Who thinks the reason Nikki Haley is still in the GOP primaries is because she plans to run as an independent against Trump and Biden with a view on winning in 2028?
If she is, then she should prepare to be comprehensively defeated.
The political machine in the US effectively makes it impossible to run for President, except through the Republican and Democrat parties. Which is why Trump is running through the Republican Party – even though he shares little of their actual political identity.
Also – one of the two (Biden/Trump) will be ineligible to run – you're only allowed 2 terms – and both are at one term, now.
And the signs of there being a compliant Congress are? Republicans (at the Congressional level) are not exactly doing well in the polls; and the projected mid-term Red wave (mid-term elections typically favour the party opposed to the President) – was barely a ripple.
Even if Trump is elected, he is much more likely to be a lame duck President, with an opposed Congress.
She is there to get name recognition. If she fails spectacularly it won't matter because in four years time it will be her name that is remembered not the outcome.
Somebody just texted in to RNZ Morning Report "I didn't realise Mr. Luxon supported blokes with fags in their mouths shooting semi-automatics from their Ford Ranger"…(paraphrased a bit)
I’m not a huge Hipkins fan but he sounded pretty damn good this morning on RNZ after listening to the drivel coming from the C of C ministers.
I am in full support of hunters who take out deer, mustelids, pigs and feral cats in our forests. Plenty at my work have got their allocated blocks for the Roar.
But it's beginning to look like the Howl of a Protest tractor+ute grunts have actually taken over Parliament.
Luxon keeps banging on about New Zealand being in crisis mode. Do you think that somewhere in that tiny little brain of his that his Coalition IS THE CRISIS. They are running rampant. Straight out of John keys book of dirty politics. How do we stop this everything under emergency crap? Vote of no confidence? I also see that our this Dickson? Real estate lady is being supported by Hobsons Choice (Atlas?) who are trying to raise funds for her Court Case to fight her suspension for not taking (Forgot the name) in Māori protocols and History. Is she another plant?
Straight out of the standard political playbook. If you can convince the population there's a crisis (better still if you can create a climate of fear) then you can much more easily make excuses for breaking promises and / or not delivering in certain areas or even doubling down.
You can justify more extreme negative treatment of those whose are at fault for all of the economic woes (beneficiaries of course) and if you're good you can even stretch it to justifying things like more austerity for those other financial and economic destroyers (people on low incomes)
You can get away with blaming the previous government for a longer time period and for more things you are struggling with or about to stuff up as well as the crisis being a nice little soft landing for some bad news or unwelcome data you know is about to be released.
This government is just the current crop doing it, all sides are guilty of it to varying degrees when they're in power.. (sorry I meant in office … of course.)
Yep, nothing like a good crisis to bring out the pitchforks of some… and distract the rest.
Labour and the Greens did not manufacture a crisis to frighten people. Covid did that.
Huge numbers dying each day, hospitals overwhelmed, then the cool store containers of bodies, people trapped on cruise liners, that was real.
Now National screamed about ram raids, and our current PM posed outside a dairy. That was a sad case, but the truth of reducing ram raids was ignored and the faithful like JMM reported how bad it was along with Mitchell posing and exaggerating to create fear and a "crisis" So no apples and pears mate.
Ganesh Nana moaning to RNZ National about something that should have been entirely predictable to him. He completely subverted the original purpose of the Productivity comminssion. Of course it was for the chop.
If he couldn’t work this out without being advised in person then it is more evidence why he was not up to his job.
Was "the original purpose of the Productivity comminssion" much different to this?
Our purpose
As embodied in the New Zealand Productivity Commission Act, 2010 the principal purpose of the Commission is to provide advice to the Government on improving productivity in a way that is directed to supporting the overall wellbeing of New Zealanders, having regard to a wide range of communities of interest and population groups in New Zealand society.
Following our closure on Thursday, 29 February 2024, our website will become the responsibility of the Treasury.
You will still be able to access our research, reports and information about productivity and wellbeing through our URL http://www.productivity.govt.nz.
Yet another 'last chance to see' – under our coalition of chaos and crisis 'government', self-interest rules, and our productive landLords are set to do very well – funny that.
