Once there was a proud nation which lead the world in so many ways.
A few to remember …
. first to have all adults voting.
. welfare state to look after its disadvantaged.
. in the vanguard of anti-apartheid movement.
. stopped the atmospheric weapon testing in the Pacific and then championed the anti-nuclear movement and gave hope to many other nations.
. developed an independent foreign policy.
. introduced an ETS scheme.
. developed a world leading education system.
But what leadership has it had since 2008?
Well for starters,
. a PM who believed we were missing in action in Iraq, and has now managed to all but completely trade away any independence.
. gutted the ETS scheme.
. demoralised the education sector
tinfoilhat. Yes Key and his crooks should be tried for treason AND stripped of any entitlements like Parliamentary Pension and Free Travel. AND definitely no knighthoods. AND never be referred to as The Honourable.
It’s going to be a 50 50 whether a future government allows the investigation into any impropriety on the part of the current administration… Don’t hold your breath.
Politics today. In Italy Berlusconi has had 33 cases brought against him. It’s only the last one that has gone against him and he is gobsmacked. He also got the law changed so that over 70s can’t be jailed.
Mind you they had it coming to them – they let a media magnate in to the job and wiped the controls to prevent cross-media ownership. He has floated along since then pleasing himself and self promoting. If you don’t demand good results from pollies then you get things you never had the guts to wish for. Have we guts in nz or not? Or are we waiting for a party that has guts to inspire us for a better nz?
– raised GST to 15% to hurt the poor; which also forces people to spend less (less money to spend on luxury items and New Zealand made goods) hurting small business
– introduced charter schools (where teachers need not be trained, and where creationism is king)
– introduced draconian surveillance and copyright laws
– made New Zealand the puppet of foreign interest groups i.e. raid on Kim Dotcom
– worked hard to increase child poverty, inequality, push down incomes and raise unemployment
– did nothing to get the dollar down so forced businesses to close down or move to China
– cannibalized the welfare system so no one can get help (including rape victims)
– made student loans harder to get and increased fees; thus forcing more across the ditch
– did nothing to stop New Zealand’s rising suicide rate i.e. listen to radio live at 11:00 pm onwards
– eliminated privacy i.e. a politician can just pick up a W&I file and read it for political purposes
If you need help from the government we know now that the only way to get help is to go on a hunger strike for 30 days or more; because they don’t care about people, only the votes they may lose for not helping someone that has gone to the media. Where is the ‘brighter future’ John?
Pricing to kill Kiwirail, the passenger service especially and probably Kiwirail in total e,g. the Napier-Gisborne rail link is to be stopped. As Minister of Railways Richard Prebble had an arsehole appointed as CEO of then NZRail to do similar damage as the current one appointed by National is doing.
Well from an international perspective (i.e. not those narrow minded Kiwi’s who continue to ignore the daily international economic storms) New Zealand is leading the world. In fact some have singled out New Zealand alone as the model for its balanced approach to the deepening international debt crisis.
Peter Orszag I think was the man to have made this claim.
I went searching and can’t actually find any international criticism of how the New Zealand government is managing and showing leadership through the double whammy of a major city rebuild during the worst economic meltdown in a generation.
The worst international economic year that Cullen and Clark had to govern through was still infinitley better than any year Key and English have had to manage. Blind Freddy could have governed through the 9 Clark years, those years when the world went on a debt fuelled spend up of anything and everything.
Luva
Oh good we can stop thinking for ourselves now – we know our judgment is so poor. We can just listen to what the rest of the world is saying about us and accept that as gospel, doesn’t matter whether it is based on rock hard reality or just hyperbole from the latest political/ economic movement. And always ignoring how the low income people are managing in the business environment that is unhealthy to say the least.
And of course with all that you would expect any decent opposition to make a huge dent in the NACTS numbers. But as usual Mr Stutter Stumblebum, and his merry band of me, me’s, are missing in action. Time for a serious rethink at the top of Labour.
The sooner people accept that our “democracy” is a sham, the sooner people might consider getting of their arse and demanding change, instead of sitting back and hoping the theatre script might change direction!
Its only going to get worse, that is 100% certain!
