Ka kite Ano.
🖕To you know who for using the landlord against me muppets.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
That's looks good it might help solve our housing short age.
I don't think it's bright too invest ones Kiwisaver into a business do you know how many fail in the first 5 years.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
It would be logical to help people who are living on there own whenua in sheds to build a whare.
That's is cool teaching tamariki about old Maori knowledge on their environment.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
Plastic are a problem that needs to be sorted start by charging the prouduce of plastic a fee and recycle and remanufacture the stuff ourselves creating jobs in Aotearoa.
Congratulations. Paris
Not just twins it's better to treat all your offspring equally.
Ka kite Ano.