Your reference is to yet another Martyn Bradbury rant. Basically saying all National voters are racist, fascist, misogynists. Not really a way to persuade people to change their votes.
Well, there is that. But what I intended was to point at the empty space. I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now – from the perspective of someone who long ago supported the very same causes that produced the woke lunatic fringe.
You'd think that people would realise that alienating such a huge political constituency is extremely stupid. But they don't. Case in point: the Green Party, which I remain an ambivalent member of.
Mobilising white males as a political force seems the obvious thing to do, whichever party one supports. Default ignoring has been going on too long. I suspect they'll be the dark horse in the election race this year.
Why jump to that conclusion?? I'd rather have a tolerant, inclusive society thanks. I've been part of the progressive political movement working for that since I was a teenager in the 1960s. The rainbow coalition was conceptualised as a political frame in the 1970s on that basis. The various minorities of political significance were viewed as analogous to the colours in the rainbow.
I get that minority resentment of perceived white male pakeha hegemony was understandable back then, but I doubt that embedding it as a grievance to be carried for anyone's entire life is good for their mental health.
You can't have it both ways. Standing up for minority rights makes the bigots angry. When you say I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now you sound like one of them.
That's just your interpretation. Are you trying to suggest bigots are sensible white centrist males ? I wouldn't do that if I were you – nobody is likely to agree. Sensible folk don't do bigotry. And they do support minority rights!
Bullshit. You know you can't reproduce anything I wrote to prove that! I agree sensible people aren't bothered by minority rights – in fact I even wrote that they support them in my previous comment!!
What you are up against here is the rule that only white males can be racist, sexist bigots.
There was an interesting incident recently (can't be arsed linking to it) where a visiting black cricket player was racially abused by a fan, and the game authorities rightly followed it up. Turned out the fan was an Indian and his defense was that 'only white people can be racist'.
When a person of colour is poor it's called 'oppression' and this is treated with righteous outrage. When a white male is poor it gets sneered at as 'economic anxiety'.
I don't believe they are. I believe they have been alienated by the toxic culture generated by the woke. Male non-rapists are offended by claims that `all men are rapists', for instance.
you are either a sensible white centrists and then 'woke' thing (humans i guess? maybe women? maybe not white centrists? maybe not white straight white centrists?) don't alienate you because as a 'sensible' white centrists you would know that the 'woke' thing is literally just people demanding and insisting in the same rights, place, space and pay sensible white centrists get.
the biggest threat to democracy is white male voting against the rights of all others cause they believe that they are owed more then any other group of people.
Also, please define ' sensible centrists white male' is that like you and Simon Bridges? Or is that like Bill English who thinks double dipping is fine when you are a minister of parliament but is criminal when a single women with children were to do that? Or is John Key a sensible white male? Or the shooter of the Christchurch Moschee? Or maybe Donald Trump is a sensible white male? Are you a sensible white male with economic anxiety?
I've never met any white male pakeha who believe "they are owed more then any other group of people." Anyone who thinks Trump is sensible is probably American. No I don't have "economic anxiety".
All those wacky notions of yours seem to come from over-generalisations and misperceptions. Politics works better if you deal with real people, not hallucinations.
Inherited privilege derived from social context? Yeah, that's a thing. I agree it is likely to operate in the sub-concious, and perhaps sometimes become evident as tacit sub-text.
A flimsy basis upon which the popular sport of calling someone racist who isn't seems to be based. You wouldn't get far citing hypotheticals from the subconscious in a court of law – but that doesn't stop some leftists from trying it on, eh? 🙄
I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who said that "all men are rapists", either.
Even the ones who argued that true consent is impossible in a patriarchal capitalist society had a more nuanced approach than you portray.
remove the hallucinations from your own eye and all that.
But basically, if you "mobilise" the anti-woke, what political movement do you really think you'll get? A revolutionary mobilisation built around the people who already have the socioeconomic dominance in society?
I recall one woman talking about how things had improved a little bit from the days when marxists would meet up, talk revolution and equality, and it was always the women who were expected to make the post-meeting cuppa. You seem to be wanting to put those guys back in charge, the ones who left in a sulk because they were asked to do the dishes after one meeting, or to not call someone a "fag" during the discussion.
Nor me. I cite the phrase due to media reports of its usage. Evidence that it has achieved currency, and is thus indicative of a mind-set. So no hallucination on my part with that!
Re mobilising, I wasn't advocating such activism. Just acknowledgement and inclusion is all the situation requires. People need to feel they are part of things, so democracy ought to accept their group identity as such.
Re your last paragraph, do you recall back in the day of women's lib & the Black Panthers, one of the latter was asked by the media "What is the position of women in the revolution?" and he answered "prone". Got the headline!
Eldridge Cleaver, I think, but long time ago & I increasingly distrust my memory on details. Anyway, no crazy oscillation from one extreme to another, just parity…
lol "media reports of its usage". Hosking and Trotter…
The woke already acknowledge tha anti-woke. Including the anti-woke is more difficult, because by doing so would be an act of exclusion of the folks the anti-woke like to exclude. Because calling out ~ist or ~phobic language sadly excludes ~ist or ~phobic people.
I don't get what you're trying to say. Why bring binary framing into it when I already specified the holistic frame?? Pakeha guys aren't big on presenting as a tribe, are they? Yet Trump won by treating them as one.
Learn the lesson. It's been around for three whole years already. Identity politics motivates people. The Nats could win that group by default unless the three parties in govt engage them. Not rocket science.
It's pretty obvious, surely – if you're trying to be inclusive to people who routinely treat people different to them like shit (whether intentionally or obliviously) or who can't deal with shit-treaters being called out on that behaviour, then you're excluding people different to them who don't want to be treated like shit.
In other words, "sensible white centrist males" who are alienated by the "woke thing" can only be included by not being "woke". Which sooner or later excludes everyone other than sensible white centrist males who are alienated by the woke thing.
But the group I'm talking about don't go around treating people like shit. They tend to be typical kiwi males: relaxed, friendly, considerate etc. Most of them are apolitical. Either vote govts out if they get the feeling that it's time for a change, or vote for a leader who they can identify with. So subtle factors can shift them easily. That's the danger of the Nats capturing them by default that concerns me.
but I’m also an adult and I ignore the things that supposedly will alienate me.
On the plus side I can read what ever I like without being triggered or suspecting a vast right wing (nzh) or left wing (guardian) mind control experiment
You seem sensible. Given that, I'd be interested to read your take on election year, both here & in the USA, in regard to how identity politics will play out for white males in general, and centrists in particular.
Like, for instance, is any particular white male politician here providing a suitable role model, and how are they doing that?
i wrote a response earlier but seems to have been lost
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw. if they have to be white and male.
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw, Jacinda Adern, Paula Bennet and Kris Faafoi if the requirement is centrist without letting their "characteristics" define them. which is the best form of being involved in politics.
Jacinda has brought us understanding, Robertson financial acumen, James shaw has combined robertson with an understanding of how economics needs to relate to the physical environment, Bishop for getting past "im hutt and labour" and "I'm whiten and national", bennett for removing the stigma of being from the west and showing us what work ethic means. these people, taking the best from each, typify what New Zealand is and can achieve. Centrism is great, once you stop pigeon holing what party mp's represent and accolading the work they do
edit: Faafoi, for proving that the 4th estate is capable of work and rational thought as well as pragmatism.
his voters might not personally believe they are a racist, a mysogynist, or even a facist as did many white males with economic anxiety in the US. . But with their vote they elevated a racist (well several of them actually), a whole bunch of mysogysnists (religious fundamentals and their idea of aborting satanic babies with prayer) and facists (authoritarian is my preferred term ) Mitch Mc Connell – staking the court with very young, very right wing religious fundamentalists, while holding up the seating of a Justive cause 'election year' .
And it will be the same here. If the only way the No Mates Party can win is by promising men – white men – that they will enact laws that will benefit them at the cost of all 'others' women, not white people, not heteronormal people, children, sick and disabled people, then frankly the shoe fits, and you should wear them proudly.
After all you will be the last to feel the consequences, you being a white male. 🙂
Yes, Bradbury is a bit of a rant artist, but in among the chaff there is often a piece of wheat. This excerpt for example:
What Jacinda SHOULD have said is, ‘We appreciate in a democracy people have diverse thoughts and differences of opinion, so this election let us be mindful that we may disagree with each other but we do so in a bond of tolerance and kindness, let us not fall down the dark corridors of spite and rancour and come together to build a better NZ on universal values that benefit all of us and not just some of us.”
Bradbury rhetoric for sure and needs to be more succinct, but they are the sentiments Ardern should emphasize. Half of the population won't even know what she means when she talks about "relentless positivity".
Imo, Ardern and her ministers are duty bound to counter irresponsible scare-mongering of which your party Wayne is indulging in at rapidly increasing levels. We've seen a case of it in recent days where National's health spokesman, Woodhouse bleated about the government not taking the steps needed to control the coronavirus outbreak, when all the steps had already been set in motion.