Calculating the seats suggested by yesterday’s Roy Morgan gives an interesting result. Assuming that ACT, UF and the Maori Party retain their current seats, the current Government totals 61 seats in a 123 seat Parliament. Labour/Greens/NZF also total 61 and Hone Harawira gets to be kingmaker.
National 55, MP 4 (one list), UF, ACT, Mana 1 each. NZF 9, Greens 16, Labour 36.
However, if National win Epsom, then the right bloc loses a seat and it totals 60 in a 122 seat parliament. Any improvement at all in the current opposition bloc just stretches the gap. As I noted yesterday, it’s far easier for Labour to lift their results than it is for National. And it looks like the Conservatives are just going to be a spoiler for National, draining votes from the right, but never likely to make the threshold.
I really don’t see NZF going with National, Lanth. There are some pretty big policy differences between them for a start and Winston currently seems determined to avenge his dumping 4 years ago by bringing National down. And seeing Labour, the Greens and NZF at the same table at the EPMU jobs summit sends a positive message that they can work together.
Peters can’t be trusted. 2 years is a long time, and he has demonstrated in the past that he is willing to betray even the people that vote for him. The left relying on NZF to form government is almost as stupid as Labour keeping Shearer as leader.
Still waiting to hear an analysis of how a L/G/NZF/Mana govt would work.
Must drop to 4% to let Winston back in.
He will then almost certainly have the balance of power (to whoever promises him personally the most).
Have to be Foreign Affairs to keep him out of the country as long as possible via Air Force flights in which he can smoke, as no civilian ones will.
Yep, Doc. National need to lift their vote to compensate for the weakness of their allies. There are no guarantees that ACT, UF and the MP will retain their current seats, so the Nats have to cover the gap. 47-48% is an outright win. 45-46% leaves them needing a hand up. Less than that and only Winston can save them.
Most of what he says isn’t that bad until he gets to this bit:
The report had this to say about farm finance: “Farmers face significant challenges in raising sufficient capital to fund growth and support farm turnover.
“Farm debt levels are already high and few external sources of equity capital are available to farmers, particularly in Australia,” it said.
“New structures for owning and operating farms need to be encouraged to attract investment from domestic and foreign investors and capital markets.
“These structures might include rapidly evolving partnerships, modern variants of share farming and use of off-take agreements, as in the mining sector.”
Between now and 2050 New Zealand agriculture will require $210 billion of additional capital to generate growth and a further $130 billion will be needed to support the purchase of existing farms from ageing farmers.
Where he makes the assumption that the only place that capital is available is from over seas at interest. Basically, he’s just another economist that wouldn’t know what an economy was if he tripped over one.
Where he makes the assumption that the only place that capital is available is from over seas at interest. Basically, he’s just another economist that wouldn’t know what an economy was if he tripped over one
Which is why the rest of it, making some sense or not, is irrelevant!
Understand from Reserve Bank figures that there is around $114 billion invested in (mostly Foreign) Bank Term deposits and the like in New Zealand.
Kiwisaver has some but only a small share so far, and not earning very much either (nearly all below term deposit rates.)
If no Asset sales this oney will continue to stay where it is on minimal interest returns, but in safe places.
On Kim Hill this morning Dr Ben Goldacre author, broadcaster, medical doctor and academic said that Tamiflu bought all around the world at the cost of billions and billions of dollars has little in the the way of published research/trials. Remember bird-flu precautions? The company marketing Tamiflu has avoided publishing credible research in spite of many requests to do so. If there was good news from the research you would think that the company would rush to publish. The absence of consistent credible trial data seems to spell out one thing. And NZ spent millions and millions as a precaution.
Man, he is either blind to the truth of what happens when the police break the law with impunity or he’s selling snake-oil. I’m going to bet on the latter.
But obviously the police would never break the law to get an “ordinary citizen” like him. As long as the only natural justice and human rights breaches are happening to Those Kind Of People it’s for the greater good.
I think the fake case against the undercover cop should go ahead. Either he does prison time or the police who forged a search warrant and committed perjury do time. If the police agree to take that risk, then let the case against the bikers proceed. It’d probably get thrown out for some other reason anyway, because the police are so arrogant they don’t even bother to do their jobs properly. Oh, and John Roughan’s cryptofascist column is more of a threat to society than any number of outlaw bikers. He’s openly encouraging people (police) to break the law. Will he be charged? He should be.
