In this mornings news I detect a change; – it is showing a positive note of the new Government I would note, – and is a wonderful change from the drab negative cloud that national had placed over us all for the last nine years.
I even had a wonderful warm letter from Jacinda late last night (I removed my name) but I want to share with you all now as it sent a nice warm feeling to a often depressed 73 yr old man who had almost lost all hope of positive change before now, but today I regard as the first day of a new beginning of our return to the NZ we all knew and loved.
God bless “Aunty Cinda”
ilove jacinda, “lets do this”
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Dear ………
This morning, the new Government was sworn into office and a new era for New Zealand began. It’s official now – and we did this together.
Our Government will be one that faces up to and addresses the biggest issues facing our country. We will fix the housing crisis, make sure Kiwis get the healthcare they need, clean up our rivers, take serious action on climate change and rebuild our regions.
We will put people first. We won’t try and gloss over bad bits and turn a blind eye when things aren’t going as well as they could. Instead, we will use our resources and initiative to fix them. Because that’s fundamentally what our Government is about: making New Zealand better. And it’s about making it better for everyone.
I am incredibly honoured and proud to be leading our country, alongside a fantastic team of Ministers and MPs. I am so very grateful to every single person who helped us get here. This is your day, and your Government.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister of New Zealand
I noticed a change on RNZ yesterday, when after several days of them failing to break the habit of talking to National Party figures, we had soon to be ministers of our new government talking about doing stuff. So refreshing after years of the corrupt muppets always saying what they couldn’t or wouldn’t do.
I’ll still be watching Labour, especially over TPP, but it feels good to have a hand on the tiller other than a dead one. We appear to have a government that understands what governing is rather than selling our country out from underneath us.
‘Mayors outside of Auckland hope the city’s fuel tax will pave the way for new ways of funding their own massive infrastructure costs.
Local Government NZ head Dave Cull said the announcement, alongside a coalition commitment to review local government cost and revenue, showed the new government was looking at getting away from the “very narrow property-based ratings system”.
“It’s absolutely imperative that other forms of funding are provided for local government in the near future.
“There’s a host of infrastructure that’s needed and the lack of it is actually holding our communities’ economic and social development back, but we need other funding mechanisms to achieve that.”
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim BoultJim Boult Photo: Supplied
Jim Boult, the mayor of the rapidly growing Queenstown district, said it was good news for cities like his in the midst of growing pains.
“I’m really pleased that they’ve come up with this idea for Auckland because it does send a signal that they’re prepared to look at individual communities and their problems.’
Jacinda said yesterday, “‘I want the government…to bring kindness back’
This is the best thing a new leader of our wonderful country could say as we all have been crushed under nine years of a draconian regime that held us all in fear and stress for so long almost it broke my spirit.
Depression was setting in which was not my character as I was formerly a very positive guy as I and my family had been a well travelling unit together also before 1998 when we came home to live again.
Then nine years ago a big shock came to my famly.
We were living in Canada from 1988 and only came home in 1998 just before Helen Clark took over.
So now we have been through the nasty combative abrasive penny pinching John Key era and now we have been blessed with the second coming of another change to a warm, kindness, caring Government, we are elated again.
Thankyou jacinda very much for this, we feel very proud to be born kiwi’s again.
Why, because he wants jobs for the regions and for young people to get off the dole and go to work.
A job and productive work is one of the essentials for a good physical and mental sense of well-being and purpose.
If Shane is too blunt for you he isn’t for those he wants to help.
“As we plant indigenous trees I’m going to get my indigenous nephews off their nono and they’re going to go to work,” he told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast.
He actually said that. Classic NZ First.
I’m sure Jones would see an upside to this article…
@ (2.3) Ed … thank you so much for that delightful version of Happy Talk. Goes hand in hand with our great new version of government.
Hee hee, wonder if there’s any chance of our Parliamentary sessions opening with that song?
Yep, such a refreshing change of attitude, with our Jacinda wanting to bring some kindness back into government. Happy talk indeed and we are the lucky cuss’s to have had the good sense to vote for what is right for NZ.
One thing’s for sure. Natz most definitely won’t be talking any Happy Talk anytime soon.
Children’s advocates are excited to see the new government’s plans to reduce child poverty but question how quickly things can improve.
Child Poverty Action Group economic spokesperson Susan St John said having a Minister for Child Poverty Reduction was the best news low income families have had for a long time.’
‘Solar panels could cut schools’ power bills by $20m a year’
‘New Zealand’s schools could soon sport rooftop solar panels to help tackle climate change – and cut up to $20 million a year off their power bills.
The Labour and Green Parties have said in their governing agreement this week that “solar panels on schools will be investigated” as part of moving electricity to 100 per cent renewable, non-carbon-burning sources by 2035.
Panama Rd School in Mt Wellington, is using charitable funding to install 30 solar panels on its roof this weekend, and will use the $2000 a year it will save off its power bill to buy devices and other learning tools to prepare its decile 1 children for their future.
“We’ll put it back into our students’ learning,” said principal Jane Dold.
I don’t get it’,regarding solar.NZ has plentiful renewable electricity resources with hydro.Making electricity less costly for schools would be doable ,surely.
NZ hydro power only meets a bit over half of our current energy requirements (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectric_power_in_New_Zealand). And there is a limited supply of rivers you could add to the mix, and that can have large environmental impacts.
Solar is getting amazingly cheap – most houses in sunny locales could have some. (I have a mix of microhydro and solar – it isn’t free, but I haven’t paid a power bill in over 25 years)
We have solar panels and our last bill was $79. I put a smaller 2kw water element in and a timer on the he water heater so that it only draws power to heat water during the sunny part of each day. Soon the heat pump will not be used. Can’t afford the storage batteries but…
I agree. Either nationalise the power companies or legislate for schools and hospitals to be provided with cheap electricity. If RIo Tinto can get subsidised power so can the the services that benefit us all.
Although I do like the idea of PV solar panels everywhere because eventually we’ll be able to do without fossil fuel.
Solar panels are being made so that the roads and footpaths can be huge solar panels, and house windows are see through panels and roofing tiles are panels. Huge future for solar renewables.
The purpose of those panels appears to just provide a little light to walk on. How pretty. But not the type proposed for roadway where it is just to generate the power for storage etc. That bunch of sceptics were watching a sort of domestic solar light. Please ignore.
A domestic solar light certainly wasn’t the concept the promoters were selling. These people were deadly serious about paving huge swaths of roadway in the US with that crap.
Every time I look into how rugged those need to be made to stand up to roadway or footpath use, I can’t help wondering if it wouldn’t be cheaper to just put standard panels on canopies above the road.
The linked article shows a 7.5 year payback ignoring inflation. If thats correct I guess it is worthwhile. Although the cost benefit comes from a solar proponent, so I am reluctant to accept it as gospel without seeing the workings…
I think the outlay for Renwick school paid for itself in less than two years. And of course the use time is the school day. Still should be giving for 20 years.
Most payback calculators suggest a payback time of around 6 years for a complete residential system. But I would expect schools to do better than most, since 9 to 3 is daylight pretty much year round everywhere in NZ. So they use the power when it’s generated, don’t have much concern about storage or the buyback rate from the supplier.
Lets be pessimistic and say the payback is 5 years, so that would be a $100M investment to save $20M per year. And after that the $20M worth of electricity is free every year for the next fifteen to twenty five years while the panels last.
Ok, let’s assume suppliers are trying to milk the government for extra profit and are over-optimistic about the performance, and the payback time is actually ten years.
A homeowner or business might balk at that since they might need to move somewhere else before getting a net benefit, but schools can expect to be there for a lot longer. So it’s still pretty much a no-brainer. There aren’t many other things a government can put money into that give that much direct financial payback, guaranteed.
It could be quite a bit more than 10. The original 7.5 ignores discounting and maintenance costs. Then underperformance or cost blowouts could worsen the situation by an arbitrary amount. Meanwhile, the electricity pricing structure could shift to higher fixed, lower per unit cost which would further worsen the return.
I’d rather (a) wait until solar prices had come down a bit more, or (b) just put the money into e.g. hip replacements.
Antoine, waiting gets more waiting.
This is a no brainer, I have helped do a few solar installations over the last decade.
The maths stack up.
When I went off grid 12years ago, the cost (installed) was around 10-12$ a watt, now it is closer to $1.50 a watt.
The sooner they are up the sooner the benefits start to flow.
Even a home owner should be looking at this.
Nowadays the panels and inverter etc. can be taken with you if you leave. Although, it would make the house more attractive to purchase.
If the maths stack up then go for it. I’m not sure they stack up in this case. It may work out best if only schools in areas with high solar input are done.
Happy Talk.
My lovely grandchildren will not have to put up with National Standards any more – especially the 5 year old whose teacher will be ecstatic 🙂
It’s not a strong list, is it?
As Patrick Gower has said, this is not an impressive opposition.
“I also want to come up with a different analysis to many people, regarding the National Party. All this talk about it being this great big strong Opposition because it’s got such big numbers is actually a bit of nonsense.
“The key word in all of that is ‘Opposition’. National has no power – it has no friends.
“It’s on 44 percent and it has absolutely maxxed that out, due to a sublime performance by Bill English on the campaign trail and a scare campaign that was actually based on a couple of really big lies.”
Gower said there was no clear path back into power for National, due to its lack of coalition partners.
“National has got nowhere to go, in my view, above 44 percent,” he said.
Interesting from Gower. He always seemed to have the inside running with Labour centrists/careerists when they leaked stuff against the more strongly left wing leaders like Cunliffe.
So, now Gower is going with Team Ardern. Not sure that’s a good recommendation, as I think Gower wll support a centrist Labour-led government, but not anyone strongly left like Turei (who he went after with a vengeance).
I read the Wireless piece and had to think “is that the best you’ve got?” And the answer is yes.
I’ve always been pleased to have English and Bennett at the head of the National Party. They highlight National’s lack of talent, ability and integrity. And there’s very little of substance lining up behind them.
I see a group of people with baggage and skeletons. I wonder who the national voters would prefer as leader? I think english is over it/not into it anymore.
Just watching paula and Mr Twyford on tv3, she’s very excited about having some more time to spend on herself.
Yes Nikki Kaye is the only choice National could have made, – as she has a softer side as they desperately need to counter our warm jacinda they must know.
Also all the other ladies in contention in Nationals lineup are combative nasty charaters.
Nikki Kaye is somewhat a warmer character than any of the other choice they had available to them.
The time for hard politics is now over well and truly.
So look for Bill to now step aside as Andrew did nicely for labour to get us all the new queen of our hearts, Jacinda.
‘there’s going to be a lot of fucked off people in the near future’. I’m sure there are a lot of nasties plotting behind closed doors right now, waiting for their moment to hatch their devious little plots – bring it on! (such fun!)
“there’s going to be a lot of fucked off people in the near future, you want someone with a bit of fire who can channel that anger …[t]he person who ticks that box is Judith Collins”
Or a small number of very, very f*cked off people who have suffered some erosion of their unearned wealth and privilege and then turn to Judith Collins for salvation, but instead experience derision and failure.
Please list Collins’ achievements over the last 9 years, also her perfidy.
In a similar number of weeks Jacinda Ardern got her party into contention, and then through good negotiation skill into parliament with a workable plan.
What is airy-fairy about that?
Judith Collins is too close to Dirty politics Whale oil and schemes to get like minded horrors into the National Party.
That you admire her tells us a great deal about your values.
Even Peters gets that it is time for a new guard… hence the 37 yr old PM instead of the English Lit graduate who jas been sucking at the public teat for over 30 years.
I think your right, however Bill English gained the highest party vote so please show respect Bill will get up again. You know third time lucky and all.
@ Cleangreen (3.4) … I’d love Bingles to step aside. For his deputy, the ghastly Bennett woman to take over National. That move would guarantee Natz completely unelectable.
I wonder if Paula is still paying her lawyers to make sure her shady past is kept in the distant past? Not a good look, having a leader with a bit of dodgy history.
As for Nikki Kaye. I doubt she comes anywhere near our Jacinda for genuine warmth, humanity and character. She’s a Natz politician, remember!
Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros claims in a new lawsuit that former senator Scott Brown made sexually inappropriate comments to her while on set and put his hands on her lower waist.
[…]
Tantaros asserts halfway through the 37-page suit that Brown, while appearing on her show “Outnumbered” in August 2015, “made a number of sexually inappropriate comments to Tantaros on set.”
She claims that he told her, “in a suggestive manner,” that she “would be fun to go to a nightclub with.”
“After the show was over, Brown snuck up behind Tantaros while she was purchasing lunch and put his hands on her lower waist,” the lawsuit says. “She immediately pulled back, telling Brown to ‘stop.’ ”
It’s a euphamism and got zero to do with a nightclub.
I also note bush senior from his wheelchair is a bit that way inclined from recent reports – good this is all coming out and shows just how widespread this shit is.
Some unscrupulous individuals target high profile people .I note these euphemistic advances were made in 2015.Since then Fox have made many deserved payouts to disgruntled employees subjected to unwanted attention by various media figures.
Sometimes things can go too far.The procreation of the human race would be in danger if social intercourse is outlawed as a pre cursor to sexual intercourse.No male could make an approach for fear of being categorised as engaging in inappropriate conduct.’Good morning,you’re looking lovely today’!How dare you,you chauvinistic,sexist ,potential nuisance.