That was blatant scare-mongering for political purposes.
You can't wave a wand and hey presto… in a shower of twinkly stars and bell-like noises the family reappears in NZ. What's the bet Foreign Affairs have been working non stop on the project for the past 48 hours and our leading political con-artist, Simon Bridges knows it.
Creating disharmony and fear out of something so serious when they should be supporting the government wherever they can is disgraceful.
If the government wafts on being relentlessly positive and does not counter this type of behaviour then they are on a hiding to nothing at the end of the year.
Same from me. Bradbury has a smart mind and his heart is in the right place, but boy could he do with a hard working editor sometimes.
But yes, that paragraph you quote is a gem. It captures what I hope more and more people across the spectrum are realising … that progressives and conservatives need each other in order to be successful. The analogy with a rugby team is reasonably apt, the progressive backs all over the paddock, flashy and fast, the conservative forwards grinding away doing the hard slow yards in set pieces. Each getting it’s phase of play, each contributing to the outcome.
#metoo. Plus he's due for a mid-life crisis if he's not already indulging in one. But I note, he promises to be a little kinder in one of his posts. Let's hope he doesn't go too namby pamby
Go back to the research I was quoting yesterday and indeed it’s plain the functional role of right wing people is to be cautious and defensive. In a dangerous world these are legitimate responses, but they're also easily exploited to invoke fear and hatred.
What counters this? Messages that reassure and sooth them, keep the narrative familiar and safe. When a new idea is introduced, link it strongly to something that's already known to work. Convey the sense that their social conservatism is a good, reliable platform for our society, drop all intellectual arrogance and above all don't moralise to them.
Maybe Wayne is exactly correct and we should listen.
Social media has a minor impact on most peoples lives. The idea that the right can mobilise a novel angry army of white men simply by rarking them up on social media over culture war issues is nonsense in the NZ context.
First of all, we've always had high voting turnouts, whiich goes a long way to moderating the impact of highly mobilised voting groups. And the USA and UK both have significantly skewed electoral systems that amplified their rightward shunt outcomes. Remember, MMP is based on a system expressly designed to limit the impact of extremist politics.
Secondly, NZ has a relatively high minimum wage , reasonably high employment rates, no legacy rust belts and was not badly hit by the GFC. Our wage growth over the last twenty years has not stagnated or gone backward as in the the USA and UK. The "angry white guy" constituency overseas has been swelled by economic decline and here it simply doesn't have those numbers.
Third, NZ does not have a fascist billionaire media. Our MSM are often little more than a bunch of ignorant right wing clowns, but they do not push an ideologically fascist agenda like the Murdoch papers or Fox News do.
Fourth, Maori operate as a significant centre of non-state power and as a handbrake on racism. The NZ identity is built significantly on the national myth of racial inclusiveness – to a large extent racism is not seen as patriotic nativism but rather as disloyal chauvinism.
That's a very good comprehensive critique, and I tend to agree with each point you've made. I suspect the groundswell here will indeed be significantly less than in the USA for the reasons you have given.
Nonetheless, white kiwi males are only being specifically catered to by National, and that's a reflection on the political competence of the other parties. As one of those pakeha guys, I'm unlikely to be impressed by National's efforts (usually banal) but I'm equally unimpressed by the covert discrimination evident in the way they are being given the majority by default.
So that they don't default to National, is the short answer. But actually, I was not intending to imply any such spelling exercise. Subtle framing ought to suffice. Enough to make the guys feel they are not being deliberately excluded.
You know, when you think about it, there's no reason in principle that they ought to be ignored as a group. A genuinely inclusive political frame would recognise that fact. It's been obvious to me for many years that the Greens' voter base has been artificially suppressed by identity politics – equity framing would redress that short-sightedness.
This sounds awfully like some men loudly demanding an official men's day every time the women's one rolls around. The retort is usually that every other day is one already.
Old white men are far from victims. Pull the other one.
I wasn't talking about old white men, so you ought to avoid allowing your prejudices to put words in my mouth. Re-read what I wrote to establish that! Nor was I intending to imply males are victims. That would be a fatuous over-generalisation, right?
Just making the point that politics is a numbers game, and not catering for one of the biggest political groups is dumb politics…
Fair enough. I was just trying to sound a warning re Nats getting leverage. Not just the resentful ones – you know the contagion effect? If pakeha guys were to soak up the idea that the Nats are their default tribe, they would tend to share that view with others. Seems to have already happened stateside & Trump capitalised. I'm averse to the effect happening here.
19 November, apparently. Has a wikipedia page and everything.
The reality that International Mens Day exists does not seem to shut them up, though.
Sums it all up, in my opinion – inadequate little boys screaming at how worse off they are than the people whose mistreatment they profit from, even though it's painfully obvious that they have at least the same privileges as everyone else.
"National's campaign manager Paula Bennett denied her party's online "memes" are misleading (despite two rulings from the Advertising Standards Authority that say different) by using the phrase, "an interpretation about how figures are used." One woman's falsehoods being another woman's "interpretation", I guess."
Well, yeah, that's the case much of the time. It's not as if people cite proof when asserting facts. Nobody believes credibility is that important!!
Paula Bennetts lies being a sensible white centrists man "interpretation", You guess right.
see there i fixed you typo.
Cause that sorry excuse for a human being is not trying to appeal to us, she is trying to appeal to the nice sensible males that are being alienated by the 'woke thing'.
Yeah I know she's doing that. Like I pointed out, politics isn't about truth. If it were, politicians would alway provide proof that their claims are true. That almost never happens. So leftists moaning about her spin are wasting their time.
Then you should have said it correctly. Frankly leave us 'women' out of this bullshit.
She ain't appealing to us, she is lying to you. Centrists white male who are afraid of the woke thing. That is the new 'economically anxious white working class' of NZ rigth?
I did say it correctly: I did not refer to women in my original comment. I'm not sure why you are so confused. I have no problem with you believing she is a liar – that's your choice. I'm just pointing out why others see her as advocating an interpretation. In politics, competing interpretations carry more weight than facts.
I'm pretty convinced Denis has never assumed you would support Benett's politics because she is a woman. However you clearly assume he supports Bridges politics because he is a man (assume Pakeha).
This is a huge aspect of the woke alienation narrative. Its also a logically incoherent understanding of politics.
As a women i pointed out to Dennis ( who may or may not be a male, be white, be progressive or not who cares) that as a women i don't see her advocating an interpretation but an outright lie. And that frankly most women in NZ see her doing just that. Lying, on behalf of the National Party to the detriment of women and children everywhere in this country. Most women have not forgotten 'there is no housing crisis' 'zip it sweety' 'dole bludgers' etc Paula Bennet. I and a few women i know see her for what she is. A person utterly devoid of ethics and morals who will at any cost enrich herself and keep her tax payer funded wages for her thousand dollar shoes. And the same counts for the National Party.
This interpretation of 'my freedom fighter' is your terrorists thing was a nice try but did not work – and frankly was offensive considering that women do not vote in majority for Paula Bennet and the No Mates Party.
And if i am to alienate a white economically anxious centrists male, then the guy ain't centrist and I am not his issue. I am by far not a radical. I have never advocated for rights to be removed from men, i have never advocated to have the reproductive freedoms of men to be regulated by law, i have never advocated to make a medical procedure that only is needed by men into a criminal act requiring the certification of three doctors to obtain one, i have never earned 1 dollar to the 70+ cents of a men, i have never overlooked a male for promotion, i have never called a bloke a nice piece of ass publicly on radio, i have never pulled the hair of a waiter to bring him to the point of crying, I have never outed the name of some beneficiaries, i have never proposed to force birth control on men recieving a benefit, i have never cut a benefit because a man don't want to declare the name of the mother of his child and so on and so on and to boot and i know how to make some really nice sandwiches. And these are all things that are advocated for and fought for by men who would consider themselves 'centrists'.
So no i am not the reason for your 'centrists white male' to be alienated by the left – and consider as well that i don't see my self as someone on 'the left'. I see myself as someone who is left behind by all the established parties and that i generally don't vote myself but for the lesser evil.
But your concern is noted, and i will try really hard to not be the reason for a centrist white male to vote for the National Party and Paula Bennet. lol. .
I think your making a really obvious mistake in assuming that the nations pale stale males reflexively support the national party politics and form their primary voter base.
The resulting generalisations make a mockery of any discussions put about both politics and actual existing discrimination. A lot of people just find it very off putting being told what they supposedly believe politically due to (or being due to) their skin color, age or gender.
"The CFR's Top Conflicts to Watch in 2020 report was issued even as China provocatively sent its navy-controlled coast guard and militia-operated fishing fleets deep into Indonesia's exclusive economic zone. Jakarta responded with combat aircraft and warships. Beijing eventually backed down, withdrawing its fleet to the edge of Indonesian waters."