Yes. The original purpose of the Productivity Commission was purely focused on looking at how the value add componment of the economy could be enhanced rather than maximising non economic activities such as the environment and social well being. The last government added these other goals which essentially destroyed the original purpose of the commission and by appointing such a person as Ganesh Nana further removed it from that purpose.
Yes. The original purpose of the Productivity Commission was purely focused on looking at how the value add componment of the economy could be enhanced rather than maximising non economic activities such as the environment and social well being.
Are you sure Gos? You seem pretty sure, even absolutely sure, but I have doubts.
Part 2 – Substantive Provisions 7Purpose of Commission
The principal purpose of the Commission is to provide advice to the Government on improving productivity in a way that is directed to supporting the overall well-being of New Zealanders, having regard to a wide range of communities of interest and population groups in New Zealand society.
Note that this quote is cut and pasted from the original version of the Act, "as enacted" in 2010, and sans additions – at least as far as I can tell.
Ummm… The Productivity Commission was subverted by the previous government and moved away from it's original remit. Much of the original purpose of the Commission is now going to be handled by the Ministry for Regulation. There is therefore no need to keep the Commission going.
By subverted you just mean changed. It's a difference of opinion, not a subterfuge, misdemeanor or crime. The right do not like the change, or the person leading it, so have ended it.
There would be no Productivity commission without the ACT party requesting it as part of their agreement with National post the 2008 election. The reason ACT set it up was to identify areas of the economy that had barriers to improving productivity. It was not meant to focus on Social or Environmental areas. The last government changed the focus and therefore essentially killed it as soon as the current government looked like they were going to take power. If the last government wanted it to last they should have left it how it was.
Social and environmental concerns are some of our largest barriers to productivity. Except in the fevered fantasy world of Seymour and co. The blighted lives, and lost production, after the ACTIOD' s in 84 Labours and Richardson's National swath of destruction still affect productivity even now.
ACT don’t want to remove “barriers to productivity” they want to remove barriers to their bribers/sorry, funders, making money. A not so subtle difference.
Nonsense one of the first areas they looked at when set up was the privitisation of welfare. They found essentially it didn't work and was highly problematic eg in Australian rural areas it failed quickly as there isn't any profit to be made in areas with few jobs (pretty much the same market failure that leads to rail lines closing, power costs being higher for country communities, etc).
They also found that when the profit motive was introduced unsurprisingly the focus was on the clients that paid the most so they left people alone until they hit twelve months and that it where the biggest payment was. Rational market behaviour for sure.
I thought the work they did in areas like this was really useful.
I'm sad to see them go I thought they did lots of good stuff which oft was taken no notice of. They produced some of the most interesting work to read in the last 10 years – them and the Treaty Settlement documents have been really refreshing bits of public discourse.
Knowing someone involved in the planning, end goal is terrestial tv3 is turned off late 25 and it will move to a completely digital streamed service showing content from the discovery stable with news content coming from a sky news type feed and some cheap to produce local content to tuck a few boxes
The impact of this on the some of the aged without online devices might be good for Sky – they might provide a continuing old fashioned “TV” service – to those older folk home alone or in aged care homes.
It took decades of Fox News there. Here we’ve got poisonous mushrooms all sprouting and far right billionaires closing one if our four mainstream newsrooms.
A mining company can openly run a candidate. Who knows what else has been going on because we’re not able to check.
Our government certainly has a few people to the right of Andrew Jackson, waiting until they can speak openly.
We’re not better than the USA, just less cooked. Someone has fired up the grill this month for sure.
To build up (intensification on transport routes and mixed zoning – residential in town centres), cities must plan to build out.
Landbankers will be able to sell land to foreign investors building to rent. They pay no CGT on their landbanking profits to government.
The GST on the property development goes to local councils – less money to government.
Smaller government revenue, growing wealth to landbankers (especially those in the know pre election) and locals paying rent to offshore property owners.
This also means foreign competition to Kiwi Saver Funds and the NZSF for land, if they intended to invest in rental accommodation – that is higher cost.