There are many and varied ways both sexes can indicate they want or are seeking sex or a potential lovers. Unasked for or unwanted or unexpected lines are designed for the perp not the person being addressed. The power is uneven and abused in the later scenario imo.
Well these are things you learn as you grow up and as I have thankfully no idea of your sexual preferences, attitudes or even what gender you may identify with it would be inappropriate for me to offer ideas to you. If you have friends perhaps ask them or even Google it.
Finding a willing sexual partner requires a certain amount of social competence. This includes recognising various power relationships and whether the other person is just trying to do their job.
If you can’t handle it, better go for celibacy rather than risking sexually assaulting someone. When I’m drunk, I try to avoid “flirting”, because when I’m drunk I don’t have the social competence to recognise when it might be inappropriate.
Are you saying if men cannot be the definers of what is “flirtation” the race dies? I sure as hell hope you meant something that paints men as having more self control and dignity than that.
If her case relies on those very mild attempts at flirtation…
If you’re under the impression that sneaking up behind women and putting your hands on them is a “mild attempt at flirtation,” review your definitions before you end up getting arrested.
Mike Hosking: Petrol tax is just the beginning” HZHerald headline
Well after many years of 50-70k net migration, and the dramatic increase of tourist numbers. How is the underfunding of infrastructure suppose to happen?
There are a few cases within coys I have worked in, where to “make the books” look good maintenance is halted and expenditure that has a future benefit is delayed, staff numbers downsized. So you have a year or 2 of great profits then a slide those that implemented the policy leave (with banked incentives) and the new regime is brought in to attend to this new problem !! Sounds familiar ???
Some are quick to decry this but what other solutions are there ?
There are a few cases within coys I have worked in, where to “make the books” look good maintenance is halted and expenditure that has a future benefit is delayed, staff numbers downsized.
Yep, been in a few companies like that myself. It seems endemic to the neo-liberal capitalists. They don’t seem to realise that to have a viable business/society stuff has to be built, that it’s impossible to continue on what was done before. But that’s what our business people and National do.
If Andrew Little had been sworn in as PM yesterday, the imagery of a 50-something guy in a suit replacing a 50-something guy in a suit would have been “meh.” But the symbolism of the new PM as a young woman walking up Parliament’s steps hand-in-hand with two small children? No amount of National-party donor funding could buy that, because it was real. Allow yourself to feel good about this, because that shit is going to be hard for National to beat.
Exactly how I saw it – the response was more like that expected for a princess – loved it – keep having tearful moments.
It’s strange, isn’t it, how you get so used to pain and then it stops – wow!!
I feel so relieved and a bg weight has now been lifted off my shoulders after nine years of very stressful worry is suddenly beginning to leave me.
My focus now is getting our rail to Gisborne restored now after five long apprehensive years without any rail and truck gridlock while everyone else got their rail fixed only northland and HB/Gisborne got left out.
@JanM – being there, it certainly did feel like that! I was tearful too. It was such a nice atmosphere – there was a sense of butterflies seeking the light after nine years of darkness! I was making friends with strangers all around me, and I managed to give the lovely Tamati Coffey a hug 🙂
+ 1 yep puts the awe in awesome and the zing in amazing.
Hard to believe those very challenging times before Andrew stepped down were real because the world has changed so much. But they were real and we held the line and have been rewarded with a change that seems to be an actual change. I suspect under this new government non voters will fall as people especially the young see this change. Part of our role is to keep encouaging people to enrol and get involved. Still many issues to deal with in our society and now we have the ability to improve and even eliminate those issues.
Talking of Andrew Little… he’s looking on top of the world. He’s got the portfolios he wanted and he’ll be a top-notch minister. So pleased for him because he deserves it.
I see AL quite frequently Anne as we live in the same suburb, go to the same supermarket etc and he looked dreadful the day after he handed over to Jacinda. Since then he has lost years in the way he looks and is bouncing around the place with a spring in his step. In talking to him the week after the election, he had all faith that Labour would win through in the end. I – and I know others – have thanked him to his face for what he did in bringing the factions within the Labour parliamentary arm together before handing over to Jacinda. If this had not happened, then IMO Labour would have stood no chance despite Jacinda’s skills
I have no doubt that he will do well with the portfolios he has got; and he will probably get a little ‘background’ and ‘advice’ from myself and others around here that have worked in some the particular Ministries and Departments involved. Some could sorely do with his management/leadership skills. LOL
Interestingly, Chris Finlayson was interviewed the day the portfolios were announced and he spoke of… being delighted that Little had been given the
Justice, Treaty and Intelligence portfolios because he knows he has the skills to do the job well and will be a safe pair of hands . (words to the effect anyway.)
My wife commented that he looked much happier when she saw him on the news the other night. It must suck on a personal level to have everyone saying you did the right thing by stepping down as leader, but being the leader sure looked like it was shortening his lifespan. I wish him all the best as a cabinet minister.
It spoke volumes to me that he stayed on. Many in his position bugger off as though if they cant be the big cheese they aint interested. I am glad he stayed and glad he telinquished the leadership. There are lots of ways to be a leader
Jacinda is so real and warm and speaks to people as if they matter. The Nats so often just wanted to slap people down and have them shut up and go away. She also knows it won’t be easy, there will be mistakes and bad days, but I think she is smart enough to be up-front with the public when that happens. The grey clouds have lifted from NZ today and those not on the top rungs of the ladder have a government for them.
The size of the crowd at Parliament said it all. A wonderful atmosphere, even Paddy Gower was affected!
What strikes me is that the gathered crowd is made up of a huge diversity. Racially, gender, age ranges are all there. (My impression of National gatherings was of grey heads and mostly white older folk. Look at National Party pics.) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11937114
We all feel the jacinda magic here, and we wondered what jacinda’s mum meant when in August the press interviewed her in the islands she said jacinda was a “very special person”.
Does mark Richardson practise being a total dick or does it come naturally? He comes across as mentally and intellectually underdeveloped. Garner should kick him off his show. He’s a bluddy liability with a Trump tan.
Not really. Purely accidental. It was on st my daughters house. I just don’t see why he is able to use his position on the am show to make detrimental comments about the Labour Party.
People have lauded her warmth , speaking naturally fro a level of consciousness that’s not busy filtering verbal output through a screen of caution and conditioning which fits the dialogue to the long established habit of maintaining the spin-generated paradigm.
Kindness? Its something as a nation we could/should embrace more fully to give substance and follow-through to the new government’s commitment.
An investigation this year by the National Association of Scholars, an independent body of academics in the US, recommended the immediate severing of universities’ ties with the institutes, which often grant students credits towards their degrees. Campuses made too many concessions to accept Institute funding, the report found, resulting in entanglement between the Institutes and host universities’ operations.
It appears things like educational freedom are now for sale by cash strapped facilities.
Mike Hosking “You can’t bump the minimum wage telling us that 16 bucks is not enough to live on and then hit us with a car tax. There is no point in making life cheaper one day and more expensive the next.”
Can’t? Who says? Why not? For most $4 more in hourly wages and 10 cents extra for a litre of petrol would leave them ahead of the game financially. For those out of AKL petrol will not increase in price but they will get a real wage increase. The vast majority will be better off, and Aucklanders will stand a chance of having a cheaper, convenient, and quicker way of getting to the airport.
And it is not like the petrol tax is simply evaporating into thin air – it is building infrastructure, so you aren’t “poorer” – it is simply swapping one asset (cash) for another (better shared transport infrastructure).
Hosking is a numbskull with as much insight as a road cone.
If a tax (or its rate – or any other policy for that matter) gives poor social or community outcomes, then it should be looked at.
People who have a general gut hatred of tax are often short of any evidence that tax is generally and inherently harmful. Often tax leads to a lot of good.
As successful countries have a State share of the economy between 40 and 65%, there is a lot of room to move. (Ours is 30% and you can see the effects in our run down towns and infrastructure).
The first post-election poll will be interesting. Now that Labour / Green / NZ1 policies and people are in the public spotlight, I think the worm may have really turned (plus the “back a winner” effect).
Won’t mean much in the long term, but will be interesting.
Read yesterday’s comments about Joyce this morning and thought , I wonder what the TS regulars are saying about him today? Nothing , really come on don’t let him of the hook so easily .
How about we start a fund to buy Joyce a new shovel, or even better , a digger, so that he can keep digging bigger holes for his nasty anti-Labour ideas to drop into and maybe he will also.
Just thinking.
I oppose work for dole schemes – please labour and greens do not let this happen. As Sue Bradford on fbook says
“It would be an utter betrayal of employed & unemployed workers alike if the new govt supports this. I hope Labour & Greens will knock any prospect of workfare on the head immediately. ‘Yes’ to full waged, useful job creation – ‘no’ to forced, ununionised work.”
Let’s address the real problem and not sticky plaster an outdated and demeaning pretend solution please.
I think it’s great, get all those left-wing slackers out there panting pines in the middle of nowhere, good character building stuff.
As they’re toiling away in the hot sun or cold winters, they can all sing songs about doing their bit for the collective and how great this left-wing government is for giving them an opportunity to contribute.
Yep you would say that wouldn’t you. You don’t care about anyone except yourself – not the young, not the old, not the disadvantaged and sure as hell not Māori – bet you hogg the remote too eh cuz. Sad.
The new government has pledged to double the size of a six-week programme for young jobseekers run by the NZ Defence Force and Ministry of Social Development. It’s been dubbed a “boot camp”. David Fisher went inside.
yeah, sorry, I thought it would be obvious what the trolling stuff was. It’s in the previous comment, I just used that latter one because of the time flow.
That’s what my father-in-law did after returning from WW2 having contracted TB from service in the Arctic convoys and also being torpedoed in Tarranto harbour.
Acknowledgements to your father-in-law mac1 who along with many other New Zealanders toiled to plant and manage our state forests that were eventually sold by Roger Douglas and the New Right neoliberals to foreign buyers for a song.
BM is ignorant of the fact that the forests are no longer owned by us, and thinks that its morally OK for corporate foreign interests to extract personal gain by means of our Government making people work in similar circumstances as your father, but without a real wage or the satisfaction that they are doing something for the benefit of their country.
BM is a nasty troll, but his idea might work if the forests were nationalised and offered work to people again – and in doing so recognised not just the value of the timber but the intrinsic value in the workers and the social communities that would build around such a revitalised industry.
Why have workers for regular wage that the company will have to pay when the same company can hire workers at the local WINZ offce for the cost of the dole – cost of the dole comes courtesy of the tax payer.
This is my issue that i have with ‘working for the dole’.
> Why have workers for regular wage that the company will have to pay when the same company can hire workers at the local WINZ offce for the cost of the dole
That might not be how it would work. They might only be working in areas that didn’t compete with paid jobs.
Yes, improve pay and conditions at workplaces, and offer abundant free education and training. If there remains a shortage of jobs, the taxpayer should fund other useful employment (there is loads that can be usefully done – infrastructure work, conservation work, expand hospital services etc).
After doing the above, I doubt there would be any problem remaining that required boot camps / workhouses.
i don’t think we have a shortage of jobs its just that we don’t want to pay for these jobs.
We are going to force people to work for what 250$ benefit per week all the while we raise the min wage to $ 20? And i thought that the right to the dole is essentially a service that is prepaid by the taxes the government collect. I.e. one pays taxes that fund these programmes to have access to them in case of unemployment, sickness etc. So we fund them in the first place and then we ‘work for them’? IS that even legal? And would government then be found to undercut wages with its ‘dole for work’ scheme if businesses found it more lucrative to let go of its $20 a min wage staff and then hire the newly unemployed on the ‘work for dole’ scheme? Does anyone else see the bullshittery?
Also, costs of transport, lunches, work clothes etc are also covered by the ‘government’ or is the ‘worker for the dole’ to be responsible for these costs and is to take them out of their 250$ per week living allowance? Also will a permit needed to live under a bridge and how much will it cost to apply for such a permit? Same for dumpster diving?
that then would not be ‘working for the dole’?
Yeah, i would like to see some more feedback on this. I personally believe that this ‘working for dole/subsidizing a boss for his staff’ should only apply to people that would have a really hard time getting employed.
It should not be used say for a cafe that wants a ‘less then minimum wage cost’ baristas and kitchen staff and thus only hires people on the subsidy and then will fire said staff once the subsidy has run its course. – this is what i have heard coming is happening in the UK.
Fantastic surfy hair for someone whose had a bullet travel inside their head for 7 centimetres a couple of days ago. Can’t see much restriction of head movement either, you would think it would be quite sore still.
Yeah and the doctor worked around the hair on the back of his head because it was just too beautiful to touch. I have a large head injury here and lots of blood loss but I will perform surgery or stitch up his head without touching the flowing locks, because it’s so much easier do deal with wounds with this long mass of matted hair in my way. Oh, and make sure its shampooed before he goes to media and I’ll make sure no bandages will be visible.
In the video, he talks about the bullet going into the back of his head and exiting 3 inches away. I’ll guess that’s in the fleshy bit of the back of the neck below the base of the skull. Where you wouldn’t see it from the front even if the doctors had shaved quite a lot around the wounds. So it’s a crowded field, but those comments from maui really are in the front-running for most fuckwitted comments on The Standard ever.
Might have skipped around the outside of the skull a wee bit – ballistics get complicated when spinning objects meet hard spheres, even if it’s not a ricochet.
