I think it is worth letting this through to see the poorly types who still inhabit our fair lands, so they can be identified and winkled out…
… which is slowly happening. Unfortunately, these are generational changes and take time. Remember, if I have it right, when you born (early 1960’s?) WWII had only just finished, so for our elders of that time the world was an entirely different place than it is today with respect to respect for diversity and the like. The poorly types of this generation will pass shortly.
Whats this topic about? Being surprised or, being shocked or, being sad or, being abusive or, world war 2, or is it to do with some other kind of brain damage?
And here they are again today, on display. hung up on the line for another airing. Could the issue have been discussed without flapping the offending articles about, or, heaven forbid, let go to blow away on the breezes of time?
So you’re saying MM shouldn’t be asking for moderation for someone whose repeatedly using hate speech on here, and that he should just let it go and forget about it?
That sort of attitude blew away on the breezes of time a long time ago. Now days we call out our racists and homophobes.
The Al1en – “So you’re saying…”
Nope. I’m saying re-presenting the offensive article is unnecessary and multiplies the effect of it’s original use. By all means call out the behaviour, though the mods are good at dealing with such without provocation, when they have the time.
TA
Empty talk concocting iterations of something to continually be scandalised by – like the looped vids of kittens jumping at an image of themselves in a mirror. Try to do better and stick to schtum when you have something worthless in mind. We try to entertain but really are thinking about politics for the future, if we have one.
Funk the videos of kittens, if you think racism and homophobia is something you do for entertainment, and a left wing forum is the place to express it while expecting no one to be rightfully offended, then it really is a problem you have to be owning up to and seeking assistance to overcome.
Being nice all day is super difficult because there’s so much misery in the world. Let a bit in, it will consume you. Best to just pay the taxes and be done with it.
Jimmy, you need to address the size of your underwear. I suspect they are a quite a few sizes on the small side. Over tight elastic in that region can cause all sorts of physical and mental stress. One known symptom is RWS (repetitive whinging syndrome)
And a quick message to those bleating that it wasn’t moderated at the time: this is a volunteer run site. The few of us that do moderation cannot be expected to read every comment, let alone do so live as they come in. Particularly so late at night.
So, if comments like these get missed, members of the TS community can raise it as marty has done (preferably without copying the offensive comment in full, because that makes it worse*) or email the site and the offending behaviour will be addressed.
*Just a link to the original comment and a request for a mod to have a look should be enough.
“(preferably without copying the offensive comment in full, because that makes it worse*) ”
That’s the aspect I support. James uses this as a weapon; writing an offending word, repeatedly, and railing against its use. That’s so low brow it’s a moustache (could’ve said something else, didn’t).
Perhaps is people had issue with the original comment then people wouldn’t make comments like that in the first place – then there is nothing to repeat.
Better than just walking on past and ignoring it.
Also read the thread last night and see how few people called him out on it.
For some, walking on past is the best option. For some, picking up the offensive goop, running around poking it under other people’s noses, is their preferred option. You choose the latter, failing to realise you’re a poop-spreader.
Walking past is not accepting, James, especially when you can see that others are attending to the issue. You seem always to jump in, even when the pool is full and delight in waving the offending article around with seeming glee. In some instances, you repeat the upsetting term or word over and over and over, rolling it around on your tongue, as if it gives you pleasure. Just saying’.
James’ racism and homophobia concerns do him credit. Has he also been working on his misogyny?
Some context – on 1 December 2018, in Open Mike @11.1.1, ourJames made this observation about Anna Rose, Australian Geographic Conservationist of the Year (2014):
“She sounds boring as all fuck. I wouldn’t have her at one of my bbqs.”
“Better than just walking on past and ignoring it.” – James; look to your sins.
James, if you had simply said that you found Anna Rose to be boring, then IMO that would have been OK; your problem, but OK.
Do you have a comprehension problem? Do you genuinely not understand why I found your comment offensive? You’re able to identify and document the offensive comments made by some others on this site, so why the blindspot?
James, I think what you said about Anna Rose indicates that you are indeed a very sad person. And I’m sad about that.
James, I asked you three questions. You failed to answer any of them, and you are 100% responsible for that failure.
James, if you keep this up, I may be inclined to remind you of some more of your self-incriminating smears on this site. But I’d rather not, unless you insist/persist.
I’m a snowflake!?? James, you are literallyunreal! And rather fond of using ‘snowflake’ to dodge simple questions.
I’m not equating misogyny with racism or homophobia, I’m simply saying that I found your casual comment about Anna Rose offensive. Surely even you can see that your comment is consistent with a misogynistic mindset. Only a misogynist wouldn’t get that.
James, no-one is perfect. Policing racist and homophobic comments on The Standard might be one route to self-improvement, but I respectfully suggest that you consider alternatives – each of us has only so much time.
Tamati is a good man who cares about his country. His comments reflect some of the feeling of the white, heterosexual, working class male. These are human feelings and I don’t think we can tell humans that they are not allowed to feel like this, because that won’t work in the end anyway.
The deeper issue at the heart of Thomas’s comment is that globalism, high immigration and the ensuing lower wages has failed the country. No wonder Trump got traction.
Abusing whole groups of people is not the same as having feelings. Get off the grass. And Chump was elected by culturally insecure tradies, not poor workers.
A fast count for No.1s amounts to 50. Started off by the complaint about language. Talk about stirring the muddy bottom of the pond. All the weeds rise to the top (myself among them). Meanwhile the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Perhaps draw attention to bad behaviour with Nos. and speak in tongues so the hoi polloi won’t understand. Marty mars – there must be a rude word in Maori – we could say ‘Mod – ‘rude word in Maori’ No. …. Name of thread date time.
And save fifty comments like dead leaves that need composting.
“Police have charged almost five people a day with strangling or suffocating their partners since a new family violence law came into force criminalising such acts in December.”
John Mark Tanner and Paul Pounamu Tainui; two good reasons for why we should consider never releasing men who murder their intimate partners.
.
For two weeks he fronted up to police, the media and the public to deny any knowledge of his girlfriend’s whereabouts.
John Tanner, with his long hair and pimples, played the concerned boyfriend and insisted that he last saw girlfriend Rachel McLean at the railway station in Oxford, where the 19-year-old was a student.
But behind the elaborate stories he concocted for Police was a sinister truth – Tanner, 22, had strangled Rachel and hidden her body under the floorboards of her flat.
[…]
Tanner, now 49, had violently assaulted his partner over a period of six months last year.
In the first incident, the couple were staying at a motel in Whanganui central when Tanner became upset with the woman and they argued. She was brushing her teeth and he walked up behind her, dragged her out of the bathroom and threw her on the bed.
He jumped on her and put his hands across her neck, restricting her breathing.
In another incident, when the woman told Tanner she was leaving him he threatened to kill her.
The worst of the violence happened when they argued at Tanner’s home in rural Pauri Road on the outskirts of Whanganui.
Tanner held his partner down by the wrists and straddled her. He yelled at her to tell him about her ex-partner and then punched her in the head. She suffered a graze and bruising.
The woman left the house and went to a motel. She sent Tanner a text that the relationship was over but he showed up and they argued. She cowered on the bed and he pulled her clothes off saying he wanted sex.
The Crown says the woman was trying to get away and fell to the ground, where Tanner punched her several times around the head.
She started to cry and Tanner said, “look what you made me do’”.
This describes the reason NZ keeps a portion of the available workforce unemployed at all times (which in turn helps create a low wage sector). When it gets serious this will be one of the main ways the Green New Deal proposals are undermined in the US.
A shallow one would be where you get lambos and get to party every day.
A deep one would be where you solve some currently intractable problem affecting the entire world.
The longer it takes to make a deal, the longer it takes to recover, the greater the required stimulus.
Except we have a lower unemployment rate that most other countries and certainly lower than nations who have far more left wing economic policies than we do (e.g. France).
Just depends what is being stimulated. If it’s for productive purposes then prices will adjust. But if it’s just for importing skilled labour then duh.
You are missing the point. Most European nations have a far less ‘neoliberal’ economic policy setting than we do. Nations such as France and Spain and Italy all have massive State intervention either directly (Through State ownership of industry) or indirectly through subsidies and regulation. This is the opposite of Neoliberal policy. It is these nations that have the higher rates of unemployment than we do. If neoliberal economic ideas need a minimum level of unemployment to maintain low inflation how come countries that don’t have as neoliberal policies as us have higher unemployment?
Sometimes I think you are on a different planet. What does that got to do with Nic the NZer’s view that Neoliberalism requires a level of unemployment ?
Marco economics can take a life time to learn. It’s the Reserve Banks full time job to manage, the Reserve Bank Govenor has probably forgotten more than I know about macro stuff.
So, my personal opinion, based on just enough economics training to be dangerous, is “it depends.” You need to look at everything, do econometric studies, make carful observations and basically stay on your toes when making any free hand inflation calculation. And you’ll need the Reserve Bank. There are times for low inflation, sometimes higher inflation, times where you should flirt with deflation, and there is no simple rule for which is which. Each with its own iterations and byproducts, people who try to tell the Reserve Bank what to do without understanding the issues or research into the topic are dumbasses who do not know what they do not know.
Do you mean Macroeconomics? If so, then it is not the Reserve Banks full time job to manage. The RBNZ manages monetary policy which is just one element of Macroeconomics. The RBNZ also manages the regulation of financial institutions which is almost microeconomics so it isn’t just involved in the macro side.
Do you have comprehension issues? You just tried to argue that the Reserve bank full time job is managing Marco economics (sic). I pointed out that is a massive over simplification.
Sure, if you’re objective is to make people take out risky loans the reserve bank could just be a number for low investment IQ individuals to borrow against. I mean what ever.
The only reason for the Reserve Bank to influence micro economic settings is for their effects on the macro economy. This is very obvious and should hardly need to be explained.
Though its not accepted by mainstream modeling (which chooses to believe the economy is in equilibrium or rapidly approaching such a state), unless the state actively suppliments deficient demand then the unemployment rate will be higher than necessary at most times. This happens regardless of most economic policy settings.
As i suggested a large part of the impact of this on inflation is fictional.
Stick to the topic. The reserve bank today estimates the NAIRU is higher than the unemployment rate. The implication of this is that they will suggest contractionary economic policy in NZ while the unemployment rate could still be reduced. This policy advice is apparently based completely on fiction.
