Almost every major error and meltdown in Dem/left politics, from post-left fash apologism to popularist left-punching cringe, comes from fatally flawed attempts to solve what I call the Upper Left Quadrant problem. Here is the chart, and the fundamental problem: /1
Huge fun to play with that and alter it a bit for NZ – it isn't exact but fun none the less!
This chart explains *so much* about modern NZ politics. What it says, simply, is that almost all the actual persuadable voters in the electorate aren't "moderates."
They're cross-pressured extremists and…kinda fashy. They're socially bigoted and economically leftist. Needless to say, this is not great. It's a huge impediment for making progress. But it's also highly inconvenient for the major ideological factions in NZ politics.
Let's start with "No Labels" style centrists. These are corporate folks who push the idea that most persuadable voters are socially liberal but economically conservative. TOP types. This is FLATLY FALSE. As you can see, there is almost NO ONE in that bottom right quadrant. The suburban TOP liberal does exist, of course – but their numbers are actually quite limited and they are far less economically conservative and more socially liberal than usually given credit for. They're not really persuadable and likelier to vote for Chloe than Seymour.
Now let's take the socialist left. It is tempting to look at this chart and say "hey, there's opportunity for left populism here! Let's persuade some of these folks!" I myself made that error in 2016, thinking that left populism could win many of them over. That was…wrong. It was VERY wrong. The Trump presidency proved it. He went full Paul Ryan on economics, & lost none of his supporters over it. Trump-curious Upper Quadrant types didn't shift left. Instead, Bradbury/Trotter types went head over heels to the far-right in hatred of liberals.
Then there are the Labour party populists like Chippy and McNaulty. They look at the Upper Left Quadrant and think "hey if we just toned down the social liberalism then these folks would vote for a milquetoast liberal party." Yeah….no. That doesn't work, either. An upper-quadrant voter who likes superannuation but hates LGBTQ people isn't going to vote Labour over National because you sidearmed trans people a little bit. A racist who wants no government spending for Maori only isn't going to vote Labour if you demure on diversity initiatives. Whether economic or social leftism overreaches sometimes is debatable on its own merits as public policy when it comes to, say, housing policy or co-governance. But it's worthless as an *electoral* strategy for reaching the Upper Left Quadrant voter. And, of course, the NZ political right is eating itself alive over this problem. It turns out no one actually believes in Rogernomics / Luxon conservatism. Economic conservatism was always a front for hurting the marginalised (see National's housing announcements). No one wants what David Seymour is selling, and it shows.
The only real way to solve the Upper Left Quadrant Problem is by gradually sorting it out of the electorate, and being economically left-populist in the mold of younger voters. Younger voters are overwhelmingly bottom left quadrant (econ & soc left). Let the fash sort with the fash into the upper right. Let liberals and the left sort with each other.
Leftists: stop trying to placate the fash with anti-globalism. Centrists: stop trying to be "anti-woke" or appeal to non-existent bottom-right quadrant voters. The country is going to get a lot more polarized before things get better, and things will only get better when the Jacinda/Chloe-aligned under-45s who vote Labour/Greens +20 points are a bigger and bigger share of the electorate. We're not getting any more conservative with age.
I was also struck by how thin the bottom right quadrant is. We are assailed by corporate types claiming to be socially liberal but economically conservative. It's maybe not actually much of a thing, which suggests it's more of a tactical pretense than a genuinely felt position.
The crowded and conflicted upper left quadrant is playing out in front of our eyes with the trans rights slanging match. Your seem to imply that for people in this conflicted quadrant, one side of the conflict will be more determinative of their actual voting than the other. And that not understanding this will lead to naive tactics by politicians. That's a very interesting idea.
I tend to agree that the way forward is for these two conflicted quadrants to be cleaned out by generational change. And these quadrants are not in fact coherent places to occupy. Fundamentally, this is because there are not separate 'social' and 'economic' dimensions. The 'economic' is entirely a social creation – and disembedding the economic from the social and pretending it has immutable 'laws' like some sort of science, is a source of many problems. It also means that these social/economic matrix analyses are ultimately built on a false assumption and we probably need a better tool.
An unfortunately worded piece of rhetoric copy-pasted from American corporate democrats. According to the author, the working class is "fashy", "socially bigoted", "an impediment to progress", "Trump-curious", "in hatred of liberals", "racist" blah blah blah.
Evidently such reprobates are an "Upper Left Quadrant Problem" to be "gradually sort[ed] out of the electorate".
