Actions speak louder than words.
The New Zealand police are being hailed by the corporate media for a ‘hilarious video to lure recruits.’ The video was ‘ was targeted at 18- to 24-year-olds, women, Māori, Pacific Islanders, and people from all other ethnicities and backgrounds “to better reflect the communities we serve”.’ according to the police.
Pity then the police act like this then in South Auckland against Tongan supporters.
‘We witnessed this @nzpolice man aggressively grab 2 #Tongan flags out the hands of the occupants of this moving car, then snap the flag poles & walk off. When confronted for an explanation, he signalled to 3 more officers to talk to the occupants. Disgusting.’
‘My 15 year old daughter just got her flagpole taken off her by the police because said it might be used as a weapon . I’m furious this racist heavy handed policing had killed off the community coming out to celebrate together ‘
‘Papatoetoe resident Ema Tavola was in Otāhuhu last night, and described the atmosphere as “something I had really been looking forward to, to see my community in such a happy state.” She was alarmed at the large police presence.
“It felt like they were in a riot mode. They definitely wanted their presence to be felt in a really assertive way. Their presence was aggressive and didn’t feel like they were there to support the energy, which was really disappointing.”’
‘The aggressive style of policing contrasted markedly with the friendly facilitation of the Lions tour, and the swiftly-planned community events which followed the America’s Cup win. Tavola lamented the way they dealt with the crowd’s Tongan flags, which had become the enduring image of the tournament.
“The manner in which flags were ripped out of people’s hands and broken was a really aggressive way of saying ‘we’re in charge’. That’s not how you broker safety with a community, that’s how you intimidate people.”
That kind of policing is really going to recruit from a diverse sector of the population.
Our friends in the corporate media have a lot to answer for too.
‘Many people have voiced concerns about the portrayal of Tongan and Pacific Island supporters in the media, which they feel has exacerbated the police response.’
The police should be in touch with the population they work within and what the mosh pit of the media says should be just part of their understanding of the situation, not a main ‘intelligence’ source.
I remember that dopey farmer-type with a sign about Jacinda being a pretty communist or something. He had two poles on his sign and was being provocative – I wonder did he have his poles snatched and broken?
It’s a pity that these RWNJs cannot take in the fact that they have lost the election.
Those spiteful losers, born-to-govern attitude will continue to come to the surface.
National were indictrinated by S Joyce into a brainwashed state of believing they were “invincible” but here comes the crunch.
Labour are doing a deep auditing of the finacial books of the National MPs activities
Goinng back nine years and anomilies are being found so national MPs are sitting nerviously waiting for the phone to ring nbecause they dont know how deep the financial auditing is going on.
They may be found out using public funding inappropriately and be charged with fraud.
I am not privy to the specifics here but labour are finding some interseting stuff we are informed.
So the Nat’s MPs are trying to construct a diversion to take the heat off themselves.
Barry Soper characterises as wasteful Pike River decision making intended to be evidence based. It’s not encouraging that Soper conflates Key’s duplicitous disaster milking with respect for evidence. His claim – “Essentially it doesn’t advance the issue greatly from when National was running the shop, safety has always been the key.” The article otherwise ? Facile. So Barry and Heather……especially the headline.
Yep, Barry’s turn today. A very poorly constructed piece of journalism from “Newstalk ZB’s Political Editor”.
“Say anything slightly critical of Jacinda Ardern and you do so at your peril. The social media trolls, or at least those who live in the Labour cave, can’t abide anything close to criticism of the woman anointed by Winston Peters just over a month ago and who, not surprisingly Donald Trump thought was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s missus.
What? Tortured nonsense.
“So with her obviously not in mind there have been a couple of decisions made by her subordinates over the past week that have, or will, dip into the taxpayers’ pockets, raising a few eyebrows”.
So it’s not about Ardern then, but the headline – “Barry Soper: Criticise Jacinda Ardern At Your Peril” – screams that it is. Confused? I am.
The opening paragraph (which the provocative headline has been based on) stands in isolation as there are no supporting references in the piece itself. Soper doesn’t even seem to understand the meaning of the term “troll” and what trolls do. But maybe he does and it’s just a lazy way to score some points.
What trolls? What cave? Where are some examples of this “can’t abide anything close to criticism”? There aren’t any.
It reads like something thrown together without conviction or deep thought. So I guess it’s business as usual then.
This is a diversion as labour are carrying out a deep audit of the financial books of the last nine years and finding some stark interesting stuff so national MP’s are shitting themselves now and taking the heat off them is there first call, so that’s why they are ‘freaking out’ now, I feel so so sorry for them now.
They must feel as we did under their rule as squashed in a ‘sardine can’ for the last nine years of torment.
Yep sour faces all round at the Allen house. Plastic road markers make more sense and offer viable commentary comparred to their horror house of horseshit.
Ed (2) … NZH and it’s pathetic columnists (note not journalists) are still dancing to the tune of its major benefactor Natz. So obviously orchestrated by Joyce.
This is it. They don’t have the same access to the decision-makers which was a process fostered by the corrupt Nats. The only people they can get exclusives from now is the opposition.
Here’s a suggestion – why not try to build trusting relationships with government ministers? That is part of their job.
Our Farmers are the envy of OUR world and We have to help feed all the people of OUR. So we can’t make changes that dramatically reduce there out put. Now all the talk of our world having a food shortage will come true in the near future. So we need to invest in research on Organic farming as this type of farming boost our topsoil and more topsoil is what we need to my coal could be used to boost our topsoil I’m not sure they used charcoal in the past.
It was about 25 before I learned that I was cack handed I can use both hands just as good while working so in any job I all ways catch up to the fastest person. I’m going to learn the Taiaha and increase my skills and Mana.
But I cannot write with both hands as my writing is bad my granddaughter writing is better Many thanks to OUR New coalition government for doing a excellent job great that you gave OUR young people that are studying a rise in income they are our future. I’m off to work now I wonder what my view escorts have planed for me today. Kia kaha
Is this National’s way of indirectly implying Labour should have increased core benefit rates? Or are they merely implying Labour shouldn’t have increased student allowances?
As for their concern, the safeguards are there. And they should know as they installed them.
Anyone moving from the Job Seeker Support to Student Allowance would lose their Accomodation Supplement, so they wouldn’t be all that better off anyway. No caviar and Meet just yet…
According to Judith Collins it was Kiwirail’s responsibility to release the NZTA report commissioned in 2016 that highlights the $1.5 billion of benefits that investment in passenger and freight rail brings to the economy EVERY YEAR!
Wasn’t there an idea of using the line to Gisborne or Napier for a cycle track for overseas visitors ?
Another case of going forward with the latest money-maker and bugger the rest of the population and the services they need.
Has anyone noticed that everything seems to be important for overseas folks like cycle ways, but for the local community who are paying rates and taxes there seems to be a general reluctance to invest in public services for recreation for locals?
In Auckland just getting the parks or lawns mown seems to be an issue.They hate it so much they try to pave every square inch and then dig it up every 2 minutes for piecemeal infrastructure, first metro water, then chorus, then new paving, then cycleway then repeat and create traffic and walking chaos and little paving patches littered all around. (p.s. grass is cheap, permeable and easy to dig up, but clearly out of vogue for the last 30 years). Then they wonder why there is so much flooding. Go figure!
Last year went to Long Bay regional park in Auckland where they are doing MASSIVE multimillion dollar development with property and the beach was absolutely full of people, every square inch taken, it was like Europe with 3rd world planning, all the parking was taken and then people were parking on areas that had meter high lawn growth. Nobody bothered to mow the lawns over the holidays.
The council takes the money from the development but does not seem to understand that they that means more people and more money needed for public services and actually more recreational areas. If they don’t want to pay for this, don’t develop and put more people there!