That is not correct, the reserve bank controls interest rates for money but does not do the spending (which adds income) that treasury does. Monetary policy is relatively very weak at increasing circulation as to take effect it requires an investor.
Yes, via lending. Just as the reserve bank does. Prof Randy Ray once summed it up for me with a brilliantly terse comment (in the US context), the Fed lends, treasury spends.
Also note, commercial banks lending processes create bank deposit money (but not the reserve money they make final payments in) in the process.
Most people spend according to their income, not the interest rate on their credit. You may be an exception. Businesses tend to invest based on the anticipated income from sales on the same basis.
Here is a very good interview with Larry Wilkerson on the situation Venezuela for anyone who cares…
“Trump promises “democracy and freedom” to Venezuela, delivered by Elliott Abrams who brought you illegal wars, coups, and support for dictatorships; and Mike Pompeo and VP Pence, both with deep ties to the Koch brothers who need Venezuelan heavy crude to feed their Texas refinery – Col. Larry Wilkerson joins TRNN’s Paul Jay”
If they NEED the Venezuelan oil why have they made it harder for them to actually get it? that makes no sense. It would have been much better for them to continue to buy oil (40% of the total oil exports of Venezuela) from the country. You aren’t thinking this through really.
Sorry to just put up links, but I gotta get some work done, any way here is a really excellent piece that is well worth the time to read on propaganda and democracy from the ever reliable Media Lens….
I think the comments by a number of people in the Daily Review yesterday evening should put paid to any derision at the comments on other blogs being “The sewer” in comparison to here.
At the very time New Zealand wage earners have been told by Sir John Key and Sir Billy English that they will never be able to afford a home again, Simon Bridges is promising Tax Cuts to Wealthy people at the next Election.
This is National trampling mercilessly on the people of New Zealand ! This is so cruel !. So wicked ! so Pagan!. So Rotten ! So God Dam Evil!
It is the most Monstrous activity of the Nationals ever undertaken in this Country or in any other Democracy. Only done by Roger Douglas, John Key, Billy English, and in future by Simon Bridges.
Not only that, the Wage earners of New Zealand can barely afford Rentals; or Food.
They certainly cannot afford Heating. It is as organised by National Corruption: J.Key, B.English, Mrs P.Bennett, Simon Bridges.
Therefore, Wage Earners must find ways to mercilessly Trample on National. John Key, Billy English and Simon Bridges. Wage Earners must trample on the Wealth of the Wealthy who have raped them so savagely and mercilessly. Their families, their assets, their future – turned into poverty as they have turned workers.
Further, the wage earners must mercilessly Trample on the Media – TV and Press. To stop the low IQ splash around.
The Present Government must keep an Eagle Eye on the Crime of National and the Wealthy.
The Banks, Police and the Military must be advised by Government that all their energies must be exercised in favour of the wage earners and the Poor.
National has made no attempt to run a Democracy or Equality.
Reading about the terrible and needles negligence that took the lives of Haki Hiha, David Eparaima and Soul Raroa has elevated today’s misanthropy levels.
A very sad situation for the families and other members of their work place.
So sorry for your plight, and hoping you have love and support at this sad time.
Stuff hamilton, extend the rail to Huntley, there is already a go bus from hamilton, the base, to Huntley. no need for massive investment, build a viable route with actual passengers and then extend it. And why the base, I mean shopping center are designed to slow up people, make it hard to get in and out,just look at the current infrastructure for buses it’s a maze. Stop the northern connector on the te rapa, in fact all the buses, and then if they want rail, demand they create a striaght path from said buses to the rail station, or better just move it further out and wire up the buses without their input.
If you want a service to Auckland then don’t vote for any who talks about it, its really easy, connect the 21 bus to a rail connection at Huntley, and cut out the base, its slows the all buses down.
It is the Government that wants the rail service to Hamilton. If they want it they should pay for it. Compared to the Regional Council the Government has heaps of money.
The Central Government has heaps of $$$ from the road tax for “roads.” Double emphases on “roads.” Any self respecting National MP past or present would have even a cursory knowledge of Nationals Roads of Bling and Significance.
Hey join the Sunlight club (Sunlight Soap that is). We didn’t need physical punishment in those days eh. Just a picture of a piece of Sunlight and it was yes miss, no miss.
3.4 How are costs distributed by vehicle type?
The costs generated by vehicles differ according to size, type of fuel used etc. because of
the wear and tear they inflict on the network and the pollution they cause.
When the total charges (excluding rates) paid by users are allocated across the vehicle
fleet according to type we find that:
• cars directly pay 64% of their costs,
• trucks directly pay 56% of their costs
• buses directly pay 68% of their costs.
Although trucks were sub-divided into four categories in the STCC, data limitations
prevented the full average cost analysis from further disagreggating the allocation for
trucks according to specific truck weights and/or types.
So we won’t know if the logging trucks and behemoths that flit around the country are paying their rightful amount. But then do they calculate payment according to each set of wheels- that would go somewhere to accurately meeting real costs.
I’ve been reading about the author Gerald Kersh. He had a strange life apparently and being pronounced dead at four and sitting up in his coffin at the funeral made a spectre-cular start.
A quote – “In proper men there is hidden a light which darkness makes visible. I believe that the hope of mankind is in this buried glory; the spirit which makes true men hang on to the throats of their enemies at the very rim of the grave.”
― Gerald Kersh, Brain and Ten Fingers (GoodReads)
In his life he became a war correspondent and was buried alive during bombing raids on three separate occasions. I think he was exaggerating a bit. Perhaps two!
He wrote more than a thousand magazine pieces and more than a thousand short stories. He died at 57 in 1968. There are no books listed under his name on TradeMe – which to tell the truth is now dominated by dumps of new remaindered books from NZ sites, Australia and the UK. Thank goodness the USA haven’t bothered with us. A lifetime of hard graft – he deserves to be remembered.
I hope that can be said about us on The Standard. We have much to do. As they said on Mission Impossible – Your mission; should you decide to accept it.
Yeah, look out, it’s coming. We’re 10 years out from the last bust which is a very long run in the New Zealand, or really any context except maybe modern China or post war Japan. We’re usually lucky to get 7 years between ooops.
When I look around Queenstown it sends shivers down the spine looking at the big jobs coming along that depend on buyers settling on the due date or the principal having the cash left to pay the subbies at completion. There’s a lot of contenders.
It’s not going to be pretty when the dominos start tipping over.
But will free up heaps of capacity for a massive house building programme.
Getting someone to do something is getting really hard, everyone is over-committed and just not interested in under-resourced, and productivity has gone out the window because of the above.
I’m expecting a very different picture in 12 months, but the opportunities will be in buying rather than building as most of the builders will have gone broke. If you can find a solvent builder, or can do it yourself, there could be good times. We built a house in Frankton in 1988 for $54K, including land.
Past experience, I’ve seen enough of our economic cycles from within the construction industry to know that construction is a mugs game. The small finance the larger on up the chain, so when one goes the whole industry comes down like a pack of dominos.
What I’m seeing around here gives me the shivers. I’m glad I’ve got sod all debt, heaps of equity, and what exposure I’ve got to the industry is in a cashed up position.
Are most builders working for companies? going by the amount of ridiculously oversized expensive new utes I see everywhere I got the feeling everyone’s their own boss?
And therein lies the problem. The self employed financing the larger players. Tradies (probably sub sub tradies in reality) with million dollar mortgages on a mcmansion in Shotover Country doing work for someone who pays on contract milestones until they run out of cash. Then oh fuck.
Building state houses or flooding the market with cheap new builds?
Can’t really see the government doing the cheap new builds thing anymore, I get the feeling the penny may have dropped that it would be political suicide to push 1000’s upon 1000’s of taxpayer payer subsidised homes into a softening market.
KIwibuild is going to be wound down and put on the shelf.
In the 70’s there was a similar situation with housing affordability. The private sector (Neil, Keith Hay and Universal, and others) developed products that were quick and cheap and fitted the formula. Same thing is happening with KB, builders are coming on board. What got the thing going then was State Advances loans and capitalising the Family Benefit to assist the deposit at the bottom end. Got an awful lot of families out of hovels and garages into their own new home. Maybe there’s some opportunities for the government to do similar things with the finance / deposit.
KB is about getting the capacity in place to do something about providing decent, affordable housing for everyone, rather than “assets” for a few, once there’s some slack in the industry, which is coming very soon.
If the tourist business goes down then what? The report is that AirNz is down 34% on first half profit. However it is holding out crumbs to the regions to look as if it cares about servicing the country.
(I don’t think anyone has got them to reveal the baseline for profit on each regional airport though.) https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12207937
This firm started in 1984 and has become insolvent and had to stop and try and gather the pieces. The ambitious Queenstown air-tunnel project would have been a beggar to price. It seems that many construction firms have bitten off more than they can chew. Firms undercutting with tenders and trying to corner the market for new jobs has no doubt destabilised the industry, plus trying to access cheaper steel etc with faulty documentation as to its real quality!
Last week Foster told the NZ Herald the business had an issue with one Auckland job but was resolving that and altering its business model.
“We’re trying to wind down the amount of tender work we do and doing more negotiated work,” Foster said on Friday.
Arrow, one of this country’s larger builders with a national spread, works on retail, commercial, Government, tourism, education, retirement sports and recreation and residential work….
Nick Hamlin, Arrow’s southern general manager, said today the business had been “downsizing” for the last year in his region.
He had worked for Arrow for 19 years but said he left in the last week by mutual agreement. The Queenstown-based boss said the firm had bid and won jobs which some other firms refused to take on.
“The southern area was running well and there were about 15 staff,” he said, telling how Arrow subcontracted work out to other firms. Construction of facilities for tourism, events, leisure and adventure were the firm’s speciality in Queenstown, he said.
The iFly indoor skydiving building was one example in the sports and recreation field, he said. An 8m deep basement and wind turbines sit on top of the building. The turbines blow air around the building, into the basement and then project it up through the centre to create a flight chamber so clients can float on a column of air rising 5m.