PS More land for building out does not mean it is all available for that purpose if there is no policy to counter land bankers – drip feeding supply if there is no land and or CG tax on such land if there is no building on it.
Hardly surprising when studies have found microplastics and nanoplastics in fruit and vegetables, buried in Antarctic sea ice, within the guts of marine animals inhabiting the deepest ocean trenches, and in drinking water around the world.
.
Microplastics have been found in every human placenta tested in a study, leaving the researchers worried about the potential health impacts on developing foetuses.
The scientists analysed 62 placental tissue samples and found the most common plastic detected was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles. A second study revealed microplastics in all 17 human arteries tested and suggested the particles may be linked to clogging of the blood vessels.
There will be money in supplying water, food and air without plastics …
Will our descendants be looking to the stars for a new habitable planet earth within the range of a human lifetime's journey … so their children have a better future.
Has human civilisation finally understood the consequence of allowing an imperial cult of mammon to guide the social, economic and political order environment?
Will knowledge of this result in the late stage capitalism oligarchy fascism …where the haves try and maintain their privilege/lifestyle as long as they can?
The logic of Richard Prebble – a master class in conflation.
Even after adjusting for inflation and higher rents, the average beneficiary’s income grew by 43 per cent”.
He said the base benefit increased from 215 to 340 (its 337.60) – the rent increased in that period from $400 to $600. So he is lying. The increase in income was marginally above the increase in rent.
And by 2025, rent increases will have matched or gone up faster than benefits.
The result is more children in material hardship.
The number of children in hardship is a function of the numbers on benefits with children (higher) and the impact of the rising cost of rent on those in work (the MW increases were also above inflation but below that of rent increases). Not the amount paid in benefit.
He then goes onto conflate levels of income support with numbers who are without work, if somehow placing those on benefits into greater poverty reduces dependence – when he really means reduced tax burden on others results in their higher after tax spending creating jobs – which those on benefits.will be desperate to get in a competition with migrant labour (thus keeping wages low and profits high).
The best way to reduce poverty is to have a strong economy. A rising tide lifts all boats. We will never eliminate poverty by making increasing numbers dependent on the state.
Helping people into work reduces dependence, well-paid work and affordable rent ends poverty but sufficient support when between jobs is what first world nations do.
ACT and its advocates have got Randian ideology, they believe in a society order based around profit to capital and user pays – so there is no concept of society or community apart from an authority maintaining government over the have nots on behalf of the haves. Returning the democratic nation state citizen to the status of subject. Authority maintaining government over the people refers to the unaccountable nature of it and its lack of transparency.
Atlas Network – holding up a regime above the landless people without capital.
It's almost hilarious watching the mental gymnastics going on in their constant efforts to justify pure cruelty. Do you think they genuinely believe what they're saying, or is it a show for the base and the media?
I've been around long enough to remember when a 1-bedroom private rental in Auck/Wgtn was (much) less than the core Invalids/SLP benefit. Now it's more than the core benefit (and with no options of finding somewhere cheaper) and the maximum of every supplement going is necessary in order to pay the rest of the bills. I have absolutely no idea how anyone with kids does it.
Rents are the biggest cause of poverty in NZ right now.
It's a legacy of the surrender to the market of the lite-weight division of 1980's Labour absorbed into neo-liberalism, an ideological conversion cult within the Randian Atlas Network.
As for housing, I'm hoping to see a lot of small build "granny" flats (factory en-mass) being consented on sections – 2 in place one sub-divide. And village communities of them, good use of half of golf course land – rest park. And also for older folk (owned or income related rent) as per Kiwibuild/state mixed housing.
And in the provinces iwi using them to house their aged on any spare land.
For mine, it will go down in 2025 and be 5% by the end of the year.
Inflation – well rents, rates, and insurance are at 10% pa still. So despite the 0.5% quarter late 2023 – it could well be 3% end of 2024.
The external (upward) risk would be cost of carbon/petrol/fertiliser from war/shipping cost.
The internal risk continuing rise in construction costs (because of government build pent up demand) and water investment demand from councils throughout the term. Thus inflation staying at 3% and the OCR at c5% to late 2026.