In typical neoliberalism they take money in at one end of the council for one budget and then starve the other end and since it’s someone else’s budget they don’t seem to be able to link up the two. They will be coining it for rates but who knows where it is going – gold paving? road maintainance? America’s cup? Consultants on stadiums, Lawyer mates? CEO wages?
Drove one hour in Auckland yesterday. There was 2 detours, around 4 roadworks digging up the road or verge. And we only have 4 million people and some people want 35 million! A generation will spend their entire lives in roadworks, who knows what it will do to health.
The local economy for business is suffering as nobody wants to navigate through Auckland anymore. I’m sure lovely for big business like hotels and casino’s for tourists who never need leave central Auckland, so why worry? sarcasm.
Are the current Government really planning to give $114 million to Grant Dalton and his millionaire mates in order to have the ultimate rich men’s toys race around the Waitemata Harbour?
That is $114,000,000.00 when you write it right out.
What are the poor bloody tax-payers of New Zealand supposed to get out of that? Apart that is from drinkies for the Politicians on Superyachts while the event is on.
How many hip operations would that pay for?
How many houses could you build?
How many trees could you plant.
What the hell do they think they are doing?
Let the bloody thing go to The Emirates. Anyone who wants to can watch it on TV. That is as close as a normal New Zealander is going to get anyway.
What I was trying to say Alwyn, before I dashed off to work, was that given the Sth Canterbury Finance, Mediaworks and Tiwai Point bailouts and the Saudi Sheep Deal debacle and the incredibly close relationship with SkyCity, anyone who supported the previous government is in no position to criticise the current government of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.
As far as they go.
I would never have included SCF in the guarantee in the first place. Once they were in there was no way to avoid paying out or dropping them from the scheme. That, I am afraid was Cullen. It wasn’t a bailout either. The company was wound up.
Mediaworks wasn’t a bailout. They changed the rules to make media companies pay up for the next 20 years or so in one go rather than yearly and then let them, at a very high and quite risk free interest rate, pay it off in something like 5 year chunks. That was actually a spectacularly good deal.
I wouldn’t have offered a deal to the Smelter.
I have never been sure what the Saudi deal was. I never comment on things about which I am ignorant.
It is very hard to see how a deal with Sky City cost New Zealand anything. We didn’t pay them anything and I assume we have some sort of a Convention Centre.
So no. National supporting the America’s Cup was stupid. The others, with the exception of the smelter weren’t.
What are the poor bloody tax-payers of New Zealand supposed to get out of that?
Development of the economy, particularly R&D in materials.
It’s just a pity that all those benefits will only accrue to a few rich people due to the way that capitalism works.
How many hip operations would that pay for?
None. It’s a different set of resources. Unless you want to forcefully retrain all boat builders and marine engineers into being doctors.
How many houses could you build?
Well, I suppose we could use it to support the training of a few unemployed into carpenters and plumbers. Or, perhaps, we could use the R&D from the race into producing better houses more cheaply.
How many trees could you plant.
Depends upon how many people that can be employed over what time frame.
What the hell do they think they are doing?
The same thing that governments all around the world think that they’re doing when they support these sorts of things – boosting the economy.
Unfortunately, they’re doing it wrong.
Far better to put that money directly into government research and then make the results of that research publicly available so that anyone can use it. That would actually develop the economy. The way that they’re doing it leaves the results developed in the hands of a few private individuals and prevents the overall development of the economy.
Put that money into supplying Councils with an allowance of $s to get some of their deferred jobs done as Task Force Green.
Offer maraes a set number of apprenticeships for some young people who would train and then would return and add value to the marae.
Fund the women’s refuges to run assertiveness training for the women and their children, and have workshops on goal setting and communication, and family outdoor camps. See if they can form little co-operatives to organise a project, run it successfully and have a certificate and trip to Wellington and the Beehive for the winners. Let’s have some recognition of movers, shakers and achievers at the grassroots level.
Invest in the people, so as to unlock the pathways to the mind and get thinking going at a higher level than just how to cope with the oppressing government that everyone thinks is supposed to be helping. Fund small initiatives, a small music tour, small personal initiatives, big outcomes. Get something going.
We had SHAs and they were prompting people to start housing initiatives different from the office blocks that are built for housing by present day developers. Then Labour is cancelling SHAs. No it isn’t. Well the information seems to be that… We can’t be sure yet, keep trying.
This is what is happening. A lack of commitment to getting ordinary people mixing in, putting their own muscle in – a fund of $100 million would produce a whole lot of small projects with multiplier effects, all round the country. But not as showy as the snobs want. The ordinary people are so boring, unstylish often not even picturesque, and probably not even picaresque.
Who do you think you are talking to Marty?
Your comment is numbered as being a reply to my original one but it then seems to be blaming me for something I never said.
You talk about “WE”. If you read what I actually wrote you will discover that I never once used the word “WE”. The closest I came to it is when I mentioned the “poor bloody tax-payers of New Zealand”.
Are all tax-payers “right wingers”?
Are all tax-payers “selfish pricks”?
What do you really mean Marty?
Or is the “WE” referring to yourself? Are you just a selfish prick?
What WE are you? Hmm definately a wee wee probably even a wee wee wee but I’m not into judgment. Are you a wee wee wee wee? Well we’ll let history be the judge of that I think alwyn.
Yep, 114m of taxpayers money to America’s cup is corporate welfare. They should raise the money themselves. It’s a sport for billionaires – get their wallets out. A tax on accomodation for example. Apparently the hotels raise up the prices to triple when there is an event on – they profit and they should pitch in to the sport that contributes to that profit.
I would be just as pissed off.
And yes I did complain about the Government, any Government, putting money into this foolish event at that time.
You can believe your first sentence if you like I suppose.
It certainly isn’t the way Parker is going on though, is it?
alwyn does post about spending on events using ratepayer or taxpayer money, even when National were in power. One issue where I find myself in agreement with him.
“Snowden should, in my opinion, be welcomed home with honors for his service to his country, and for his courage and integrity in the manner in which he performed this service. Apart from exceptional circumstances, citizens have every right to know what their government is doing, in particular what it is doing to them – in the present case, as Snowden revealed to us, keeping citizens under extensive and deeply intrusive surveillance.”—NOAM CHOMSKY, September 2014
“Heroes” is a series devoted to those courageous and brilliant people who show us that, in a world seemingly run by crooks, abusers, bullies, scoundrels, mass murderers and liars, there are still reasons for optimism.
Exactly. Also not doing west reputation any good when all these whistle blowers have to hide out in Russia or embassies because they the truth hurts and the west wants to shut that down.
Denmark is 1st.
( 1. Denmark – For the second consecutive year – and fifth time in eight years – Denmark has been declared the best country in the world to do business. Forbes said Denmark, one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world, ranks well for its personal and monetary freedom as well as low corruption. There are only four procedures needed to start a new business )
NZ 2nd, No details – was 1st in 2012.
Norway 3rd $67,200 GDP per capita 2nd highest in top 20.
Ireland 4th with 5.2% growth GDP.
Sweden 5th.
Could we match up to the description of Denmark’s attributes that have put it in top place many times?
I said that addressing child poverty will address adult poverty. You said child poverty could be reduced by excluding adults. I asked how. You said removing the children from those poor conditions was one option.
How do you interpret that discussion other than you suggesting that Labour might solve child poverty by rounding up the children of the poor?
After explaining to you (in the post before) how Labour are planning to largely exclude those in poverty that don’t have dependent children from the improvements they plan to make. I went on to answer your question, pointing out (one way and hypothetically of course) how a Government could avoid benefiting the parents of the children.
Which should have been clear as not only did I explain what Labour plan to do (and provided a link) I also agreed with you (up above) that the parents of the children will most likely gain in the improvements made under Labour.
Speaking of dodgy, I questioned you on your assertion that solving child poverty will solve almost all adult poverty. And you have yet to produce the numbers (how many people in poverty have dependent children, opposed to those in poverty that don’t?).