Tourism’s woes are the result of going into high volume, low yield markets that really can’t afford to come to New Zealand. The industry is dominated by the bums on seats brigade where the only metric is volume. AIA makes just as much from someone at the back of the plane as from the front, and with a lot of airlines there’s no difference anyway. Air New Zealand has been a repeat offender in this regard, their Korean adventures nearly took them, and a lot of the industry, out in 90’s
And tourism cycles are really lucky to last 7 years. Post GFC tourism was really hard work (we’d just had to relocate our gallery so we did it hard) but was starting to get going again in 2010 / 11 when the Christchurch earthquakes hit and that was that for tourism in the South Island. It took a couple of years for new products to develop that didn’t include Christchurch and those have only just started to bed in over the last year or so wiht Wellington supplanting Christchurch as the second city on the tourist trail after Auckland. There’s about twice the airline capacity between Queenstown and Wellington as to Christchurch now, pre 2010 there wasn’t a direct flight.
But now it’s just about done it’s dash, punters have lost interest, discovered they can get better value at lower cost destinations that are more in their price range, and operators can’t get the add-ons (commissions) that provide the profit. So the wheel goes ’round again.
The higher yielding markets stay more constant, but are much smaller and more affected by external factors than what NZ tourism does, which carries most of the industry through. And the domestic market, which is around 50% of the industry depending on where in the cycle we are.
As I went on with this I got sourer and sourer. Sorry. But that’s how I feel about things as they are. I did a tourism course in my past and was impressed at how little the NZ tourist was considered or courted.
I learned that a lot of the Australian industry was long weekends and family centred, low spenders per day. The Japanese and US markets were longer stayers and bigger spenders.
The bums on seats attitude is just like the coarse bulk dried milk industry – a commodities market without much refinement or specialty effort.
Really NZ finds its satisfactions at a low level. Puffing their chests out these businessmen strut. If they make a success of something they want to sell it to some foreign buyer. As far as i can see we prostitute ourselves, and don’t even aim at the highest price.
And nothing in the country is fully planned. With the government being given the bums rush by business ‘We know what we are doing’, everything fragmented, poorly regulated or poorly monitored, we are a bunch of frauds trading on our scenic amenities. But when you look at the rest of the world, they have beaut places. And she’ll be right as ever we are busy killing off all the good things we have had with pollution, blame it on the freedom campers; unswimable rivers, blame it on the drought.
Nobody is reliable except the firemen, their test is in how they do their job while everyone watches. You can see their excellence, or not. But all these pissy little businessmen full of alcohol and self-importance; I’ll never forget that little shit that went down with about six of our good scientists. Their partners should have sued the Department for lacking their duty of care in putting them on this third-rate charter. There are too many like him. I think he died along with the others near Christchurch. But others, if they fail they can always go into real estate they think.
That caught my eye, tourism’s volume driven adventure was well and truly planned by the then government, with total buyin from major industry players. I would love to know how much the individual government members made on their AIA and Air NZ shares, along with other tourism related stocks. The volume strategy was the way it was going to be done and anyone who thought otherwise was destroyed. Smaller and value orientated players quickly learnt to keep their heads down.
But quality and excellence isn’t our thing, or it’s been beaten out of us by the mediocre knuckle draggers. Toby Morris did an excellent piece on that subject today, ” In defence of giving a shit”
I thought that Toby Harris was very good. Totally agree. I have been pushed to the outer for not doing the groupthink. I think that is part of what he is saying.
I liked this bit about people commenting with new ideas.
You see it in the comments about articles on Capital Gains Tax, or about trans rights.
You see it in the comments on Chloe Swarbrick’s posts, or on articles by Mad Chapman.
They don’t attack the argument, they attack that the argument is being made at all.
Simon Bridges will no doubt be saying, “I fully support Jenny Shipley. She is a great example of how a great Kiwi battler works hard to better her life and bring all those around her along for the ride.
She represents the full aim of a National Government to support Kiwi battlers instead of those other losers who whine and complain about their bad commercial decisions.
I say to those petty complaining subcontractors who lost millions of dollars, Get some guts! Vote National because we have the expertise to make money without fear or messing about with wishy washy morality.”
Do remember to put /sarc at the bottom. We have RW here who don’t know or want to know what satire is. They will quote you verbatim and say that you said
‘this’ quite truthfully. They will hoist you by your own petard. You have to watch out for the devious ones who have the answers pat in their mind to advance their points.
Good luck with that ianmac. But with your tongue in your cheek all the time they would think you had a tumour there. Anyway where is PR? He’s holding the ermine train of some lord or lady isn’t he? Perhaps he is guarding the Bridge of Sighs.
In the link it is looking rather like a grey old bird – we are told it connects two prisons, and with Simon he connects two Parties. It has been up since 1600 and that is a terrific example of longevity for Simon. Just keep holding in there. https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/bridge_of_sighs.htm
Good electric Railways will be the best investment for Aotearoa or any country in the long run it is much cheaper stable prices and a very low carbon footprint to fright our WORLD class foods to the rest of the world its not good having good,s stuck in a traffic jam.
To Eco Maori it looks like most westen countrys are following the ilogical road into big carbon prouducting highways WHY .The oil barron,s are using there MONEY to lead us down the wrong road that will give them billions of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and in the long run turn the westen societys into 3 world nations you see what is best for TE billionass,s is not good for the Enviroment or the 99.90 % of people .
This road of letting the billionasss make our policys will lead us into extinction
Govt forced KiwiRail to backtrack on locomotives decision, documents show
According to the Treasury, it’s the first time a state-owned enterprise has been directed by a minister to make a decision that didn’t stack up commercially.
The State-Owned Enterprises Act said an entity’s principle objective was to be a successful business.
In 2016, KiwiRail’s board decided to replace its 15 electric locomotives with diesel, arguing it would make the company more efficient and better able to take freight, and with less freight going by road, there’d be a positive environmental impact.
On 30 October last year the government put a stop to the plan instead promising a $35 million cash injection to refurbish the electric locomotives.
In a letter to Transport Minister Phil Twyford two weeks before the decision was announced, acting chief executive Todd Moyle made it clear KiwiRail didn’t have the money to refurbish the locomotives.
“KiwiRail has no funding for these additional costs and is unable to recoup the investment and there is no uplift in revenue associated with this decision,” he wrote.
But a Cabinet minute written the day before the government’s announcement, showed Cabinet agreed to use its powers under the State Owned Enterprises Act to direct the company to provide a non-commercial service.
Mr Twyford said being a successful SOE was more than just about profit and loss for a particular year, and this government wanted to grow rail.
He said previous governments had left KiwiRail on financial life support with no future vision.
“That’s not how our government sees it, we’re committed to bringing rail into the heart of the transport system, instead of treating it as the poor cousin and drip-feeding it a little bit of money year after year and barely keeping it alive,” he said.
KiwiRail uses electric locomotives on the main trunk line between Hamilton and Palmerston North.
When it said it was going to switch to diesel, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union accused it of “environmental terrorism”.
Mr Butson said that decision failed to consider the needs of a modern railway, which must have some level of variation in the types of locomotives and wagons it uses.
Engineer Roger Blakeley said the decision to scrap the electrics was at odds with the Labour government’s target of getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and leader Jacinda Ardern’s claim that climate change was her generation’s “nuclear free moment”.
“With the diesel locomotives, if KiwiRail went ahead with them, it would burn an extra 8 million litres of diesel fuel per year and add around 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. That’s what would have been the implications of a switch back to diesels,” he said.
The Palmerston North to Hamilton route was electrified in the 1980s and the plan then was to carry on and electrify the whole main trunk line from Wellington to Auckland. Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori tau toko,s our FUTURE,S
It’s estimated completing the project now would cost around a billion dollars.
Elon Mus is one billionaire that is leading the world down the correct ROAD .
Video below P.S Eco Maori say that youtube should pull the ad that implies that only WAHINE carry STD and everyone knows both sex carry and transmite STD not just WAHINE ANA TO KAI.
Kia ora Newshub the seaplane crash in Auckland would have been exciting for some exhilarating for the pilot he was in the seaplane by himself when it crashed on landing in the harbour.
Lime E scooters getting cleared to be back on the streets in Auckland.
Eco Maori says that the company system is a big fail if company’s like Arrow and Mainzeal construction companies can go bankrupt owing millions to subcontractors maybe they should be legerslated to pay subbies a deposit in a government account so if they go bankrupt the small tangata don’t get ripped off because that’s what it looks like to ECO Maori common people getting ripped off and that move would protect the common people.
The big picture is the principle are not Cooperating with the government to solve the problems of a teacher shortages if they really need teachers they would work with them they are all national supporters. I can see my future and it includes good grass-fed Aotearoa meat and milk and eggs I have been eating more vegetables and cut back on the protein but I will not give it up totally.
Another country’s leader being charged with fraud WTF.
Celia the movies will be good she highlighted the plight on Wahine the justice system and poverty is it a coincidence that all the humane leaders die of CANCER.
Ka kite ano P.S condolences to Celias whanau
Kia ora Wairangi & Storm
Nice hairdo Wai Te Matatini was amazingly awesome and impressive as usual. Te whole Papatuanukue was treaded to OUR Tangata Whenua Cultures Haka Waiata with it being steamed live on the Internet . There is another awesome Waiata act in town but I will wait for the correct time before I dedicate him some Eco Maori words.
Christin Cullen you are as gray as me I mite try some blond hair dye YEA NAR. lol green would suit Eco Maori better no offence Storm just one of my dumb jokes .
Extreem Skying for a paraplegic is that correct good on them not much snow on Hukurangi
for a East Coastie tangata whenua to practice skiing.
Ka kite ano
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
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A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
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When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
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Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
To express concern about foreign ownership and control in New Zealand is often to invite accusations of xenophobia and economic illiteracy. It is worthwhile, therefore, to rehearse the grounds for that concern, and to explore the various forms it can ...
It must be a day ending in Y because the Guardian - remember when it used to be a good paper1 - is running another spurious story about Corbyn's leadership being threatened over anti-Semitism.The headline the Guardian runs is: "MPs tell ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 23 through Sat, June 29, 2019 Editor's Pick When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ...
When people slate the current Government for taking too long on certain issues, or not getting everything right, just check the outrage and quit helping National manufacture consent for their decade of Disaster Economics and much more. Bill couldn’t ...