In the first few seconds of the clip he said that it grazed his skull under the skin. Relatively clean. Reminds me of George Orwell’s comment about being shot in the throat by a sniper in the Spanish Civil War – he was a tall man, so if he’d been normal height, he would have been killed.
Might have skipped around the outside of the skull a wee bit…
Punctured the skin but didn’t go through the skull. The skin and flesh then keeping the bullet close for a short time.
And, yeah, there’d be a hell of a lot of blood even though it’d a somewhat minor wound in itself – head wounds bleed profusely – ask anyone who’s cut themselves shaving. Big one would be the concussion and bruising that follows.
oh yeah, defs on the blood. I’ve been first responder to a couple of head cuts – nothing serious but they still bled disproportionately. Much more than a finger cut to the bone (lol that one was mine, unfortunately)
Ok, so we’re resorting to guesses on where he got shot, I guess we have to do that when we’ve got great views of the front, left and right side of his head and there is no sign of… anything. If he was wounded in the fleshy part of the neck (even though we can see that part from a side on view) it would be painful to turn his head like he does to his girlfriend in the clip – and he does it unflinchingly and quickly.
Anyway the clincher is the interview of the second survivor at the bottom of the story. The interview is so ridiculous, if you believe that you’ll believe anything I spose.
You’re using the term “grazing” to explain why we don’t see more of an injury. He clearly says in the video that the bullet entered, “grazed his skull” and then exited 3 inches later. He also says there was shitloads of blood. To a non-expert that doesn’t appear to me to be a grazing shot.
Ok, my guess was wrong about where the bullet hit. There’s a photo of the wounds at 0:55 in the video that’s part of the “escaped” AP link in the third paragraph of the Guardian article.
A couple of people on here have said what Mike Hosking wants. I’ve read some of his recent articles including his “Petrol tax is just the beginning.”
I know he doesn’t want public transport. I think he wants attention. Maybe he would get a lot of attention if he said what he thought the answers were to the growth and infrastructural problems of the city and region.
He is the sniper taking shots at the ideas of anyone who has ideas and solutions. He attacks those who have the heavy responsibility of coming up with solutions in an environment which seemingly is impossible.
Mike Hosking, step forward with your plans for developing Auckland, coping with the growth and infrastructural problems and how you would have those funded.
Or do you only care enough to rant and rave and bleat about how things affect you? You, only one of about 1.6 million.
Yes Roger me and you have something in common we have both got strong voices and you are a leader at the Rock 25 year’s Good work just because we back different Gov party’s don’t mean we can’t have a laugh together ka pai. I heard you guys talk about dangerous encounters one has had I’v had a few but here’s a funny one with me and my step dad we were fishing it was about 9 am and I spotted a large Bull killer whale I was watching him for about 15 minutes the step dad was in the bunk asleep as far as I new well i went on deck to watch the Killer whale with his huge dorsal fin bent over that’s how I new he was a bull as well as being huge .well I heard this yelp from my step dad what I did not see was he had shot out the back of the boat to go toilet and in those days one just sat on the bulwarks and did your business . Well my step dad did not no the whale was around and while he was doing his business the Bull killer whale had popped up about 5 mtr away from were my step dad was doing his business he got a hell of a fright and nearly fell in the drink fuck I laugh my ass off he was pale and shaken he was a humorous man so he handled my fit of laughter .Before I started fishing I had sleep problems the mind going 100 mile a hour well working 20 hour’s straight when one is 14 soon eliminates the sleeping problem .So I had no problems sleeping till I was 21 when I was told something that turn my world up side down we had one child at the time so I tried the natural sleep remedy I had tryed it once before and it did not impress me but this time it was not just sleep I was stressed out .
Well It worked this time and stress levels dropped and hay It is something Mother Earth gave us so I thought no big deal well that not how the system see it this is how most Maori see the subject I have stopped many times when life is good. But when external factors out of my control are stressing me out well I go buy my medicine .
Now let’s look at It from a different angle which I say can kill 2 bird’s with one stone is that OUR agricultural exports are at a guest 20 Billon and this is our main income earner . So we can end up the creak with out a paddle if our bio security is breached by many millions of these threats ot our agricultural exports so I say this is a national
security risk and should be taken very very seriously as this is our main weakness as some farmers have pointed out .And we need to pour a lot of resources in to minimizing this risk as it will be a lot cheaper than the disaster that will happen if we don’t in vest in minimizing this risk now. How are we going to pay for this extra vigilant boarder security we need . Well I say we are pissing billions of dollar’s on controlling an medical product and spending billion’s locking up people whom with a bit of guidance and help will be good productive citizens . So I say lets take all the resources we waste on this dum ass fight and use them to protect our National security this is a cheap and innovative why to Insure we have a Healthy happy wealthy FUTURE enough said Kia Kaha lets do this
eco maori
Please put double spacing between paragraphs and have paragraphs where it’s all about the same thought. Then a couple of enters and the next one. Otherwise it’s too hard to read. And it is surprising how long it takes to put all those words and thoughts down as in No.19.
Eco maori
I’m interested and want to both write and read here and that takes time from things I have promised to do for others and things I should be doing for me. So time is short for me and for you, and if you are going to be moved to write please cut it into bits so others mind can sort it and take it in. Otherwise as Andre says I’ll just skip it.
Reminds me I am often writing about something and explaining my point of view. CV used to tell me TLDR (too long didn’t read). He used to throw
remarks like that around. Very hurtful but true! He didn’t have time for fools.
“Over the next 30 years, the number of people living in Auckland is expected to increase by up to one million – mostly due to natural population growth. Along with this comes the need to expand and improve Auckland’s transport system.”
“MYTH ONE: Here we go again, this ‘million more people’ myth and urban legend is now being regurgitated as a primary underpinning reason to expand Auckland transport infrastructure,” says Auckland Mayoral candidate, Penny Bright.
“No disrespect, but are / were all the members of this ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group, aware that the use of the Department of Statistics ‘high’ population growth projections, ( the one million more people coming to Auckland in the next 30 years), instead of their recommended ‘medium’ population growth projections, is now being investigated by the Social Services Select Committee?”
Requesting that Parliament declines to proceed with the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill until the lawfulness of the reliance of Auckland Council on the New Zealand Department of Statistics’ “high”population growth projections, instead of their “medium” population growth projections for the Auckland Spatial Plan, has been properly and independently investigated, taking into consideration that both Auckland Transport and Watercare Services Ltd, have relied upon “medium” population growth projections for their infrastructural asset management plans.
Petition number: 2011/64
Presented by: Holly Walker
Date presented: 30 May 2013
Referred to: Social Services Committee
__________________________
” How about checking with a ‘fine-tooth comb’ EXACTLY where Auckland Council (and Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) rates monies are currently being SPENT, and cutting back rates SPENDING?”
“No disrespect intended, but are / were all the members of this ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group, aware that Auckland Council ‘books’ are still not open, and citizens and ratepayers do not know exactly how much public rates monies are being spent on private ‘piggy-in-the-middle’ consultants and contractors?”
“No disrespect intended, but are / were all the members of this ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group, aware that in an an Auckland Council Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) reply dated 21 November 2011:
(QUESTION)
“1) Is the Auckland Council, in a truly ‘open, transparent and democratically-accountable’ way, going to ensure that citizens and ratepayers of the Auckland region are going to be given the
‘devilish’ detail, so we can see exactly where our rates monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
2) a) .Are the names of the consultants/contractors; the scope, term and value of these contracts going to be published in the Auckland Council Annual Report so that they are available for public scrutiny?
b) if not- why not?
(ANSWER)
Not at this stage. There are 5,000, contracts related to 12,500 suppliers. To collate and pub!ish these would be a major exercise logistically and cost~wise. ….. ”
“Did the ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group investigate how much public money could be freed up to serve the interests of the public majority, (including Auckland transport funding), by CUTTING OUT THE CONSULTANTS and PRIVATE CONTRACTORS, and returning core Council services ‘in-house’?
“If there is no ‘cost-benefit’ analysis which proves that private provision of Council services is more cost-effective for the public majority, then as an Auckland Mayoral candidate, I believe that this long-term corporate welfare must cease forthwith.”
” My recommendation is that citizens and ratepayers in the Auckland region do your own ‘cost-benefit’ analysis. Since this so-called Auckland ‘$upercity’ was forced upon the Auckland region, have YOUR rates gone up or down?”
“See? The public majority of the Auckland region have been ‘CONNED’ by the CONsultants, and the CONtractors, and those who serve their interests – arguably the NZ Property Council and the Committee for Auckland,”
“As an Auckland Mayoral candidate – this is where I stand:
NO road tolls/ fuel taxes or rates increases to fund Auckland transport infrastructure.
Open the books.
Cut out all the consultants and contractors who are effectively on ‘corporate welfare’.
Get rid of these ‘corporate-controlled’ CCOs, with their appointed Boards of arguably self-serving business people.
Bring core Council services back ‘in-house’, and employ Council Officers who have a ‘public service’ background and ethos, not private sector functionaries who are now running Auckland Council as if it were their own private company.
Take back public ownership, operation and control of Auckland passenger transport.
Why should the public subsidise what we no longer own?
Change the uniforms and the business cards, and Auckland Council take back operation and management of Auckland Rail, from French multinational Transdev, (formerly known as Veolia Transport Auckland)
Use public monies for the benefit of the public majority, not the private sector, particularly multi-national corporations.”
– Nope, we really are going into the accelerated population growth phase here. Well documented . So you are wrong there.
– Nope, Auckland Transport’s books are fully open already. Some stuff during commercial negotiations is confidential and always will be. You will already have noticed too that the Minister has taken immediate steps to ensure more efficient use of taxpayer money by preparing to cancel the East-West expressway and redeploy it to light rail. So you are wrong there.
– Road tolls are not the only source of funding – in fact most of the funding will be debt financed through bonds, which are in turn serviced by the property owners from the new developments that the finding is used for. That is what the Minister has already indicated. So you are wrong there.
Wrong on all counts so far.
You have never got elected or even close, never been appointed to anything, and your one useful task has been the application of the Public Records Act, other than that you have had no influence on society at all.
But that is the record you always fail to disclose.
Harsh Ad
I hope that no-one will have cause to say similar to you. Penny does try to draw people’s attention to matters of concern. But according to you her points are not correct. It is good that you indicated which ones. But you didn’t need the sting at the end.
Your background apparently makes you very wise and invulnerable to criticism.
Hi Penny, I found this very difficult to follow – but I think I can support and like the core of your message. Perhaps a more minimal style may help communicate your message more effectively 🙂
From the link-‘Brown is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit’so its mischievious ,unsubstantiated ,hearsay.
Her statement about our limited on-air, green-room interactions are false,” Brown said. “There were never any circumstances of any kind whatsoever in which I had any interaction with her or any other employee at Fox, outside the studio.”-The bits Joe90,left out.
Zorb6
Could you give some foundation for your comment about Joe90, the number, date etc. so that your comment has some connection to something that others can check out.
I know there’s some consternation about a potential work for the dole scheme, but Labour has a policy to employ young NEETs for 6 months at minimum wage on various community projects (DOC was mentioned at the time), so hopefully any work schemes will be along those lines. Planting trees is an excellent opportunity there.
It should be work for the dole plus. After starting in a scheme and working at something that shows results, there would be monthly talks with immediate bosses with work reviewed and with a reasonable record, they start receiving wage rises, small but steady. A feeling of being valued and recognition of effort and higher skills acquired would buck up quite a few. Also a willingness by government to pay for vocational training at that stage, with firms willing to give them jobs. The more people working and earning a better wage, the more money circulating, the more employment. We could start being a good place to live for the strugglers.
What we want to do is restore the right that all workers should have in New Zealand to be able to bargain collectively if they choose to,” Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said.
Restoring peoples rights to them. This is a Good Thing.
Employment lawyer Megan Richards advises the industry and says there are real reservations about repealing the law.
“It would change how the industry’s been operating for the last seven odd years and I think there’s acknowledgment that it would put our film industry in threat,” she told 1 NEWS.
The well paid people in the industry don’t like it and don’t seem to realise that it’s actually just making the law apply equally to everyone.
I want repeals of laws affecting the film and creative industries, to help NZs get jobs that pay fairly but not ones that lessen the amount of work we can get here, and create here, and the money that we receive here we want to stay here in NZ.
Unions have to box clever, not just demand wages now because they have better somewhere else, and they have to work with the firms, and if not with, find a way to work the firms and the system to turn out the product and get a share of the profits, a bonus, a payment into a company that will make pilot features, something that always leads into something else.
I have been looking up the story of the 9 year old autistic boy who was held down while others fired a BB gun at him. The parents weren’t told about it and didn’t know until some crappy message was put on Facebook with a picture of it. The Principal advised the boy apparently to avoid theo ther boys and go to the library or whatever, an d the perpetrators were allowed b ack to school on a strict contract.
In Nelson some one with a snitcher on the Principal has been graffiting something about him on the school. The Deputy Principal in trying to prevent some little shit from pulling his trousers down, apparently the latest craze of the dilettantes at Nelson College, knocked the boys face and swore at him (What are you bloody doing etc. might be a phrase I’d be likely to use). It seems that this is regarded as very terrible for a teacher to do, but I don’t know if the boy/s is being charged with assault. No doubt this boy has parents that vote for the National Party, which follows a practice of not having respect for anybody. People like that are likely to send their kids to a good (boarding?) school as they can’t be spending their time with their children teaching them to be good people. Where is the money in that?