Pure divisive bullshit. This is a massive constituency that would have carried Bernie or Corbyn to power on a wave of people power, but was stuffed by their own parties, and awful slanders in the MSM, similar to the foregoing comment. Apparently the working class is not allowed to participate in democracy.
I was just wondering how those here feeling about Hipkin's seeming to almost be trying to out-National National at the moment.
I get the thing about wanting to win the election, and competing for the middle ground etc. But Hipkins was part of the government that introduced a lot of the things he has since dumped. And, I wonder, if he is focussed so much on the pragmatism of winning that he is in danger of losing his ideological soul.
Nah tsmithfield. He's centre of the political road. Always has been. Pragmatism is his middle name. He won't veer left or right from his current position because that is pretty much his ideological standpoint.
The one thing he has got in spades is a commonsense, steady as she goes outlook which is more than the right-leaning leadership has demonstrated at this point in time.
If you'd asked me 5-6 years ago when Corbynism was riding high, AOC was in full flight and Trump had trashed the arch centrist blast from the past Hillary Clinton I would have said centrism was dead and buried.
However since then, we've witnessed two things – first, the traditional political right self-radicalising in and out of office to ever more extremist culture war positions, from Fidesz in Hungary, the Tories (Suella Bravermann anyone?) in the UK, the MAGA/QANON Trump cult in the GOP, the increasingly extremist Morrison/Dutton in government in Aussie to the radicalisation of National's post 2020 rump caucus with a gowing number of vanguardist evangelical culture warriors using prosperity doctrine as a template to justify very unpopular economic policies.
Secondly multi-global crisises like COVID and various natural disasters have placed competent government back in the centre of voter concern.
The self-radicalisation of the traditional right and the need for good crisis management has given a new lease of life to centrism's main pitch – competent technocratric managerialism and an appeal to neoliberal incrementalism.
As long as the right remains distracted by culture wars and unserious about governing then centrism will hang on.
Just how viable it is in the long term for a healthy democracy to have as your sole realistic electoral options a choice between a bunch of unelectable increasingly far right culture warriors and the least worst centrist government that can be conjured up I'll leave to the reader to speculate.
Ah well, pretty much what I said @2.1 but with the I's dotted and T's crossed in a manner few can achieve. Sanctuary is one of them. We have others too. 😉
I don't think Chippy has dumped anything. I think he has put things aside until after election when all these non dumped things will be back on the full burner. He never voiced any concern about unpopular policy options during the Jacinda Ardern days.
Maybe rename or re-brand a few of the unpopular policies (see 3 / 5 / 10 waters or what evs it is called now)if you like but still the same stuff that upset people to the point where Jacinda felt they needed to leave in order to not tank Labour altogether on election day. And yes, i know their tank was empty.
Not sure if he has achieved that. Winter is coming, it is going to be a hard winter for many – and i mean those that receive no support from government, and Labour has no policies articulated for that discontent that will be coming in with the cold.
National, will do what National always does, so i have no expectations there.
… upset people to the point where Jacinda felt they needed to leave in order to not tank Labour altogether…
That scenario might fit your embittered political outlook Sabine but it happens to be wrong. Jacinda Ardern left because SHE had physically and mentally tanked after five of the most grueling years any NZ prime minister has ever had to face. The fact she lasted as long as she did is a testament to her courage and determination in the face of multiple crisis and a level of manufactured vitriol never seen in this country before.
I am being realistic. The polls had Jacinda in the lowest numbers possible, and that was as much a part in the decision making then Jacinda understanding that they had not enough left in the tank to fight against that. Did they receive bad press, yes and sometimes it was warranted and other times it was not, did they take decisions that in the end back fired, yes, that too, but the day they left and resigned their polls were in no where land, or at least not good enough to assure a guaranteed win. For the record, i was equally unimpressed with John Key resigning for very much the same reason. I believe that if someone has the slightest doubts that they can not do the job, they should not apply for it.
Unless of course you think that Stuff is embittered.
As for Jacinda being a she/her – no thank you, that won't fly anymore. Unless they have claimed that they are a women with she/her pronouns i am staying on the safe side and use they/them and not assume their gender identity. Sex no longer is an arbiter of anything.
After all we currently have a PM who can not define what a women is unless they have a pre-formulated answer to the questions ‘ what is a women’ or ‘can you define women’.
So that is not helping in identifying who is a women.
And that includes the idiocy of proclaiming to have half of cabinet being 'women' when they can't identify or define what a women is. The 50% could be made up of males who identify as women. IT is a meaningless statement, not worth the paper it is printed on.