Robots could soon replace many low-skill jobs, such as President of the United States. US Presidential hopeful and doomsday prophet Andrew Yang went to extreme lengths to make a point in the first round of Democratic primary debates today, replacing ...
More people have died in the shower this year than will die in a KiwiBuild home. KiwiBuild home owners are experiencing a surprise windfall this month, as the price of their houses have begun to rise dramatically, due to growing ...
First way – the state, Keynesian demand management, the working class as the base of support. Second way – free-market, reduce the scope of the state and cut taxes, relative indifference to social justice. Third Way – well that's the ...
E15 is a London-based housing campaign that arose from the eviction of a group of young working-class mothers from a homeless hostel in 2013. Cat Wiener, through her work with the Revolutionary Communist Group, helped get Focus E15 up and ...
Going Upstairs: If we accept the LGBTQI+ community’s untrammelled right to advance their understanding of love, then we must also accept Israel Folau’s right to articulate his own simplistic and inadequate interpretation of the Christian religion.ONE OF THE FIRST things ...
So, some Labour MPs and peers have written Corbyn a letter complaining about the re-admission of loudmouth MP Chris Williamson, who had been suspended over allegations he made anti-Semitic comments.Never mind the Guardian's typically biased headline that Corbyn is facing ...
When the NZDF was asked to release US information on Operation Burnham which would have revealed how the villagers died, they refused, claiming that the US objected. So, Nicky Hager and Deborah Manning requested it in the US, under that ...
Statistics New Zealand has released a new report on New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions, with a sectoral breakdown shown how much is caused by different sectors of the economy. The data is crystal clear: half our emissions are caused by ...
Another day, another IPCA report finding police misbehaviour, this time in relation to police beating a suspect in Huntly in 2017. But despite a finding that officers used excessive force, the police as usual refused to prosecute their own. But ...
The State Services Commission has released its report into Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf's handling of treasury's budget security failure. And it is not good:Outgoing Treasury secretary Gabriel Makhlouf was "clumsy", unreasonable and fell "well short" of expectations in his handling ...
David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill passed its second reading in Parliament last night, 70 - 50. Which means now the real struggle for consensus over amendments begins. Pretty much everyone who voted for it agrees it needs changes ...
Compare And Contrast: One of the reasons so many powerful forces combined to oust the Third Labour Government was its obvious determination to move beyond progressive rhetoric and embrace progressive action. When assessing the behaviour of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, has reacted with disbelief that the Government’s latest climate proposal includes an option for dairy to voluntarily deal with their emissions over the next six years. ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
DairyNZ has released its submission on the Zero Carbon Bill and is calling on the Government to revise the methane target in the Bill to one that does not put at risk New Zealand’s world-leading dairy sector. Farm profit could ...
July 15 (BusinessDesk) - Foreign Minister Winston Peters will have bi-lateral meetings with two of US president Donald Trump's most hawkish defence and security advisers in a five day trip to Washington D.C. ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero are calling for Members of Parliament to show political courage as the Zero Carbon Bill goes through the crucial Select Committee process. ...
Annual net migration was provisionally estimated at 50,200 (± 800) in the year ended December 2018 compared with 52,600 in the previous year, Stats NZ said today. ...
New Zealanders have the opportunity to contribute to the government’s Review of Retirement Income Policies, including questions around Superannuation and KiwiSaver. Submissions are now open for the Review, being run by the Commission for Financial ...
Yesterday at Mataatua Marae the Tamaki Makaurau Electorate of the Māori party congratulated Rangi Mclean who was appointed to the Vice president Tāne role of the party nation-wide executive. ...
The funding crisis facing the disability sector has become more urgent following the disturbing news that the Ministry of Health will not increase contract prices for providers this year, the New Zealand Disability Support Network said today. ...
The growing number of working poor is an alarming indicator that the regulatory Minimum Wage does not cut it said Closing the Gap spokesperson Peter Malcolm. ...
Historic hui gives overwhelming agreement for a Māori Inquiry The inquiry into state run Oranga Tamariki will be led by whanau, kaimahi and Māori leaders. ...
Drug infiltration into our maximum security prisons is putting prisoners and staff at unnecessary risk, and one tool that would be of huge benefit is a full body scanner. ...
The Socialist Equality Group is hosting a protest rally in Cuba Street, Wellington (at the intersection with Left Bank) on Sunday 14 July at 2:30pm to oppose the persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and to ...
Simon Shepherd: The National Party proposed its own medicinal cannabis scheme last year. Its Health Spokesperson, Michael Woodhouse, says it shouldn’t have been ignored. So I began by asking him what his problem is with the government’s proposed regime. ...
Countries around the world are also dealing with medicinal cannabis. Britain legalised it last year, but the uptake has been slow. Neurologist Professor Mike Barnes wrote the report that convinced UK lawmakers it was a good idea. He's coming here ...
Simon Shepherd: Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s name has become synonymous with drug reform, so following years of campaigning for safe, public access to medicinal cannabis, what does she think of the government’s new plan? Well, Chloe Swarbrick joins me ...
Social Credit is calling for a Government enquiry into the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board over it's handling of the Sarah Preece attack in 2017 and its subsequent report. ...
An overwhelming response sees Māori from across the country pouring into Māngere today. The call for action came from Māori leadership concerned with the practice of tamariki removals by the state. Whānau, experts, and highly skilled Māori from ...
Responding the announcement of a $2.37 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund to a Northland berry farm, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “Why couldn’t this business get a loan from the bank? If no bank was ...
Multicultural NZ is delighted to congratulate former Gisborne Mayor, Meng Foon, who has been appointed as New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner. ...
Award-winning broadcaster, Waatea has been selected by North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to exclusively livestream the historic Māori-led Inquiry on Oranga Tamariki. ...
“The Peace Movement sends an urgent call to Winston Peters to reject any US demands for New Zealand participation in patrolling the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz. New Zealand should have nothing to do with any war on the ...
More than 50 senior non-commissioned officers from militaries in the Asia-Pacific Region gathered this week in Auckland for a conference hosted by the New Zealand Army. ...
The addition of an absurd Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Plant Varieties Act raises the question whether “Maoridom” will claim royalties on new plant varieties, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today. ...
What are we going to do about District Health Boards? News this week that the Government is looking at a further bail-out of cash-strapped Boards to help reduce their deficits has raised afresh questions about the sustainability of the current ...
Legal proceedings were filed in the Wellington High Court this week to have certain blocks of land at Shelly Bay returned to the ownership of Taranaki Whānui iwi. The land in issue is currently the proposed site for a high ...
Heart Kids, the only charity which supports families of heart children, acknowledges the fear and distress of families who have voiced their concern over paediatric cardiac services in New Zealand. ...
Amnesty International has released a scathing report into the United States’ response to gun violence, a report that New Zealand policy-makers can learn from. In Scars of Survival: Gun Violence and Barriers to Reparation in the USA, survivors of gun ...
New Plymouth District Council has corrected information it gave the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union regarding ratepayer-funded flight expenses in 2017/18. A Council spokesperson states: ...
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand welcomes the announcement of Meng Foon as the new Race Relations Commissioner. “Our community, along with many others, has deeply felt the absence of an advocate in that role, particularly in light of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that New Plymouth District Council was the fourth highest-spending council in the country when it game to air travel in the 2017/18 financial year. The Council spent $285,391 on flights, $256,235 of which was domestic, ...
Today I have submitted against the application of the Queenstown Lakes District Council seeking a "right to polllute" in their latest resource management application to the Otago Regional Council. I have done so in my capacity as a Dunstan ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harry Hobbs, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has announced that the state will begin a conversation about a pathway to treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mair Underwood, Lecturer in Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland Months after a public breakup with her husband, the politician Barnaby Joyce, Natalie Joyce made news when she displayed her “new” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brittany Huber, Postdoctoral researcher, Swinburne University of Technology Most (80%) Australian parents worry children spend too much time with screens. But what children are doing on and off screen matters more than ...
A local photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ requesting they work “unpaid” on Married At First Sight NZ. A wedding photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ on Reddit after the production company requested that they work for ...
How ANZ Bank fought for more than three years to keep its role in New Zealand’s biggest Ponzi scheme quiet and stop a regulator telling out-of-pocket investors the details. ...
Sam Brooks reviews Mean Mums, the new sitcom from Three that manages to make putting a great show together look easy.When it premiered as part of Three’s Pilot Week last year, I called Mean Mums the winner of the bunch. Nearly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Last week on this podcast we talked to Ken Wyatt about the government’s plan for a referendum – hopefully this parliamentary term – to recognise ...
Imagine if we treated our native birds with as little care as we do our precious fish stocks, writes ecologist Stella McQueen.Earlier this year, 900 at-risk native mudfish were relocated to make way for a wastewater development. But despite a ...
For when toast or cereal just doesn’t cut it, but you don’t have the time or inclination to do any actual cooking, try this. If I ever cook rice (or grains of any kind) for dinner, I often make extra to ...
For their latest ageing episode, Hilary Barry joins the On the Rag team to talk wrinkle creams, menopause and why people still think she is Jeremy Wells’ mum. This month’s episode of On the Rag is all about ageing. Time ravages ...
The Auditor-General's investigators are to look into the National Party's complaints about taxpayer funding being used to underwrite KiwiBuild homes. ...
Its rolling slate of cringey jokes and meaningless trivia is a familiar sight wherever there’s a captive audience – but what the hell is Giggle TV? Johnny Crawford looks into the tweet-stealing, wife joke-telling phenomenon.If you’ve spent any time in ...
COMMENTARY:By Yamin Kogoya in Auckland More than 50 years of “torture” has been inflicted on the Papuan people by the Indonesian government. With the complicity of Western governments, great fear has been put in the hearts and minds ...
It’s landlords who are finding themselves out in the cold as property managers begin to walk away from clients who haven’t insulated their rentals, reports Don Rowe.Two weeks after the first of New Zealand’s healthy homes deadlines, property managers are ...