While looking at Tauranga Boys College and other Tauranga schools I notice a new private one, with a purpose built campus, and promoting itself as being the bees knees. The advert is dated 2017, and it is part of a group with others.* I can’t really identify it as it has adopted that crap practice used too often these days, just giving itself letters for a legal definition followed by Ltd. There is no meaning to letters, not unless they are used as a logo for a full name that is provided!
The facilities sound superior to state schools:
Purpose-built campus
Our campus features a brand new sports complex equipped for multiple sports including badminton, basketball, netball and futsal. Alongside this we have traditional outdoor rugby and soccer fields. The campus also boasts state-of-the-art learning facilities including science labs, multi-purpose areas, music and art rooms.
I see Roy Morgan gone done a poll – but quite out of date because was conducted before Winston made his announcement and the government formed. I suspect things are changing rapidly right now.
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The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
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Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
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Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
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Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
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Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...
What will climate change do to our capital city? The Wellington City Council has updated its projections, ditching its optimistic 0.6m estimate for sea-level rise in favour of a more realistic 1.5m. And the result is devastating:Wellington City Council has unofficially ditched an optimistic sea-level rise scenario in favour of ...
Image Credit: How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2019 I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ...
More complaints have been aired about the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCICh) into the Christchurch terrorist attacks. These have centred on the perception that the RBICh has not paid enough attention to the Muslim community who were the targets of the attacks and the sole victims of them. Even though ...
The government has announced more decisions about the ETS, specifically about the phase-down of free allocation. Industrial emitters have been receiving free credits for a decade now, originally tied to 2005 emissions levels, then linked by National to current production (turning it into a direct pollution subsidy). If we are ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Almost $600 million has been paid into taxpayers’ bank accounts in the past two months, after the first season of automatic tax assessments. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says the completion of this year’s tax refund season is a significant milestone. “The ability of Inland Revenue to run auto calculations for ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
Findings from the 2018 New Zealand Consumer Survey have been released and the results are in; 48 per cent of respondents consider their purchases based on how ethically employees are treated. ...
The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
LGNZ will be cautiously assessing the wider implications of the newly proposed National Position Statement on Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL), noting that that it traverses a number of highly complex policy areas including housing affordability and property ...
Horticulture New Zealand has welcomed the Government’s draft National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land, saying it will help ensure that New Zealand can grow its own vegetables and fruit. ...
Background documents for Budget 2019 are now available from on the Treasury website: https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/information-release/budget-2019-information-release ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has welcomed a move by Crown agencies to lift confidentiality obligations on survivors of abuse in State care arising from settlement agreements with the Crown. ...
An evaluation of New Zealand’s first sexual violence court has confirmed that the approach taken in the judge-led pilot considerably reduces the time that cases take to reach trial. ...
The National Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Paula Bennett as our Campaign Chair for the 2020 General Election, President Peter Goodfellow says. ...
14 August 2019 – 18 senior business leaders and employment experts have been appointed as judges for New Zealand’s sixth annual Equal Pay Awards reflecting the breadth of companies who have entered. The Awards added three new categories in 2018: Innovation, ...
Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “This is more proof that bureaucrats do not make good tech tycoons, no matter how much taxpayer money they throw at geeks in Silicon Valley.” ...
August marks five years of the Community Finance initiative. In addition to its well established Financial Mentoring service, The Salvation Army has held more than 5800 financial conversations with Community Finance clients. The loan program helps ...
Today 14/8/19 on news hub AM show Duncan Garner asked National Party leader Simon Bridges ‘what would he do to combat climate change and improve the economy again if he is the next PM”. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/08/simon-bridges-says-most-kiwis-believe-system-gamed-at-last-election.html ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is urging the Government to work with agricultural groups to drive real behaviour change on farm, instead of imposing a broad-based tax. Sector organisations have put forward an alternative Primary Sector Climate ...
Iwi forging closer relationship with Stats NZ over Māori data solutions The Data Iwi Leaders Group supports the findings of an independent review into the 2018 New Zealand Census – but says its failings provide a unique opportunity to co-design ...
“Any justification for paying exorbitant salaries to senior managers in business has just been buried in the Fonterra debacle” said Peter Malcolm spokesperson for Income Equality Aotearoa New Zealand Inc---“Closing the Gap” ...
Students are celebrating the Governments announcement of a student voice consultation document at the ‘Voices of the Sector’ hui at Waikato University today. ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...
Could a new hybrid of all the government’s major media holdings solve multiple media and government problems? Duncan Greive assesses the case.The media industry, despite what some of us might like to believe, really doesn’t matter all that much economically. Doesn’t employ all that many people. Relatively low wage. ...
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...
Analysis: The botched census brings down a chief executive, there's another wave of speculation about Christopher Luxon standing for National and NZ First could sink an attempt to reverse the ban on prisoner voting. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Cropper, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne Almost every person throughout the existence of humankind has looked up at the night sky and seen more than just a random scattering of light. Constellations of stars have helped ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Desbrow, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Dietetics, Griffith University A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we ...
He’s the artist who launched a million memes and over a billion streams. Sam Brooks picks out Bazzi’s best moments so far, from his career-making breakthrough to his mature new mixtape Soulsearching.1. ‘Mine’“You’re so fuckin’ precious when you smile.”It’s the line that didn’t just launch a million memes, it’s the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Since President Trump tweeted about imposing new tariffs on China, global equity markets have gone into a tailspin. Trump’s more recent announcement that the new tariffs would be delayed has not calmed the markets, with recent days ...
A new poem by Waikato poet Loren Thomas.to convince myself we’re dreamingwe were walking through suburbia houses kissing front lawns copied one after anotheryou tasted like mint leaves and chlorophyll that’s been pissed on by catsI held your hand and we walked towards the ocean dodging planks from dead train ...
The ancient Australian shock-jock yesterday targeted Jacinda Ardern, urging Australia’s PM to ‘shove a sock down her throat’. It’s all in keeping with a substantial history of being an arse.The plucky nation of Australia excels in a range of endeavours, but nowhere more than the angry, anguished howls of bloated, ...
Today, TVNZ released its latest findings on who is watching what on TVNZ OnDemand. Sam Brooks analyses the results.Today, TVNZ released the 2019 figures for who is watching TVNZ OnDemand, what they’re watching and in what kind of numbers. The big numbers are hopeful – over 1.4 million people reached ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney The federal government wants to boost the number of migrants moving to regional areas in Australia to fill job vacancies and reduce the pressure on our cities. That’s why ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University There can be no doubt violence against women is a national crisis. On average in Australia, one woman every week is killed. A 2016 survey found one in four women experienced violence ...
One dignified resignation was a bouquet in a sea of brickbats this week as low levels of accountability had eyes rolling. James Elliott has the news of the week. ...
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein on the band’s ninth studio album, working with St Vincent, and the departure of bandmate and drummer, Janet Weiss.It’s been almost five years since Sleater-Kinney broke their decade-long hiatus with an album that received almost near-universal praise. It was “raw”, “bristling”, “emotive”, “taut” – all adjectives you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Colleen Murrell, Associate Professor, Journalism, Swinburne University of Technology When news of the stabbings in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon came through, one of the first tweets about the incident came from Sky News reporter Laura Jayes. Immediately it got retweeted and sent ...
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 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23)Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney2 An ...
When Emily Writes reviewed a life-changing sex toy, the response from orgasm-starved women was huge. So why are so many having so few orgasms, and what can be done?For the last two years I’ve been running a pretty small – about 600-odd member – group for mostly New Zealand women ...
When Josie Adams broke her laptop last week, she knew she’d never find love like that again. Can the Asus Chromebook Flip C213SA offer a new kind of technological relationship? She reviews how it stands up to everyday use and the cosmic forces that seek to destroy her.Last Thursday I ...
Wine should be fun, not intimidating, all you need is a little knowledge. Yvonne Lorkin co-founder and chief tasting officer of WineFriend provides some simple tips to help you empower your palate. Even I can get scared by wine. I’m usually super-meek and a tad feeble at high-brow, ‘industry’ wine tastings. ...
Pacific Media Watch NewsdeskBy Makereta Komai in Funafuti, Tuvalu Tonga’s Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, has delivered a stinging attack against regionalism and the Pacific Islands Forum’s stance of leaving no one behind, for failing to amicably resolve the issue of West Papua. Pohiva admitted the issue has divided ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Corrections, Christchurch mosque shootings Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Upholding The Accused’s Right To Write Mark Daalder ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amber Marshall, Research fellow, Queensland University of Technology Farming families and communities in Queensland’s remote north are being left behind by the digital economy, putting them at significant social and economic disadvantage. Our report, launched in Cairns today, details the impacts of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Cameron, Associate professor, and Associate Director of the Global Obesity Centre, Deakin University Half-price chips, “two for one” chocolates, “buy one get one free” soft drinks: Australian supermarkets make it very easy for us to fill our trolleys with junk food. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Trethowan, Director, IA Watson Research Centre, Narrabri Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney A UN report released last week found a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions come from the food chain, particularly meat farming. This has prompted calls to sharply ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Petrova, Section Editor: Education Whether schools should mandate a uniform is a controversial issue. Some believe wearing the same clothes smooths out inequality. Others see uniforms as authoritarian; believing them a symbol of repression, stifling freedom of thought and individuality. We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Altman, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, La Trobe University The years between the gay liberation movement at the beginning of the 1970s and the onset of AIDS a decade later are viewed in a certain strand of gay nostalgia as “the ...
As the election looms closer, Jo Moir looks at how the three parties in the coalition government will use their differences to a political advantage. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Winter grazing in the spotlight, teens smoking much less weed than they used to, and stats show big acceleration in Auckland house building.To lead us off today, a look at a relatively long running farming issue which has burst into ...
Open Mike 27/10/2017 
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...1 day ago
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...1 day ago
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...1 day ago
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Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...1 day ago
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...2 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...3 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...3 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...3 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...3 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...3 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...4 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 4 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...5 days ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...5 days ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...6 days ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...1 week ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...1 week ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...2 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...2 weeks ago
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...2 weeks ago
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...2 weeks ago
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2019 I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ... 2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...1 week ago
On Newshub Nation: Simon Shepherd interviews conflict & terrorism expert Dr Chris Wilson and Muslim community leader Aliya Danzeisen ...8 hours ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...6 hours ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...6 hours ago
The three parties in the coalition have to negotiate compromises, concessions and conquests week after week. ...13 hours ago
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...13 hours ago
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...14 hours ago
Today, a short story from the late 1920s, published in a posthumous new collection by Marlborough writer Eileen Duggan. Photo by Peter Black. ...15 hours ago
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...15 hours ago
Black Fern Aleisha-Pearl Nelson was told by doctors, twice, that her rugby days were over - after serious horse-riding accidents. ...17 hours ago
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...18 hours ago
Could a new hybrid of all the government’s major media holdings solve multiple media and government problems? Duncan Greive assesses the case.The media industry, despite what some of us might like to believe, really doesn’t matter all that much economically. Doesn’t employ all that many people. Relatively low wage. ...18 hours ago
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...18 hours ago
Protests in Hong Kong have attracted worldwide attention - but are we ignoring a more serious situation across the sea? ...1 day ago
Analysis: The botched census brings down a chief executive, there's another wave of speculation about Christopher Luxon standing for National and NZ First could sink an attempt to reverse the ban on prisoner voting. ...1 day ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...1 day ago
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out ...1 day ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Desbrow, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Dietetics, Griffith University A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Since President Trump tweeted about imposing new tariffs on China, global equity markets have gone into a tailspin. Trump’s more recent announcement that the new tariffs would be delayed has not calmed the markets, with recent days ...1 day ago
Today, TVNZ released its latest findings on who is watching what on TVNZ OnDemand. Sam Brooks analyses the results.Today, TVNZ released the 2019 figures for who is watching TVNZ OnDemand, what they’re watching and in what kind of numbers. The big numbers are hopeful – over 1.4 million people reached ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney The federal government wants to boost the number of migrants moving to regional areas in Australia to fill job vacancies and reduce the pressure on our cities. That’s why ...1 day ago
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Sky Television is purchasing online rugby streaming service RugbyPass for $US40 million ($NZ62m). ...1 day ago
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When Emily Writes reviewed a life-changing sex toy, the response from orgasm-starved women was huge. So why are so many having so few orgasms, and what can be done?For the last two years I’ve been running a pretty small – about 600-odd member – group for mostly New Zealand women ...1 day ago
Wine should be fun, not intimidating, all you need is a little knowledge. Yvonne Lorkin co-founder and chief tasting officer of WineFriend provides some simple tips to help you empower your palate. Even I can get scared by wine. I’m usually super-meek and a tad feeble at high-brow, ‘industry’ wine tastings. ...2 days ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk By Makereta Komai in Funafuti, Tuvalu Tonga’s Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, has delivered a stinging attack against regionalism and the Pacific Islands Forum’s stance of leaving no one behind, for failing to amicably resolve the issue of West Papua. Pohiva admitted the issue has divided ...2 days ago
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In this mornings news I detect a change; – it is showing a positive note of the new Government I would note, – and is a wonderful change from the drab negative cloud that national had placed over us all for the last nine years.
I even had a wonderful warm letter from Jacinda late last night (I removed my name) but I want to share with you all now as it sent a nice warm feeling to a often depressed 73 yr old man who had almost lost all hope of positive change before now, but today I regard as the first day of a new beginning of our return to the NZ we all knew and loved.