"The CFR's Preventive Priorities Survey found foreign policy experts believe more flashpoints are "likely to require a US military response for 2020 than in …. the last eleven years." And while it is increasingly engaging in great power competition with China, its continuing ability to reassure its Asian allies is being questioned."
"The United States cannot reverse China's militarisation of the South China Sea. Beijing has succeeded in shifting the balance of power in this waterway in its favour," Dr Rapp-Hooper writes. "Washington can, however, return to a coalition-based strategy that aims to keep the South China Sea open and to reduce the likelihood that the long-simmering disputes spiral into full-blown conflict."
"This would require high-level support and engagement in regional forums, such as ASEAN, as well as strengthening ties to those aggrieved by Beijing ambitions."
Right, so Trump's withdrawal into US traditional isolationism will be tested in his election year. His Secretary of State will be even more tested – competence in multipolar diplomacy will be required!
That will make be interesting – if non-American news staff aren't protected under the first amendment then American newspapers won't be able to publish their work as the newspapers insurance rates for legal proceedings will go through the roof. It will be interesting to see if publishers and media outlets join the case to protect their interests.
They haven't so far, so I'm not expecting a change from them. Your right though, they should. But I'm guessing they all too far gone to make a stand now.
I'm puzzled that Trump is able to prevent the Senate from getting at the facts. Impeachment is clearly a joke if their system allows the decision to be made on the basis of suppressed evidence. The principle of transparent governance ought to apply.
"According to reports, Bolton opposed the withholding of security aid to Ukraine, and tried unsuccessfully to convince the president to release the military aid during an Oval Office meeting. "This is in America's interest," the former national security adviser told the president, according to the New York Times, as he argued the aid should be provided to Ukraine. The aid was eventually released – a day after Bolton acrimoniously left the White House." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51230984
"The pressure has grown following the report of a potentially explosive claim Bolton is said to make in a new book. The New York Times cited a leaked Bolton manuscript as saying that Trump told him he wanted to freeze aid to Ukraine until Kyiv helped with investigations against the Democrats, including former Vice-President Joe Biden."
"Bolton, a Republican, is an unlikely hero for Democrats. Still, they believe he will act as a star witness, one who will provide irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing by Trump and help bolster the case for his removal from office."
"Yale-educated Bolton, 71, was national security adviser from 2018-19. He was "personally involved" in the president's dealings with the Ukrainian officials, according to Bolton's lawyer. The former national security adviser was "at the nerve centre for all important decisions", says Matthew Spence, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence."
"Democrats believe the former national security adviser could provide the smoking gun. "Bolton was present during the crime," says Evelyn Farkas, who served as top Russia official during the Obama administration and is now running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in New York. "And he knew that it was a crime at the time.""
"Bolton has said publicly he would testify if he gets a legal summons… Senators will vote on the matter of witnesses in the coming days."
This account worked hard to magnify the harassment of a sexual assault survivor and now he’s boasting about having gotten her suspended. I want to be clear that only one person is behaving badly here and it’s not Felicia. https://t.co/2YMsz0qnEv
this award-winning journalist is magnifying a hate storm against a sexual assault survivor whose reaction to the death of Kobe Bryant did not meet his standards
All of us have been around the Internet long enough to know what happens when women get targeted like this. There’s no excuse for it.
I saw it yesterday but didn’t want to tweet until I had sat on it for a day or so.
Can someone please explain how putting so much money into roading stimulates the economy? (we don't actually know what the roading spend will be on yet though). As opposed to say poverty relief via direct transfers to people who will spend it immediately?
Ask these guys: "Treasury believes the benefits of this will be seen in increased GDP growth, which is expected to lift by 1.4 per cent (or $3.9 billion) over the next four years thanks to the package."
I gather that dept employs economists to calculate the sums & devise a rationale plausible enough to satisfy ministers & bedazzle Labour/National voters. Grant obviously is very satisfied, and I suspect Shane & Winston are too. The Greens will be mulling it over. Marama: "Can I call it another dead rat?? Please?"
Okay, I'd ask Michael Reddell (https://croakingcassandra.com/) which I've done once or twice in the past. Either email your question or suggest he write a column on it. Scan down today's column on his site until you come to the cartoon – you'll see he's that most unusual of creatures, an economist with a sense of humour!
The only reasons they might be keen on roading are political:
1) Neutralises Nat promises to stupidly spend more on last century's priorities. Like the self-imposed fiscal handcuffs this term.
2) Roading agencies have built up a handy pipeline of low-value road projects under the last govt which will not take years more to plan and consent before they can start being built and people notice the dirt piling up. Public transit projects have no such pipeline. Both take too long to provide any short term stimulus, but financiers love them so there's that.
It would be a crying waste of an opportunity to spend up large on the wrong priorities for such spurious reasons. Our future economy and society needs other sorts of infrastructure before roads. Climate change demands other infrastructure.
I feel like I must be missing something. Because on the face of it it seems horribly wrong to spend half the amount on roading instead of climate and people.
Hopefully the journos have just been interviewing their own typewriters or passing on hopeful whispers from the Nats..
Water is another obvious long-term infrastructure spend, though it probably depends too much on Winston letting the Greens get a win.
Wouldn’t you love to see the looks on some of the regressive farming cheerleaders at a govt calling their bluff on cleaning up urban waterways rather than rural irrigation like the last lot funded instead.
Nope. Just some big overall numbers and journalists who are either privy to stuff they shouldn't be or taking their lead from the opposition. History suggests the latter.
Bullshit – you should check the facts before spouting forth.
An overview of the likely Infrastructure package etc was released by the government on 30 Nov and 12 Dec 2019 and was widely covered by the media and other blogs at the time.
Here are links to the announcements and some media reports last Nov/Dec. Plenty more reports at the time on Stuff, ODT, Newsroom, Newshub etc and posts on Pundit amongst other blogs if you google 'Grant Robertson Infrastructure' for example.
Spending priorities are just an indication of govt preferences. There is nothing more tangible to it.
There is a theory that by paying less in benefits you are incentivising work. This follows from another theory (assumed true) that unemployment is ultimately due to the unemployeds preference for leisure and could find jobs if they wanted/tried harder. This was the main intellectual basis for the early 90s benefit cuts. This is ultimately the argument Treasury might put against welfare spending but its at least an unpopular idea so they would probably have it behind closed doors.
In reality its probably the case that there is sufficient slack in the economy to absorb both. E.g there is a point when all the unemployed could find work if they wanted it, but i dont believe the economy is near it at present. The main stream economic theory assumes that the economy automatically adjusts to reach that state, which is a problematic assumption.
It probably doesn't have much difference to GDP between the two.
There's a large proportion of the cash going to make real things in the economy, rather than just boost the speculative pile. What the roading would have is a boost in productivity from people who use the road which would be additional to the money directly injected into the economy. Assuming a positive return on investment for the road.
Not sure what the parallel of that productivity boost would be for direct transfers to beneficiaries.
yeah, everyone, but particularly transport drivers incl passengers. If it knocks 5 minutes off their commute, that's five more minutes they have in the day. If an airport shuttle driver does 8 trips a day, a five minute trip saving might stretch that to 9 trips. Five minutes less of a commute for an office worker means five more minutes to buy from stores or spebd at work.
Jeeze, that's really depressing. I'm guessing they're not counting the five minutes freed up so someone can breathe, or read their kid a bed time story.
When you consider that then its pretty clear to understand that tax withdraws income from somebody and when the govt pays somebody their income increases. Note, nobody is actually in the govt sector here even if they work in the public sector its still their income.
So when the govt spends more GDP goes up, and when they tax/collect more it goes down.
Bear in mind however that we are somewhat interested in inflation adjusted GDP which doesn't work in so simple a way.
If you want to be more objective then you need to look at the capacity to absorb more spending by sector. Looking at greening the economy the govt may need to reduce spending in some sectors allowing it to increase its own (on more sustainable basis).
I would be surprised it this was really considered by the treasury analysis in detail. Their headline model of the economy only has one sector for starters.
For example fuel taxes probably have some impact on fuel consumption. But most impactful would be allowing less of a particular activity by regulation. Maybe then replacing it. Here they could for example restrict long hall transport by weight on the road network while increasing rail freight capacity.
The headline treasury model is a DSGE model of the economy. Its called Matai. Basically such models use equilibrium analysis which assumes you can model the economy as if only one good is produced and consumed.
Taking freight off our roads on to rail is the way of the future lowering our carbon footprint in the process.
That's awesome Fonterra changing one of its milk dryers from coal to wood pallets made from sawdust that would normally be dumped = to taking 33000 cars off our roads.
We need to legislate to minimise the waste we produce That's the logical way to sort that mess out.