Event date and time: Friday, July 26, 2019 – 17:00–18:30JOIN US for this Pacific Media Centre‘s smorgasbord “launch” mid-winter fono and celebration for: + Two new documentaries on climate change and media freedom + The ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Tuesday’s contentForeign affairs and trade Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): US ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Monday’s contentOranga Tamariki, state care of children, adoption Bonnie Sumner (Newsroom): Māori ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Senior research fellow, Southern Cross University Humans’ distant ancestor Australopithecus africanus had a unique approach to raising their young, as shown in our new research published today in Nature. Geochemical ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joyce Y.M. Nip, Senior lecturer, Department of Media and Communications; Department of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney As China grows more powerful and influential, our New Superpower series looks at what this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trent Yarwood, Infectious Diseases Physician, Senior Lecturer, James Cook University and, The University of Queensland This year’s flu season is off to an early start, with 144,000 confirmed cases so far in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Todd Denham, PhD Candidate, School of Global, Urban & Social Studies, RMIT University Governments are looking to fast rail services to regional cities to relieve population pressures in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zsuzsanna Csereklyei, Lecturer in Economics, RMIT University Wholesale prices in the National Electricity Market have climbed significantly in recent years. The increase has coincided with a rapid increase in the proportion of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Koa Whittingham, Psychologist and Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Bluey is a ground-breaking Australian children’s television series and the most downloaded show in ABC iView history. Since premiering in October 2018, ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Both PM and deputy PM in action on foreign relationships, major climate report being released today, and DOC staff facing escalating threats. Both the PM and deputy PM are in action ...
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how come this shit still stands?
metaphorically speaking of course cos I know everyone’s busy. This is the latest in a long line of these type of comments over months.
“Tamati Tautuhi 2.1.1.1
27 February 2019 at 8:27 pm
Korean m8 all the gooks look the same anyway.
You aren’t allowed to bash Chinese on this RWNJ’s will go AWOL.”
“Tamati Tautuhi 2.1.1.1.1.1
27 February 2019 at 9:51 pm
James you whinging again like that other faggot Gosman, harden up you poof.”
Is this our Standard community?
That is a sorry state marty mars I agree …
I think it is worth letting this through to see the poorly types who still inhabit our fair lands, so they can be identified and winkled out…
… which is slowly happening. Unfortunately, these are generational changes and take time. Remember, if I have it right, when you born (early 1960’s?) WWII had only just finished, so for our elders of that time the world was an entirely different place than it is today with respect to respect for diversity and the like. The poorly types of this generation will pass shortly.
If codgers want to swap abusive rubbish, they can find a table at the nearest RSA or something. Don’t need it here.
sadly it doesn’t take much poison to poison a well.
Yes, and we are well past needing these people to ‘identify themselves’ more than once.
Yep, that was disgusting to stumble across last night. Abusive comments like those stop other people being here.
Moderators need to be prompt and consistent about making clear it is not ok. The standards we set are what we walk past.
It is indeed a shock to come across vile comments like that.
Pfft, at the Burswood casino 6 white guys was getting bashed by 4 islander security. How about that.
try to keep on topic dim perhaps start another thread
Whats this topic about? Being surprised or, being shocked or, being sad or, being abusive or, world war 2, or is it to do with some other kind of brain damage?
Stay away from the casinos sammy. They just suck you dry.
And here they are again today, on display. hung up on the line for another airing. Could the issue have been discussed without flapping the offending articles about, or, heaven forbid, let go to blow away on the breezes of time?
No point hiding it. Bit like outing naughty MPs eh.
And of course you are correct Robert. Im sorry for adding to the yuck factor on such a beautiful day. I didn’t think enough – sorry.
So you’re saying MM shouldn’t be asking for moderation for someone whose repeatedly using hate speech on here, and that he should just let it go and forget about it?
That sort of attitude blew away on the breezes of time a long time ago. Now days we call out our racists and homophobes.
Well done MM for fronting this on all our behalf.
“Now days we call out our racists and homophobes.”
Indeed we should.
I pointed this out to muttonbird who was quite happy to ignore it because it was pointed at me
His reply “meh”
Ignoring it make them enablers of racism and homophobia at best and supporters at worse.
Meh.
At least you own your racism and homophobia.
It’s not nice – but at least you seem ok with it.
The Al1en – “So you’re saying…”
Nope. I’m saying re-presenting the offensive article is unnecessary and multiplies the effect of it’s original use. By all means call out the behaviour, though the mods are good at dealing with such without provocation, when they have the time.
That’s okay, then, makes sense, just as long as I’m not expected to “heaven forbid, let go to blow away on the breezes of time”.
“Heaven forbid”?
That’s an extreme measure.
No need to bring in a ban from above, TA.
Just quoting your reply to MM, but if you’re walking back from it, or floating upon the ether, then I’m down with it.
You’re not tamtam then Al0on?
More tim tam, Gobby 😉
Yes well done MM
TA
Empty talk concocting iterations of something to continually be scandalised by – like the looped vids of kittens jumping at an image of themselves in a mirror. Try to do better and stick to schtum when you have something worthless in mind. We try to entertain but really are thinking about politics for the future, if we have one.
Funk the videos of kittens, if you think racism and homophobia is something you do for entertainment, and a left wing forum is the place to express it while expecting no one to be rightfully offended, then it really is a problem you have to be owning up to and seeking assistance to overcome.
Talk about not being able to read the room.
I think it’s something kiwibuggers do to lob a grenade into the works Al0on.
Would you just walk on by if someone was abusing someone like that in the street ?
People like this need to be called out.
Being nice all day is super difficult because there’s so much misery in the world. Let a bit in, it will consume you. Best to just pay the taxes and be done with it.
James I agree. People need to be called out. Well said
Yeh and Ed get a life time ban…go figure.
[Disputing moderation. Banned for the rest of the month. TRP]
Adrian Thornton’s been banned “for the rest of the month“. Does that mean he’ll be allowed back tomorrow?
Thinking of taking a holiday.
Just found Adrian in the staff room muttering away…sounded like ” Flip you melon farmer” or something. Pretty sure he was talking about ‘TRP’.
Now he’s accusing me of not wanting to get banned.
I can get banned if I want to.
Flip him.
Siobhan
Go for it you devil you.
You missed him calling farrar a “faggot” as well.
Also interesting how people like muttonbird are fine with abuse like that if it’s pointed at someone they don’t like.
I know that the mods are busy – but this is the kind of thing that needs to be addressed.
Jimmy, you need to address the size of your underwear. I suspect they are a quite a few sizes on the small side. Over tight elastic in that region can cause all sorts of physical and mental stress. One known symptom is RWS (repetitive whinging syndrome)
ffs
Righties in thier tighty whities.
Thanks, Marty. I’ll sort it out.
And a quick message to those bleating that it wasn’t moderated at the time: this is a volunteer run site. The few of us that do moderation cannot be expected to read every comment, let alone do so live as they come in. Particularly so late at night.
So, if comments like these get missed, members of the TS community can raise it as marty has done (preferably without copying the offensive comment in full, because that makes it worse*) or email the site and the offending behaviour will be addressed.
*Just a link to the original comment and a request for a mod to have a look should be enough.
Not sure if people were bleeting as such. Just trying to make sure it got looked at when you were back in here.
I hope we all appreciate that you have lives outside of the standard.
Anyway – thank you for addressing.
“(preferably without copying the offensive comment in full, because that makes it worse*) ”
That’s the aspect I support. James uses this as a weapon; writing an offending word, repeatedly, and railing against its use. That’s so low brow it’s a moustache (could’ve said something else, didn’t).
Perhaps is people had issue with the original comment then people wouldn’t make comments like that in the first place – then there is nothing to repeat.
Better than just walking on past and ignoring it.
Also read the thread last night and see how few people called him out on it.
That’s says a lot.
For some, walking on past is the best option. For some, picking up the offensive goop, running around poking it under other people’s noses, is their preferred option. You choose the latter, failing to realise you’re a poop-spreader.
And you fail to understand that by walking pass you are accepting and enabling racist and homophobic comments.
You are setting that that is an acceptable standard.
It might be ok in your home – but it’s not in mine.
Walking past is not accepting, James, especially when you can see that others are attending to the issue. You seem always to jump in, even when the pool is full and delight in waving the offending article around with seeming glee. In some instances, you repeat the upsetting term or word over and over and over, rolling it around on your tongue, as if it gives you pleasure. Just saying’.
Oh so truth-telling Robert.
James’ racism and homophobia concerns do him credit. Has he also been working on his misogyny?
Some context – on 1 December 2018, in Open Mike @11.1.1, our James made this observation about Anna Rose, Australian Geographic Conservationist of the Year (2014):
“Better than just walking on past and ignoring it.” – James; look to your sins.
I call someone boring and you find that as offensive as racist and homophobic abuse?
How snowflakish
James, if you had simply said that you found Anna Rose to be boring, then IMO that would have been OK; your problem, but OK.
Do you have a comprehension problem? Do you genuinely not understand why I found your comment offensive? You’re able to identify and document the offensive comments made by some others on this site, so why the blindspot?
Hey. If you think this is the same as calling people faggots, poofs and gooks then you are a very sad person.
Oh look, it’s the boy who cried wolf.
And his stalker the racist homophobic
I’m lost – who is James calling ‘racist’ and ‘homophobic’ now?
No one. James is the one flinging accusations around.
James does fit the racist, sexist, homophobe demographic though. Old, white, immigrant male.
But he pretends not to be.
James, I think what you said about Anna Rose indicates that you are indeed a very sad person. And I’m sad about that.
James, I asked you three questions. You failed to answer any of them, and you are 100% responsible for that failure.
James, if you keep this up, I may be inclined to remind you of some more of your self-incriminating smears on this site. But I’d rather not, unless you insist/persist.
You’re not worth answering snowflake.
Says the stale pale male who screamed and screamed because someone said old white man.
I’m a snowflake!?? James, you are literally unreal! And rather fond of using ‘snowflake’ to dodge simple questions.
I’m not equating misogyny with racism or homophobia, I’m simply saying that I found your casual comment about Anna Rose offensive. Surely even you can see that your comment is consistent with a misogynistic mindset. Only a misogynist wouldn’t get that.
James, no-one is perfect. Policing racist and homophobic comments on The Standard might be one route to self-improvement, but I respectfully suggest that you consider alternatives – each of us has only so much time.
Thanks. Sorry for reproducing – feel free to adjust my original comment.
Tamati is a good man who cares about his country. His comments reflect some of the feeling of the white, heterosexual, working class male. These are human feelings and I don’t think we can tell humans that they are not allowed to feel like this, because that won’t work in the end anyway.