Jacindas years in government were no more grueling then the years of the CHCH earthquakes, world war 1 and two, and the Spanish influence to name a few hard years for people who ran the country. In fact, one could argue that they had it alright, as NZ as a whole was happy to help during the first year of Covid, and did help in keeping the country safe. And that support propelled them into a full majority in government.
To me Jacinda Ardern is a person how sometimes excelled – the CHCH massacre was a fine showing of them, and sometimes did /say things that did not work for them. The mandates come to mind, the lawn protests come to mind, and in the end Self ID – any one who identifies as a man or a women is it, sex no longer being applicable to identify someone or to even just assume some ones 'idendity'. No more then i would assume you or anyone else to be either a women or a man unless they state so explicitly.
Personally i have no more use for Jacinda then i have for John Key, they are people that at best create a world that is easier for workers/poor people at worst they make it harder , and every other year they get replaced and workers and the poor will have to live with their legacy what ever that may be, and they will still be looked after well thanks to nice appointments and perks courtesy of the tax payer.
Yes Anne, there are false narratives abounding, the biggest of those.." Labour has caused hardship."
I don't think those bitter people realise how hard people are working to reconnect communities after the storms, how they are trying so hard to mend the patchwork of the contract act's lowest common denominator of any past work, the lowest price.
The past lying about "efficiencies', which turned out to be the lowest bid for the contract, not the most efficient at meeting real needs.
Our Forestry is an example. The cheapest labour transport and a small portion of the tree used. The left over materials? Some one else will wear that, "not their problem." All contracts need environmental frameworks which have been missing in the "austerity efficiency drive"of past governments.
We need to ask ourselves, "What outcomes overall do we want?"
It is not "a dog eat dog race to the bottom." It is community care and co-operation which supports people to find their good life.
So called past efficiencies were built on poor practice, because contracting was aiming to be the cheapest not the best.
To build consensus to work together threatens power plays of the 5%, and Chippy is avoiding the cult of personality, while setting frameworks in place and selecting a competent group of facilitators like Keirin McAnulty.
It is always hard to win a 3rd term, but Chippy and Labour are giving it their best shot, with work done by Parker to show the rich were rich before covid, and are not contributing as much as their poorer cousins to the community pot, but they are happy to skew the playing field with huge donations to National and Act.
Winter has always come Sabine, and remember this government provided a payment to help with that, and will always support encourage and help people in the face of huge problems. As Chippy stated, "we are for skills science and opportunity".
Personally, at 81 I am glad we had the government we did through the problems we have had. I do not see the National or Act group as any improvement, and probably climate denial to read their skimpy policy positions.
The raising of divisive issues to divide us into factions, is more of the same old same old from them.
As someone affected by the summer storms, I have had visits from multiple sources ranging from my insurance company, related groups, tradesmen of all shapes and sizes 😀 and other individuals. I'm surprised there have been no local rumours of a newly minted brothel in their midst but maybe age…….. 🙁
All of them have gone above and beyond to be helpful and, at least in part, I believe the government's overall handling of the crisis has made a big difference. And of course it is just the latest of a series of crisis that have befallen this government and every one of them has been competently handled.
If the past six years had followed a more normal course, many of the problems still facing the country would have been well on the way to recovery which is something the naysayers – that includes sections of the media as well at the opposition parties – never acknowledge of course.
It beggars belief it might happen over again. This time more of NZ could be in the firing line. The outcome depends on a very stubborn high pressure system to the east of NZ which looks like it is going to refuse to move on.
The giant minds of National explain that their being nice to landlords policy allows trickledown to tenants … if and when landlords want to …
rents have increased significantly in the nearly six years since Labour was elected. Median rents were sitting at $450 a week in September 2017. They have now reached a new record high of $600, increasing $60 since Labour's rental reform was introduced in February 2021 when the median weekly rent was $540.
So in 3 years from 2017 to February 2021 rents went up $90 and in the 2 years since another $60 and this is proof that the new rental standards pushed up rent costs. It's basically the same rate of increase in rent as before the change.
And these are the people who want to restore the teaching of maths back to where it was when they were in school?
The average rent was $350 in March 2015 and increased to $450 in 2017. $100 that time. That rate of increase is clearly faster than since Feb 2021.
More fact free policy from National pandering to their donors, party members and their interests, not those of tenants. Nor those who want to buy first homes as their policy is designed to enable more buying up of property by the rentier class.
PS the dollar amounts of increase in recent years are off a higher base and thus a smaller percentage rate of increase per dollar (for those in the mathematically challenged National caucus).