More doubt on Police practices, maybe enough to collapse the extradition plans. Thanks to the on the ball David Fisher:
Police got personal banking details of Kim Dotcom and his staff without getting a search warrant in a move that has implications for bank customers……….
….and received information back the same day from the BNZ showing names of account holders, account numbers and home address details.
…..Dotcom was charged with money-laundering when arrested – the only charge he faces on which he can be extradited. Criminal copyright violation charges are not serious enough for extradition. If they are dismissed, then the money laundering charge also collapses.
I liked this comment
“The banking industry last night said customer privacy was taken “very seriously” but offered no information about the level of proof needed to turn information over to government agencies.”
Police got personal banking details of Kim Dotcom and his staff without getting a search warrant in a move that has implications for bank customers………
My giddy aunt…
As a matter of interest, I have spent days trying to interest Americans on the IMDB message boards in the Dotcom macello. Not one of them could give a monkey’s – I don’t understand why!
Well, it appears that the oil industry in NZ doesn’t want any public oversight for operating in our waters and that the government is thinking about giving it to them.
The Government is developing regulations under the new EEZ legislation on which offshore activities should be prohibited, discretionary, which require consent, or are permitted within stated rules.
Mr Hughes and Forest & Bird were responding to reports Minister for the Environment Amy Adams would not rule out allowing deep-sea drilling as a permitted activity in the act.
Publicly notified consents should not be required for offshore oil and gas exploration activities within New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone, says the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association.
Yes they would say that…
The association’s chief executive, David Robinson, said the topography of New Zealand’s seabed was entirely different to that in the Gulf of Mexico, where the 2010 disaster occurred in 1500m of water. “The terrain and activity of the south is vastly different to the Gulf, which was [oil under] high pressure and high temperature.”
He noted the Great South Basin and Canterbury Basin, which may be hosting an exploration drill ship in about a year, were “more than likely gas prospects” rather than oil.
Because its been known what oil is in the GSB for a very long time already!
While he said there would always be “residual risk” to any drilling programme, it was “very unlikely New Zealand would ever have any problems drilling around its coastlines”.
Phew thats good then, risk acceptance = check!
He likened the risk mitigation to that of Air New Zealand, where commercial aircraft had crashed but Air New Zealand maintained theirs to the highest standard possible.
But not at the expense of profits though….good to get that cleared up!
I see the school principals are screaming blue bloody murder because they wont be able to have drug dogs go through students school bags and essentially run their schools like mini police states.
God forbid that students should have any protections from unreasonable search and seizure. From a young age they are being taught that the authorities can go through your possessions and invade your privacy and more or less treat you like a common criminal.
300 Tongans march against the right of consenting adults to arrange their own relationships. Someone needs to get the message through to them that they are filthy homophobes.
That’s actually a good test and someone should probably do something similar for NZ. I think a lot of NZers would be surprised with who they actually agree with.
If I take another position and type in ‘mmm’, ‘aah’, ‘uhh’ and the like, might Shearer pop up as the choice of presidential candidate?
Guitar is good. Must put guitar in there.
And Me. 96% for Jill Stein. I’m sure I read somewhere of a survey taken a couple of years ago that getting people to vote on blind policy tests gave green policy the overwhelming thumbs up.
So it seems that most of us fall into the group labeled “we know that there is only a finite amount to share and we’d like to share fairly equally.”
Likewise. 91% Jill Stein, 84% Barack Obama. If I had a vote in America, I might consider Stein and hope for eventual electoral reform, but were I in a swing state I’d go with Obama.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Once there was a proud nation which lead the world in so many ways.
A few to remember …
. first to have all adults voting.
. welfare state to look after its disadvantaged.
. in the vanguard of anti-apartheid movement.
. stopped the atmospheric weapon testing in the Pacific and then championed the anti-nuclear movement and gave hope to many other nations.
. developed an independent foreign policy.
. introduced an ETS scheme.
. developed a world leading education system.
But what leadership has it had since 2008?
Well for starters,
. a PM who believed we were missing in action in Iraq, and has now managed to all but completely trade away any independence.
. gutted the ETS scheme.