The deeper issue at the heart of Thomas’s comment is that globalism, high immigration and the ensuing lower wages has failed the country. No wonder Trump got traction.
Abusing whole groups of people is not the same as having feelings. Get off the grass. And Chump was elected by culturally insecure tradies, not poor workers.
Shit there must be alot of tradies in the us.
Ran out of time. Contractors, managers, owners, etc – not the working poor. Thatmyth has been debunked many times since their election.
I hope things get better for you.
A fast count for No.1s amounts to 50. Started off by the complaint about language. Talk about stirring the muddy bottom of the pond. All the weeds rise to the top (myself among them). Meanwhile the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Perhaps draw attention to bad behaviour with Nos. and speak in tongues so the hoi polloi won’t understand. Marty mars – there must be a rude word in Maori – we could say ‘Mod – ‘rude word in Maori’ No. …. Name of thread date time.
And save fifty comments like dead leaves that need composting.
His feelings represent his views only – don’t place his hate speech onto others.
For anyone who doubted why this offence needed to be recognised separately: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12207929
“Police have charged almost five people a day with strangling or suffocating their partners since a new family violence law came into force criminalising such acts in December.”
John Mark Tanner and Paul Pounamu Tainui; two good reasons for why we should consider never releasing men who murder their intimate partners.
.
For two weeks he fronted up to police, the media and the public to deny any knowledge of his girlfriend’s whereabouts.
John Tanner, with his long hair and pimples, played the concerned boyfriend and insisted that he last saw girlfriend Rachel McLean at the railway station in Oxford, where the 19-year-old was a student.
But behind the elaborate stories he concocted for Police was a sinister truth – Tanner, 22, had strangled Rachel and hidden her body under the floorboards of her flat.
[…]
Tanner, now 49, had violently assaulted his partner over a period of six months last year.
In the first incident, the couple were staying at a motel in Whanganui central when Tanner became upset with the woman and they argued. She was brushing her teeth and he walked up behind her, dragged her out of the bathroom and threw her on the bed.
He jumped on her and put his hands across her neck, restricting her breathing.
In another incident, when the woman told Tanner she was leaving him he threatened to kill her.
The worst of the violence happened when they argued at Tanner’s home in rural Pauri Road on the outskirts of Whanganui.
Tanner held his partner down by the wrists and straddled her. He yelled at her to tell him about her ex-partner and then punched her in the head. She suffered a graze and bruising.
The woman left the house and went to a motel. She sent Tanner a text that the relationship was over but he showed up and they argued. She cowered on the bed and he pulled her clothes off saying he wanted sex.
The Crown says the woman was trying to get away and fell to the ground, where Tanner punched her several times around the head.
She started to cry and Tanner said, “look what you made me do’”.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/sunday-feature-kiwi-murdered-girlfriend-in-uk-now-nz-jail-after-new-assaults-v1?variant=tb_v_1
What a nightmare
This isn’t applicable but an indication of a desire to start looking at murder judgments by types so the ‘punisment fits the crime’ better.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/379949/criminal-legislation-not-always-reflective-of-degree-of-moral-blame-lecturer
Two detailed posts on the ongoing scam at the core of neo-liberal economic policy.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=41690
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=41671
This describes the reason NZ keeps a portion of the available workforce unemployed at all times (which in turn helps create a low wage sector). When it gets serious this will be one of the main ways the Green New Deal proposals are undermined in the US.
How deep is your vision or purpose?
A shallow one would be where you get lambos and get to party every day.
A deep one would be where you solve some currently intractable problem affecting the entire world.
The longer it takes to make a deal, the longer it takes to recover, the greater the required stimulus.
Except we have a lower unemployment rate that most other countries and certainly lower than nations who have far more left wing economic policies than we do (e.g. France).
Just depends what is being stimulated. If it’s for productive purposes then prices will adjust. But if it’s just for importing skilled labour then duh.
You are missing the point. Most European nations have a far less ‘neoliberal’ economic policy setting than we do. Nations such as France and Spain and Italy all have massive State intervention either directly (Through State ownership of industry) or indirectly through subsidies and regulation. This is the opposite of Neoliberal policy. It is these nations that have the higher rates of unemployment than we do. If neoliberal economic ideas need a minimum level of unemployment to maintain low inflation how come countries that don’t have as neoliberal policies as us have higher unemployment?
Meh. When you don’t have a price on pollution and you start paying polluters you know you’re on the wrong tram.
What???
Sometimes I think you are on a different planet. What does that got to do with Nic the NZer’s view that Neoliberalism requires a level of unemployment ?
Marco economics can take a life time to learn. It’s the Reserve Banks full time job to manage, the Reserve Bank Govenor has probably forgotten more than I know about macro stuff.
So, my personal opinion, based on just enough economics training to be dangerous, is “it depends.” You need to look at everything, do econometric studies, make carful observations and basically stay on your toes when making any free hand inflation calculation. And you’ll need the Reserve Bank. There are times for low inflation, sometimes higher inflation, times where you should flirt with deflation, and there is no simple rule for which is which. Each with its own iterations and byproducts, people who try to tell the Reserve Bank what to do without understanding the issues or research into the topic are dumbasses who do not know what they do not know.
Wtf is Marco economics???
Do you mean Macroeconomics? If so, then it is not the Reserve Banks full time job to manage. The RBNZ manages monetary policy which is just one element of Macroeconomics. The RBNZ also manages the regulation of financial institutions which is almost microeconomics so it isn’t just involved in the macro side.
If you want to be an ass about it. What’s micro economics got to do with most of fucken Europe. You nutter.
Do you have comprehension issues? You just tried to argue that the Reserve bank full time job is managing Marco economics (sic). I pointed out that is a massive over simplification.
Sure, if you’re objective is to make people take out risky loans the reserve bank could just be a number for low investment IQ individuals to borrow against. I mean what ever.
The only reason for the Reserve Bank to influence micro economic settings is for their effects on the macro economy. This is very obvious and should hardly need to be explained.
Though its not accepted by mainstream modeling (which chooses to believe the economy is in equilibrium or rapidly approaching such a state), unless the state actively suppliments deficient demand then the unemployment rate will be higher than necessary at most times. This happens regardless of most economic policy settings.
As i suggested a large part of the impact of this on inflation is fictional.
Stick to the topic. The reserve bank today estimates the NAIRU is higher than the unemployment rate. The implication of this is that they will suggest contractionary economic policy in NZ while the unemployment rate could still be reduced. This policy advice is apparently based completely on fiction.
Yeah sure they will.
Government runs a surplus, takes money out of circulation. Reserve bank pumps money back in. How difficult is that to understand?
That is not correct, the reserve bank controls interest rates for money but does not do the spending (which adds income) that treasury does. Monetary policy is relatively very weak at increasing circulation as to take effect it requires an investor.
What about commercial banks? They got to get there money from some where at a certain rate then pass it on to customers at a higher rate, surley.
Yes, via lending. Just as the reserve bank does. Prof Randy Ray once summed it up for me with a brilliantly terse comment (in the US context), the Fed lends, treasury spends.
Also note, commercial banks lending processes create bank deposit money (but not the reserve money they make final payments in) in the process.
My wallet doesn’t have notes in it which is PROVE.
Proof of what?
Retail bows to reserve bank
Most people spend according to their income, not the interest rate on their credit. You may be an exception. Businesses tend to invest based on the anticipated income from sales on the same basis.
Monetary policy does have some effect however.
Pretty sure Adrian Orr is a little iffy about more long term bond buying while the NZX and wider economy is under reconstruction.
Trouble is that in NZ drugs are now available everywhere.
So many are under ‘drug induced anger and rage now.’
I see this on our roads when driving now, as no-one has any patience or consideration any more.
Police must take control out there.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/02/watch-horrifying-footage-of-reckless-near-miss-involving-three-large-trucks.html
It may well be the reason for some of the rabid ranting of some on here.
Here is a very good interview with Larry Wilkerson on the situation Venezuela for anyone who cares…
“Trump promises “democracy and freedom” to Venezuela, delivered by Elliott Abrams who brought you illegal wars, coups, and support for dictatorships; and Mike Pompeo and VP Pence, both with deep ties to the Koch brothers who need Venezuelan heavy crude to feed their Texas refinery – Col. Larry Wilkerson joins TRNN’s Paul Jay”
If they NEED the Venezuelan oil why have they made it harder for them to actually get it? that makes no sense. It would have been much better for them to continue to buy oil (40% of the total oil exports of Venezuela) from the country. You aren’t thinking this through really.
Venezualan oil sanctions is just incentivising the BRICS
Venezuelan oil sanctions really haven’t had enough time to do anything yet.
Most of the pressure is coming from Saudi Arabian attempts to manipulate the oil price. They don’t like compitition as much as America.
Sorry to just put up links, but I gotta get some work done, any way here is a really excellent piece that is well worth the time to read on propaganda and democracy from the ever reliable Media Lens….
‘We Don’t Do Propaganda’
Media Lens
27February2019
http://medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=896:we-don-t-do-propaganda&catid=57:alerts-2019&Itemid=252
I think the comments by a number of people in the Daily Review yesterday evening should put paid to any derision at the comments on other blogs being “The sewer” in comparison to here.
Bullshit. This incident is the exception, rather than the rule, as you well know. So pull your head in, OK?
Was he banned?
Edit: Just noticed he was. Good stuff.
Was it mention of Roger Douglas’ name that made your nostrils flare, Gosman?
I too found that distasteful.
More the abuse spewing around it Robert. You must have found that distasteful as well didn’t you?
So that’s the point of it is it gozzer.
I reckon tamtam’s a kiwibugger.
The National Cruelty
At the very time New Zealand wage earners have been told by Sir John Key and Sir Billy English that they will never be able to afford a home again, Simon Bridges is promising Tax Cuts to Wealthy people at the next Election.
This is National trampling mercilessly on the people of New Zealand ! This is so cruel !. So wicked ! so Pagan!. So Rotten ! So God Dam Evil!
It is the most Monstrous activity of the Nationals ever undertaken in this Country or in any other Democracy. Only done by Roger Douglas, John Key, Billy English, and in future by Simon Bridges.