A higher cost of rent to wage and longer time to pay off a mortgage is a decline in return to labour – this indicates a growing population makes the worker poorer.
But allows the land banking property speculator/investor to become wealthier and wealthier.
It also means a growing proportion of the economy is clipped by the bank for profit. He makes a strong case for a windfall profits tax on banks.
Requiring a growing population to maintain growth is a sign of low productivity – and this indicates low quality of investment (just to extract CG from the economy – its people/workers).
Michael Reddell "First, it isn't obvious political parties really care about productivity anyway – beyond an occasional talking point in opposition or in the first few weeks of government"
Nana said he hoped some part of government would pick up the commission's work and regard productivity as the measure of making the best use of the economic, natural and social resources in the country in a sustainable way, and not just as a means of cutting costs and lifting profitability.
The immigration controller issued a notice to the tourism ministry asking Russian and Ukrainian people staying on extended tourist visas to leave Sri Lanka within two weeks from 23 February.
[…]
It comes amid a furious social media backlash over Russian-run businesses with a “whites only” policy that strictly bars locals. These businesses include bars, restaurants, water sports and vehicle hiring services.
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
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Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
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Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
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Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
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Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
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Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
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Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
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In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Somwrita Sarkar, Senior Lecturer in Design and Computation, University of Sydney The “latte line” is the infamous, invisible boundary that divides Sydney between the more affluent north-east and the south-west. Historically, people north of the line enjoy better access to jobs and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This ...
RNZ Pacific Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been sentenced to one year in prison, Fiji media are reporting. Bainimarama, alongside suspended Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared in the High Court in Suva today for their sentencing hearing for a case involving their roles in blocking a police ...
Acting Chief Human Rights Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Dr Karanina Sumeo says, “Addressing violence and abuse remains New Zealand’s most significant human rights issue affecting women. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Symons, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University Michael Schiffer / Unsplash Life has transformed our world over billions of years, turning a dead rock into the lush, fertile planet we know today. But human activity is currently transforming Earth ...
One woman’s quest to watch Challengers without ruining her body clock. Every Saturday morning, I wake up with a screaming demon inside my head urging me to “Do. Something. This. Weekend.” I run through the possibilities in my head in a defensive mental crouch, reminiscent of that one time I ...
The PSA is alarmed that ACC is proposing to shed 309 jobs including 29 dedicated injury prevention jobs at a time when the number and cost of injuries is rising. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Baker, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images As local and regional councils struggle with inadequate infrastructure and unsustainable costs, New Zealand will be hearing a lot more about the potential solution offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy, Deakin University Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock In recent years, there’s been increasinghype about the potential health risks associated with so-called “ultra-processed” foods. But new evidence published this week found not all “ultra-processed” foods are linked ...
Fears that New Zealand is relying too heavily on low-cost forests to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions have been reignited by a report from the OECD. ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed the total dollar savings target from public sector cuts has been met, but the reductions have not been felt evenly across public agencies. Government departments were told to make savings set at 6.5 percent or 7.5 percent where headcount had grown by more than ...
She doesn’t have a single kind word for me and it’s getting under my skin.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,I have two amazing friends that I absolutely adore. Grace (all names have been changed) and I lived together across 2023 and Olivia moved in with us this ...
Can Western science and Māori science work together to support our well-being? The Te Ohu Mō Papatūānuku (TOMP) Trials Project was a landmark case for healing the land and people with the guidance of Māori science and leadership. This is what happened when Papatūānuku (Earth) was contaminated by toxic discharge, ...
The District Plan is a blueprint for a bigger, better Wellington, through tens of thousands of new apartments and townhouses and a new approach to urban growth. Joel MacManus lays out the vision. The process of putting together Wellington’s new District Plan has been long and excruciating. As a city, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Williams Veazey, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney DavideAngelini/Shutterstock In the 2007 film The Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
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Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Who thinks the reason Nikki Haley is still in the GOP primaries is because she plans to run as an independent against Trump and Biden with a view on winning in 2028?
If she is, then she should prepare to be comprehensively defeated.