Investments in our public hospitals is great as most Tangata Whenua can not afford to go to private hospitals when the healths system is going to take to long to treat them our whanau are passing quite young.
I agree broadcasting is very important and the merger of Radio NZ and TVNZ should have Maori including in the changes to make sure our broadcasting organisations are not put at a disadvantage by the changes.
Alcohol is bad for our health in many ways.
Its great that plastics is being banned in fresh produce.
Praiseing our children is a good way to lift their wairua in schools.
There would not have been enough putea for the governments to spend this much on infrastructure if they gave tax cuts.
People have to realise that our good fortunes are directly linked to our weather and environment we must do all we can to minimise our impact on the weather Ben.
Ka pai to Coke for reducing the sugar in their drinks but it would be nice if they could pay a bounty for their plastic waste to be recycled.
Tova they had sewage leaking in the walls of A hospital.
I still say that company's should be paying to dispose of their own plastic waste clean up their own mess.
Everyone should minimise there Wai use all year not just in a dry year. Leave some off our Wai taonga for our Wai wildlife.
Whare tuhua looks like a good way to keep some Rangatahi who made mistakes away from the harder people that can teach them bad habits.
Great mahi BBM helping Pacific and Maori tangata lose weight and live a longer life in the process to guide there whanau for decades longer through this system.
Drones herding sheep the Ion age is here and now I seen some muppets from Tauranga use drones to take a fishing line out 350 metres from shore and drop it.
That's a mean feat rowing from Chile to Antarctic.
As the world economy slides rapidly towards deep recession there are growing calls for a Universal Benefit coming from some leftists and rightists. Now Finance Minister Grant Robertson is saying it is on the table. This article by a French party Workers Struggle provides analysis of various forms of universal ...
This is the advice from the very top of the anti-fluoride movement – Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Don’t worry about reading up on all the scientific information “You only have ...
. . April 4: Day 10 of living in lock-down… I wake up to a fine Saturday morning which normally would be like an early Christmas. But it’s Day 10 of Level 4 Lock Down. What will my fellow New Zealanders be doing on a day like this – staying ...
Some time during the night we went over the 850,000 views mark. We might have had our millionth view by the end of this year – certainly by early next year. Most of the people involved in Redline spent years and years producing various small left-wing papers and selling them ...
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...
One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man for this moment in a profile for The Press.But one ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...
Redline received this article from the KOE a Marxist party in Greece Our friends in the KOE describe here the mounting crisis in Greece and tensions on the Turkish border. As desperate people flee from their homelands which have been ruined after decades of imperialist wars and interventions the people ...
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messagesfrom different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...
. . April 3: Day 9 of living in lock-down… Another late-start to my work day. Everything is temporarily upended as clients are shuffled around so we can minimise our “bubble” by reducing the number of people we help. One of my colleagues has been removed from his clients; his ...
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 2: Day eight of living in lock-down… Today, my work day starts late. Our rosters and clients have been dramatically changed, lessening (theoretically) the number of people in our work “bubble”. If just one of us catches covid19 the impact could be considerable as Grey Base Hospital ...
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin Don’t we all know that feeling now.
Prospect Magazine alerted me to this particularly apt quote. It is a much more evocative quote than Hemingway’s “gradually then suddenly” which is also doing ...
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...
Brian Williamson1, Prof Nick Wilson2 (1Economic consultant, UK; 2University of Otago Wellington)In this blog, we outline how a win-win social contract could be forged to address the major dimensions of response to the COVID-19 pandemic when using a mitigation strategy: the particular need to protect older people from high ...
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...
No Free Society Without A Free And Functioning News Media: If we are to surrender our civil rights to the broader cause of defeating Covid-19, then foreign corporations must, likewise, surrender their right to inflict immense economic and cultural harm on New Zealanders simply because it improves their bottom line.I’M ...
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion. One of the most fatuous recent grandstanding comments (of about a week ago), adding to the public’s anxieties, was ...
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...
Today has felt surreal. I was all set to touch base online with my science communication students when a colleague shared the news that Bauer Media would be shutting down its publications immediately. The first link I saw implied it was Woman’s Weekly affected, and even that shocked me. But ...
Bogeymen, Real And Imagined: Is the number of psychopathic and sociopathic individuals in any given society truly as vanishingly small as we like to tell ourselves? Isn’t it more likely that the mass-shooters and serial-killers filling the headlines represent only the tip of a much, much larger iceberg of frightfulness? ...
Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 1: Day seven of living in lock-down… This morning I had a brief chat with one of my neighbours, “D” (social distance between us, a good three or four metres). I learned he had resigned from his previous job and had been hired by another company – ...
Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has striven to provide calm, clear and consistent communication, including daily press conference updates from the Prime Minister. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. At today’s media briefing, Ardern was reluctant to draw too many conclusions from ...
By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News in Brisbane Refugees and asylum seekers in Brisbane have begun daily protests urging for their release after doctors and human rights lawyers flagged fears that a repurposed hotel could become a coronavirus infection hotspot. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN Human ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. ...
Sam Brooks, a lifelong Studio Ghibli fan, presents a guide to the Japanese studio’s animated films, including which ones to show your kids when.Just heard ‘Let It Go’ for the billionth time? Sick of those class-traitor dogs that make up the cast of Paw Patrol? Look no further than the ...
Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party says tensions are at breaking point around New Zealand. “I cannot keep up with the calls and messages from New Zealanders who are extremely stressed, distressed and frustrated by dramatic changes imposed ...
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.Well, we’ve all said we wish we had more time to read and now we’ve got what we wished for. Jenna, Kiran and Louisa delve into some book news (that’s not too heavy for ...
The prime minister says she expects the health minister to continue doing his job, including media interviews, after he broke the lockdown rules last week to go mountain biking. ...
There have been calls for major institutions like Auckland Art Gallery to do better in identifying queer or queer-associated artists. New Auckland Art Gallery director Kirsten Paisley believes it’s ‘a conversation that needs to happen’. Writer Samuel Te Kani digs into the complications below the surface of the erasures of ...
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
By RNZ Pacific The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai’i suffering its third coronavirus death. In the past day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia. ...
We needed a reasonable period of time to allow the recent surging wave of highly geared first home buyers to get financially comfortable. We didn’t get it, writes David Hargreaves of interest.co.nz.You know, I was really beginning to think (as well as hope) that we might just get away with it.By ‘it’ ...
Being stuck inside all day might be wearing you and your kids down, but there’s never been a better time to encourage them to pick up their musical instrument and get stuck into writing songs. Mike Chunn from Play It Strange explains how. Mums and dads and households with teenage children. ...
Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence.I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, five of New Zealand’s best writers chronicle the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Fiona Farrell.There’s a sign sticky-taped to the bakery window. Closed Until Further Notice. Stay Safe NZ and Be Kind. We will get through this!We all know where the words ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes.It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes.And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...
On Friday night, the government quietly laid down some lockdown rules via a legal order under the Health Act. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains what it means for all of us (including David Clark). As the first week of level four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was ...
The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Open mike 28/01/2020 
As the world economy slides rapidly towards deep recession there are growing calls for a Universal Benefit coming from some leftists and rightists. Now Finance Minister Grant Robertson is saying it is on the table. This article by a French party Workers Struggle provides analysis of various forms of universal ...8 hours ago
This is the advice from the very top of the anti-fluoride movement – Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Don’t worry about reading up on all the scientific information “You only have ... 10 hours ago
. . April 4: Day 10 of living in lock-down… I wake up to a fine Saturday morning which normally would be like an early Christmas. But it’s Day 10 of Level 4 Lock Down. What will my fellow New Zealanders be doing on a day like this – staying ...14 hours ago
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...15 hours ago
One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man for this moment in a profile for The Press.But one ...15 hours ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...1 day ago
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messages from different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...1 day ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...2 days ago
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...3 days ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...3 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...3 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...3 days ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...4 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 5 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...5 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...5 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...7 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...1 week ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has striven to provide calm, clear and consistent communication, including daily press conference updates from the Prime Minister. ...8 hours ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...3 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...2 days ago
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. At today’s media briefing, Ardern was reluctant to draw too many conclusions from ...6 hours ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. ...8 hours ago
Sam Brooks, a lifelong Studio Ghibli fan, presents a guide to the Japanese studio’s animated films, including which ones to show your kids when.Just heard ‘Let It Go’ for the billionth time? Sick of those class-traitor dogs that make up the cast of Paw Patrol? Look no further than the ...9 hours ago
Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party says tensions are at breaking point around New Zealand. “I cannot keep up with the calls and messages from New Zealanders who are extremely stressed, distressed and frustrated by dramatic changes imposed ...9 hours ago
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...11 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...12 hours ago
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...20 hours ago
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...20 hours ago
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes. It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes. And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...20 hours ago
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...20 hours ago
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes. Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks. When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...1 day ago
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...1 day ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...2 days ago
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...2 days ago
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...2 days ago
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...2 days ago
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford. I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...2 days ago
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...2 days ago
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...2 days ago
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...2 days ago
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...2 days ago
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...2 days ago
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...2 days ago
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...2 days ago
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...2 days ago
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...3 days ago
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...3 days ago
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...3 days ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...3 days ago
"Facebook and Cambridge Analytica suddenly had hundreds of data points to know how to precisely push those angry white non voters into rage fuelled voting machines. This manipulation of white male anger become the driving force that saw Trump win, Brexit win and Scott Morrison win. This is the playbook National are drawing from." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/01/27/has-labour-misinterpreted-their-own-polling-why-national-will-never-sign-up-to-facebook-transparency/
White guys. Nats' secret weapon. Alienated by the woke, championed by the bomber, definitely a space to watch this year! 😎
Your reference is to yet another Martyn Bradbury rant. Basically saying all National voters are racist, fascist, misogynists. Not really a way to persuade people to change their votes.