Another way the cash benefits could avoid going to the parents is free meals in schools. While those that can afford to feed their kids will make a little savings, those most hard up that can’t afford to feed their kids (thus send them to school hungry) won’t be able to save what they didn’t have to spend in the first place. Hence, apart from their kids being fed, there will be no fiscal benefit for them.
Has there been any article or links including white papers on this subject of labour wanting to take children off their parents. I don’t see how it would alleviate poverty for anyone – why do you like the idea?
Additionally, Marty, the notion isn’t totally unheard of.
Anne Neale, one of the report’s authors, said: “Charges of neglect are used to punish, especially single-mother families, for their unbearably low incomes.
Donna Clarke, whose granddaughter was taken from her teenage mother and handed to adoptive parents, will speak on Wednesday at the launch. She said families were being punished for living in poverty. “It is a form of social cleansing,” she said. “Vulnerable people are having their children taken away. It is all about them judging the risk of significant harm but if they spent the money on putting in the support that was needed many of these families would be able to keep their children.”
So you’re concerned that Labour will copy UK Tory social policies.
Although with the numbers needed to halve child poverty in NZ, it’s more the Aussie “Stolen Generation”.
I don’t need numbers if you can’t produce a method of helping kids without passing on some similar assistance to adults.
That thread started at you being concerned that Labour was only focussed on child poverty. You have yet to name a method that would manage to exclude adults from the resulting poverty reduction.
Free meals in schools will not increase the household income, so poverty levels will not change. Removing 100,000 kids from poor families is just a weird proposal – and will stimulate the foster care industry, anyway.
On the other hand, if 10,000 or 20,000 households got a boost in income in the most deprived areas of the country, that’s got to be good for economic activity in those areas. And therefore the poor adults in those areas. Maybe even almost all the poor adults.
What can’t be done is eliminating child poverty without knocking off the majority chunk of adult poverty. And even if you finally come up with a way of doing so, that just makes the decision to leave people poor more stark, making it easier to lobby for that final step.
“That thread started at you being concerned that Labour was only focussed on child poverty. You have yet to name a method that would manage to exclude adults from the resulting poverty reduction.”
Not sure what you are meaning there exactly, but I think it’s pretty obvious that Labour’s policies at the moment are targeting families with children, which by definition exclude adults without children and leave them in poverty.
Equally obviously, adults in families that have children will have poverty reduced.
Well, to extend the targeting terminology, I’d be impressed if they managed to relive the poverty of 100,000 or 200,000 children without a significant amount of collatoral damage – as in relieving the poverty of tens of thousands of adults not in households with dependent children.
People don’t live in a vacuum. There will have to be socioeconomic flow-on. It won’t solve all poverty, but it will solve more than enough to make the final step achievable and politically normal.
ah, the sideways seep theory. A trickle down theory for poor people.
Here’s how I would frame that. You poor, disabled people wait over there, we might get to you. Not sure how long that will be, sorry.
Just listened to a bit on RNZ about MMP. The guy was talking about how National did the major lifting on Treaty issues in the 90s despite that being against what some of the party and their own support based believed should happen (Bolger and Graham made the moves). So I think there are ways to implement things that are right and change the culture as you go.
That’s one way of framing it. I don’t think it’s particularly accurate, however.
National could progress the Treaty because it was against type. Labour poosting benefits to the living wage tomorrow would just hand 2020 on a plate to the tories, and they’d reverse it equally as quickly.
Implementing a policy that requires major change requires multi-government consistency. Labour or the nats working to far to their stereotype just encourages pushback by the following government.
I don’t think anyone has suggested lifting benefits to a living wage immediately. I get your general argument about the value of incremental change in establishing that change in society, but your example belies that.
We’re essentially arguing over two things. One is whether Labour can be trusted on this to be actually intending to lift all benefits and just isn’t talking about it for pragmatic reasons. The other is timeframes. Not sure how long is valid or reasonable.
Labour have (knowingly or unknowingly) put themselves into a corner to measure and solve poverty, not just child poverty. Voters will see homeless people in the street and go “didn’t the government promise to fix this?”
As soon as the government stop moving forward on issues like poverty, they will stagnate. I think NZ will move much further this time than under Lab5.
I was under the impression when people assert things as fact here they are obligated to back up their claim.
Raising family tax credits excludes those in poverty that don’t have dependent children.
Raising the income threshold for family tax credits excludes those in poverty that don’t have dependent children.
Giving all families with newborn babies an extra $60 a week “Best Start” payment for the first year, regardless of income, and for two further years on an income-tested basis, again does nothing for those in poverty that don’t have a newborn.
And these (above) are the ways Labour plan to directly exclude those in poverty without dependent children.
However, I agree, that indirectly (via the expected economic stimulus it will generate) some others may benefit. But how many and by what degree is yet to be established.
“What can’t be done is eliminating child poverty without knocking off the majority chunk of adult poverty “
Here you go again, stating an assertion as fact. How do you know eliminating child poverty will knock off the “majority” chunk of adult poverty? Where are your numbers to substantiate this claim?
Not every claim needs numbers. They simply require effort and patience.
For example, now you agree that Labour’s child poverty plan may benefit adults not in households that have dependent children, so it is merely the number of people and degree to which they will be assisted that we are quibbling over.
Well yours does if you want to substantiate the premiss of your argument.
While I agree to some extent that there may be some that will indirectly benefit, in this case, the degree to which people will benefit is vital to whether or not they are lifted out of poverty.
Which, of course, is an unknown at this stage.
Therefore, although some may benefit, we can’t affirmatively say the stimulus from the trickle down will lift any others out of poverty.
For example, employment opportunities may improve from the stimulus, but merely securing a job isn’t a guarantee one will be lifted out of poverty. Around half the kids in poverty today come from working families.
Then there are those that are unable to work, therefore a stimulus is unlikely to produce any mass difference for them.
There is one policy where Labour (and I like this one) may possibly have a major impact and that’s in their job creation policy of planting more trees.
However, and this is vital, if they fail to offer employees a living wage, the opportunity will be largely wasted.
Oh well, if we’re looking at policies beyond those revolving around families in need, it’s lucky there’s more than tree planting in things like the regional development policy, and then there’s the housing policy (lots of building jobs), paying employers the equivalent of the dole for every apprentice they take on, yadda yadda yadda.
“Trickle down” is the wrong way to put it – that was the theory that if you gave rich people more money, they’re throw some crumbs at the plebs.
My position is that income to poor families is more of a resource well – disadvantaged people have more kids (for a variety of reasons), and tend to clump together geographically (for a variety of reasons). They also have to spend their money more immediately and more directly in the local community (which is why GST is a regressive tax). Even in a modest amount, it’s actually a bloody good way of developing and rejuvenating depressed areas. If you give 2000 homes in a depressed region $60/wk more, that’s an extra half million dollars straight into the local economy every year. The equivalent of funding an SME.
England has to come up with some hard and acceptable proposal within the next week if they want to start trade talks with the rest of the EU. The three prereqs are:
#The Divorce Settlement Stg40-60M
#No Border in Ireland.
#Rights of EU and UK Citizens in each area.
The solution that works for the EU and Ireland is to put the border in the Irish Sea. While Northern Ireland will remain in the UK it will also remain in the Single Market and the Customs Union. This has the Unionist and Brexiteers spitting bile and racism on the pages of the Telegraph and Mail.
However the border in the Irish Sea looks acceptable even to the Unionist population.
from Slugger O’Toole
“In September, we asked a representative sample of the Northern Ireland population to react to the statement that: ‘People should be prepared to accept border controls between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, if this is agreed in the Brexit negotiations between the Government and the EU’.