God bless “Aunty Cinda”
ilove jacinda, “lets do this”
———————————————————————–
Dear ………
This morning, the new Government was sworn into office and a new era for New Zealand began. It’s official now – and we did this together.
Our Government will be one that faces up to and addresses the biggest issues facing our country. We will fix the housing crisis, make sure Kiwis get the healthcare they need, clean up our rivers, take serious action on climate change and rebuild our regions.
We will put people first. We won’t try and gloss over bad bits and turn a blind eye when things aren’t going as well as they could. Instead, we will use our resources and initiative to fix them. Because that’s fundamentally what our Government is about: making New Zealand better. And it’s about making it better for everyone.
I am incredibly honoured and proud to be leading our country, alongside a fantastic team of Ministers and MPs. I am so very grateful to every single person who helped us get here. This is your day, and your Government.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister of New Zealand
I noticed a change on RNZ yesterday, when after several days of them failing to break the habit of talking to National Party figures, we had soon to be ministers of our new government talking about doing stuff. So refreshing after years of the corrupt muppets always saying what they couldn’t or wouldn’t do.
I’ll still be watching Labour, especially over TPP, but it feels good to have a hand on the tiller other than a dead one. We appear to have a government that understands what governing is rather than selling our country out from underneath us.
Happy Talk
Happy talk.
‘This Government is going to raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2020. ‘
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11936966
Happy talk.
‘Mayors outside of Auckland hope the city’s fuel tax will pave the way for new ways of funding their own massive infrastructure costs.
Local Government NZ head Dave Cull said the announcement, alongside a coalition commitment to review local government cost and revenue, showed the new government was looking at getting away from the “very narrow property-based ratings system”.
“It’s absolutely imperative that other forms of funding are provided for local government in the near future.
“There’s a host of infrastructure that’s needed and the lack of it is actually holding our communities’ economic and social development back, but we need other funding mechanisms to achieve that.”
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim BoultJim Boult Photo: Supplied
Jim Boult, the mayor of the rapidly growing Queenstown district, said it was good news for cities like his in the midst of growing pains.
“I’m really pleased that they’ve come up with this idea for Auckland because it does send a signal that they’re prepared to look at individual communities and their problems.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/342447/fuel-tax-what-the-regions-think
Happy Talk
‘I want the government…to bring kindness back’
Jacinda said yesterday, “‘I want the government…to bring kindness back’
This is the best thing a new leader of our wonderful country could say as we all have been crushed under nine years of a draconian regime that held us all in fear and stress for so long almost it broke my spirit.
Depression was setting in which was not my character as I was formerly a very positive guy as I and my family had been a well travelling unit together also before 1998 when we came home to live again.
Then nine years ago a big shock came to my famly.
We were living in Canada from 1988 and only came home in 1998 just before Helen Clark took over.
So now we have been through the nasty combative abrasive penny pinching John Key era and now we have been blessed with the second coming of another change to a warm, kindness, caring Government, we are elated again.
Thankyou jacinda very much for this, we feel very proud to be born kiwi’s again.
Does Shane Jones “work for dole’ scheme fit within this.
Jacinda needs to stamp on Shane early. He is an idiot.
How is she supposed to stamp on him? He’s not a member of her party.
A.
By announcing publicly that there will be no work for the dole scheme under this government.
That is Don Brash type policy that continues the theme of demonising beneficiaries.
> By announcing publicly that there will be no work for the dole scheme under this government.
Not sure she’s in a position to do that. Shall we wait and see?
A.
She is the Prime Minister, she leads the government, so yeah I think she is in a position to say that.
Let’s see whether she does then. Check back in a week’s time?
A.
I have no idea whether she will.
If she doesn’t say anything and allows more beneficiary bashing through a work for the dole scheme then I will be very disappointed.
Why, because he wants jobs for the regions and for young people to get off the dole and go to work.
A job and productive work is one of the essentials for a good physical and mental sense of well-being and purpose.
If Shane is too blunt for you he isn’t for those he wants to help.
well said Adrian, particularly your second sentence.
Yes – And that’s a job which should be paid a living wage.
It’s not work for the dole.
“Yes – And that’s a job which should be paid a living wage.”
+100
Work for the dole is a stupid an ineffective way of bludgeoning poor people into labouring for less-than-subsistence incomes.
If these projects are government funded, then the people they employ should be paid a living wage.
kick him in the …
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018619532/work-for-dole-scheme-being-considered-by-govt
“As we plant indigenous trees I’m going to get my indigenous nephews off their nono and they’re going to go to work,” he told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast.
He actually said that. Classic NZ First.
I’m sure Jones would see an upside to this article…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/08/indigenous-groups-say-work-for-the-dole-scheme-racially-discriminatory
@ (2.3) Ed … thank you so much for that delightful version of Happy Talk. Goes hand in hand with our great new version of government.
Hee hee, wonder if there’s any chance of our Parliamentary sessions opening with that song?
Yep, such a refreshing change of attitude, with our Jacinda wanting to bring some kindness back into government. Happy talk indeed and we are the lucky cuss’s to have had the good sense to vote for what is right for NZ.
One thing’s for sure. Natz most definitely won’t be talking any Happy Talk anytime soon.
Happy talk.
‘Poverty portfolio ‘gives children a voice’
Children’s advocates are excited to see the new government’s plans to reduce child poverty but question how quickly things can improve.
Child Poverty Action Group economic spokesperson Susan St John said having a Minister for Child Poverty Reduction was the best news low income families have had for a long time.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/342399/poverty-portfolio-gives-children-a-voice
Happy Talk
‘Solar panels could cut schools’ power bills by $20m a year’
‘New Zealand’s schools could soon sport rooftop solar panels to help tackle climate change – and cut up to $20 million a year off their power bills.
The Labour and Green Parties have said in their governing agreement this week that “solar panels on schools will be investigated” as part of moving electricity to 100 per cent renewable, non-carbon-burning sources by 2035.
Panama Rd School in Mt Wellington, is using charitable funding to install 30 solar panels on its roof this weekend, and will use the $2000 a year it will save off its power bill to buy devices and other learning tools to prepare its decile 1 children for their future.
“We’ll put it back into our students’ learning,” said principal Jane Dold.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11936758
Renwick School near Blenheim placed about 80 solar panels on their roof about 4 years ago with outstanding effect.
I don’t get it’,regarding solar.NZ has plentiful renewable electricity resources with hydro.Making electricity less costly for schools would be doable ,surely.
NZ hydro power only meets a bit over half of our current energy requirements (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectric_power_in_New_Zealand). And there is a limited supply of rivers you could add to the mix, and that can have large environmental impacts.
Solar is getting amazingly cheap – most houses in sunny locales could have some. (I have a mix of microhydro and solar – it isn’t free, but I haven’t paid a power bill in over 25 years)
We have solar panels and our last bill was $79. I put a smaller 2kw water element in and a timer on the he water heater so that it only draws power to heat water during the sunny part of each day. Soon the heat pump will not be used. Can’t afford the storage batteries but…
I agree. Either nationalise the power companies or legislate for schools and hospitals to be provided with cheap electricity. If RIo Tinto can get subsidised power so can the the services that benefit us all.
Although I do like the idea of PV solar panels everywhere because eventually we’ll be able to do without fossil fuel.
Solar panels are being made so that the roads and footpaths can be huge solar panels, and house windows are see through panels and roofing tiles are panels. Huge future for solar renewables.
Solar panels are being made so that the roads and footpaths
Like this prototype?
More work needed I fear
Yeah, the Greeks didn’t think much of the steam engine when it was first prototyped.
The purpose of those panels appears to just provide a little light to walk on. How pretty. But not the type proposed for roadway where it is just to generate the power for storage etc. That bunch of sceptics were watching a sort of domestic solar light. Please ignore.
A domestic solar light certainly wasn’t the concept the promoters were selling. These people were deadly serious about paving huge swaths of roadway in the US with that crap.
More background
Best not to put your fingers in your ears.
Every time I look into how rugged those need to be made to stand up to roadway or footpath use, I can’t help wondering if it wouldn’t be cheaper to just put standard panels on canopies above the road.
> Solar panels could cut schools’ power bills by $20m a year
At what cost? Like, how many times $20M?
A.
All in the linked article.
The linked article shows a 7.5 year payback ignoring inflation. If thats correct I guess it is worthwhile. Although the cost benefit comes from a solar proponent, so I am reluctant to accept it as gospel without seeing the workings…
Did you note the per year bit? The important bit that tells us that it will pay for itself and save us money over time.
I think the outlay for Renwick school paid for itself in less than two years. And of course the use time is the school day. Still should be giving for 20 years.
I dont believe it. No one can get a two year payback out of solar. Unless you’re not counting the donated funds on the cost side.
A.
Most payback calculators suggest a payback time of around 6 years for a complete residential system. But I would expect schools to do better than most, since 9 to 3 is daylight pretty much year round everywhere in NZ. So they use the power when it’s generated, don’t have much concern about storage or the buyback rate from the supplier.
Lets be pessimistic and say the payback is 5 years, so that would be a $100M investment to save $20M per year. And after that the $20M worth of electricity is free every year for the next fifteen to twenty five years while the panels last.
Not pessimistic enough, the article says the payback is more than 7 years even ignoring discounting.
A.
Maybe the suppliers figure that since they’d be dealing with the government they can milk a bit of extra profit.
Maybe they figure they can get the scheme started by promising a good ROI on the basis of an overestimate of likely performance
A.
Ok, let’s assume suppliers are trying to milk the government for extra profit and are over-optimistic about the performance, and the payback time is actually ten years.
A homeowner or business might balk at that since they might need to move somewhere else before getting a net benefit, but schools can expect to be there for a lot longer. So it’s still pretty much a no-brainer. There aren’t many other things a government can put money into that give that much direct financial payback, guaranteed.
It could be quite a bit more than 10. The original 7.5 ignores discounting and maintenance costs. Then underperformance or cost blowouts could worsen the situation by an arbitrary amount. Meanwhile, the electricity pricing structure could shift to higher fixed, lower per unit cost which would further worsen the return.
I’d rather (a) wait until solar prices had come down a bit more, or (b) just put the money into e.g. hip replacements.
A.
Antoine, waiting gets more waiting.
This is a no brainer, I have helped do a few solar installations over the last decade.
The maths stack up.
When I went off grid 12years ago, the cost (installed) was around 10-12$ a watt, now it is closer to $1.50 a watt.
The sooner they are up the sooner the benefits start to flow.
Even a home owner should be looking at this.
Nowadays the panels and inverter etc. can be taken with you if you leave. Although, it would make the house more attractive to purchase.
If the maths stack up then go for it. I’m not sure they stack up in this case. It may work out best if only schools in areas with high solar input are done.
A.
Best to get a contract that puts the performance risk on the supplier
Like this (today’s news): https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/98321385/meridian-kiwi-property-sign-solar-power-deal
Happy Talk.
My lovely grandchildren will not have to put up with National Standards any more – especially the 5 year old whose teacher will be ecstatic 🙂
National’s next leader? Nikki Kaye? The Wireless sizes up the contenders.
It’s not a strong list, is it?
As Patrick Gower has said, this is not an impressive opposition.
“I also want to come up with a different analysis to many people, regarding the National Party. All this talk about it being this great big strong Opposition because it’s got such big numbers is actually a bit of nonsense.
“The key word in all of that is ‘Opposition’. National has no power – it has no friends.
“It’s on 44 percent and it has absolutely maxxed that out, due to a sublime performance by Bill English on the campaign trail and a scare campaign that was actually based on a couple of really big lies.”
Gower said there was no clear path back into power for National, due to its lack of coalition partners.
“National has got nowhere to go, in my view, above 44 percent,” he said.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/10/national-in-very-very-dark-place-patrick-gower.html
Interesting from Gower. He always seemed to have the inside running with Labour centrists/careerists when they leaked stuff against the more strongly left wing leaders like Cunliffe.
So, now Gower is going with Team Ardern. Not sure that’s a good recommendation, as I think Gower wll support a centrist Labour-led government, but not anyone strongly left like Turei (who he went after with a vengeance).
“As Patrick Gower has said, this is not an impressive opposition.”
Then what has changed in the last couple of weeks then Gower?
If they are not an impressive opposition, then they were also not an impressive government. But I don’t recall ever hearing you say that…
Why do you bother giving air to this fuckwit?
His view is whatever he thinks he can create headlines from, that’s it.
Next week it will be the opposite.
Why do you bother giving air to this fuckwit?
Because ‘Gower is Gulible’ o/k?
Sounds just like you BM.
I read the Wireless piece and had to think “is that the best you’ve got?” And the answer is yes.
I’ve always been pleased to have English and Bennett at the head of the National Party. They highlight National’s lack of talent, ability and integrity. And there’s very little of substance lining up behind them.
100% excellent wrap there Grey Area.
I see a group of people with baggage and skeletons. I wonder who the national voters would prefer as leader? I think english is over it/not into it anymore.
Just watching paula and Mr Twyford on tv3, she’s very excited about having some more time to spend on herself.
I’d look at someone like Mark Mitchell personally
Ah, now there’s a closet and skeleton factory if ever there was one…
Do tell…
Isn’t he the guy who was paying whaleoil to do attack politics on rivals for National selection for Rodney?