Well, there is that. But what I intended was to point at the empty space. I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now – from the perspective of someone who long ago supported the very same causes that produced the woke lunatic fringe.
You'd think that people would realise that alienating such a huge political constituency is extremely stupid. But they don't. Case in point: the Green Party, which I remain an ambivalent member of.
Mobilising white males as a political force seems the obvious thing to do, whichever party one supports. Default ignoring has been going on too long. I suspect they'll be the dark horse in the election race this year.
Right, so people who belong to minorities should go get fucked because male pale stale . That not progressive.
Why jump to that conclusion?? I'd rather have a tolerant, inclusive society thanks. I've been part of the progressive political movement working for that since I was a teenager in the 1960s. The rainbow coalition was conceptualised as a political frame in the 1970s on that basis. The various minorities of political significance were viewed as analogous to the colours in the rainbow.
I get that minority resentment of perceived white male pakeha hegemony was understandable back then, but I doubt that embedding it as a grievance to be carried for anyone's entire life is good for their mental health.
You can't have it both ways. Standing up for minority rights makes the bigots angry. When you say I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now you sound like one of them.
That's just your interpretation. Are you trying to suggest bigots are sensible white centrist males ? I wouldn't do that if I were you – nobody is likely to agree. Sensible folk don't do bigotry. And they do support minority rights!
No, you are the one who suggested that bigots are sensible. Truly Sensible people would not be bothered by minority rights
Bullshit. You know you can't reproduce anything I wrote to prove that! I agree sensible people aren't bothered by minority rights – in fact I even wrote that they support them in my previous comment!!
What you are up against here is the rule that only white males can be racist, sexist bigots.
There was an interesting incident recently (can't be arsed linking to it) where a visiting black cricket player was racially abused by a fan, and the game authorities rightly followed it up. Turned out the fan was an Indian and his defense was that 'only white people can be racist'.
When a person of colour is poor it's called 'oppression' and this is treated with righteous outrage. When a white male is poor it gets sneered at as 'economic anxiety'.
It's all a frank bigotry really.
You said I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males. Why would such people be alienated by minority rights?
I don't believe they are. I believe they have been alienated by the toxic culture generated by the woke. Male non-rapists are offended by claims that `all men are rapists', for instance.
@RedLogix
You are making shit up. I have never said that only white males can be racist, sexist bigots or anything that would suggest that.
you are either a sensible white centrists and then 'woke' thing (humans i guess? maybe women? maybe not white centrists? maybe not white straight white centrists?) don't alienate you because as a 'sensible' white centrists you would know that the 'woke' thing is literally just people demanding and insisting in the same rights, place, space and pay sensible white centrists get.
the biggest threat to democracy is white male voting against the rights of all others cause they believe that they are owed more then any other group of people.
Also, please define ' sensible centrists white male' is that like you and Simon Bridges? Or is that like Bill English who thinks double dipping is fine when you are a minister of parliament but is criminal when a single women with children were to do that? Or is John Key a sensible white male? Or the shooter of the Christchurch Moschee? Or maybe Donald Trump is a sensible white male? Are you a sensible white male with economic anxiety?
.
I've never met any white male pakeha who believe "they are owed more then any other group of people." Anyone who thinks Trump is sensible is probably American. No I don't have "economic anxiety".
All those wacky notions of yours seem to come from over-generalisations and misperceptions. Politics works better if you deal with real people, not hallucinations.
That's because male Pākehā know that they're entitled to more then any other group of people.
Inherited privilege derived from social context? Yeah, that's a thing. I agree it is likely to operate in the sub-concious, and perhaps sometimes become evident as tacit sub-text.
A flimsy basis upon which the popular sport of calling someone racist who isn't seems to be based. You wouldn't get far citing hypotheticals from the subconscious in a court of law – but that doesn't stop some leftists from trying it on, eh? 🙄
I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who said that "all men are rapists", either.
Even the ones who argued that true consent is impossible in a patriarchal capitalist society had a more nuanced approach than you portray.
remove the hallucinations from your own eye and all that.
But basically, if you "mobilise" the anti-woke, what political movement do you really think you'll get? A revolutionary mobilisation built around the people who already have the socioeconomic dominance in society?
I recall one woman talking about how things had improved a little bit from the days when marxists would meet up, talk revolution and equality, and it was always the women who were expected to make the post-meeting cuppa. You seem to be wanting to put those guys back in charge, the ones who left in a sulk because they were asked to do the dishes after one meeting, or to not call someone a "fag" during the discussion.
Nor me. I cite the phrase due to media reports of its usage. Evidence that it has achieved currency, and is thus indicative of a mind-set. So no hallucination on my part with that!
Re mobilising, I wasn't advocating such activism. Just acknowledgement and inclusion is all the situation requires. People need to feel they are part of things, so democracy ought to accept their group identity as such.
Re your last paragraph, do you recall back in the day of women's lib & the Black Panthers, one of the latter was asked by the media "What is the position of women in the revolution?" and he answered "prone". Got the headline!
Eldridge Cleaver, I think, but long time ago & I increasingly distrust my memory on details. Anyway, no crazy oscillation from one extreme to another, just parity…
lol "media reports of its usage". Hosking and Trotter…
The woke already acknowledge tha anti-woke. Including the anti-woke is more difficult, because by doing so would be an act of exclusion of the folks the anti-woke like to exclude. Because calling out ~ist or ~phobic language sadly excludes ~ist or ~phobic people.
I don't get what you're trying to say. Why bring binary framing into it when I already specified the holistic frame?? Pakeha guys aren't big on presenting as a tribe, are they? Yet Trump won by treating them as one.
Learn the lesson. It's been around for three whole years already. Identity politics motivates people. The Nats could win that group by default unless the three parties in govt engage them. Not rocket science.
It's pretty obvious, surely – if you're trying to be inclusive to people who routinely treat people different to them like shit (whether intentionally or obliviously) or who can't deal with shit-treaters being called out on that behaviour, then you're excluding people different to them who don't want to be treated like shit.
In other words, "sensible white centrist males" who are alienated by the "woke thing" can only be included by not being "woke". Which sooner or later excludes everyone other than sensible white centrist males who are alienated by the woke thing.
But the group I'm talking about don't go around treating people like shit. They tend to be typical kiwi males: relaxed, friendly, considerate etc. Most of them are apolitical. Either vote govts out if they get the feeling that it's time for a change, or vote for a leader who they can identify with. So subtle factors can shift them easily. That's the danger of the Nats capturing them by default that concerns me.
Even if they don't treat people like shit, they are "alienated" by woke people pointing out shit treatment.
The only way to not alienate them is to therefore say and do nothing about shit treatment.
I don't think your typical kiwi male is considerate. Most flatly refuse to even try to pronounce Maori words correctly, to give an obvious example.
Im a centrist, I don’t feel alienated.
but I’m also an adult and I ignore the things that supposedly will alienate me.
On the plus side I can read what ever I like without being triggered or suspecting a vast right wing (nzh) or left wing (guardian) mind control experiment
You seem sensible. Given that, I'd be interested to read your take on election year, both here & in the USA, in regard to how identity politics will play out for white males in general, and centrists in particular.
Like, for instance, is any particular white male politician here providing a suitable role model, and how are they doing that?
Grant Robertson ain't too bad.
i wrote a response earlier but seems to have been lost
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw. if they have to be white and male.
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw, Jacinda Adern, Paula Bennet and Kris Faafoi if the requirement is centrist without letting their "characteristics" define them. which is the best form of being involved in politics.
Jacinda has brought us understanding, Robertson financial acumen, James shaw has combined robertson with an understanding of how economics needs to relate to the physical environment, Bishop for getting past "im hutt and labour" and "I'm whiten and national", bennett for removing the stigma of being from the west and showing us what work ethic means. these people, taking the best from each, typify what New Zealand is and can achieve. Centrism is great, once you stop pigeon holing what party mp's represent and accolading the work they do
edit: Faafoi, for proving that the 4th estate is capable of work and rational thought as well as pragmatism.