Overall, 49% agreed with this, and 39% disagreed (with 12% neither agreeing or disagreeing). But, perhaps surprisingly, willingness to accept such controls was stronger among Leave voters (64% agreed), supporters of unionist parties (59%) and Protestants (54%).”
Camille Paglia: there’s no female Mozart because there’s no female Jack the Ripper. These gender traits go along together.
[CV, I’m going to ask you to not comment in that thread. There’s a long history on TS of problematic threads for women, and you’ve often been part of that. At the moment the focus is on TS becoming a place that is attractive and easily accessible for women to take part especially on issues that affect them directly. – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
“Irrigation, when carefully managed, is a “great boon” to the environment,” Environmental Protection Authority chief scientist Dr Jacqueline Rowarth says.
The devil is in the detail of what “carefully managed” means.
She then said, “The major problem with swimmability was with sediment and sediment problems were caused by forestry, construction, cropping and then pastoral. New Zealand’s rivers were some of the best in the world.”
Hmmmm……
She then stepped outside of her scientific expertise to become an economist and a political commentator.
“There was a large amount of water in New Zealand and most of it went “out to sea”.
“I wouldn’t be taxing it when it’s supporting the rest of the economy,” she said, referring to Labour’s pre-election plans for a water tax.”
Humanity’s adaptation to climate change will require novel, global cooperation and societal evolution. The award-winning science fiction author of 2312, the Mars Trilogy, and Aurora shares his vision for how the world must change in advance of his 02017 novel New York 2140. Hosted by Stewart Brand. From May 02016.
We have been hoodwinked by the likes of the ‘road transport forum’ and their CEO Ken Shirley this week.
This when he snarled at assusations from the daming report out on NZ rail vs road freight emissions, – showing road freight is the main culprit in climate change transport emissions.
This is all featured in this weeks listener, entitled on the front page as; “The great rail revial,- can we rid roads of killler trucks”
Apparently a report was prepared by EY a consultancy agency for Ministry of Transport and NZTA a year ago that meassured the emmissions of all transport systems and made road freight look so bad that it was somehow held back from being released by Treasury and the national party then or the ministry of transport or NZTA, so it paints a picture of National while in Government holding back important documentation we had a right to see released so we could get action sooner on climate change.
This is what we had long complained about with the Nats with holding evidence on so much stuff over the years including the panama papers, TPPA, Afganistan, Todd barclay and Winston peters leaked private information.
Now we see a laughable act of national jamming up labour MP’s with over 6000 questions claiming “it is our right to know what the Government are doing”!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am feardful that labour need to act strongly and foercefully now on climate change issues.
Consider ; Importance of rail.
All motorised transport produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2) one of the so called “greenhouse gases” that contribute to climate change.
Trains are an energy-efficient carrier of people and goods and hence produce
relatively less CO2 emissions per passenger than other modes.
Travelling by rail reduces your contribution to climate change. Emissions of CO2 per passenger/Km are, on average, approximately half that of travel by car.
In 1998 rail produced only 1% of the U.K’s total emissions, road transport meanwhile accounted for 23%
Climate change – Freight Transport
The majority of our freight in the UK travels by road. Switching some of this to rail would result in a dramatic reduction in CO2 emissions. Carrying freight by rail results in an 80% cut in CO2 emissions per Kilogram carried compared to road haulage.
Public Health
Up to 24,000 vulnerable people are estimated to die prematurely each year because of poor air-quality and transport is a major contributor to this problem through engine exhaust emissions.
Although rail carries 7% of U.K traffic it emits only 0.2% of Carbon Monoxide, 2% of Nitrous Oxide, 1% of Volatile Organic Compounds and 2.5% of Sulphur Dioxide emissions
Electric trains are also pollution free at point of use, and do not contribute to localised air quality problems in urban centres.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Opinion: New Health NZ commissioner Lester Levy is authorised to assume operational leadership – chief executive Margie Apa is effectively relegated to his operational deputy The post All-powerful Levy is feudal baron of a $28b fiefdom appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Actions speak louder than words.
The New Zealand police are being hailed by the corporate media for a ‘hilarious video to lure recruits.’ The video was ‘ was targeted at 18- to 24-year-olds, women, Māori, Pacific Islanders, and people from all other ethnicities and backgrounds “to better reflect the communities we serve”.’ according to the police.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11948014
Pity then the police act like this then in South Auckland against Tongan supporters.
‘We witnessed this @nzpolice man aggressively grab 2 #Tongan flags out the hands of the occupants of this moving car, then snap the flag poles & walk off. When confronted for an explanation, he signalled to 3 more officers to talk to the occupants. Disgusting.’
‘My 15 year old daughter just got her flagpole taken off her by the police because said it might be used as a weapon . I’m furious this racist heavy handed policing had killed off the community coming out to celebrate together ‘
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/26-11-2017/it-felt-like-they-were-in-a-riot-mode-police-tactics-turn-ugly-in-otahuhu/
More from that article.
‘Papatoetoe resident Ema Tavola was in Otāhuhu last night, and described the atmosphere as “something I had really been looking forward to, to see my community in such a happy state.” She was alarmed at the large police presence.
“It felt like they were in a riot mode. They definitely wanted their presence to be felt in a really assertive way. Their presence was aggressive and didn’t feel like they were there to support the energy, which was really disappointing.”’
‘The aggressive style of policing contrasted markedly with the friendly facilitation of the Lions tour, and the swiftly-planned community events which followed the America’s Cup win. Tavola lamented the way they dealt with the crowd’s Tongan flags, which had become the enduring image of the tournament.
“The manner in which flags were ripped out of people’s hands and broken was a really aggressive way of saying ‘we’re in charge’. That’s not how you broker safety with a community, that’s how you intimidate people.”
That kind of policing is really going to recruit from a diverse sector of the population.
Our friends in the corporate media have a lot to answer for too.
‘Many people have voiced concerns about the portrayal of Tongan and Pacific Island supporters in the media, which they feel has exacerbated the police response.’
The police should be in touch with the population they work within and what the mosh pit of the media says should be just part of their understanding of the situation, not a main ‘intelligence’ source.
I remember that dopey farmer-type with a sign about Jacinda being a pretty communist or something. He had two poles on his sign and was being provocative – I wonder did he have his poles snatched and broken?
“Actions speak louder than words.”
Indeed, when the opening shots, forgive the pun, feature the NZ Police Summary Execution Squad…. https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2017/11/under-fire/
As for the rest of the recruitment video, I must be getting crankier in my advancing years because I found it adolescent.
Pretty much sums up the culture and mindset of the boyz and girlz of the NZ Police.
I must be getting crankier in my advancing years because I found it adolescent.
An amateurish performance all round.
Another day, another whingeing comment from the Soper household.
Yesterday it was Heather.
Today it’s Barry.
And the Herald continues its relentless whining about the new government. ‘Granny’ Herald sounds more like ‘grumpy right wing’ Herald.
It’s a pity that these RWNJs cannot take in the fact that they have lost the election.
Those spiteful losers, born-to-govern attitude will continue to come to the surface.
100% Johan,
National were indictrinated by S Joyce into a brainwashed state of believing they were “invincible” but here comes the crunch.
Labour are doing a deep auditing of the finacial books of the National MPs activities
Goinng back nine years and anomilies are being found so national MPs are sitting nerviously waiting for the phone to ring nbecause they dont know how deep the financial auditing is going on.
They may be found out using public funding inappropriately and be charged with fraud.
I am not privy to the specifics here but labour are finding some interseting stuff we are informed.
So the Nat’s MPs are trying to construct a diversion to take the heat off themselves.
Barry Soper characterises as wasteful Pike River decision making intended to be evidence based. It’s not encouraging that Soper conflates Key’s duplicitous disaster milking with respect for evidence. His claim – “Essentially it doesn’t advance the issue greatly from when National was running the shop, safety has always been the key.” The article otherwise ? Facile. So Barry and Heather……especially the headline.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11947781
“Essentially it doesn’t advance the issue greatly from when National was running the shop, safety has always been the key.”