The political machine in the US effectively makes it impossible to run for President, except through the Republican and Democrat parties. Which is why Trump is running through the Republican Party – even though he shares little of their actual political identity.
Also – one of the two (Biden/Trump) will be ineligible to run – you're only allowed 2 terms – and both are at one term, now.
I wouldn't bank on the two-term rule remaining in force (or even being enforced) if Trump gets back with a compliant Congress.
And the signs of there being a compliant Congress are? Republicans (at the Congressional level) are not exactly doing well in the polls; and the projected mid-term Red wave (mid-term elections typically favour the party opposed to the President) – was barely a ripple.
Even if Trump is elected, he is much more likely to be a lame duck President, with an opposed Congress.
I think haley is still there for two reasons..
One is she was hoping opposition to trump would coalesce around her. .which hasn't happened..
The other is being the only one still standing .. should trump fall..(for whatever reason..)
She is there to get name recognition. If she fails spectacularly it won't matter because in four years time it will be her name that is remembered not the outcome.
That too…
Somebody just texted in to RNZ Morning Report "I didn't realise Mr. Luxon supported blokes with fags in their mouths shooting semi-automatics from their Ford Ranger"…(paraphrased a bit)
I’m not a huge Hipkins fan but he sounded pretty damn good this morning on RNZ after listening to the drivel coming from the C of C ministers.
Otago and Southland fuck-knuckles with full gunracks sure don't need more moral support than they already get around here.
Anyone recall the 500 dudes in utes who rolled up when the Minister of Conservation dared reducing the full herd of Thar in National Parks?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/rural/2020/07/over-500-vehicles-gather-for-tahr-culling-protest-against-department-of-conservation.html
I am in full support of hunters who take out deer, mustelids, pigs and feral cats in our forests. Plenty at my work have got their allocated blocks for the Roar.
But it's beginning to look like the Howl of a Protest tractor+ute grunts have actually taken over Parliament.
Luxon keeps banging on about New Zealand being in crisis mode. Do you think that somewhere in that tiny little brain of his that his Coalition IS THE CRISIS. They are running rampant. Straight out of John keys book of dirty politics. How do we stop this everything under emergency crap? Vote of no confidence? I also see that our this Dickson? Real estate lady is being supported by Hobsons Choice (Atlas?) who are trying to raise funds for her Court Case to fight her suspension for not taking (Forgot the name) in Māori protocols and History. Is she another plant?
All part of the right wing play book.
Manufacturing consent with phoney culture wars and spin that there's a crises they had nothing to do and only they can solve it.
Show's how owned the media is as we all saw this coming, imagine proper journalism and hold that thought because that's as far as it'll go.
How do we stop this everything under emergency crap?
Ahem, check the last Governments form for passing legislation under urgency
[Address the comment to which you’re replying instead of trollish whataboutery – Incognito]
Mod note
Straight out of the standard political playbook. If you can convince the population there's a crisis (better still if you can create a climate of fear) then you can much more easily make excuses for breaking promises and / or not delivering in certain areas or even doubling down.
You can justify more extreme negative treatment of those whose are at fault for all of the economic woes (beneficiaries of course) and if you're good you can even stretch it to justifying things like more austerity for those other financial and economic destroyers (people on low incomes)
You can get away with blaming the previous government for a longer time period and for more things you are struggling with or about to stuff up as well as the crisis being a nice little soft landing for some bad news or unwelcome data you know is about to be released.
This government is just the current crop doing it, all sides are guilty of it to varying degrees when they're in power.. (sorry I meant in office … of course.)
Yep, nothing like a good crisis to bring out the pitchforks of some… and distract the rest.
Man I hate that I've become this cynical !
Labour and the Greens did not manufacture a crisis to frighten people. Covid did that.
Huge numbers dying each day, hospitals overwhelmed, then the cool store containers of bodies, people trapped on cruise liners, that was real.