Its a bit like voting for Trump,
his voters might not personally believe they are a racist, a mysogynist, or even a facist as did many white males with economic anxiety in the US. . But with their vote they elevated a racist (well several of them actually), a whole bunch of mysogysnists (religious fundamentals and their idea of aborting satanic babies with prayer) and facists (authoritarian is my preferred term ) Mitch Mc Connell – staking the court with very young, very right wing religious fundamentalists, while holding up the seating of a Justive cause 'election year' .
And it will be the same here. If the only way the No Mates Party can win is by promising men – white men – that they will enact laws that will benefit them at the cost of all 'others' women, not white people, not heteronormal people, children, sick and disabled people, then frankly the shoe fits, and you should wear them proudly.
After all you will be the last to feel the consequences, you being a white male. 🙂
Yes, Bradbury is a bit of a rant artist, but in among the chaff there is often a piece of wheat. This excerpt for example:
Bradbury rhetoric for sure and needs to be more succinct, but they are the sentiments Ardern should emphasize. Half of the population won't even know what she means when she talks about "relentless positivity".
Imo, Ardern and her ministers are duty bound to counter irresponsible scare-mongering of which your party Wayne is indulging in at rapidly increasing levels. We've seen a case of it in recent days where National's health spokesman, Woodhouse bleated about the government not taking the steps needed to control the coronavirus outbreak, when all the steps had already been set in motion.
That was blatant scare-mongering for political purposes.
Well said Anne.
thanks for that.
Oh look: the con-artists are at it again:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/national-calls-evacuation-kiwis-in-wuhan-amid-coronavirus-outbrea
You can't wave a wand and hey presto… in a shower of twinkly stars and bell-like noises the family reappears in NZ. What's the bet Foreign Affairs have been working non stop on the project for the past 48 hours and our leading political con-artist, Simon Bridges knows it.
Creating disharmony and fear out of something so serious when they should be supporting the government wherever they can is disgraceful.
If the government wafts on being relentlessly positive and does not counter this type of behaviour then they are on a hiding to nothing at the end of the year.
Attacks politics as we know it. Here’s some push-back: http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2020/01/national-cries-wolf-over-coronavirus.html
Thank-you Incognito. Excellent summing up by The Jackal.
Where's the government accusation that Simy wants 1919 influenza back?
Same from me. Bradbury has a smart mind and his heart is in the right place, but boy could he do with a hard working editor sometimes.
But yes, that paragraph you quote is a gem. It captures what I hope more and more people across the spectrum are realising … that progressives and conservatives need each other in order to be successful. The analogy with a rugby team is reasonably apt, the progressive backs all over the paddock, flashy and fast, the conservative forwards grinding away doing the hard slow yards in set pieces. Each getting it’s phase of play, each contributing to the outcome.
I have a confession to make. I do secretly enjoy Bradbury's diatribes. 😎
lol … yeah never said they weren't fun.
🙂
#metoo. Plus he's due for a mid-life crisis if he's not already indulging in one. But I note, he promises to be a little kinder in one of his posts. Let's hope he doesn't go too namby pamby
If only the left could figure how to engage fear and hate like the right has.
Oh they are too afraid to even just name the beast by its name.
But they are seriously good at appeasing and serving everything up luke warm for fear of 'offending'.
Go back to the research I was quoting yesterday and indeed it’s plain the functional role of right wing people is to be cautious and defensive. In a dangerous world these are legitimate responses, but they're also easily exploited to invoke fear and hatred.
What counters this? Messages that reassure and sooth them, keep the narrative familiar and safe. When a new idea is introduced, link it strongly to something that's already known to work. Convey the sense that their social conservatism is a good, reliable platform for our society, drop all intellectual arrogance and above all don't moralise to them.
Maybe Wayne is exactly correct and we should listen.
Bradbury projects like crazy in those pieces.
Social media has a minor impact on most peoples lives. The idea that the right can mobilise a novel angry army of white men simply by rarking them up on social media over culture war issues is nonsense in the NZ context.
First of all, we've always had high voting turnouts, whiich goes a long way to moderating the impact of highly mobilised voting groups. And the USA and UK both have significantly skewed electoral systems that amplified their rightward shunt outcomes. Remember, MMP is based on a system expressly designed to limit the impact of extremist politics.
Secondly, NZ has a relatively high minimum wage , reasonably high employment rates, no legacy rust belts and was not badly hit by the GFC. Our wage growth over the last twenty years has not stagnated or gone backward as in the the USA and UK. The "angry white guy" constituency overseas has been swelled by economic decline and here it simply doesn't have those numbers.
Third, NZ does not have a fascist billionaire media. Our MSM are often little more than a bunch of ignorant right wing clowns, but they do not push an ideologically fascist agenda like the Murdoch papers or Fox News do.
Fourth, Maori operate as a significant centre of non-state power and as a handbrake on racism. The NZ identity is built significantly on the national myth of racial inclusiveness – to a large extent racism is not seen as patriotic nativism but rather as disloyal chauvinism.
That's a very good comprehensive critique, and I tend to agree with each point you've made. I suspect the groundswell here will indeed be significantly less than in the USA for the reasons you have given.
Nonetheless, white kiwi males are only being specifically catered to by National, and that's a reflection on the political competence of the other parties. As one of those pakeha guys, I'm unlikely to be impressed by National's efforts (usually banal) but I'm equally unimpressed by the covert discrimination evident in the way they are being given the majority by default.
Why should parties spell out all their policies that apply to white men? Sounds a lot like 'identity politics'..
So that they don't default to National, is the short answer. But actually, I was not intending to imply any such spelling exercise. Subtle framing ought to suffice. Enough to make the guys feel they are not being deliberately excluded.
You know, when you think about it, there's no reason in principle that they ought to be ignored as a group. A genuinely inclusive political frame would recognise that fact. It's been obvious to me for many years that the Greens' voter base has been artificially suppressed by identity politics – equity framing would redress that short-sightedness.
This sounds awfully like some men loudly demanding an official men's day every time the women's one rolls around. The retort is usually that every other day is one already.
Old white men are far from victims. Pull the other one.
I wasn't talking about old white men, so you ought to avoid allowing your prejudices to put words in my mouth. Re-read what I wrote to establish that! Nor was I intending to imply males are victims. That would be a fatuous over-generalisation, right?
Just making the point that politics is a numbers game, and not catering for one of the biggest political groups is dumb politics…
not catering for one of the biggest political groups
Not convinced that resentful white men are a big group. And what would a party have to offer to be 'catering' for them?
Fair enough. I was just trying to sound a warning re Nats getting leverage. Not just the resentful ones – you know the contagion effect? If pakeha guys were to soak up the idea that the Nats are their default tribe, they would tend to share that view with others. Seems to have already happened stateside & Trump capitalised. I'm averse to the effect happening here.
19 November, apparently. Has a wikipedia page and everything.
The reality that International Mens Day exists does not seem to shut them up, though.
Sums it all up, in my opinion – inadequate little boys screaming at how worse off they are than the people whose mistreatment they profit from, even though it's painfully obvious that they have at least the same privileges as everyone else.
In the post-truth era "a Center For Public Affairs Research poll released in November showed 47 percent of Americans believe it's hard to know whether the information they are getting is true." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/119012943/alison-mau-an-election-year-to-make-george-orwell-spin-in-his-grave
"National's campaign manager Paula Bennett denied her party's online "memes" are misleading (despite two rulings from the Advertising Standards Authority that say different) by using the phrase, "an interpretation about how figures are used." One woman's falsehoods being another woman's "interpretation", I guess."
Well, yeah, that's the case much of the time. It's not as if people cite proof when asserting facts. Nobody believes credibility is that important!!
Stop worrying about online campaigns.
Ardern has 700,000 Facebook followers and about 400,000 Twitter followers.
It's more than Bridges by several multiples.
It's going to be fine.
Hilarious hearing Hoots try that one on RNZ.
Paula Bennetts lies being a sensible white centrists man "interpretation", You guess right.
see there i fixed you typo.
Cause that sorry excuse for a human being is not trying to appeal to us, she is trying to appeal to the nice sensible males that are being alienated by the 'woke thing'.
Yeah I know she's doing that. Like I pointed out, politics isn't about truth. If it were, politicians would alway provide proof that their claims are true. That almost never happens. So leftists moaning about her spin are wasting their time.
Then you should have said it correctly. Frankly leave us 'women' out of this bullshit.
She ain't appealing to us, she is lying to you. Centrists white male who are afraid of the woke thing. That is the new 'economically anxious white working class' of NZ rigth?
She is not lying to us. She is lying to you.
I did say it correctly: I did not refer to women in my original comment. I'm not sure why you are so confused. I have no problem with you believing she is a liar – that's your choice. I'm just pointing out why others see her as advocating an interpretation. In politics, competing interpretations carry more weight than facts.