Google bro
Yes Nikki Kaye is the only choice National could have made, – as she has a softer side as they desperately need to counter our warm jacinda they must know.
Also all the other ladies in contention in Nationals lineup are combative nasty charaters.
Nikki Kaye is somewhat a warmer character than any of the other choice they had available to them.
The time for hard politics is now over well and truly.
So look for Bill to now step aside as Andrew did nicely for labour to get us all the new queen of our hearts, Jacinda.
Disagree there’s going to be a lot of fucked off people in the near future, you want someone with a bit of fire who can channel that anger.
The person who ticks that box is Judith Collins, airy-fairy Jacinda will have her arse handed to her on a plate.
‘there’s going to be a lot of fucked off people in the near future’. I’m sure there are a lot of nasties plotting behind closed doors right now, waiting for their moment to hatch their devious little plots – bring it on! (such fun!)
“there’s going to be a lot of fucked off people in the near future, you want someone with a bit of fire who can channel that anger …[t]he person who ticks that box is Judith Collins”
Or a small number of very, very f*cked off people who have suffered some erosion of their unearned wealth and privilege and then turn to Judith Collins for salvation, but instead experience derision and failure.
Please list Collins’ achievements over the last 9 years, also her perfidy.
In a similar number of weeks Jacinda Ardern got her party into contention, and then through good negotiation skill into parliament with a workable plan.
What is airy-fairy about that?
Judith Collins is too close to Dirty politics Whale oil and schemes to get like minded horrors into the National Party.
That you admire her tells us a great deal about your values.
Even Peters gets that it is time for a new guard… hence the 37 yr old PM instead of the English Lit graduate who jas been sucking at the public teat for over 30 years.
I think your right, however Bill English gained the highest party vote so please show respect Bill will get up again. You know third time lucky and all.
Let’s do this BM
@ Cleangreen (3.4) … I’d love Bingles to step aside. For his deputy, the ghastly Bennett woman to take over National. That move would guarantee Natz completely unelectable.
I wonder if Paula is still paying her lawyers to make sure her shady past is kept in the distant past? Not a good look, having a leader with a bit of dodgy history.
As for Nikki Kaye. I doubt she comes anywhere near our Jacinda for genuine warmth, humanity and character. She’s a Natz politician, remember!
Brutal evisceration of some talentless wannabe on Shub.
“It’s far from the first time Max has tried to use a famous person for self-promotion”
I think Mr E might win that particular Rap Battle…
Mr Ambassador has form.
Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros claims in a new lawsuit that former senator Scott Brown made sexually inappropriate comments to her while on set and put his hands on her lower waist.
[…]
Tantaros asserts halfway through the 37-page suit that Brown, while appearing on her show “Outnumbered” in August 2015, “made a number of sexually inappropriate comments to Tantaros on set.”
She claims that he told her, “in a suggestive manner,” that she “would be fun to go to a nightclub with.”
“After the show was over, Brown snuck up behind Tantaros while she was purchasing lunch and put his hands on her lower waist,” the lawsuit says. “She immediately pulled back, telling Brown to ‘stop.’ ”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/08/23/scott-brown-named-fox-sexual-harassment-lawsuit/boWnrCcWqz6v3RYyuCkQHI/story.html
If her case relies on those very mild attempts at flirtation,she has no show.’that she “would be fun to go to a nightclub with.”Laughable.
It’s a euphamism and got zero to do with a nightclub.
I also note bush senior from his wheelchair is a bit that way inclined from recent reports – good this is all coming out and shows just how widespread this shit is.
Some unscrupulous individuals target high profile people .I note these euphemistic advances were made in 2015.Since then Fox have made many deserved payouts to disgruntled employees subjected to unwanted attention by various media figures.
I did a reply but the ether ate it. So again
Some unscrupulous individuals ARE high profile people. That is just a fact.
Sometimes things can go too far.The procreation of the human race would be in danger if social intercourse is outlawed as a pre cursor to sexual intercourse.No male could make an approach for fear of being categorised as engaging in inappropriate conduct.’Good morning,you’re looking lovely today’!How dare you,you chauvinistic,sexist ,potential nuisance.
There are many and varied ways both sexes can indicate they want or are seeking sex or a potential lovers. Unasked for or unwanted or unexpected lines are designed for the perp not the person being addressed. The power is uneven and abused in the later scenario imo.
I’m a bit naive,can you list a few you recommend.I don’t want to dress up and strut and signal like a Peacock or Bird of Paradise.
Well these are things you learn as you grow up and as I have thankfully no idea of your sexual preferences, attitudes or even what gender you may identify with it would be inappropriate for me to offer ideas to you. If you have friends perhaps ask them or even Google it.
Finding a willing sexual partner requires a certain amount of social competence. This includes recognising various power relationships and whether the other person is just trying to do their job.
If you can’t handle it, better go for celibacy rather than risking sexually assaulting someone. When I’m drunk, I try to avoid “flirting”, because when I’m drunk I don’t have the social competence to recognise when it might be inappropriate.
Nicely said
Are you saying if men cannot be the definers of what is “flirtation” the race dies? I sure as hell hope you meant something that paints men as having more self control and dignity than that.
If her case relies on those very mild attempts at flirtation…
If you’re under the impression that sneaking up behind women and putting your hands on them is a “mild attempt at flirtation,” review your definitions before you end up getting arrested.
Mike Hosking: Petrol tax is just the beginning” HZHerald headline
Well after many years of 50-70k net migration, and the dramatic increase of tourist numbers. How is the underfunding of infrastructure suppose to happen?
There are a few cases within coys I have worked in, where to “make the books” look good maintenance is halted and expenditure that has a future benefit is delayed, staff numbers downsized. So you have a year or 2 of great profits then a slide those that implemented the policy leave (with banked incentives) and the new regime is brought in to attend to this new problem !! Sounds familiar ???
Some are quick to decry this but what other solutions are there ?
His whining is quite pathetic
Yep, been in a few companies like that myself. It seems endemic to the neo-liberal capitalists. They don’t seem to realise that to have a viable business/society stuff has to be built, that it’s impossible to continue on what was done before. But that’s what our business people and National do.
And this shit is why NZ lags on productivity.
They don’t seem to realise that to have a viable business/society stuff has to be built
Yep, Neolibtards don’t build wealth, they extract it.
When Andrew Little stepped down in favour of Jacinda Ardern, I saw it as a last, desperate move by a party heading for crushing defeat. The fact I was wrong showed up pretty quickly, but I didn’t realise just how badly wrong I was until Ardern’s arrival back at Parliament yesterday, particularly when I saw the ending of this video: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/watch-these-my-nieces-and-today-nephew-born-double-delight-jacinda-ardern-in-touching-family-moment-parliaments-steps.
If Andrew Little had been sworn in as PM yesterday, the imagery of a 50-something guy in a suit replacing a 50-something guy in a suit would have been “meh.” But the symbolism of the new PM as a young woman walking up Parliament’s steps hand-in-hand with two small children? No amount of National-party donor funding could buy that, because it was real. Allow yourself to feel good about this, because that shit is going to be hard for National to beat.
Leave her hair alone Clark! 🙂
The video puts me in mind of the Royal family. A warm response.
Exactly how I saw it – the response was more like that expected for a princess – loved it – keep having tearful moments.
It’s strange, isn’t it, how you get so used to pain and then it stops – wow!!
JanM,
Truly very well said there JanM,
I feel so relieved and a bg weight has now been lifted off my shoulders after nine years of very stressful worry is suddenly beginning to leave me.
My focus now is getting our rail to Gisborne restored now after five long apprehensive years without any rail and truck gridlock while everyone else got their rail fixed only northland and HB/Gisborne got left out.
@JanM – being there, it certainly did feel like that! I was tearful too. It was such a nice atmosphere – there was a sense of butterflies seeking the light after nine years of darkness! I was making friends with strangers all around me, and I managed to give the lovely Tamati Coffey a hug 🙂
Brilliant Frida, If i was there i hug him too!!
I’m in Australia at the moment, so the nearest I got to Jacinda’s meet and greet from parliament steps, was through Tamati’s video of the event.
He lives in Rotorua, my home town, and is as genuine as Jacinda is. I had the great pleasure of being in the same room as Tamati Andrew and Jacinda.
They are the most natural wonderful people. Andrew is more formal, but absolutely honest and true. I too shed a few relieved happy tears.
I have never felt this excited about a new government. Ever.
Aunty Cinda is going to be great and that feeling of change in the air after 9 years of stagnation is a welcome change.
The Royal family as in The Royal family or as in the Royale family the comedy ?.
If you are really in mental health you would consider her special, and definitely not a joke.
Thanks PM, that’s brilliant!
+ 1 yep puts the awe in awesome and the zing in amazing.
Hard to believe those very challenging times before Andrew stepped down were real because the world has changed so much. But they were real and we held the line and have been rewarded with a change that seems to be an actual change. I suspect under this new government non voters will fall as people especially the young see this change. Part of our role is to keep encouaging people to enrol and get involved. Still many issues to deal with in our society and now we have the ability to improve and even eliminate those issues.
Talking of Andrew Little… he’s looking on top of the world. He’s got the portfolios he wanted and he’ll be a top-notch minister. So pleased for him because he deserves it.
Time will tell
A.
Shit you are a depressing arsehole.
It’s true.
Little has never been a Minister before, so personally, I’m going to wait to see whether he is actually any good.
A.
How do you intend measuring it?
‘National’ Standards I suppose.
Touche
nice
> How do you intend measuring it?
By whether he achieves the things he sets out to achieve and whether those turn out to be good things?
A.
I see AL quite frequently Anne as we live in the same suburb, go to the same supermarket etc and he looked dreadful the day after he handed over to Jacinda. Since then he has lost years in the way he looks and is bouncing around the place with a spring in his step. In talking to him the week after the election, he had all faith that Labour would win through in the end. I – and I know others – have thanked him to his face for what he did in bringing the factions within the Labour parliamentary arm together before handing over to Jacinda. If this had not happened, then IMO Labour would have stood no chance despite Jacinda’s skills
I have no doubt that he will do well with the portfolios he has got; and he will probably get a little ‘background’ and ‘advice’ from myself and others around here that have worked in some the particular Ministries and Departments involved. Some could sorely do with his management/leadership skills. LOL
His intregity will be important as Treaty minister. I wish him the best on that part of his journey.
Interestingly, Chris Finlayson was interviewed the day the portfolios were announced and he spoke of… being delighted that Little had been given the
Justice, Treaty and Intelligence portfolios because he knows he has the skills to do the job well and will be a safe pair of hands . (words to the effect anyway.)
I think Finlayson might finally have been let free now that they’re in opposition.
My wife commented that he looked much happier when she saw him on the news the other night. It must suck on a personal level to have everyone saying you did the right thing by stepping down as leader, but being the leader sure looked like it was shortening his lifespan. I wish him all the best as a cabinet minister.
It spoke volumes to me that he stayed on. Many in his position bugger off as though if they cant be the big cheese they aint interested. I am glad he stayed and glad he telinquished the leadership. There are lots of ways to be a leader
Yes, absolutely brilliant. He will have Jacinda’s back with the spy portfolios also.
Jacinda is so real and warm and speaks to people as if they matter. The Nats so often just wanted to slap people down and have them shut up and go away. She also knows it won’t be easy, there will be mistakes and bad days, but I think she is smart enough to be up-front with the public when that happens. The grey clouds have lifted from NZ today and those not on the top rungs of the ladder have a government for them.
The size of the crowd at Parliament said it all. A wonderful atmosphere, even Paddy Gower was affected!
What strikes me is that the gathered crowd is made up of a huge diversity. Racially, gender, age ranges are all there. (My impression of National gatherings was of grey heads and mostly white older folk. Look at National Party pics.)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11937114
Reality,
Again so well sighted correctly here Reality,
We all feel the jacinda magic here, and we wondered what jacinda’s mum meant when in August the press interviewed her in the islands she said jacinda was a “very special person”.
Now we have truly seen this in reality.
Aye, it is Paula Bennet who now has to “zip it sweetie” (thank goodness)
Does mark Richardson practise being a total dick or does it come naturally? He comes across as mentally and intellectually underdeveloped. Garner should kick him off his show. He’s a bluddy liability with a Trump tan.
well ffloyd, it is working as clearly you are watching/listening to him, stay tuned and see how you might be outrged tomorrow.
Not really. Purely accidental. It was on st my daughters house. I just don’t see why he is able to use his position on the am show to make detrimental comments about the Labour Party.
Fair enough.
He rates, so as a filler between advertisements, he is doing his job.
it’s what he’s paid to do. Garners hardly an intellectual giant.
Having met him in person, it comes naturally, I can assure you.
“I want the government to bring kindness back.”
People have lauded her warmth , speaking naturally fro a level of consciousness that’s not busy filtering verbal output through a screen of caution and conditioning which fits the dialogue to the long established habit of maintaining the spin-generated paradigm.
Kindness? Its something as a nation we could/should embrace more fully to give substance and follow-through to the new government’s commitment.
Lets do it.
Yes – let’s do it!
A great photo essay from Newsroom Lynn Grieveson. The first photo demonstrates the great diversity at the Parliamentary welcome.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/10/26/56279/photo-essay-new-government-sworn-in
Thank you ianmac for posting that That is uplifting. Such real liking between her and Winston.
Such a wonderful diverse group (800+) to greet her on our behalf.