Here's National's policy. "“National has a plan to help combat the cost of living. We will bring discipline to government spending, reduce cost on businesses, fix worker shortages and provide tax relief to hard working Kiwis.”
This is designed to fix what they say are these problems. “The recent release of benefit statistics shows that the cost-of-living crisis is completely out of control with more than $247 million spent in the last three months on hardship payments – the highest in New Zealand’s history.
“Almost 659,000 New Zealanders received a hardship assistance payment in the first quarter of this year – more than a 100 per cent increase compared with five years ago.
“The vast majority of hardship payments were for food, making it abundantly clear Kiwis are struggling to put food on the table.
“Labour has been in power for over five and half years and their economic mismanagement and lack of plan to address the cost-of-living crisis is hurting too many New Zealanders, who are now unable to live without additional financial support."
That, folks, is where National is going to be heading with its rhetoric and policies. All this from a news release emailed from Louise Upston's office today.
People who are struggling to meet essential costs such as rent, heating, and food may be eligible for hardship support from Work and Income.
From 1 November, anyone who meets the increased income thresholds, such as casual or part-time workers, or people who aren't already getting financial support may be eligible for assistance.
For example:
a single person, 18 years or older, working up to 40 hours a week on the minimum wage, and earning up to $800 a week (before tax) may be eligible for assistance.
a sole parent with one child, the weekly income threshold (before tax) will increase to $1,100 a week.
a couple’s income threshold will increase to $1,600 a week.
The National Party is merely identifying that Labour is helping people with the cost of living (the inflation is global by the way) increase via the hardship grant.
The report's authors said their simulated peak height of the largest blast, number five in the sequence, was 85 metres.
"Immediately after the explosion, the transient blast cavity that becomes the tsunami is 6km across, forming a wave 85m high on the north side of HTHH and 65m high to the south.
"The wave runups from the 2022 HTHH explosive event comfortably meet the criteria for a megatsunami and contend for the largest event anywhere in the past 100 years."
Why anyone believes that this failed state has anything of value to offer others on planet Earth trying to find a way to live a life of meaning and compassion amid climate collapse and gross human greed fails my comprehension.
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And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
The new minister of transport has opened the door for public consultation on at least some of the speed limit changes the government said would be automatic. ...
Officially, they’re called ‘memecoins,’ but Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon says the crypto world has another name for them: ‘shitcoins’.In digital finance, that phrase is used for tokens that have no true value – in essence, a money-grab.A few days before his inauguration, US President Donald Trump launched his own ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. Guy Williams has made a whole show off the joke that he is a “volunteer” journalist. So getting publicly owned by David Seymour while trying to act as a journalist is a good and timely reminder not to underestimate the nuance and ...
Many of Sāmoa’s beloved dishes are the result of cultural collaboration, writes Madeleine Chapman. All photos by Jin FelletIf you ever find yourself at a barbecue in a Sāmoan home, there’s 99% chance that sapasui (chop suey) will be on the table. For the past century, sapasui has ...
The funnyman takes us through his life in television, including Jono and Ben mayhem, live Telethon flubs, and funnelling all those experiences into his new comedy Vince. There’s an inciting incident in Three’s new comedy Vince where morning television presenter Vince Walters (Jono Pryor) is visiting sick kids in hospital ...
People often claim they just want Waitangi Day to be a celebration. At Waitangi, away from the headlined political acrimony and the marae ātea, celebrating is what most people are doing. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous ...
Is there anything more fashionable than a Māori get together? One of the best things about Northland is that nobody cares what they look like — probably because they’re all naturally more stylish than the rest of us, famously. Māori from the Far North, especially. In 27 degree heat, wearing ...
I’ve been in love with him since last July, but it’s only now in this tepid hotel room that I find myself wondering why. The first thing he does when we arrive is smoke a cone in the bathroom – he emerges, hacking up a lung, fists thrust into his ...
MONDAY“Name,” barked a representative of the lower orders.I regarded him with a look of stern disapproval, and told him from up high, “May I remind you that I have name suppression. I shall also thank you to ask with more respect as befits a former president of the Act Party, ...
Books of Mana: 180 Māori-Authored Books of Significance, edited by Jacinta Ruru, Angela Wanhalla and Jeanette Wikaira has just been released by Otago University Press. In this essay, Books are Taonga, Jeanette Wikaira explores her personal relationship to books and their value.For me, books are taonga. The knowledge ...