I'm pretty convinced Denis has never assumed you would support Benett's politics because she is a woman. However you clearly assume he supports Bridges politics because he is a man (assume Pakeha).
This is a huge aspect of the woke alienation narrative. Its also a logically incoherent understanding of politics.
all this assumption.
As a women i pointed out to Dennis ( who may or may not be a male, be white, be progressive or not who cares) that as a women i don't see her advocating an interpretation but an outright lie. And that frankly most women in NZ see her doing just that. Lying, on behalf of the National Party to the detriment of women and children everywhere in this country. Most women have not forgotten 'there is no housing crisis' 'zip it sweety' 'dole bludgers' etc Paula Bennet. I and a few women i know see her for what she is. A person utterly devoid of ethics and morals who will at any cost enrich herself and keep her tax payer funded wages for her thousand dollar shoes. And the same counts for the National Party.
This interpretation of 'my freedom fighter' is your terrorists thing was a nice try but did not work – and frankly was offensive considering that women do not vote in majority for Paula Bennet and the No Mates Party.
And if i am to alienate a white economically anxious centrists male, then the guy ain't centrist and I am not his issue. I am by far not a radical. I have never advocated for rights to be removed from men, i have never advocated to have the reproductive freedoms of men to be regulated by law, i have never advocated to make a medical procedure that only is needed by men into a criminal act requiring the certification of three doctors to obtain one, i have never earned 1 dollar to the 70+ cents of a men, i have never overlooked a male for promotion, i have never called a bloke a nice piece of ass publicly on radio, i have never pulled the hair of a waiter to bring him to the point of crying, I have never outed the name of some beneficiaries, i have never proposed to force birth control on men recieving a benefit, i have never cut a benefit because a man don't want to declare the name of the mother of his child and so on and so on and to boot and i know how to make some really nice sandwiches. And these are all things that are advocated for and fought for by men who would consider themselves 'centrists'.
So no i am not the reason for your 'centrists white male' to be alienated by the left – and consider as well that i don't see my self as someone on 'the left'. I see myself as someone who is left behind by all the established parties and that i generally don't vote myself but for the lesser evil.
But your concern is noted, and i will try really hard to not be the reason for a centrist white male to vote for the National Party and Paula Bennet. lol. .
I think your making a really obvious mistake in assuming that the nations pale stale males reflexively support the national party politics and form their primary voter base.
The resulting generalisations make a mockery of any discussions put about both politics and actual existing discrimination. A lot of people just find it very off putting being told what they supposedly believe politically due to (or being due to) their skin color, age or gender.
The political phenom that is sleepy Biden. Such a kind, humble, relatable and inspiring man. Biden 2020!
"The CFR's Top Conflicts to Watch in 2020 report was issued even as China provocatively sent its navy-controlled coast guard and militia-operated fishing fleets deep into Indonesia's exclusive economic zone. Jakarta responded with combat aircraft and warships. Beijing eventually backed down, withdrawing its fleet to the edge of Indonesian waters."
Bear pokes possum to see what happens. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12303563
"The CFR's Preventive Priorities Survey found foreign policy experts believe more flashpoints are "likely to require a US military response for 2020 than in …. the last eleven years." And while it is increasingly engaging in great power competition with China, its continuing ability to reassure its Asian allies is being questioned."
"The United States cannot reverse China's militarisation of the South China Sea. Beijing has succeeded in shifting the balance of power in this waterway in its favour," Dr Rapp-Hooper writes. "Washington can, however, return to a coalition-based strategy that aims to keep the South China Sea open and to reduce the likelihood that the long-simmering disputes spiral into full-blown conflict."
"This would require high-level support and engagement in regional forums, such as ASEAN, as well as strengthening ties to those aggrieved by Beijing ambitions."
Right, so Trump's withdrawal into US traditional isolationism will be tested in his election year. His Secretary of State will be even more tested – competence in multipolar diplomacy will be required!
Our friends in the USA are saying anyone reporting on their corruption has no entitlement to freedom of speech, nor press freedom.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/julian-assange-may-not-be-able-to-use-first-amendment-press-protection-if-extradited
The whole Assange case is a totalitarians wet dream.
Not entitled to First Amendment rights, but can be charged under the Espionage Act…
Yeah, go figure.
That will make be interesting – if non-American news staff aren't protected under the first amendment then American newspapers won't be able to publish their work as the newspapers insurance rates for legal proceedings will go through the roof. It will be interesting to see if publishers and media outlets join the case to protect their interests.
They haven't so far, so I'm not expecting a change from them. Your right though, they should. But I'm guessing they all too far gone to make a stand now.
I'm puzzled that Trump is able to prevent the Senate from getting at the facts. Impeachment is clearly a joke if their system allows the decision to be made on the basis of suppressed evidence. The principle of transparent governance ought to apply.
"According to reports, Bolton opposed the withholding of security aid to Ukraine, and tried unsuccessfully to convince the president to release the military aid during an Oval Office meeting. "This is in America's interest," the former national security adviser told the president, according to the New York Times, as he argued the aid should be provided to Ukraine. The aid was eventually released – a day after Bolton acrimoniously left the White House." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51230984
"The pressure has grown following the report of a potentially explosive claim Bolton is said to make in a new book. The New York Times cited a leaked Bolton manuscript as saying that Trump told him he wanted to freeze aid to Ukraine until Kyiv helped with investigations against the Democrats, including former Vice-President Joe Biden."
"Bolton, a Republican, is an unlikely hero for Democrats. Still, they believe he will act as a star witness, one who will provide irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing by Trump and help bolster the case for his removal from office."
"Yale-educated Bolton, 71, was national security adviser from 2018-19. He was "personally involved" in the president's dealings with the Ukrainian officials, according to Bolton's lawyer. The former national security adviser was "at the nerve centre for all important decisions", says Matthew Spence, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence."
"Democrats believe the former national security adviser could provide the smoking gun. "Bolton was present during the crime," says Evelyn Farkas, who served as top Russia official during the Obama administration and is now running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in New York. "And he knew that it was a crime at the time.""
"Bolton has said publicly he would testify if he gets a legal summons… Senators will vote on the matter of witnesses in the coming days."
She dared to sully the name of the sainted.
/
this award-winning journalist is magnifying a hate storm against a sexual assault survivor whose reaction to the death of Kobe Bryant did not meet his standards
All of us have been around the Internet long enough to know what happens when women get targeted like this. There’s no excuse for it.
I saw it yesterday but didn’t want to tweet until I had sat on it for a day or so.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1221945029897392128.html
Can someone please explain how putting so much money into roading stimulates the economy? (we don't actually know what the roading spend will be on yet though). As opposed to say poverty relief via direct transfers to people who will spend it immediately?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/119064149/government-set-to-announce-12b-infrastructure-splurge-with-a-lot-of-it-going-to-roads
Ask these guys: "Treasury believes the benefits of this will be seen in increased GDP growth, which is expected to lift by 1.4 per cent (or $3.9 billion) over the next four years thanks to the package."
I gather that dept employs economists to calculate the sums & devise a rationale plausible enough to satisfy ministers & bedazzle Labour/National voters. Grant obviously is very satisfied, and I suspect Shane & Winston are too. The Greens will be mulling it over. Marama: "Can I call it another dead rat?? Please?"
I saw that. I was wondering about roading specifically.
Okay, I'd ask Michael Reddell (https://croakingcassandra.com/) which I've done once or twice in the past. Either email your question or suggest he write a column on it. Scan down today's column on his site until you come to the cartoon – you'll see he's that most unusual of creatures, an economist with a sense of humour!
The only reasons they might be keen on roading are political:
1) Neutralises Nat promises to stupidly spend more on last century's priorities. Like the self-imposed fiscal handcuffs this term.
2) Roading agencies have built up a handy pipeline of low-value road projects under the last govt which will not take years more to plan and consent before they can start being built and people notice the dirt piling up. Public transit projects have no such pipeline. Both take too long to provide any short term stimulus, but financiers love them so there's that.
It would be a crying waste of an opportunity to spend up large on the wrong priorities for such spurious reasons. Our future economy and society needs other sorts of infrastructure before roads. Climate change demands other infrastructure.
I feel like I must be missing something. Because on the face of it it seems horribly wrong to spend half the amount on roading instead of climate and people.
Maybe roading includes lots of cycleways? /fainthope
Hopefully the journos have just been interviewing their own typewriters or passing on hopeful whispers from the Nats..
Water is another obvious long-term infrastructure spend, though it probably depends too much on Winston letting the Greens get a win.
Wouldn’t you love to see the looks on some of the regressive farming cheerleaders at a govt calling their bluff on cleaning up urban waterways rather than rural irrigation like the last lot funded instead.
lol.
I took the article as being based on something from the government, give the specific amounts and timelines.