A nice dark article on China’s economic ambitions and possible negative consequences:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-26/china-s-global-ambition-could-split-the-world-economy
Confucius Institutes: cultural asset or campus threat?
It appears things like educational freedom are now for sale by cash strapped facilities.
Mike Hosking “You can’t bump the minimum wage telling us that 16 bucks is not enough to live on and then hit us with a car tax. There is no point in making life cheaper one day and more expensive the next.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11937277
Can’t? Who says? Why not? For most $4 more in hourly wages and 10 cents extra for a litre of petrol would leave them ahead of the game financially. For those out of AKL petrol will not increase in price but they will get a real wage increase. The vast majority will be better off, and Aucklanders will stand a chance of having a cheaper, convenient, and quicker way of getting to the airport.
And it is not like the petrol tax is simply evaporating into thin air – it is building infrastructure, so you aren’t “poorer” – it is simply swapping one asset (cash) for another (better shared transport infrastructure).
Hosking is a numbskull with as much insight as a road cone.
So how many more taxes need to be applied for this to be an issue?
Take a guess.
If a tax (or its rate – or any other policy for that matter) gives poor social or community outcomes, then it should be looked at.
People who have a general gut hatred of tax are often short of any evidence that tax is generally and inherently harmful. Often tax leads to a lot of good.
As successful countries have a State share of the economy between 40 and 65%, there is a lot of room to move. (Ours is 30% and you can see the effects in our run down towns and infrastructure).
+111
Nope road cones have a use.
Yeah. But Hosking wants private luxury and if the price of that is public squalor he really doesn’t care.
The first post-election poll will be interesting. Now that Labour / Green / NZ1 policies and people are in the public spotlight, I think the worm may have really turned (plus the “back a winner” effect).
Won’t mean much in the long term, but will be interesting.
Read yesterday’s comments about Joyce this morning and thought , I wonder what the TS regulars are saying about him today? Nothing , really come on don’t let him of the hook so easily .
How about we start a fund to buy Joyce a new shovel, or even better , a digger, so that he can keep digging bigger holes for his nasty anti-Labour ideas to drop into and maybe he will also.
Just thinking.
I oppose work for dole schemes – please labour and greens do not let this happen. As Sue Bradford on fbook says
“It would be an utter betrayal of employed & unemployed workers alike if the new govt supports this. I hope Labour & Greens will knock any prospect of workfare on the head immediately. ‘Yes’ to full waged, useful job creation – ‘no’ to forced, ununionised work.”
Let’s address the real problem and not sticky plaster an outdated and demeaning pretend solution please.
I think it’s great, get all those left-wing slackers out there panting pines in the middle of nowhere, good character building stuff.
As they’re toiling away in the hot sun or cold winters, they can all sing songs about doing their bit for the collective and how great this left-wing government is for giving them an opportunity to contribute.
Yep you would say that wouldn’t you. You don’t care about anyone except yourself – not the young, not the old, not the disadvantaged and sure as hell not Māori – bet you hogg the remote too eh cuz. Sad.
With NZ First involved I’m expecting to see boot camps make an appearance in the near future as well.
a friendly warning to dial back the trolling a bit BM.
The new government has pledged to double the size of a six-week programme for young jobseekers run by the NZ Defence Force and Ministry of Social Development. It’s been dubbed a “boot camp”. David Fisher went inside.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11936346
But it’s not actually a Boot Camp and it’s voluntary and isn’t filled with criminals with major socialisation problems.
yeah, sorry, I thought it would be obvious what the trolling stuff was. It’s in the previous comment, I just used that latter one because of the time flow.
BM=Bullshit Master.
Fuck off, troll.
That’s what my father-in-law did after returning from WW2 having contracted TB from service in the Arctic convoys and also being torpedoed in Tarranto harbour.
He planted trees.
For a living.
To feed his family.
For the NZFS.
Acknowledgements to your father-in-law mac1 who along with many other New Zealanders toiled to plant and manage our state forests that were eventually sold by Roger Douglas and the New Right neoliberals to foreign buyers for a song.
BM is ignorant of the fact that the forests are no longer owned by us, and thinks that its morally OK for corporate foreign interests to extract personal gain by means of our Government making people work in similar circumstances as your father, but without a real wage or the satisfaction that they are doing something for the benefit of their country.
BM is a nasty troll, but his idea might work if the forests were nationalised and offered work to people again – and in doing so recognised not just the value of the timber but the intrinsic value in the workers and the social communities that would build around such a revitalised industry.
I never met him, left_forward, and he never saw what happened in the Eighties.
I really wanted to point out to BM in his smarty pants point-scoring that he also dishonoured honourable and heroic men with his scoffing.
My father-in-law did not need to have his character built. It already had been. And proved.
Nga mihi ki a koe me tou matua tupuna.
Kia ora hoki mo ou kupu aroha, e hoa.
Sort of agree. It would be good to make the overprivileged, and idle, children of the rich do some useful work. But I doubt that will happen.
Funny how we have “low unemployment” but we have all these “slackers” out there?
BM, is BM short for bloody minded?
I think Bullshit Mountain was named after BM.
Why have workers for regular wage that the company will have to pay when the same company can hire workers at the local WINZ offce for the cost of the dole – cost of the dole comes courtesy of the tax payer.
This is my issue that i have with ‘working for the dole’.
If people had jobs they would not be on the dole.
> Why have workers for regular wage that the company will have to pay when the same company can hire workers at the local WINZ offce for the cost of the dole
That might not be how it would work. They might only be working in areas that didn’t compete with paid jobs.
(I don’t support the idea BTW)
A.
well I call bollocks on that, given that people will do damned near anything for money.
If the govt has work for people to do, it should pay fair rates for them to do it. If there’s no work, invest in the regions so that there is work.
Yes, improve pay and conditions at workplaces, and offer abundant free education and training. If there remains a shortage of jobs, the taxpayer should fund other useful employment (there is loads that can be usefully done – infrastructure work, conservation work, expand hospital services etc).
After doing the above, I doubt there would be any problem remaining that required boot camps / workhouses.
i don’t think we have a shortage of jobs its just that we don’t want to pay for these jobs.
We are going to force people to work for what 250$ benefit per week all the while we raise the min wage to $ 20? And i thought that the right to the dole is essentially a service that is prepaid by the taxes the government collect. I.e. one pays taxes that fund these programmes to have access to them in case of unemployment, sickness etc. So we fund them in the first place and then we ‘work for them’? IS that even legal? And would government then be found to undercut wages with its ‘dole for work’ scheme if businesses found it more lucrative to let go of its $20 a min wage staff and then hire the newly unemployed on the ‘work for dole’ scheme? Does anyone else see the bullshittery?
Also, costs of transport, lunches, work clothes etc are also covered by the ‘government’ or is the ‘worker for the dole’ to be responsible for these costs and is to take them out of their 250$ per week living allowance? Also will a permit needed to live under a bridge and how much will it cost to apply for such a permit? Same for dumpster diving?
not wearing any rosy colored glasses i can see this scheme only to the benefit of employers.
We’re both just speculating at this point
A.
I understood that employers would have the dole as a subsidy on wages, but the worker would be paid at least the minimum?
that then would not be ‘working for the dole’?
Yeah, i would like to see some more feedback on this. I personally believe that this ‘working for dole/subsidizing a boss for his staff’ should only apply to people that would have a really hard time getting employed.
It should not be used say for a cafe that wants a ‘less then minimum wage cost’ baristas and kitchen staff and thus only hires people on the subsidy and then will fire said staff once the subsidy has run its course. – this is what i have heard coming is happening in the UK.
Conspiracy theorists aren’t all amusing cranks. Some are truly sick and sadistic people:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/26/las-vegas-shooting-conspiracy-theories-social-media
Fantastic surfy hair for someone whose had a bullet travel inside their head for 7 centimetres a couple of days ago. Can’t see much restriction of head movement either, you would think it would be quite sore still.
Oh FFS. Are you a doctor?
Yeah and the doctor worked around the hair on the back of his head because it was just too beautiful to touch. I have a large head injury here and lots of blood loss but I will perform surgery or stitch up his head without touching the flowing locks, because it’s so much easier do deal with wounds with this long mass of matted hair in my way. Oh, and make sure its shampooed before he goes to media and I’ll make sure no bandages will be visible.
Batshit…
Sad.
“No” is much more economical.
You want slide 54.
Wow unbelievable comment m (deleted)
Where does it say that he had a bullet inside his head?
In the video, he talks about the bullet going into the back of his head and exiting 3 inches away. I’ll guess that’s in the fleshy bit of the back of the neck below the base of the skull. Where you wouldn’t see it from the front even if the doctors had shaved quite a lot around the wounds. So it’s a crowded field, but those comments from maui really are in the front-running for most fuckwitted comments on The Standard ever.
Bloody lucky (for a given value of “luck”).
Might have skipped around the outside of the skull a wee bit – ballistics get complicated when spinning objects meet hard spheres, even if it’s not a ricochet.
In the first few seconds of the clip he said that it grazed his skull under the skin. Relatively clean. Reminds me of George Orwell’s comment about being shot in the throat by a sniper in the Spanish Civil War – he was a tall man, so if he’d been normal height, he would have been killed.
Punctured the skin but didn’t go through the skull. The skin and flesh then keeping the bullet close for a short time.
And, yeah, there’d be a hell of a lot of blood even though it’d a somewhat minor wound in itself – head wounds bleed profusely – ask anyone who’s cut themselves shaving. Big one would be the concussion and bruising that follows.
oh yeah, defs on the blood. I’ve been first responder to a couple of head cuts – nothing serious but they still bled disproportionately. Much more than a finger cut to the bone (lol that one was mine, unfortunately)
Ok, so we’re resorting to guesses on where he got shot, I guess we have to do that when we’ve got great views of the front, left and right side of his head and there is no sign of… anything. If he was wounded in the fleshy part of the neck (even though we can see that part from a side on view) it would be painful to turn his head like he does to his girlfriend in the clip – and he does it unflinchingly and quickly.
Anyway the clincher is the interview of the second survivor at the bottom of the story. The interview is so ridiculous, if you believe that you’ll believe anything I spose.
No. He was hit in the back of the head by a grazing shot. One that punctured the skin but not the bone.
You’re at the point now where you’re simply reaching for anything that will confirm your conspiracy theory.
You’re using the term “grazing” to explain why we don’t see more of an injury. He clearly says in the video that the bullet entered, “grazed his skull” and then exited 3 inches later. He also says there was shitloads of blood. To a non-expert that doesn’t appear to me to be a grazing shot.
“grazed” vs “grazing”? Seriously?
So you think it’s a big conspiracy – that he is an actor and whatnot. Why did they do it? Shoot all those people or do you think they weren’t shot?
Ok, my guess was wrong about where the bullet hit. There’s a photo of the wounds at 0:55 in the video that’s part of the “escaped” AP link in the third paragraph of the Guardian article.
Ok my bad, good they got evidence of it because it is pretty unbelievable.
Iceland’s Jacinda Ardern
https://jacobinmag.com/2017/10/iceland-election-left-greens-katrin-jakobsdottir
(albeit a little further Left)
A couple of people on here have said what Mike Hosking wants. I’ve read some of his recent articles including his “Petrol tax is just the beginning.”
I know he doesn’t want public transport. I think he wants attention. Maybe he would get a lot of attention if he said what he thought the answers were to the growth and infrastructural problems of the city and region.
He is the sniper taking shots at the ideas of anyone who has ideas and solutions. He attacks those who have the heavy responsibility of coming up with solutions in an environment which seemingly is impossible.
Mike Hosking, step forward with your plans for developing Auckland, coping with the growth and infrastructural problems and how you would have those funded.
Or do you only care enough to rant and rave and bleat about how things affect you? You, only one of about 1.6 million.
Hope Hoskings gets a ticket for driving.
Yes Roger me and you have something in common we have both got strong voices and you are a leader at the Rock 25 year’s Good work just because we back different Gov party’s don’t mean we can’t have a laugh together ka pai. I heard you guys talk about dangerous encounters one has had I’v had a few but here’s a funny one with me and my step dad we were fishing it was about 9 am and I spotted a large Bull killer whale I was watching him for about 15 minutes the step dad was in the bunk asleep as far as I new well i went on deck to watch the Killer whale with his huge dorsal fin bent over that’s how I new he was a bull as well as being huge .well I heard this yelp from my step dad what I did not see was he had shot out the back of the boat to go toilet and in those days one just sat on the bulwarks and did your business . Well my step dad did not no the whale was around and while he was doing his business the Bull killer whale had popped up about 5 mtr away from were my step dad was doing his business he got a hell of a fright and nearly fell in the drink fuck I laugh my ass off he was pale and shaken he was a humorous man so he handled my fit of laughter .Before I started fishing I had sleep problems the mind going 100 mile a hour well working 20 hour’s straight when one is 14 soon eliminates the sleeping problem .So I had no problems sleeping till I was 21 when I was told something that turn my world up side down we had one child at the time so I tried the natural sleep remedy I had tryed it once before and it did not impress me but this time it was not just sleep I was stressed out .
Well It worked this time and stress levels dropped and hay It is something Mother Earth gave us so I thought no big deal well that not how the system see it this is how most Maori see the subject I have stopped many times when life is good. But when external factors out of my control are stressing me out well I go buy my medicine .