. demoralised the education sector
Add to the list as you feel …
Key and his band of crooks should be tried for treason.
tinfoilhat. Yes Key and his crooks should be tried for treason AND stripped of any entitlements like Parliamentary Pension and Free Travel. AND definitely no knighthoods. AND never be referred to as The Honourable.
It’s going to be a 50 50 whether a future government allows the investigation into any impropriety on the part of the current administration… Don’t hold your breath.
Politics today. In Italy Berlusconi has had 33 cases brought against him. It’s only the last one that has gone against him and he is gobsmacked. He also got the law changed so that over 70s can’t be jailed.
Mind you they had it coming to them – they let a media magnate in to the job and wiped the controls to prevent cross-media ownership. He has floated along since then pleasing himself and self promoting. If you don’t demand good results from pollies then you get things you never had the guts to wish for. Have we guts in nz or not? Or are we waiting for a party that has guts to inspire us for a better nz?
– raised GST to 15% to hurt the poor; which also forces people to spend less (less money to spend on luxury items and New Zealand made goods) hurting small business
– introduced charter schools (where teachers need not be trained, and where creationism is king)
– introduced draconian surveillance and copyright laws
– made New Zealand the puppet of foreign interest groups i.e. raid on Kim Dotcom
– worked hard to increase child poverty, inequality, push down incomes and raise unemployment
– did nothing to get the dollar down so forced businesses to close down or move to China
– cannibalized the welfare system so no one can get help (including rape victims)
– made student loans harder to get and increased fees; thus forcing more across the ditch
– did nothing to stop New Zealand’s rising suicide rate i.e. listen to radio live at 11:00 pm onwards
– eliminated privacy i.e. a politician can just pick up a W&I file and read it for political purposes
If you need help from the government we know now that the only way to get help is to go on a hunger strike for 30 days or more; because they don’t care about people, only the votes they may lose for not helping someone that has gone to the media. Where is the ‘brighter future’ John?
Logie97.
Strangling Kiwirail.
Wasting money on unnecessary roads.
Looks like the coastal rail Picton to Christchurch Passengers will disappear and the Christchurch to Greymouth Alpine passenger line.
They could try doubling the price of fares as they have done for the Wellington to Auckland train. But seriously…….
I think that the Coastal rail fare is going up from about $60 to $100-180. Pricing to kill the market?
Pricing to kill Kiwirail, the passenger service especially and probably Kiwirail in total e,g. the Napier-Gisborne rail link is to be stopped. As Minister of Railways Richard Prebble had an arsehole appointed as CEO of then NZRail to do similar damage as the current one appointed by National is doing.
In the meantime, you can fly AKL to WEL, vice versa, for $29.
Or $7.
Waahaahaa.
My niece was just complaining about that on Facebook! (She’s the carer for her brother’s kids, and wanted to take them on a trip).
Well from an international perspective (i.e. not those narrow minded Kiwi’s who continue to ignore the daily international economic storms) New Zealand is leading the world. In fact some have singled out New Zealand alone as the model for its balanced approach to the deepening international debt crisis.
Peter Orszag I think was the man to have made this claim.
I went searching and can’t actually find any international criticism of how the New Zealand government is managing and showing leadership through the double whammy of a major city rebuild during the worst economic meltdown in a generation.
The worst international economic year that Cullen and Clark had to govern through was still infinitley better than any year Key and English have had to manage. Blind Freddy could have governed through the 9 Clark years, those years when the world went on a debt fuelled spend up of anything and everything.
Luva – it is hardly a matter of congratulation to be leading the world as it is today. But, then, we have to take your word for it, don’t we?
Luva
Oh good we can stop thinking for ourselves now – we know our judgment is so poor. We can just listen to what the rest of the world is saying about us and accept that as gospel, doesn’t matter whether it is based on rock hard reality or just hyperbole from the latest political/ economic movement. And always ignoring how the low income people are managing in the business environment that is unhealthy to say the least.
And of course with all that you would expect any decent opposition to make a huge dent in the NACTS numbers. But as usual Mr Stutter Stumblebum, and his merry band of me, me’s, are missing in action. Time for a serious rethink at the top of Labour.
The sooner people accept that our “democracy” is a sham, the sooner people might consider getting of their arse and demanding change, instead of sitting back and hoping the theatre script might change direction!