Not only that, the Wage earners of New Zealand can barely afford Rentals; or Food.
They certainly cannot afford Heating. It is as organised by National Corruption: J.Key, B.English, Mrs P.Bennett, Simon Bridges.
Therefore, Wage Earners must find ways to mercilessly Trample on National. John Key, Billy English and Simon Bridges. Wage Earners must trample on the Wealth of the Wealthy who have raped them so savagely and mercilessly. Their families, their assets, their future – turned into poverty as they have turned workers.
Further, the wage earners must mercilessly Trample on the Media – TV and Press. To stop the low IQ splash around.
The Present Government must keep an Eagle Eye on the Crime of National and the Wealthy.
The Banks, Police and the Military must be advised by Government that all their energies must be exercised in favour of the wage earners and the Poor.
National has made no attempt to run a Democracy or Equality.
Well ok, trample etc, or you know raise their taxes a bit maybe.
This must be the ‘kiwi way of life’ he was wanking on about the other day.
Reading about the terrible and needles negligence that took the lives of Haki Hiha, David Eparaima and Soul Raroa has elevated today’s misanthropy levels.
Love and sympathy to their families and friends.
Kia kaha.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12207842
A very sad situation for the families and other members of their work place.
So sorry for your plight, and hoping you have love and support at this sad time.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/110897710/funding-shortfall-threatens-hamilton-to-auckland-passenger-rail-service
Stuff hamilton, extend the rail to Huntley, there is already a go bus from hamilton, the base, to Huntley. no need for massive investment, build a viable route with actual passengers and then extend it. And why the base, I mean shopping center are designed to slow up people, make it hard to get in and out,just look at the current infrastructure for buses it’s a maze. Stop the northern connector on the te rapa, in fact all the buses, and then if they want rail, demand they create a striaght path from said buses to the rail station, or better just move it further out and wire up the buses without their input.
If you want a service to Auckland then don’t vote for any who talks about it, its really easy, connect the 21 bus to a rail connection at Huntley, and cut out the base, its slows the all buses down.
Waikato Regional Council have failed to put any significant money towards passenger rail for decades.
They are fully rentier Nats looking for anything to stick it to Twyford.
If passenger rail is something that the people of the Waikato area really want, then local government elections are up in a few months.
If not, Twyford has to smack NZTA around the head until it does what the government policy wants.
It is the Government that wants the rail service to Hamilton. If they want it they should pay for it. Compared to the Regional Council the Government has heaps of money.
The Central Government has heaps of $$$ from the road tax for “roads.” Double emphases on “roads.” Any self respecting National MP past or present would have even a cursory knowledge of Nationals Roads of Bling and Significance.
They should listen to Bill Birch.
He’s currently preparing to build a small town next to the Papakura-Pukekohe rail line, which is about to get electrified.
Bill Birch knew how to deal with an impending energy crisis.
The Nats used to know how to plan at scale.
They’re just lost.
just saying. ignore hamilton for now. extend to Huntley, then local express bus 21 at peak hours.
Yuk, when i was a kid I said a rude word and was made to clean my mouth out with soap. Double yuk.
Anyone making up this stuff needs to swallow a whole bar. Watching it would leave a mark on the soul I think, the picture is bad enough.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383584/momo-character-popping-up-in-youtube-videos-encouraging-kids-to-self-harm
greywarshark, well said there;
yes the carbolic soup tasted the worst when the teacher shoved “sunlight soap’ into my mouth after swearing at 7yrs old.
Hey join the Sunlight club (Sunlight Soap that is). We didn’t need physical punishment in those days eh. Just a picture of a piece of Sunlight and it was yes miss, no miss.
So much for trucks paying “their fair share of road damages eh?
http://www.sef.org.nz/papers/STCC%20overview.pdf
3.4 How are costs distributed by vehicle type?
The costs generated by vehicles differ according to size, type of fuel used etc. because of
the wear and tear they inflict on the network and the pollution they cause.
When the total charges (excluding rates) paid by users are allocated across the vehicle
fleet according to type we find that:
• cars directly pay 64% of their costs,
• trucks directly pay 56% of their costs
• buses directly pay 68% of their costs.
Although trucks were sub-divided into four categories in the STCC, data limitations
prevented the full average cost analysis from further disagreggating the allocation for
trucks according to specific truck weights and/or types.
So we won’t know if the logging trucks and behemoths that flit around the country are paying their rightful amount. But then do they calculate payment according to each set of wheels- that would go somewhere to accurately meeting real costs.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383581/auckland-council-votes-to-ask-govt-to-ban-fireworks-sales
I’d welcome a complete ban on private sales.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ModISbNyQ8I
Being in UK Labour sounds as if it was a lot more fun then than now the way that Julie Walters tells it.
I’ve been reading about the author Gerald Kersh. He had a strange life apparently and being pronounced dead at four and sitting up in his coffin at the funeral made a spectre-cular start.
A quote –
“In proper men there is hidden a light which darkness makes visible. I believe that the hope of mankind is in this buried glory; the spirit which makes true men hang on to the throats of their enemies at the very rim of the grave.”
― Gerald Kersh, Brain and Ten Fingers (GoodReads)
In his life he became a war correspondent and was buried alive during bombing raids on three separate occasions. I think he was exaggerating a bit. Perhaps two!
He wrote more than a thousand magazine pieces and more than a thousand short stories. He died at 57 in 1968. There are no books listed under his name on TradeMe – which to tell the truth is now dominated by dumps of new remaindered books from NZ sites, Australia and the UK. Thank goodness the USA haven’t bothered with us. A lifetime of hard graft – he deserves to be remembered.
I hope that can be said about us on The Standard. We have much to do. As they said on Mission Impossible – Your mission; should you decide to accept it.
another large building company folds,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/110925407/subcontractors-packing-up-amid-concerns-about-arrow-international-nz
substantive problems with the model?
Yes!
Public sector work pipeline damaged. multiple factors.
Private sector destabilising through bank credit constraints + public policy instability + really late in market cycle.
More big failures to come.
Tens of thousands affected in the industry.
“+ really late in market cycle.
More big failures to come.”
Yeah, look out, it’s coming. We’re 10 years out from the last bust which is a very long run in the New Zealand, or really any context except maybe modern China or post war Japan. We’re usually lucky to get 7 years between ooops.
When I look around Queenstown it sends shivers down the spine looking at the big jobs coming along that depend on buyers settling on the due date or the principal having the cash left to pay the subbies at completion. There’s a lot of contenders.
It’s not going to be pretty when the dominos start tipping over.
But will free up heaps of capacity for a massive house building programme.
Sure hope so.
We held off constructing in Wanaka last yeat because the qs was just stupid.
Getting someone to do something is getting really hard, everyone is over-committed and just not interested in under-resourced, and productivity has gone out the window because of the above.
I’m expecting a very different picture in 12 months, but the opportunities will be in buying rather than building as most of the builders will have gone broke. If you can find a solvent builder, or can do it yourself, there could be good times. We built a house in Frankton in 1988 for $54K, including land.
Why do you reckon so many builders are going to tip over?
Past experience, I’ve seen enough of our economic cycles from within the construction industry to know that construction is a mugs game. The small finance the larger on up the chain, so when one goes the whole industry comes down like a pack of dominos.
What I’m seeing around here gives me the shivers. I’m glad I’ve got sod all debt, heaps of equity, and what exposure I’ve got to the industry is in a cashed up position.
Are most builders working for companies? going by the amount of ridiculously oversized expensive new utes I see everywhere I got the feeling everyone’s their own boss?
And therein lies the problem. The self employed financing the larger players. Tradies (probably sub sub tradies in reality) with million dollar mortgages on a mcmansion in Shotover Country doing work for someone who pays on contract milestones until they run out of cash. Then oh fuck.
Building state houses or flooding the market with cheap new builds?
Can’t really see the government doing the cheap new builds thing anymore, I get the feeling the penny may have dropped that it would be political suicide to push 1000’s upon 1000’s of taxpayer payer subsidised homes into a softening market.
KIwibuild is going to be wound down and put on the shelf.
In the 70’s there was a similar situation with housing affordability. The private sector (Neil, Keith Hay and Universal, and others) developed products that were quick and cheap and fitted the formula. Same thing is happening with KB, builders are coming on board. What got the thing going then was State Advances loans and capitalising the Family Benefit to assist the deposit at the bottom end. Got an awful lot of families out of hovels and garages into their own new home. Maybe there’s some opportunities for the government to do similar things with the finance / deposit.
KB is about getting the capacity in place to do something about providing decent, affordable housing for everyone, rather than “assets” for a few, once there’s some slack in the industry, which is coming very soon.
If the tourist business goes down then what? The report is that AirNz is down 34% on first half profit. However it is holding out crumbs to the regions to look as if it cares about servicing the country.
(I don’t think anyone has got them to reveal the baseline for profit on each regional airport though.)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12207937
This firm started in 1984 and has become insolvent and had to stop and try and gather the pieces. The ambitious Queenstown air-tunnel project would have been a beggar to price. It seems that many construction firms have bitten off more than they can chew. Firms undercutting with tenders and trying to corner the market for new jobs has no doubt destabilised the industry, plus trying to access cheaper steel etc with faulty documentation as to its real quality!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12208271
Construction business Arrow International has gone into voluntary administration after a contractual dispute left it with insufficient cashflow to meet operating costs…
Last week Foster told the NZ Herald the business had an issue with one Auckland job but was resolving that and altering its business model.
“We’re trying to wind down the amount of tender work we do and doing more negotiated work,” Foster said on Friday.
Arrow, one of this country’s larger builders with a national spread, works on retail, commercial, Government, tourism, education, retirement sports and recreation and residential work….
Nick Hamlin, Arrow’s southern general manager, said today the business had been “downsizing” for the last year in his region.
He had worked for Arrow for 19 years but said he left in the last week by mutual agreement. The Queenstown-based boss said the firm had bid and won jobs which some other firms refused to take on.
“The southern area was running well and there were about 15 staff,” he said, telling how Arrow subcontracted work out to other firms. Construction of facilities for tourism, events, leisure and adventure were the firm’s speciality in Queenstown, he said.
The iFly indoor skydiving building was one example in the sports and recreation field, he said. An 8m deep basement and wind turbines sit on top of the building. The turbines blow air around the building, into the basement and then project it up through the centre to create a flight chamber so clients can float on a column of air rising 5m.