Nope. Just some big overall numbers and journalists who are either privy to stuff they shouldn't be or taking their lead from the opposition. History suggests the latter.
Bullshit – you should check the facts before spouting forth.
An overview of the likely Infrastructure package etc was released by the government on 30 Nov and 12 Dec 2019 and was widely covered by the media and other blogs at the time.
Here are links to the announcements and some media reports last Nov/Dec. Plenty more reports at the time on Stuff, ODT, Newsroom, Newshub etc and posts on Pundit amongst other blogs if you google 'Grant Robertson Infrastructure' for example.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz › release › 12-billion-extra-infrastructure-invest…
$12 billion in extra infrastructure investment | Beehive.govt.nz
http://www.beehive.govt.nz › release › infrastructure-investments-be-broug…
Infrastructure investments to be brought forward | Beehive.govt …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz › news › article
The Government will borrow an extra $19b; and announced …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz › business › news › article
Grant Robertson says 'now is the time' to spend big on …
http://www.rnz.co.nz › national › programmes › morningreport › audio › g…
Grant Robertson on upcoming infrastructure spend | RNZ
$12 billion in extra infrastructure investment | Beehive.govt.nz
So where did the detail come from when this is literally all they announced:
Spending priorities are just an indication of govt preferences. There is nothing more tangible to it.
There is a theory that by paying less in benefits you are incentivising work. This follows from another theory (assumed true) that unemployment is ultimately due to the unemployeds preference for leisure and could find jobs if they wanted/tried harder. This was the main intellectual basis for the early 90s benefit cuts. This is ultimately the argument Treasury might put against welfare spending but its at least an unpopular idea so they would probably have it behind closed doors.
I don't know, seems pretty in line with Labour's ideological position.
So they could stimulate the economy by spending on people and climate instead, but they're choosing roads because that's where their values lie?
Or that's where Winston's values lie.
yeah, always that. I want a L/G govt this year just so we can see the distinction between what was NZF and what was Lab in the first term.
Yes, its values.
In reality its probably the case that there is sufficient slack in the economy to absorb both. E.g there is a point when all the unemployed could find work if they wanted it, but i dont believe the economy is near it at present. The main stream economic theory assumes that the economy automatically adjusts to reach that state, which is a problematic assumption.
Started another thread on today's Open Mike
It probably doesn't have much difference to GDP between the two.
There's a large proportion of the cash going to make real things in the economy, rather than just boost the speculative pile. What the roading would have is a boost in productivity from people who use the road which would be additional to the money directly injected into the economy. Assuming a positive return on investment for the road.
Not sure what the parallel of that productivity boost would be for direct transfers to beneficiaries.
Productivity from people who use roads. Is that truck drivers? People getting to work?
yeah, everyone, but particularly transport drivers incl passengers. If it knocks 5 minutes off their commute, that's five more minutes they have in the day. If an airport shuttle driver does 8 trips a day, a five minute trip saving might stretch that to 9 trips. Five minutes less of a commute for an office worker means five more minutes to buy from stores or spebd at work.
That's how I understand the theory, anyway.
Jeeze, that's really depressing. I'm guessing they're not counting the five minutes freed up so someone can breathe, or read their kid a bed time story.
Unpaid work still does not count.
GDP is a soulless measure.
"Can someone please explain how putting so much money into roading stimulates the economy?"
I would suggest it's something to do with externalities, that disgusting business accounting habit that privatise profit and socialise cost.
E.g. the roads here in rural Manawatu can be fairly shoddy around milk shed gates as the 50 tonne tankers tear up the road accelerating and braking.
Like the water that is used, the roads belong to the commons but are an essential part of a last century's business model.
The stimulation part is very easy to understand. Net of tax collection each doller of govt spending adds a doller to nominal GDP.
This is because GDP is simply a measure of an economies income.
There is no difference between types of net spending here however.
If it's easy to understand can you please explain in lay person terms?
This is the basis for why its true. Its basically just to do with how GDP (eg an economies income) is measured.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectoral_balances
When you consider that then its pretty clear to understand that tax withdraws income from somebody and when the govt pays somebody their income increases. Note, nobody is actually in the govt sector here even if they work in the public sector its still their income.
So when the govt spends more GDP goes up, and when they tax/collect more it goes down.
ok, but that doesn't explain roads specifically right? It suggests that govt spending on anything will create growth.
Yes, and your conclusion is not incorrect.
Bear in mind however that we are somewhat interested in inflation adjusted GDP which doesn't work in so simple a way.
If you want to be more objective then you need to look at the capacity to absorb more spending by sector. Looking at greening the economy the govt may need to reduce spending in some sectors allowing it to increase its own (on more sustainable basis).
I would be surprised it this was really considered by the treasury analysis in detail. Their headline model of the economy only has one sector for starters.
"Looking at greening the economy the govt may need to reduce spending in some sectors allowing it to increase its own (on more sustainable basis)."
What would be some examples of that?
What's Treasury's headline model with only one sector?
For example fuel taxes probably have some impact on fuel consumption. But most impactful would be allowing less of a particular activity by regulation. Maybe then replacing it. Here they could for example restrict long hall transport by weight on the road network while increasing rail freight capacity.
The headline treasury model is a DSGE model of the economy. Its called Matai. Basically such models use equilibrium analysis which assumes you can model the economy as if only one good is produced and consumed.
September 19!
It's on.
You cryptic lad you. "Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that the general election will be held on September 19. The announcement was made at the Beehive in Wellington, during at the first post-cabinet press conference of 2020, after Ardern advised the Governor-General." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/118983011/jacinda-ardern-announces-2020-election-will-be-held-on-september-19
There's a post up now.
Well done our Aussie Brothers and Sisters!
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/26/pay-the-rent-invasion-day-rallies-around-australia-protest-against-26-january-celebrations
Kia Ora Newshub.
Taking freight off our roads on to rail is the way of the future lowering our carbon footprint in the process.
That's awesome Fonterra changing one of its milk dryers from coal to wood pallets made from sawdust that would normally be dumped = to taking 33000 cars off our roads.
We need to legislate to minimise the waste we produce That's the logical way to sort that mess out.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Investments in our public hospitals is great as most Tangata Whenua can not afford to go to private hospitals when the healths system is going to take to long to treat them our whanau are passing quite young.
I agree broadcasting is very important and the merger of Radio NZ and TVNZ should have Maori including in the changes to make sure our broadcasting organisations are not put at a disadvantage by the changes.
Alcohol is bad for our health in many ways.
Its great that plastics is being banned in fresh produce.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Praiseing our children is a good way to lift their wairua in schools.
There would not have been enough putea for the governments to spend this much on infrastructure if they gave tax cuts.
People have to realise that our good fortunes are directly linked to our weather and environment we must do all we can to minimise our impact on the weather Ben.
Ka pai to Coke for reducing the sugar in their drinks but it would be nice if they could pay a bounty for their plastic waste to be recycled.
Tova they had sewage leaking in the walls of A hospital.
Know your stuff does good work.
Ka kite Ano
You think you're neat muppet don’t push it
Kia Ora Newshub.
Shady politics.
Its good to see the system finally adapting and accepting the positive effects medical marijuana has on some people.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I still say that company's should be paying to dispose of their own plastic waste clean up their own mess.
Everyone should minimise there Wai use all year not just in a dry year. Leave some off our Wai taonga for our Wai wildlife.
Whare tuhua looks like a good way to keep some Rangatahi who made mistakes away from the harder people that can teach them bad habits.
Great mahi BBM helping Pacific and Maori tangata lose weight and live a longer life in the process to guide there whanau for decades longer through this system.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Breakfast Show.
Pork.
The Internet is the technology that changed the world the communication device of the 21st century.
I think it's better take time to plan the infrastructure boost spend than rush it in that process reap less positive effects for the spend.
The message I'm getting is drama sell news I have heard of stories just like these that never made it to the national NEWS.???????.
Jordan tipical privileged rednecks opinion.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
I think that house owners should be legally bound to rent empty houses out that would help the housing shortage I use to maintain some empty whare.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
China is doing all it can to control the virus.
The people who are using the virus as a attack weapon are fools
Ka pai to Ngāti Porou Iwi for stepping with a plan to care for our tamariki in state care.
Our government investing in hospitals and health care is awesome.
The more books on Tangata Whenua Culture the better.
Its good to see Maui studios making great stories and computer graphics.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Drones herding sheep the Ion age is here and now I seen some muppets from Tauranga use drones to take a fishing line out 350 metres from shore and drop it.
That's a mean feat rowing from Chile to Antarctic.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Good to see heaps of interest it Waka and having Wahine on Waka tau
Yes there was quite a lot of tension when shonky was at Waitangi Ka pai.
That's is cool the celebration in Tamiki Makaru. Cool to see tourists showing interest in Tangata whenua Culture.
Ka kite Ano