Its only going to get worse, that is 100% certain!
Your complacency is appreciated, and anticipated!
Sincerely
Your local (controlled) MP
+1. First giggle of the day.
“Mr Stutter Stumblebum, and his merry band”
Calculating the seats suggested by yesterday’s Roy Morgan gives an interesting result. Assuming that ACT, UF and the Maori Party retain their current seats, the current Government totals 61 seats in a 123 seat Parliament. Labour/Greens/NZF also total 61 and Hone Harawira gets to be kingmaker.
National 55, MP 4 (one list), UF, ACT, Mana 1 each. NZF 9, Greens 16, Labour 36.
However, if National win Epsom, then the right bloc loses a seat and it totals 60 in a 122 seat parliament. Any improvement at all in the current opposition bloc just stretches the gap. As I noted yesterday, it’s far easier for Labour to lift their results than it is for National. And it looks like the Conservatives are just going to be a spoiler for National, draining votes from the right, but never likely to make the threshold.
Is there an election today!
Unless the threshold is dropped to 4%, in which case they have a good chance of getting in, and NZFirst is almost certain to as well.
I also think on those results, that an NZFirst – Nat coalition is the easiest ruling majority.
I really don’t see NZF going with National, Lanth. There are some pretty big policy differences between them for a start and Winston currently seems determined to avenge his dumping 4 years ago by bringing National down. And seeing Labour, the Greens and NZF at the same table at the EPMU jobs summit sends a positive message that they can work together.
Not sure that Winston would let revenge get in the way of power.
Peters can’t be trusted. 2 years is a long time, and he has demonstrated in the past that he is willing to betray even the people that vote for him. The left relying on NZF to form government is almost as stupid as Labour keeping Shearer as leader.
Still waiting to hear an analysis of how a L/G/NZF/Mana govt would work.
Must drop to 4% to let Winston back in.
He will then almost certainly have the balance of power (to whoever promises him personally the most).
Have to be Foreign Affairs to keep him out of the country as long as possible via Air Force flights in which he can smoke, as no civilian ones will.
TPP – you really think National needs to lift their results, which given everything, are astonishingly high?
Yep, Doc. National need to lift their vote to compensate for the weakness of their allies. There are no guarantees that ACT, UF and the MP will retain their current seats, so the Nats have to cover the gap. 47-48% is an outright win. 45-46% leaves them needing a hand up. Less than that and only Winston can save them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10843146
Bryan Gaynor, WFT are you on????
Most of what he says isn’t that bad until he gets to this bit:
Where he makes the assumption that the only place that capital is available is from over seas at interest. Basically, he’s just another economist that wouldn’t know what an economy was if he tripped over one.
Which is why the rest of it, making some sense or not, is irrelevant!
Understand from Reserve Bank figures that there is around $114 billion invested in (mostly Foreign) Bank Term deposits and the like in New Zealand.
Kiwisaver has some but only a small share so far, and not earning very much either (nearly all below term deposit rates.)
If no Asset sales this oney will continue to stay where it is on minimal interest returns, but in safe places.
On Kim Hill this morning Dr Ben Goldacre author, broadcaster, medical doctor and academic said that Tamiflu bought all around the world at the cost of billions and billions of dollars has little in the the way of published research/trials. Remember bird-flu precautions? The company marketing Tamiflu has avoided publishing credible research in spite of many requests to do so. If there was good news from the research you would think that the company would rush to publish. The absence of consistent credible trial data seems to spell out one thing. And NZ spent millions and millions as a precaution.
yeah another pandemic scare, another pharma corporate rip off.
John Roughman – As an ordinary citizen, I don’t find it offensive that police would fake a prosecution to protect someone’s cover.
Roughmen – The ordinary citizen, happy to tell you how he wants to turn whats left into rubble, and happily so!
Hope John Roughman never finds himself at the bottom of a very slippery slope.
Man, he is either blind to the truth of what happens when the police break the law with impunity or he’s selling snake-oil. I’m going to bet on the latter.
But obviously the police would never break the law to get an “ordinary citizen” like him. As long as the only natural justice and human rights breaches are happening to Those Kind Of People it’s for the greater good.