Tourism’s woes are the result of going into high volume, low yield markets that really can’t afford to come to New Zealand. The industry is dominated by the bums on seats brigade where the only metric is volume. AIA makes just as much from someone at the back of the plane as from the front, and with a lot of airlines there’s no difference anyway. Air New Zealand has been a repeat offender in this regard, their Korean adventures nearly took them, and a lot of the industry, out in 90’s
And tourism cycles are really lucky to last 7 years. Post GFC tourism was really hard work (we’d just had to relocate our gallery so we did it hard) but was starting to get going again in 2010 / 11 when the Christchurch earthquakes hit and that was that for tourism in the South Island. It took a couple of years for new products to develop that didn’t include Christchurch and those have only just started to bed in over the last year or so wiht Wellington supplanting Christchurch as the second city on the tourist trail after Auckland. There’s about twice the airline capacity between Queenstown and Wellington as to Christchurch now, pre 2010 there wasn’t a direct flight.
But now it’s just about done it’s dash, punters have lost interest, discovered they can get better value at lower cost destinations that are more in their price range, and operators can’t get the add-ons (commissions) that provide the profit. So the wheel goes ’round again.
The higher yielding markets stay more constant, but are much smaller and more affected by external factors than what NZ tourism does, which carries most of the industry through. And the domestic market, which is around 50% of the industry depending on where in the cycle we are.
As I went on with this I got sourer and sourer. Sorry. But that’s how I feel about things as they are. I did a tourism course in my past and was impressed at how little the NZ tourist was considered or courted.
I learned that a lot of the Australian industry was long weekends and family centred, low spenders per day. The Japanese and US markets were longer stayers and bigger spenders.
The bums on seats attitude is just like the coarse bulk dried milk industry – a commodities market without much refinement or specialty effort.
Really NZ finds its satisfactions at a low level. Puffing their chests out these businessmen strut. If they make a success of something they want to sell it to some foreign buyer. As far as i can see we prostitute ourselves, and don’t even aim at the highest price.
And nothing in the country is fully planned. With the government being given the bums rush by business ‘We know what we are doing’, everything fragmented, poorly regulated or poorly monitored, we are a bunch of frauds trading on our scenic amenities. But when you look at the rest of the world, they have beaut places. And she’ll be right as ever we are busy killing off all the good things we have had with pollution, blame it on the freedom campers; unswimable rivers, blame it on the drought.
Nobody is reliable except the firemen, their test is in how they do their job while everyone watches. You can see their excellence, or not. But all these pissy little businessmen full of alcohol and self-importance; I’ll never forget that little shit that went down with about six of our good scientists. Their partners should have sued the Department for lacking their duty of care in putting them on this third-rate charter. There are too many like him. I think he died along with the others near Christchurch. But others, if they fail they can always go into real estate they think.
Business will be soon, if it isn’t now, like the scarifying Glengarry, Glen Ross.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQPY4LlbJ4
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wezj1ctBVc0
“And nothing in the country is fully planned”
That caught my eye, tourism’s volume driven adventure was well and truly planned by the then government, with total buyin from major industry players. I would love to know how much the individual government members made on their AIA and Air NZ shares, along with other tourism related stocks. The volume strategy was the way it was going to be done and anyone who thought otherwise was destroyed. Smaller and value orientated players quickly learnt to keep their heads down.
But quality and excellence isn’t our thing, or it’s been beaten out of us by the mediocre knuckle draggers. Toby Morris did an excellent piece on that subject today, ” In defence of giving a shit”
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/the-side-eye/28-02-2019/the-side-eye-six-out-of-ten/
I thought that Toby Harris was very good. Totally agree. I have been pushed to the outer for not doing the groupthink. I think that is part of what he is saying.
I liked this bit about people commenting with new ideas.
You see it in the comments about articles on Capital Gains Tax, or about trans rights.
You see it in the comments on Chloe Swarbrick’s posts, or on articles by Mad Chapman.
They don’t attack the argument, they attack that the argument is being made at all.
By th way who is Mad Chapman?
Simon Bridges will no doubt be saying, “I fully support Jenny Shipley. She is a great example of how a great Kiwi battler works hard to better her life and bring all those around her along for the ride.
She represents the full aim of a National Government to support Kiwi battlers instead of those other losers who whine and complain about their bad commercial decisions.
I say to those petty complaining subcontractors who lost millions of dollars, Get some guts! Vote National because we have the expertise to make money without fear or messing about with wishy washy morality.”
Do remember to put /sarc at the bottom. We have RW here who don’t know or want to know what satire is. They will quote you verbatim and say that you said
‘this’ quite truthfully. They will hoist you by your own petard. You have to watch out for the devious ones who have the answers pat in their mind to advance their points.
Oh I thought I should apply for a job as spin-doctor for Simon. Predictible you see.
Good luck with that ianmac. But with your tongue in your cheek all the time they would think you had a tumour there. Anyway where is PR? He’s holding the ermine train of some lord or lady isn’t he? Perhaps he is guarding the Bridge of Sighs.
In the link it is looking rather like a grey old bird – we are told it connects two prisons, and with Simon he connects two Parties. It has been up since 1600 and that is a terrific example of longevity for Simon. Just keep holding in there.
https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/bridge_of_sighs.htm
Good electric Railways will be the best investment for Aotearoa or any country in the long run it is much cheaper stable prices and a very low carbon footprint to fright our WORLD class foods to the rest of the world its not good having good,s stuck in a traffic jam.
To Eco Maori it looks like most westen countrys are following the ilogical road into big carbon prouducting highways WHY .The oil barron,s are using there MONEY to lead us down the wrong road that will give them billions of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and in the long run turn the westen societys into 3 world nations you see what is best for TE billionass,s is not good for the Enviroment or the 99.90 % of people .
This road of letting the billionasss make our policys will lead us into extinction
Govt forced KiwiRail to backtrack on locomotives decision, documents show
According to the Treasury, it’s the first time a state-owned enterprise has been directed by a minister to make a decision that didn’t stack up commercially.
The State-Owned Enterprises Act said an entity’s principle objective was to be a successful business.
In 2016, KiwiRail’s board decided to replace its 15 electric locomotives with diesel, arguing it would make the company more efficient and better able to take freight, and with less freight going by road, there’d be a positive environmental impact.
On 30 October last year the government put a stop to the plan instead promising a $35 million cash injection to refurbish the electric locomotives.
In a letter to Transport Minister Phil Twyford two weeks before the decision was announced, acting chief executive Todd Moyle made it clear KiwiRail didn’t have the money to refurbish the locomotives.
“KiwiRail has no funding for these additional costs and is unable to recoup the investment and there is no uplift in revenue associated with this decision,” he wrote.
But a Cabinet minute written the day before the government’s announcement, showed Cabinet agreed to use its powers under the State Owned Enterprises Act to direct the company to provide a non-commercial service.
Mr Twyford said being a successful SOE was more than just about profit and loss for a particular year, and this government wanted to grow rail.
He said previous governments had left KiwiRail on financial life support with no future vision.
“That’s not how our government sees it, we’re committed to bringing rail into the heart of the transport system, instead of treating it as the poor cousin and drip-feeding it a little bit of money year after year and barely keeping it alive,” he said.
KiwiRail uses electric locomotives on the main trunk line between Hamilton and Palmerston North.
When it said it was going to switch to diesel, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union accused it of “environmental terrorism”.
Mr Butson said that decision failed to consider the needs of a modern railway, which must have some level of variation in the types of locomotives and wagons it uses.
Engineer Roger Blakeley said the decision to scrap the electrics was at odds with the Labour government’s target of getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and leader Jacinda Ardern’s claim that climate change was her generation’s “nuclear free moment”.
“With the diesel locomotives, if KiwiRail went ahead with them, it would burn an extra 8 million litres of diesel fuel per year and add around 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. That’s what would have been the implications of a switch back to diesels,” he said.
The Palmerston North to Hamilton route was electrified in the 1980s and the plan then was to carry on and electrify the whole main trunk line from Wellington to Auckland. Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori tau toko,s our FUTURE,S
It’s estimated completing the project now would cost around a billion dollars.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/383578/govt-forced-kiwirail-to-backtrack-on-locomotives-decision-documents-show.
Elon Mus is one billionaire that is leading the world down the correct ROAD .
Video below P.S Eco Maori say that youtube should pull the ad that implies that only WAHINE carry STD and everyone knows both sex carry and transmite STD not just WAHINE ANA TO KAI.
Kia ora Newshub the seaplane crash in Auckland would have been exciting for some exhilarating for the pilot he was in the seaplane by himself when it crashed on landing in the harbour.
Lime E scooters getting cleared to be back on the streets in Auckland.
Eco Maori says that the company system is a big fail if company’s like Arrow and Mainzeal construction companies can go bankrupt owing millions to subcontractors maybe they should be legerslated to pay subbies a deposit in a government account so if they go bankrupt the small tangata don’t get ripped off because that’s what it looks like to ECO Maori common people getting ripped off and that move would protect the common people.
The big picture is the principle are not Cooperating with the government to solve the problems of a teacher shortages if they really need teachers they would work with them they are all national supporters. I can see my future and it includes good grass-fed Aotearoa meat and milk and eggs I have been eating more vegetables and cut back on the protein but I will not give it up totally.
Another country’s leader being charged with fraud WTF.
Celia the movies will be good she highlighted the plight on Wahine the justice system and poverty is it a coincidence that all the humane leaders die of CANCER.
Ka kite ano P.S condolences to Celias whanau
Kia ora Wairangi & Storm
Nice hairdo Wai Te Matatini was amazingly awesome and impressive as usual. Te whole Papatuanukue was treaded to OUR Tangata Whenua Cultures Haka Waiata with it being steamed live on the Internet . There is another awesome Waiata act in town but I will wait for the correct time before I dedicate him some Eco Maori words.
Christin Cullen you are as gray as me I mite try some blond hair dye YEA NAR. lol green would suit Eco Maori better no offence Storm just one of my dumb jokes .
Extreem Skying for a paraplegic is that correct good on them not much snow on Hukurangi
for a East Coastie tangata whenua to practice skiing.
Ka kite ano