I think Soper’s confused: “safety” and “arse-covering” are two different things.
Yep, Barry’s turn today. A very poorly constructed piece of journalism from “Newstalk ZB’s Political Editor”.
“Say anything slightly critical of Jacinda Ardern and you do so at your peril. The social media trolls, or at least those who live in the Labour cave, can’t abide anything close to criticism of the woman anointed by Winston Peters just over a month ago and who, not surprisingly Donald Trump thought was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s missus.
What? Tortured nonsense.
“So with her obviously not in mind there have been a couple of decisions made by her subordinates over the past week that have, or will, dip into the taxpayers’ pockets, raising a few eyebrows”.
So it’s not about Ardern then, but the headline – “Barry Soper: Criticise Jacinda Ardern At Your Peril” – screams that it is. Confused? I am.
The opening paragraph (which the provocative headline has been based on) stands in isolation as there are no supporting references in the piece itself. Soper doesn’t even seem to understand the meaning of the term “troll” and what trolls do. But maybe he does and it’s just a lazy way to score some points.
What trolls? What cave? Where are some examples of this “can’t abide anything close to criticism”? There aren’t any.
It reads like something thrown together without conviction or deep thought. So I guess it’s business as usual then.
Well said GA. The troll is Soper going by the article.
“What trolls? What cave? Where are some examples of this “can’t abide anything close to criticism”? There aren’t any.”
Oh the irony .
Lol from you that is funny
Oh the funny irony..
Your wit is showing halfly
“There aren’t any” is referring to Soper not providing any examples to back up his claim. Citation needed.
The social media trolls, or at least those who live in the Labour cave, can’t abide anything close to criticism of [Jacinda Ardern]…
Oh noes! Have they started calling anyone who criticises her a sufferer of Ardern Derangement Syndrome or something? That would be terrible!
Some of these columnists look to be feeling the heat, Duncan Garner was moaning about the flak he was getting on social media too.
Perhaps Soper might want to ask himself why he needs to criticise Ardern in the first place.
Perhaps you could read why he was?
Yep he was racist and got called out didn’t he.
Why he was what James?
Perhaps Garner needs to ask himself why he’s getting flak. Here’s a clue – Taika Waititi “treasonous” according to him.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2017/10/duncan-garner-taika-waititi-threw-nz-under-the-bus.html.
Get the puffed up vainglory and the ‘look at ME look at ME’ of Garner will ya’.
This is a diversion as labour are carrying out a deep audit of the financial books of the last nine years and finding some stark interesting stuff so national MP’s are shitting themselves now and taking the heat off them is there first call, so that’s why they are ‘freaking out’ now, I feel so so sorry for them now.
They must feel as we did under their rule as squashed in a ‘sardine can’ for the last nine years of torment.
Yep sour faces all round at the Allen house. Plastic road markers make more sense and offer viable commentary comparred to their horror house of horseshit.
😆
Ed (2) … NZH and it’s pathetic columnists (note not journalists) are still dancing to the tune of its major benefactor Natz. So obviously orchestrated by Joyce.
NZH, Natz a pair of prickly sore losers!
well said mary-a.
Joyce is freakingout as they have something on hhis $11.7 billion hole now.
I have a belief he has left some dabts undeclared.
I believe he knows it, as it is his fault, so he probably has undeclared debts he amassed and left for labour.
The issue for Soper and his ilk, is that now they are no longer in the inner sanctum they have no relevance. Don’t feed them and they wither and die.
This is it. They don’t have the same access to the decision-makers which was a process fostered by the corrupt Nats. The only people they can get exclusives from now is the opposition.
Here’s a suggestion – why not try to build trusting relationships with government ministers? That is part of their job.
Our Farmers are the envy of OUR world and We have to help feed all the people of OUR. So we can’t make changes that dramatically reduce there out put. Now all the talk of our world having a food shortage will come true in the near future. So we need to invest in research on Organic farming as this type of farming boost our topsoil and more topsoil is what we need to my coal could be used to boost our topsoil I’m not sure they used charcoal in the past.
It was about 25 before I learned that I was cack handed I can use both hands just as good while working so in any job I all ways catch up to the fastest person. I’m going to learn the Taiaha and increase my skills and Mana.
But I cannot write with both hands as my writing is bad my granddaughter writing is better Many thanks to OUR New coalition government for doing a excellent job great that you gave OUR young people that are studying a rise in income they are our future. I’m off to work now I wonder what my view escorts have planed for me today. Kia kaha
Quite a few people have written that we are returning to the medieval feudalism
brought on by the Neo-Cons. Well, it is now happening.
https://renegadeinc.com/britains-ifeudalism/
Many thanks to breakfast for showing all the positive effects that a well funded railway system will have on NZ Ka pai
Is this National’s way of indirectly implying Labour should have increased core benefit rates? Or are they merely implying Labour shouldn’t have increased student allowances?
As for their concern, the safeguards are there. And they should know as they installed them.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/11/national-claims-jobless-will-pretend-to-be-students-for-money.html
‘…sensible beneficary taking advantage…’
That sums up the gnat false concern – and the way they work – scums
Anyone moving from the Job Seeker Support to Student Allowance would lose their Accomodation Supplement, so they wouldn’t be all that better off anyway. No caviar and Meet just yet…
Exactly. Which further brings into question what exactly are National on about?
Best laugh you’ll have all day,
According to Judith Collins it was Kiwirail’s responsibility to release the NZTA report commissioned in 2016 that highlights the $1.5 billion of benefits that investment in passenger and freight rail brings to the economy EVERY YEAR!
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/11/trains-save-nz-1-5-billion-a-year-report.html
National’s agenda was to close down the rail network and sell it for scrap.
More like cheaply to mates.
Wasn’t there an idea of using the line to Gisborne or Napier for a cycle track for overseas visitors ?
Another case of going forward with the latest money-maker and bugger the rest of the population and the services they need.
Has anyone noticed that everything seems to be important for overseas folks like cycle ways, but for the local community who are paying rates and taxes there seems to be a general reluctance to invest in public services for recreation for locals?
In Auckland just getting the parks or lawns mown seems to be an issue.They hate it so much they try to pave every square inch and then dig it up every 2 minutes for piecemeal infrastructure, first metro water, then chorus, then new paving, then cycleway then repeat and create traffic and walking chaos and little paving patches littered all around. (p.s. grass is cheap, permeable and easy to dig up, but clearly out of vogue for the last 30 years). Then they wonder why there is so much flooding. Go figure!
Last year went to Long Bay regional park in Auckland where they are doing MASSIVE multimillion dollar development with property and the beach was absolutely full of people, every square inch taken, it was like Europe with 3rd world planning, all the parking was taken and then people were parking on areas that had meter high lawn growth. Nobody bothered to mow the lawns over the holidays.
The council takes the money from the development but does not seem to understand that they that means more people and more money needed for public services and actually more recreational areas. If they don’t want to pay for this, don’t develop and put more people there!
In typical neoliberalism they take money in at one end of the council for one budget and then starve the other end and since it’s someone else’s budget they don’t seem to be able to link up the two. They will be coining it for rates but who knows where it is going – gold paving? road maintainance? America’s cup? Consultants on stadiums, Lawyer mates? CEO wages?
Drove one hour in Auckland yesterday. There was 2 detours, around 4 roadworks digging up the road or verge. And we only have 4 million people and some people want 35 million! A generation will spend their entire lives in roadworks, who knows what it will do to health.
The local economy for business is suffering as nobody wants to navigate through Auckland anymore. I’m sure lovely for big business like hotels and casino’s for tourists who never need leave central Auckland, so why worry? sarcasm.
bang on savenz,
Make tourists pay for their way here, we dont need ‘free-loaders” high-jacking us here.