Roughan’s article wasn’t worth the time it took to read it.
I think the fake case against the undercover cop should go ahead. Either he does prison time or the police who forged a search warrant and committed perjury do time. If the police agree to take that risk, then let the case against the bikers proceed. It’d probably get thrown out for some other reason anyway, because the police are so arrogant they don’t even bother to do their jobs properly. Oh, and John Roughan’s cryptofascist column is more of a threat to society than any number of outlaw bikers. He’s openly encouraging people (police) to break the law. Will he be charged? He should be.
More doubt on Police practices, maybe enough to collapse the extradition plans. Thanks to the on the ball David Fisher:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10843215
I liked this comment
“The banking industry last night said customer privacy was taken “very seriously” but offered no information about the level of proof needed to turn information over to government agencies.”
Feel a yeah right comment coming on.
My giddy aunt…
As a matter of interest, I have spent days trying to interest Americans on the IMDB message boards in the Dotcom macello. Not one of them could give a monkey’s – I don’t understand why!
Well, it appears that the oil industry in NZ doesn’t want any public oversight for operating in our waters and that the government is thinking about giving it to them.
Yes they would say that…
Because its been known what oil is in the GSB for a very long time already!
Phew thats good then, risk acceptance = check!
But not at the expense of profits though….good to get that cleared up!
I see the school principals are screaming blue bloody murder because they wont be able to have drug dogs go through students school bags and essentially run their schools like mini police states.
God forbid that students should have any protections from unreasonable search and seizure. From a young age they are being taught that the authorities can go through your possessions and invade your privacy and more or less treat you like a common criminal.
300 Tongans march against the right of consenting adults to arrange their own relationships. Someone needs to get the message through to them that they are filthy homophobes.
Here’s a fun quiz for the weekend.
Find out who you should vote for in the US presidential election …
http://www.isidewith.com/presidential-election-quiz
Hints – if the choice is too limted, click on the “other” option, more choices available.
Picking Obama over Romney is easy, but you might be surprised how you align with other candidates.
Ive got the Green candidate, Jill Stein…
Yep, me too.
That’s actually a good test and someone should probably do something similar for NZ. I think a lot of NZers would be surprised with who they actually agree with.
If I take another position and type in ‘mmm’, ‘aah’, ‘uhh’ and the like, might Shearer pop up as the choice of presidential candidate?
Guitar is good. Must put guitar in there.
And Me. 96% for Jill Stein. I’m sure I read somewhere of a survey taken a couple of years ago that getting people to vote on blind policy tests gave green policy the overwhelming thumbs up.
So it seems that most of us fall into the group labeled “we know that there is only a finite amount to share and we’d like to share fairly equally.”
Me too! Hmmm …
Likewise. 91% Jill Stein, 84% Barack Obama. If I had a vote in America, I might consider Stein and hope for eventual electoral reform, but were I in a swing state I’d go with Obama.
Me too!
thanks for that .. Stein 94%, Romney 11%, Obama 68%, but he was bottom last .. curious!
.
Oh, noes!!!! Its all over for Obama.
; )
Pathetic fine for Rena disaster
Another judge has got it wrong! How topical is that?
Yeah saw that – Not sure I agree with the got it wrong statement..
Again its a question of representation, and whom is representing, whom, or what!
But the people of Denedin get to pay the equivilent of what the maximum fine for Rena would have been of over 600k in severance money…Lets see then..
Rena disaster fine 300K (half of max fine)
Total cost to “The Crown” of Rena Estimated at 47m, ..but…
“As a result of “extended and co-operative negotiations” the defendant and its insurers had agreed to compensate the Crown 27.6m ”
So thats a loss to “The Crown” of 20m – I’m sure QE2 will be happy to eat that loss won’t she eh!
Dunedin Council severence payouts 628,513,
In Summary
1: People of Dunedin have to eat job just payouts worth 2 x the Rena fine (will their rates come down now)
2: People of NZ get to eat the 20m loss on the Rena situation (not sure the breakdown)
3: People of Tauranga, and eastern coast get to eat the delayed fallout of – Rena chemicals at sea worry scientists
There is some twisted goings on in this country, that is for sure!
Fairly typical in a capitalist society – save the capitalists by throwing the workers under the bus.