Now National screamed about ram raids, and our current PM posed outside a dairy. That was a sad case, but the truth of reducing ram raids was ignored and the faithful like JMM reported how bad it was along with Mitchell posing and exaggerating to create fear and a "crisis" So no apples and pears mate.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/510362/productivity-commission-head-hits-out-at-cruel-and-thoughtless-way-it-has-been-axed
Ganesh Nana moaning to RNZ National about something that should have been entirely predictable to him. He completely subverted the original purpose of the Productivity comminssion. Of course it was for the chop.
If he couldn’t work this out without being advised in person then it is more evidence why he was not up to his job.
Was "the original purpose of the Productivity comminssion" much different to this?
Yet another 'last chance to see' – under our coalition of chaos and crisis 'government', self-interest rules, and our productive landLords are set to do very well – funny that.
Yes. The original purpose of the Productivity Commission was purely focused on looking at how the value add componment of the economy could be enhanced rather than maximising non economic activities such as the environment and social well being. The last government added these other goals which essentially destroyed the original purpose of the commission and by appointing such a person as Ganesh Nana further removed it from that purpose.
Social wellbeing is an economic activity / state.
Are you sure Gos? You seem pretty sure, even absolutely sure, but I have doubts.
Note that this quote is cut and pasted from the original version of the Act, "as enacted" in 2010, and sans additions – at least as far as I can tell.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2010/0136/17.0/096be8ed8067a3eb.pdf
Funny what tricks ideology can play on one's mind and memory, eh Gossie
The virulence with which the Right tries to silence any prominent voices they dislike, sits oddly with their supposed championing of free speech.
Ummm… The Productivity Commission was subverted by the previous government and moved away from it's original remit. Much of the original purpose of the Commission is now going to be handled by the Ministry for Regulation. There is therefore no need to keep the Commission going.
By "subverted" you merely mean "changed" it’s just a difference of opinon not a subterfuge misdemeanor or crime.
By subverted you just mean changed. It's a difference of opinion, not a subterfuge, misdemeanor or crime. The right do not like the change, or the person leading it, so have ended it.
There would be no Productivity commission without the ACT party requesting it as part of their agreement with National post the 2008 election. The reason ACT set it up was to identify areas of the economy that had barriers to improving productivity. It was not meant to focus on Social or Environmental areas. The last government changed the focus and therefore essentially killed it as soon as the current government looked like they were going to take power. If the last government wanted it to last they should have left it how it was.
Social and environmental concerns are some of our largest barriers to productivity. Except in the fevered fantasy world of Seymour and co. The blighted lives, and lost production, after the ACTIOD' s in 84 Labours and Richardson's National swath of destruction still affect productivity even now.
ACT don’t want to remove “barriers to productivity” they want to remove barriers to their bribers/sorry, funders, making money. A not so subtle difference.
Nonsense one of the first areas they looked at when set up was the privitisation of welfare. They found essentially it didn't work and was highly problematic eg in Australian rural areas it failed quickly as there isn't any profit to be made in areas with few jobs (pretty much the same market failure that leads to rail lines closing, power costs being higher for country communities, etc).
They also found that when the profit motive was introduced unsurprisingly the focus was on the clients that paid the most so they left people alone until they hit twelve months and that it where the biggest payment was. Rational market behaviour for sure.
I thought the work they did in areas like this was really useful.
I'm sad to see them go I thought they did lots of good stuff which oft was taken no notice of. They produced some of the most interesting work to read in the last 10 years – them and the Treaty Settlement documents have been really refreshing bits of public discourse.
The "Ministry of Regulation" you mean our inhouse twerp? The Monty Python Act removing Regulations. That one? All puns intended.
A Ministry is not the same as a Minister.
Nor is a twerp the same as a twerker…
…hang on…
Oh..!…so that act guy is taking over..?
Nothing to worry about then…eh..?
Shit..!..newshub is closing..in June..
It became a warners brothers business eventually after mark Weldon did a merchant bankers CEO stint and trashed it.
Look it's just a coincidence it’s the hobbit law folk again move along sheeple.