We want equal rights as a safe low cost place to live and enjoy with our children and families thanks.
Are the current Government really planning to give $114 million to Grant Dalton and his millionaire mates in order to have the ultimate rich men’s toys race around the Waitemata Harbour?
That is $114,000,000.00 when you write it right out.
What are the poor bloody tax-payers of New Zealand supposed to get out of that? Apart that is from drinkies for the Politicians on Superyachts while the event is on.
How many hip operations would that pay for?
How many houses could you build?
How many trees could you plant.
What the hell do they think they are doing?
Let the bloody thing go to The Emirates. Anyone who wants to can watch it on TV. That is as close as a normal New Zealander is going to get anyway.
No doubt you’d prefer the government to give the money to the House of Saud so they can build an America’s Cup racetrack in the desert?
Your comment apparently must mean something to you.
God knows what and he isn’t talking.
“Right wing altruism rockets upwards under PM Ardern.”
What I was trying to say Alwyn, before I dashed off to work, was that given the Sth Canterbury Finance, Mediaworks and Tiwai Point bailouts and the Saudi Sheep Deal debacle and the incredibly close relationship with SkyCity, anyone who supported the previous government is in no position to criticise the current government of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.
As far as they go.
I would never have included SCF in the guarantee in the first place. Once they were in there was no way to avoid paying out or dropping them from the scheme. That, I am afraid was Cullen. It wasn’t a bailout either. The company was wound up.
Mediaworks wasn’t a bailout. They changed the rules to make media companies pay up for the next 20 years or so in one go rather than yearly and then let them, at a very high and quite risk free interest rate, pay it off in something like 5 year chunks. That was actually a spectacularly good deal.
I wouldn’t have offered a deal to the Smelter.
I have never been sure what the Saudi deal was. I never comment on things about which I am ignorant.
It is very hard to see how a deal with Sky City cost New Zealand anything. We didn’t pay them anything and I assume we have some sort of a Convention Centre.
So no. National supporting the America’s Cup was stupid. The others, with the exception of the smelter weren’t.
In total agreement with you on this Alwyn.
Development of the economy, particularly R&D in materials.
It’s just a pity that all those benefits will only accrue to a few rich people due to the way that capitalism works.
None. It’s a different set of resources. Unless you want to forcefully retrain all boat builders and marine engineers into being doctors.
Well, I suppose we could use it to support the training of a few unemployed into carpenters and plumbers. Or, perhaps, we could use the R&D from the race into producing better houses more cheaply.
Depends upon how many people that can be employed over what time frame.
The same thing that governments all around the world think that they’re doing when they support these sorts of things – boosting the economy.
Unfortunately, they’re doing it wrong.
Far better to put that money directly into government research and then make the results of that research publicly available so that anyone can use it. That would actually develop the economy. The way that they’re doing it leaves the results developed in the hands of a few private individuals and prevents the overall development of the economy.
Put that money into supplying Councils with an allowance of $s to get some of their deferred jobs done as Task Force Green.
Offer maraes a set number of apprenticeships for some young people who would train and then would return and add value to the marae.
Fund the women’s refuges to run assertiveness training for the women and their children, and have workshops on goal setting and communication, and family outdoor camps. See if they can form little co-operatives to organise a project, run it successfully and have a certificate and trip to Wellington and the Beehive for the winners. Let’s have some recognition of movers, shakers and achievers at the grassroots level.
Invest in the people, so as to unlock the pathways to the mind and get thinking going at a higher level than just how to cope with the oppressing government that everyone thinks is supposed to be helping. Fund small initiatives, a small music tour, small personal initiatives, big outcomes. Get something going.
We had SHAs and they were prompting people to start housing initiatives different from the office blocks that are built for housing by present day developers. Then Labour is cancelling SHAs. No it isn’t. Well the information seems to be that… We can’t be sure yet, keep trying.
This is what is happening. A lack of commitment to getting ordinary people mixing in, putting their own muscle in – a fund of $100 million would produce a whole lot of small projects with multiplier effects, all round the country. But not as showy as the snobs want. The ordinary people are so boring, unstylish often not even picturesque, and probably not even picaresque.
What do we get ? What do WE get. Typical right winger – selfish pricks
Who do you think you are talking to Marty?
Your comment is numbered as being a reply to my original one but it then seems to be blaming me for something I never said.
You talk about “WE”. If you read what I actually wrote you will discover that I never once used the word “WE”. The closest I came to it is when I mentioned the “poor bloody tax-payers of New Zealand”.
Are all tax-payers “right wingers”?
Are all tax-payers “selfish pricks”?
What do you really mean Marty?
Or is the “WE” referring to yourself? Are you just a selfish prick?
What WE are you? Hmm definately a wee wee probably even a wee wee wee but I’m not into judgment. Are you a wee wee wee wee? Well we’ll let history be the judge of that I think alwyn.
Would someone please wipe the little chap’s mouth.
He is dribbling down his pinafore again.
‘ and with that one last statement the 2nd age of the dinosaurs ended – known as the moaning epoch it was thankfully very short.’
100% mm,
To many negative nat’s around tioday, they need to get over loosing eh!
Yep, 114m of taxpayers money to America’s cup is corporate welfare. They should raise the money themselves. It’s a sport for billionaires – get their wallets out. A tax on accomodation for example. Apparently the hotels raise up the prices to triple when there is an event on – they profit and they should pitch in to the sport that contributes to that profit.
Considering the timing these negotiations and agreement were probably done under National and this government’s just supported that agreement.
So, would you have been just pissed of about this if National were still in power? Did you, as a matter of fact, complain when National supported the previous America’s Cup challenge?
I would be just as pissed off.
And yes I did complain about the Government, any Government, putting money into this foolish event at that time.
You can believe your first sentence if you like I suppose.
It certainly isn’t the way Parker is going on though, is it?
alwyn does post about spending on events using ratepayer or taxpayer money, even when National were in power. One issue where I find myself in agreement with him.
Good stuff molly,
Where was the “user pays policy” when we need one.
Heroes
No. 1: EDWARD SNOWDEN
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/edward-snowden-interview-there-is-still-hope-a-1166752.html
“Heroes” is a series devoted to those courageous and brilliant people who show us that, in a world seemingly run by crooks, abusers, bullies, scoundrels, mass murderers and liars, there are still reasons for optimism.
Exactly. Also not doing west reputation any good when all these whistle blowers have to hide out in Russia or embassies because they the truth hurts and the west wants to shut that down.
Snowden et al risked all to get the truth out there.
Look forward to more info from you on this topic. Excellent stuff you are producing Morrissey (9). Many thanks.
Thanks for your kind thoughts, mary.
https://media.tenor.com/images/1d37fae7c763ec15d88031819fae348c/tenor.gif
1000% there to mary-a
We need to celebrate our freedom fighters now.
+1
Looking through The Telegraph list of the 20 best countries to do business in the world, with lovely scenic pics to go with each listing. Don’t know which year the info refers to – could be 2015 or 2016.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/12051361/Revealed-The-20-best-countries-in-the-world-to-do-business.html?frame=endScreen
Denmark is 1st.
( 1. Denmark – For the second consecutive year – and fifth time in eight years – Denmark has been declared the best country in the world to do business. Forbes said Denmark, one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world, ranks well for its personal and monetary freedom as well as low corruption. There are only four procedures needed to start a new business )
NZ 2nd, No details – was 1st in 2012.
Norway 3rd $67,200 GDP per capita 2nd highest in top 20.
Ireland 4th with 5.2% growth GDP.
Sweden 5th.
Could we match up to the description of Denmark’s attributes that have put it in top place many times?
Council says it will be more than 10 years before all of its 2300 houses and units would meet its own WOF standards.
The council is in the middle of a 20-year, $400 million upgrade programme, expected to be finished by 2028.
