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 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.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
The Department of Conservation is in greater need of a commissioner than Health NZ, a veteran scientist says The post The risks and rewards of remaking DoC appeared first on Newsroom. ...
"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.![cheeky cheeky](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/tongue_smile.png)
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!
https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1221538196036771840
"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.
/
https://twitter.com/Lollardfish/status/1221945029897392128
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://twitter.com/Lollardfish/status/1221953115848617984
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.
https://thestandard.org.nz/19th-september-talk-like-a-pirate-day/
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