Fuck Warner Brothers.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/510391/live-newshub-to-close-down-newsroom-in-june-sources-say
Happy Leap Year.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/media-insider-super-anxious-three-and-newshub-staff-called-to-11am-warner-bros-discovery-meeting/2OVBMDSPPRH2JFTVBFX6AU4S3Q/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/350194958/newshub-close-end-june
Knowing someone involved in the planning, end goal is terrestial tv3 is turned off late 25 and it will move to a completely digital streamed service showing content from the discovery stable with news content coming from a sky news type feed and some cheap to produce local content to tuck a few boxes
They signalled that with the "cost of free to air and news".
https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/350185007/tvnzs-new-boss-planning-day-television-will-be-online-only
https://archive.li/tfOqQ
The impact of this on the some of the aged without online devices might be good for Sky – they might provide a continuing old fashioned “TV” service – to those older folk home alone or in aged care homes.
You've heard of go woke, go broke.
Welcome to go nut job, find a new job.
We’re a whisker away from Trump’s America.
It took decades of Fox News there. Here we’ve got poisonous mushrooms all sprouting and far right billionaires closing one if our four mainstream newsrooms.
A mining company can openly run a candidate. Who knows what else has been going on because we’re not able to check.
Our government certainly has a few people to the right of Andrew Jackson, waiting until they can speak openly.
We’re not better than the USA, just less cooked. Someone has fired up the grill this month for sure.
And we lost Efeso Collins.
Are we sure we’re worth saving?
The government has a plan.
To build up (intensification on transport routes and mixed zoning – residential in town centres), cities must plan to build out.
Landbankers will be able to sell land to foreign investors building to rent. They pay no CGT on their landbanking profits to government.
The GST on the property development goes to local councils – less money to government.
Smaller government revenue, growing wealth to landbankers (especially those in the know pre election) and locals paying rent to offshore property owners.
This also means foreign competition to Kiwi Saver Funds and the NZSF for land, if they intended to invest in rental accommodation – that is higher cost.
PS More land for building out does not mean it is all available for that purpose if there is no policy to counter land bankers – drip feeding supply if there is no land and or CG tax on such land if there is no building on it.
Hardly surprising when studies have found microplastics and nanoplastics in fruit and vegetables, buried in Antarctic sea ice, within the guts of marine animals inhabiting the deepest ocean trenches, and in drinking water around the world.
.
Microplastics have been found in every human placenta tested in a study, leaving the researchers worried about the potential health impacts on developing foetuses.
The scientists analysed 62 placental tissue samples and found the most common plastic detected was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles. A second study revealed microplastics in all 17 human arteries tested and suggested the particles may be linked to clogging of the blood vessels.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/27/microplastics-found-every-human-placenta-tested-study-health-impact
And let's not forget that among the most efficient delivery systems to humans of the forever plastics…
..are butter and red meat.. especially pig..
How is that bacon butty looking..?
There will be money in supplying water, food and air without plastics …
Will our descendants be looking to the stars for a new habitable planet earth within the range of a human lifetime's journey … so their children have a better future.
Has human civilisation finally understood the consequence of allowing an imperial cult of mammon to guide the social, economic and political order environment?
Will knowledge of this result in the late stage capitalism oligarchy fascism …where the haves try and maintain their privilege/lifestyle as long as they can?
The logic of Richard Prebble – a master class in conflation.
He said the base benefit increased from 215 to 340 (its 337.60) – the rent increased in that period from $400 to $600. So he is lying. The increase in income was marginally above the increase in rent.
https://figure.nz/chart/azFwYTVvUcrcxT3m-Cn6TyuSQBZ8Kacee
And by 2025, rent increases will have matched or gone up faster than benefits.
The number of children in hardship is a function of the numbers on benefits with children (higher) and the impact of the rising cost of rent on those in work (the MW increases were also above inflation but below that of rent increases). Not the amount paid in benefit.
He then goes onto conflate levels of income support with numbers who are without work, if somehow placing those on benefits into greater poverty reduces dependence – when he really means reduced tax burden on others results in their higher after tax spending creating jobs – which those on benefits.will be desperate to get in a competition with migrant labour (thus keeping wages low and profits high).
Helping people into work reduces dependence, well-paid work and affordable rent ends poverty but sufficient support when between jobs is what first world nations do.