However, MacLean said even some of the housing upgraded since the programme started in 2008 may not tick all the boxes.
The WOF standards were “demanding”, but every property was expected to meet the standards by the end of the upgrade programme, he said.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99203316/council-flats-would-fail-rental-wof-they-ought-to-fix-their-own-properties-first
Open and transparent or shady and dodgy?
Where has the 38 page addendum gone?
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/11/government-insists-there-is-no-secret-document-with-nz-first.html
Speaking of dodgy, just a wee reminder that you’ve yet to explain how Labour might solve child poverty by taking tens of thousands of children from their parents.
I wasn’t explaining how Labour might solve child poverty. That’s largely already out there. I was merely answering a question you put forward.
OK, well, when Labour start rounding up the children of poor people in order to meet their child poverty reduction target, I’ll believe your answer.
That wasn’t the question nor was it what my answer was referring too.
So why are you attempting to tar me and mislead other readers?
The link is above.
I said that addressing child poverty will address adult poverty. You said child poverty could be reduced by excluding adults. I asked how. You said removing the children from those poor conditions was one option.
How do you interpret that discussion other than you suggesting that Labour might solve child poverty by rounding up the children of the poor?
No.
After explaining to you (in the post before) how Labour are planning to largely exclude those in poverty that don’t have dependent children from the improvements they plan to make. I went on to answer your question, pointing out (one way and hypothetically of course) how a Government could avoid benefiting the parents of the children.
Which should have been clear as not only did I explain what Labour plan to do (and provided a link) I also agreed with you (up above) that the parents of the children will most likely gain in the improvements made under Labour.
Speaking of dodgy, I questioned you on your assertion that solving child poverty will solve almost all adult poverty. And you have yet to produce the numbers (how many people in poverty have dependent children, opposed to those in poverty that don’t?).
Another way the cash benefits could avoid going to the parents is free meals in schools. While those that can afford to feed their kids will make a little savings, those most hard up that can’t afford to feed their kids (thus send them to school hungry) won’t be able to save what they didn’t have to spend in the first place. Hence, apart from their kids being fed, there will be no fiscal benefit for them.
Has there been any article or links including white papers on this subject of labour wanting to take children off their parents. I don’t see how it would alleviate poverty for anyone – why do you like the idea?
“Why do you like the idea?”
I don’t.
“Has there been any article or links including white papers on this subject of labour wanting to take children off their parents.”
Not to my knowledge. I posted a link on what Labour largely plan to do.
Here it is again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11942007
Don’t what? You’re promoting the idea ffs
“Don’t what?”
Like the idea.
I wasn’t promoting it. I was merely answering a question, providing an example of how it could be done.
So you say you’re not and then you do. Lowering the bar again I see. Hmmm…
Additionally, Marty, the notion isn’t totally unheard of.
Anne Neale, one of the report’s authors, said: “Charges of neglect are used to punish, especially single-mother families, for their unbearably low incomes.
Donna Clarke, whose granddaughter was taken from her teenage mother and handed to adoptive parents, will speak on Wednesday at the launch. She said families were being punished for living in poverty. “It is a form of social cleansing,” she said. “Vulnerable people are having their children taken away. It is all about them judging the risk of significant harm but if they spent the money on putting in the support that was needed many of these families would be able to keep their children.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/18/children-parents-foster-social-care-families-adoption
So you’re concerned that Labour will copy UK Tory social policies.
Although with the numbers needed to halve child poverty in NZ, it’s more the Aussie “Stolen Generation”.
I don’t need numbers if you can’t produce a method of helping kids without passing on some similar assistance to adults.
That thread started at you being concerned that Labour was only focussed on child poverty. You have yet to name a method that would manage to exclude adults from the resulting poverty reduction.
Free meals in schools will not increase the household income, so poverty levels will not change. Removing 100,000 kids from poor families is just a weird proposal – and will stimulate the foster care industry, anyway.
On the other hand, if 10,000 or 20,000 households got a boost in income in the most deprived areas of the country, that’s got to be good for economic activity in those areas. And therefore the poor adults in those areas. Maybe even almost all the poor adults.
What can’t be done is eliminating child poverty without knocking off the majority chunk of adult poverty. And even if you finally come up with a way of doing so, that just makes the decision to leave people poor more stark, making it easier to lobby for that final step.
“That thread started at you being concerned that Labour was only focussed on child poverty. You have yet to name a method that would manage to exclude adults from the resulting poverty reduction.”
Not sure what you are meaning there exactly, but I think it’s pretty obvious that Labour’s policies at the moment are targeting families with children, which by definition exclude adults without children and leave them in poverty.
Equally obviously, adults in families that have children will have poverty reduced.
That’s two different sets of adults.
I assume that TC was referring to the first.
Well, to extend the targeting terminology, I’d be impressed if they managed to relive the poverty of 100,000 or 200,000 children without a significant amount of collatoral damage – as in relieving the poverty of tens of thousands of adults not in households with dependent children.
People don’t live in a vacuum. There will have to be socioeconomic flow-on. It won’t solve all poverty, but it will solve more than enough to make the final step achievable and politically normal.
ah, the sideways seep theory. A trickle down theory for poor people.
Here’s how I would frame that. You poor, disabled people wait over there, we might get to you. Not sure how long that will be, sorry.
Just listened to a bit on RNZ about MMP. The guy was talking about how National did the major lifting on Treaty issues in the 90s despite that being against what some of the party and their own support based believed should happen (Bolger and Graham made the moves). So I think there are ways to implement things that are right and change the culture as you go.
That’s one way of framing it. I don’t think it’s particularly accurate, however.
National could progress the Treaty because it was against type. Labour poosting benefits to the living wage tomorrow would just hand 2020 on a plate to the tories, and they’d reverse it equally as quickly.
Implementing a policy that requires major change requires multi-government consistency. Labour or the nats working to far to their stereotype just encourages pushback by the following government.
I don’t think anyone has suggested lifting benefits to a living wage immediately. I get your general argument about the value of incremental change in establishing that change in society, but your example belies that.
We’re essentially arguing over two things. One is whether Labour can be trusted on this to be actually intending to lift all benefits and just isn’t talking about it for pragmatic reasons. The other is timeframes. Not sure how long is valid or reasonable.
On either point I’m not too worried.
Labour have (knowingly or unknowingly) put themselves into a corner to measure and solve poverty, not just child poverty. Voters will see homeless people in the street and go “didn’t the government promise to fix this?”
As soon as the government stop moving forward on issues like poverty, they will stagnate. I think NZ will move much further this time than under Lab5.
“I don’t need numbers …”
I was under the impression when people assert things as fact here they are obligated to back up their claim.
Raising family tax credits excludes those in poverty that don’t have dependent children.
Raising the income threshold for family tax credits excludes those in poverty that don’t have dependent children.
Giving all families with newborn babies an extra $60 a week “Best Start” payment for the first year, regardless of income, and for two further years on an income-tested basis, again does nothing for those in poverty that don’t have a newborn.
And these (above) are the ways Labour plan to directly exclude those in poverty without dependent children.
However, I agree, that indirectly (via the expected economic stimulus it will generate) some others may benefit. But how many and by what degree is yet to be established.
“What can’t be done is eliminating child poverty without knocking off the majority chunk of adult poverty “
Here you go again, stating an assertion as fact. How do you know eliminating child poverty will knock off the “majority” chunk of adult poverty? Where are your numbers to substantiate this claim?
Not every claim needs numbers. They simply require effort and patience.
For example, now you agree that Labour’s child poverty plan may benefit adults not in households that have dependent children, so it is merely the number of people and degree to which they will be assisted that we are quibbling over.
Incrementalism well illustrated, I think.
“Not every claim needs numbers”
Well yours does if you want to substantiate the premiss of your argument.