Now let’s look at It from a different angle which I say can kill 2 bird’s with one stone is that OUR agricultural exports are at a guest 20 Billon and this is our main income earner . So we can end up the creak with out a paddle if our bio security is breached by many millions of these threats ot our agricultural exports so I say this is a national
security risk and should be taken very very seriously as this is our main weakness as some farmers have pointed out .And we need to pour a lot of resources in to minimizing this risk as it will be a lot cheaper than the disaster that will happen if we don’t in vest in minimizing this risk now. How are we going to pay for this extra vigilant boarder security we need . Well I say we are pissing billions of dollar’s on controlling an medical product and spending billion’s locking up people whom with a bit of guidance and help will be good productive citizens . So I say lets take all the resources we waste on this dum ass fight and use them to protect our National security this is a cheap and innovative why to Insure we have a Healthy happy wealthy FUTURE enough said Kia Kaha lets do this
eco maori
Please put double spacing between paragraphs and have paragraphs where it’s all about the same thought. Then a couple of enters and the next one. Otherwise it’s too hard to read. And it is surprising how long it takes to put all those words and thoughts down as in No.19.
K just in a rush but I’m sure everyone get,S it
Nope, not everyone gets it. If it looks like it’s going to be hard work reading it I’ll just skim straight past. Pretty sure I’m not the only one.
Eco maori
I’m interested and want to both write and read here and that takes time from things I have promised to do for others and things I should be doing for me. So time is short for me and for you, and if you are going to be moved to write please cut it into bits so others mind can sort it and take it in. Otherwise as Andre says I’ll just skip it.
Reminds me I am often writing about something and explaining my point of view. CV used to tell me TLDR (too long didn’t read). He used to throw
remarks like that around. Very hurtful but true! He didn’t have time for fools.
NZ WHISTLE-BLOWER ALERT!
27 October 2017
Make Ak Transport PUBLIC again!
Along with many others – I worked very hard to #ChangeTheGovernment.
How I choose to work is on an ‘issue by issue’ basis, supporting issues where there is ‘common cause’ – but agreeing to disagree where there is not 🙂
Make Ak Transport PUBLIC again!
It’s PUBLICLY subsidised PRIVATELY owned, operated & managed passenger transport.
NO Ak Regional Fuel Tax.
___________________
Persistently and consistently, I have opposed an Auckland ‘user pays’ regional fuel tax.
Here’s what I said over 4 years ago, which explains why:
Press Release from Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright:
“The ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group report on Auckland transport funding options is fundamentally and fatally flawed”.
16 July 2013
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/newseventsculture/OurAuckland/News/Pages/keepaucklandmoving.aspx
“Over the next 30 years, the number of people living in Auckland is expected to increase by up to one million – mostly due to natural population growth. Along with this comes the need to expand and improve Auckland’s transport system.”
“MYTH ONE: Here we go again, this ‘million more people’ myth and urban legend is now being regurgitated as a primary underpinning reason to expand Auckland transport infrastructure,” says Auckland Mayoral candidate, Penny Bright.
“No disrespect, but are / were all the members of this ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group, aware that the use of the Department of Statistics ‘high’ population growth projections, ( the one million more people coming to Auckland in the next 30 years), instead of their recommended ‘medium’ population growth projections, is now being investigated by the Social Services Select Committee?”
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Presented/Petitions/5/0/5/50DBHOH_PET3157_1-Petition-of-Penelope-Mary-Bright-requesting-that.htm
Petition of Penelope Mary Bright
Requesting that Parliament declines to proceed with the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill until the lawfulness of the reliance of Auckland Council on the New Zealand Department of Statistics’ “high”population growth projections, instead of their “medium” population growth projections for the Auckland Spatial Plan, has been properly and independently investigated, taking into consideration that both Auckland Transport and Watercare Services Ltd, have relied upon “medium” population growth projections for their infrastructural asset management plans.
Petition number: 2011/64
Presented by: Holly Walker
Date presented: 30 May 2013
Referred to: Social Services Committee
__________________________
‘Supplementary Evidence’:
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Housing-Accord-and-Special-Housing-Areas-Bil-Supplementary-Evidence-13-Juna-2013.pdf
__________________________
“MYTH TWO: The only sources of monies available for ‘improving Auckland’s transport system’ are: road tolls, or higher rates and fuel taxes’,”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10898450
” How about checking with a ‘fine-tooth comb’ EXACTLY where Auckland Council (and Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) rates monies are currently being SPENT, and cutting back rates SPENDING?”
“No disrespect intended, but are / were all the members of this ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group, aware that Auckland Council ‘books’ are still not open, and citizens and ratepayers do not know exactly how much public rates monies are being spent on private ‘piggy-in-the-middle’ consultants and contractors?”
“No disrespect intended, but are / were all the members of this ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group, aware that in an an Auckland Council Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) reply dated 21 November 2011:
(QUESTION)
“1) Is the Auckland Council, in a truly ‘open, transparent and democratically-accountable’ way, going to ensure that citizens and ratepayers of the Auckland region are going to be given the
‘devilish’ detail, so we can see exactly where our rates monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
2) a) .Are the names of the consultants/contractors; the scope, term and value of these contracts going to be published in the Auckland Council Annual Report so that they are available for public scrutiny?
b) if not- why not?
(ANSWER)
Not at this stage. There are 5,000, contracts related to 12,500 suppliers. To collate and pub!ish these would be a major exercise logistically and cost~wise. ….. ”
[See Item 6 ]
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/OCCUPY-AUCKLAND-APPEAL-APPLICATION-BY-APPELLANT-BRIGHT-TO-ADDUCE-NEW-EVIDENCE-pdf.pdf
“I checked today on the Auckland Council website, and can still find no such publicly available details of ‘contracts issued’”
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/HowCouncilWorks/Pages/working_with_council.aspx
“Did the ‘Conned Senseless’ Building Group investigate how much public money could be freed up to serve the interests of the public majority, (including Auckland transport funding), by CUTTING OUT THE CONSULTANTS and PRIVATE CONTRACTORS, and returning core Council services ‘in-house’?
“If there is no ‘cost-benefit’ analysis which proves that private provision of Council services is more cost-effective for the public majority, then as an Auckland Mayoral candidate, I believe that this long-term corporate welfare must cease forthwith.”
” My recommendation is that citizens and ratepayers in the Auckland region do your own ‘cost-benefit’ analysis. Since this so-called Auckland ‘$upercity’ was forced upon the Auckland region, have YOUR rates gone up or down?”
“See? The public majority of the Auckland region have been ‘CONNED’ by the CONsultants, and the CONtractors, and those who serve their interests – arguably the NZ Property Council and the Committee for Auckland,”
“As an Auckland Mayoral candidate – this is where I stand:
NO road tolls/ fuel taxes or rates increases to fund Auckland transport infrastructure.
Open the books.
Cut out all the consultants and contractors who are effectively on ‘corporate welfare’.
Get rid of these ‘corporate-controlled’ CCOs, with their appointed Boards of arguably self-serving business people.
Bring core Council services back ‘in-house’, and employ Council Officers who have a ‘public service’ background and ethos, not private sector functionaries who are now running Auckland Council as if it were their own private company.
Take back public ownership, operation and control of Auckland passenger transport.
Why should the public subsidise what we no longer own?
Change the uniforms and the business cards, and Auckland Council take back operation and management of Auckland Rail, from French multinational Transdev, (formerly known as Veolia Transport Auckland)
Use public monies for the benefit of the public majority, not the private sector, particularly multi-national corporations.”
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption, anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
______________________________
#MakeAucklandTransportPublicAgain
#StopPublicSubsidiesOfPrivatePassengerTransportOperators
#NoAucklandRegionalFuelTax
#Meow
Paddles, is that you?
– Nope, we really are going into the accelerated population growth phase here. Well documented . So you are wrong there.
– Nope, Auckland Transport’s books are fully open already. Some stuff during commercial negotiations is confidential and always will be. You will already have noticed too that the Minister has taken immediate steps to ensure more efficient use of taxpayer money by preparing to cancel the East-West expressway and redeploy it to light rail. So you are wrong there.
– Road tolls are not the only source of funding – in fact most of the funding will be debt financed through bonds, which are in turn serviced by the property owners from the new developments that the finding is used for. That is what the Minister has already indicated. So you are wrong there.
Wrong on all counts so far.
You have never got elected or even close, never been appointed to anything, and your one useful task has been the application of the Public Records Act, other than that you have had no influence on society at all.
But that is the record you always fail to disclose.
Harsh Ad
I hope that no-one will have cause to say similar to you. Penny does try to draw people’s attention to matters of concern. But according to you her points are not correct. It is good that you indicated which ones. But you didn’t need the sting at the end.
Your background apparently makes you very wise and invulnerable to criticism.
Hi Penny, I found this very difficult to follow – but I think I can support and like the core of your message. Perhaps a more minimal style may help communicate your message more effectively 🙂
The Russian Revolution centenary was this month, and we almost went without marking it:
http://www.dw.com/en/the-real-october-artists-and-revolution/av-41093675
So here it is, through the eyes of the artists who went through it.
From the link-‘Brown is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit’so its mischievious ,unsubstantiated ,hearsay.
Her statement about our limited on-air, green-room interactions are false,” Brown said. “There were never any circumstances of any kind whatsoever in which I had any interaction with her or any other employee at Fox, outside the studio.”-The bits Joe90,left out.
Zorb6
Could you give some foundation for your comment about Joe90, the number, date etc. so that your comment has some connection to something that others can check out.
SAY NO TO THE TPP11 HERE:
https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/open-letter-to-jacinda-ardern-put-people-before-planet-in-tppa11
Enjoy this, about time.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11937347
Aussie govt on a knifes edge after court rules Deputy PM has to go.
So Labour back in in Aus??
I know there’s some consternation about a potential work for the dole scheme, but Labour has a policy to employ young NEETs for 6 months at minimum wage on various community projects (DOC was mentioned at the time), so hopefully any work schemes will be along those lines. Planting trees is an excellent opportunity there.
It should be work for the dole plus. After starting in a scheme and working at something that shows results, there would be monthly talks with immediate bosses with work reviewed and with a reasonable record, they start receiving wage rises, small but steady. A feeling of being valued and recognition of effort and higher skills acquired would buck up quite a few. Also a willingness by government to pay for vocational training at that stage, with firms willing to give them jobs. The more people working and earning a better wage, the more money circulating, the more employment. We could start being a good place to live for the strugglers.
The Labour policy to pay the dole to employers who take on apprentices seems like a good fit with that ☺️.
Hobbit law to be scrapped in first 100 days
Restoring peoples rights to them. This is a Good Thing.
The well paid people in the industry don’t like it and don’t seem to realise that it’s actually just making the law apply equally to everyone.
And Labour wouldn’t want to be agreeing to TPP ISDS restrictions before they repeal the law, surely?
I want repeals of laws affecting the film and creative industries, to help NZs get jobs that pay fairly but not ones that lessen the amount of work we can get here, and create here, and the money that we receive here we want to stay here in NZ.
Unions have to box clever, not just demand wages now because they have better somewhere else, and they have to work with the firms, and if not with, find a way to work the firms and the system to turn out the product and get a share of the profits, a bonus, a payment into a company that will make pilot features, something that always leads into something else.
Writing the laws so that we can have cheaper wages is part of the problem of the last thirty plus years.
I have been looking up the story of the 9 year old autistic boy who was held down while others fired a BB gun at him. The parents weren’t told about it and didn’t know until some crappy message was put on Facebook with a picture of it. The Principal advised the boy apparently to avoid theo ther boys and go to the library or whatever, an d the perpetrators were allowed b ack to school on a strict contract.
In Nelson some one with a snitcher on the Principal has been graffiting something about him on the school. The Deputy Principal in trying to prevent some little shit from pulling his trousers down, apparently the latest craze of the dilettantes at Nelson College, knocked the boys face and swore at him (What are you bloody doing etc. might be a phrase I’d be likely to use). It seems that this is regarded as very terrible for a teacher to do, but I don’t know if the boy/s is being charged with assault. No doubt this boy has parents that vote for the National Party, which follows a practice of not having respect for anybody. People like that are likely to send their kids to a good (boarding?) school as they can’t be spending their time with their children teaching them to be good people. Where is the money in that?
While looking at Tauranga Boys College and other Tauranga schools I notice a new private one, with a purpose built campus, and promoting itself as being the bees knees. The advert is dated 2017, and it is part of a group with others.* I can’t really identify it as it has adopted that crap practice used too often these days, just giving itself letters for a legal definition followed by Ltd. There is no meaning to letters, not unless they are used as a logo for a full name that is provided!
The facilities sound superior to state schools:
Purpose-built campus
Our campus features a brand new sports complex equipped for multiple sports including badminton, basketball, netball and futsal. Alongside this we have traditional outdoor rugby and soccer fields. The campus also boasts state-of-the-art learning facilities including science labs, multi-purpose areas, music and art rooms.
*Schools listed are: ACG Tauranga, ACG Parnell College, ACG Senior College,
ACG Strathallan, ACG Schools Jakarta, ACG Sunderland, AIS Vietnam.
The link for the Tauranga school student attack is
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11936970
I see Roy Morgan gone done a poll – but quite out of date because was conducted before Winston made his announcement and the government formed. I suspect things are changing rapidly right now.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7379-roy-morgan-new-zealand-voting-intention-october-2017-201710270443