ACT and its advocates have got Randian ideology, they believe in a society order based around profit to capital and user pays – so there is no concept of society or community apart from an authority maintaining government over the have nots on behalf of the haves. Returning the democratic nation state citizen to the status of subject. Authority maintaining government over the people refers to the unaccountable nature of it and its lack of transparency.
Atlas Network – holding up a regime above the landless people without capital.
https://archive.li/6g4k1
It's almost hilarious watching the mental gymnastics going on in their constant efforts to justify pure cruelty. Do you think they genuinely believe what they're saying, or is it a show for the base and the media?
I've been around long enough to remember when a 1-bedroom private rental in Auck/Wgtn was (much) less than the core Invalids/SLP benefit. Now it's more than the core benefit (and with no options of finding somewhere cheaper) and the maximum of every supplement going is necessary in order to pay the rest of the bills. I have absolutely no idea how anyone with kids does it.
Rents are the biggest cause of poverty in NZ right now.
ACT is the class war front of National.
It's a legacy of the surrender to the market of the lite-weight division of 1980's Labour absorbed into neo-liberalism, an ideological conversion cult within the Randian Atlas Network.
As for housing, I'm hoping to see a lot of small build "granny" flats (factory en-mass) being consented on sections – 2 in place one sub-divide. And village communities of them, good use of half of golf course land – rest park. And also for older folk (owned or income related rent) as per Kiwibuild/state mixed housing.
And in the provinces iwi using them to house their aged on any spare land.
Heartwarming sustained tribute to Efeso in Onehunga.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350194661/come-you-are-family-invite-public-farewell-green-mp-faanana-efeso-collins
The RB forecasts the OCR at 5.5% till late 2025.
For mine, it will go down in 2025 and be 5% by the end of the year.
Inflation – well rents, rates, and insurance are at 10% pa still. So despite the 0.5% quarter late 2023 – it could well be 3% end of 2024.
The external (upward) risk would be cost of carbon/petrol/fertiliser from war/shipping cost.
The internal risk continuing rise in construction costs (because of government build pent up demand) and water investment demand from councils throughout the term. Thus inflation staying at 3% and the OCR at c5% to late 2026.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2024/02/reserve-bank-holds-official-cash-rate-at-5-5-percent.html
Well well well Treasury informed National they could not meet their target without a CGT and the mastermind of Fonterra has concluded something
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/national-slides-back-into-the-red-that-surplus-position-is-challenged-nicola-willis-warns-surplus-promise-may-not-be-met/ACH2CI5JGJAMPO4TDEGLWXX6XY/
The retired ANZ Board Chairman picks a doubling of house prices in 10 years.
That would be going up at over twice the increase in wage each year.
He cites rising population through migration – so he indicates the only way to stop it.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/02/sir-john-key-reveals-his-prediction-for-the-housing-market.html
A higher cost of rent to wage and longer time to pay off a mortgage is a decline in return to labour – this indicates a growing population makes the worker poorer.
But allows the land banking property speculator/investor to become wealthier and wealthier.
It also means a growing proportion of the economy is clipped by the bank for profit. He makes a strong case for a windfall profits tax on banks.
Of course the pertinent issue is productivity.
Requiring a growing population to maintain growth is a sign of low productivity – and this indicates low quality of investment (just to extract CG from the economy – its people/workers).
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/02/productivity-commission-head-hits-out-at-cruel-and-thoughtless-way-it-has-been-axed.html
So Dimitry Rogozin isn't the only racist POS.
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Sri Lanka has told hundreds of thousands of Russians and some Ukrainians staying in the country to escape the war that they must leave in the next two weeks, immigration officers said.
The immigration controller issued a notice to the tourism ministry asking Russian and Ukrainian people staying on extended tourist visas to leave Sri Lanka within two weeks from 23 February.
[…]
It comes amid a furious social media backlash over Russian-run businesses with a “whites only” policy that strictly bars locals. These businesses include bars, restaurants, water sports and vehicle hiring services.
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka-russia-tourist-visa-ukraine-war-b2502986.html