While I agree to some extent that there may be some that will indirectly benefit, in this case, the degree to which people will benefit is vital to whether or not they are lifted out of poverty.
Which, of course, is an unknown at this stage.
Therefore, although some may benefit, we can’t affirmatively say the stimulus from the trickle down will lift any others out of poverty.
For example, employment opportunities may improve from the stimulus, but merely securing a job isn’t a guarantee one will be lifted out of poverty. Around half the kids in poverty today come from working families.
Then there are those that are unable to work, therefore a stimulus is unlikely to produce any mass difference for them.
There is one policy where Labour (and I like this one) may possibly have a major impact and that’s in their job creation policy of planting more trees.
However, and this is vital, if they fail to offer employees a living wage, the opportunity will be largely wasted.
Oh well, if we’re looking at policies beyond those revolving around families in need, it’s lucky there’s more than tree planting in things like the regional development policy, and then there’s the housing policy (lots of building jobs), paying employers the equivalent of the dole for every apprentice they take on, yadda yadda yadda.
“Trickle down” is the wrong way to put it – that was the theory that if you gave rich people more money, they’re throw some crumbs at the plebs.
My position is that income to poor families is more of a resource well – disadvantaged people have more kids (for a variety of reasons), and tend to clump together geographically (for a variety of reasons). They also have to spend their money more immediately and more directly in the local community (which is why GST is a regressive tax). Even in a modest amount, it’s actually a bloody good way of developing and rejuvenating depressed areas. If you give 2000 homes in a depressed region $60/wk more, that’s an extra half million dollars straight into the local economy every year. The equivalent of funding an SME.
Brexit…tick…tock
England has to come up with some hard and acceptable proposal within the next week if they want to start trade talks with the rest of the EU. The three prereqs are:
#The Divorce Settlement Stg40-60M
#No Border in Ireland.
#Rights of EU and UK Citizens in each area.
The solution that works for the EU and Ireland is to put the border in the Irish Sea. While Northern Ireland will remain in the UK it will also remain in the Single Market and the Customs Union. This has the Unionist and Brexiteers spitting bile and racism on the pages of the Telegraph and Mail.
However the border in the Irish Sea looks acceptable even to the Unionist population.
from Slugger O’Toole
“In September, we asked a representative sample of the Northern Ireland population to react to the statement that: ‘People should be prepared to accept border controls between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, if this is agreed in the Brexit negotiations between the Government and the EU’.
Overall, 49% agreed with this, and 39% disagreed (with 12% neither agreeing or disagreeing). But, perhaps surprisingly, willingness to accept such controls was stronger among Leave voters (64% agreed), supporters of unionist parties (59%) and Protestants (54%).”
https://sluggerotoole.com/2017/11/26/exclusive-poll-unionist-supporters-content-with-east-west-post-brexit-border-controls/
Camille Paglia: there’s no female Mozart because there’s no female Jack the Ripper. These gender traits go along together.
[CV, I’m going to ask you to not comment in that thread. There’s a long history on TS of problematic threads for women, and you’ve often been part of that. At the moment the focus is on TS becoming a place that is attractive and easily accessible for women to take part especially on issues that affect them directly. – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Well I dunno about that: https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-female-serial-killers/reference
Camille Paglia is an authoritative source on gender.
Weka: so now a man cannot now comment on a post written by a man about men and the historical creative contribution of men?
[2 week ban. Time enough to have a think about what I said in my comment and not give me disingenuous shit about it. – weka]
Someone should tell Wang Jie she doesn’t exist.
Rowarth is a corrupt and compromised scientists.
I’d love to know who sponsors her research.
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/farming/epa-chief-scientist-says-irrigation-good-environment
“Irrigation, when carefully managed, is a “great boon” to the environment,” Environmental Protection Authority chief scientist Dr Jacqueline Rowarth says.
The devil is in the detail of what “carefully managed” means.
She then said, “The major problem with swimmability was with sediment and sediment problems were caused by forestry, construction, cropping and then pastoral. New Zealand’s rivers were some of the best in the world.”
Hmmmm……
She then stepped outside of her scientific expertise to become an economist and a political commentator.
“There was a large amount of water in New Zealand and most of it went “out to sea”.
“I wouldn’t be taxing it when it’s supporting the rest of the economy,” she said, referring to Labour’s pre-election plans for a water tax.”
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/ghahraman_defended_not_prosecuted_the_genociders_in_rwanda.html
https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2017/11/golriz-ghahraman-defender-human-rights-genocidal-maniacs/
Normally wouldn’t link to whaleoil but its mostly screen grabs of twitter and its backed up by kiwiblog but Phil Quin certainly isn’t a happy chappy
You can’t have a successful trial without defence lawyers, or the rest of the court staff. Farrar and Slater are trash, but what’s your excuse?
Its more that shes wasn’t exactly forth coming with what she actually did as opposed to what she did
What part of putting someone on trial* doesn’t involve defence lawyers? It’s more that you’re clutching at straws.
*the term used in her resume.
Actually you seem to exclusively link to them – ah well gotta do what you gotta do….
Kim Stanley Robinson discusses how climate change will affect capitalism and society:
https://theinterval.org/salon-talks/02016/may/11/how-climate-will-evolve-government-and-society
Humanity’s adaptation to climate change will require novel, global cooperation and societal evolution. The award-winning science fiction author of 2312, the Mars Trilogy, and Aurora shares his vision for how the world must change in advance of his 02017 novel New York 2140. Hosted by Stewart Brand. From May 02016.
An example from today of another nappy being peed in.
“Has any Government every[sic] been so secretive and arrogant after just one month in office?”
We have been hoodwinked by the likes of the ‘road transport forum’ and their CEO Ken Shirley this week.
This when he snarled at assusations from the daming report out on NZ rail vs road freight emissions, – showing road freight is the main culprit in climate change transport emissions.
This is all featured in this weeks listener, entitled on the front page as; “The great rail revial,- can we rid roads of killler trucks”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99257012/rail-has-saved-new-zealand-15b-a-year-study-shows
Apparently a report was prepared by EY a consultancy agency for Ministry of Transport and NZTA a year ago that meassured the emmissions of all transport systems and made road freight look so bad that it was somehow held back from being released by Treasury and the national party then or the ministry of transport or NZTA, so it paints a picture of National while in Government holding back important documentation we had a right to see released so we could get action sooner on climate change.
This is what we had long complained about with the Nats with holding evidence on so much stuff over the years including the panama papers, TPPA, Afganistan, Todd barclay and Winston peters leaked private information.
Now we see a laughable act of national jamming up labour MP’s with over 6000 questions claiming “it is our right to know what the Government are doing”!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am feardful that labour need to act strongly and foercefully now on climate change issues.
Consider ; Importance of rail.
All motorised transport produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2) one of the so called “greenhouse gases” that contribute to climate change.
Trains are an energy-efficient carrier of people and goods and hence produce
relatively less CO2 emissions per passenger than other modes.
Travelling by rail reduces your contribution to climate change. Emissions of CO2 per passenger/Km are, on average, approximately half that of travel by car.
In 1998 rail produced only 1% of the U.K’s total emissions, road transport meanwhile accounted for 23%
Climate change – Freight Transport
The majority of our freight in the UK travels by road. Switching some of this to rail would result in a dramatic reduction in CO2 emissions. Carrying freight by rail results in an 80% cut in CO2 emissions per Kilogram carried compared to road haulage.
Public Health
Up to 24,000 vulnerable people are estimated to die prematurely each year because of poor air-quality and transport is a major contributor to this problem through engine exhaust emissions.
Although rail carries 7% of U.K traffic it emits only 0.2% of Carbon Monoxide, 2% of Nitrous Oxide, 1% of Volatile Organic Compounds and 2.5% of Sulphur Dioxide emissions
Electric trains are also pollution free at point of use, and do not contribute to localised air quality problems in urban centres.