Get to know Tara, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Tara’s human for their support! Dog name: Tara Age: Two Breed: Mostly Border Collie and a little bit Catahoula Leopard dog If dog ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
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A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Real Poet Every word earned its place and so did he, so should you. Real poet lives in the capital but writes himself into the Mackenzie country golden hour, man of the paper land, he neglects to mention his pollen ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25) No better time to get ...
The committee has published this list to inform the public about its work, and to give clarity to submitters who have contacted the committee asking if they will be invited to make an oral submission. ...
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Politicians from the coalition government received a frosty reception at Waitangi this year, but Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says the pōwhiri that received so much attention was just one part of many events throughout the week. ...
A thousand words.
Almost every major error and meltdown in Dem/left politics, from post-left fash apologism to popularist left-punching cringe, comes from fatally flawed attempts to solve what I call the Upper Left Quadrant problem. Here is the chart, and the fundamental problem: /1
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1651281534702460928.html
(h/t https://twitter.com/daphlawless/status/1651390457761636352 )
Huge fun to play with that and alter it a bit for NZ – it isn't exact but fun none the less!
This chart explains *so much* about modern NZ politics. What it says, simply, is that almost all the actual persuadable voters in the electorate aren't "moderates."
They're cross-pressured extremists and…kinda fashy. They're socially bigoted and economically leftist. Needless to say, this is not great. It's a huge impediment for making progress. But it's also highly inconvenient for the major ideological factions in NZ politics.
Let's start with "No Labels" style centrists. These are corporate folks who push the idea that most persuadable voters are socially liberal but economically conservative. TOP types. This is FLATLY FALSE. As you can see, there is almost NO ONE in that bottom right quadrant. The suburban TOP liberal does exist, of course – but their numbers are actually quite limited and they are far less economically conservative and more socially liberal than usually given credit for. They're not really persuadable and likelier to vote for Chloe than Seymour.
Now let's take the socialist left. It is tempting to look at this chart and say "hey, there's opportunity for left populism here! Let's persuade some of these folks!" I myself made that error in 2016, thinking that left populism could win many of them over. That was…wrong. It was VERY wrong. The Trump presidency proved it. He went full Paul Ryan on economics, & lost none of his supporters over it. Trump-curious Upper Quadrant types didn't shift left. Instead, Bradbury/Trotter types went head over heels to the far-right in hatred of liberals.
Then there are the Labour party populists like Chippy and McNaulty. They look at the Upper Left Quadrant and think "hey if we just toned down the social liberalism then these folks would vote for a milquetoast liberal party." Yeah….no. That doesn't work, either. An upper-quadrant voter who likes superannuation but hates LGBTQ people isn't going to vote Labour over National because you sidearmed trans people a little bit. A racist who wants no government spending for Maori only isn't going to vote Labour if you demure on diversity initiatives. Whether economic or social leftism overreaches sometimes is debatable on its own merits as public policy when it comes to, say, housing policy or co-governance. But it's worthless as an *electoral* strategy for reaching the Upper Left Quadrant voter. And, of course, the NZ political right is eating itself alive over this problem. It turns out no one actually believes in Rogernomics / Luxon conservatism. Economic conservatism was always a front for hurting the marginalised (see National's housing announcements). No one wants what David Seymour is selling, and it shows.
The only real way to solve the Upper Left Quadrant Problem is by gradually sorting it out of the electorate, and being economically left-populist in the mold of younger voters. Younger voters are overwhelmingly bottom left quadrant (econ & soc left). Let the fash sort with the fash into the upper right. Let liberals and the left sort with each other.
Leftists: stop trying to placate the fash with anti-globalism. Centrists: stop trying to be "anti-woke" or appeal to non-existent bottom-right quadrant voters. The country is going to get a lot more polarized before things get better, and things will only get better when the Jacinda/Chloe-aligned under-45s who vote Labour/Greens +20 points are a bigger and bigger share of the electorate. We're not getting any more conservative with age.
Interesting first thoughts – thanks.
I was also struck by how thin the bottom right quadrant is. We are assailed by corporate types claiming to be socially liberal but economically conservative. It's maybe not actually much of a thing, which suggests it's more of a tactical pretense than a genuinely felt position.
The crowded and conflicted upper left quadrant is playing out in front of our eyes with the trans rights slanging match. Your seem to imply that for people in this conflicted quadrant, one side of the conflict will be more determinative of their actual voting than the other. And that not understanding this will lead to naive tactics by politicians. That's a very interesting idea.
I tend to agree that the way forward is for these two conflicted quadrants to be cleaned out by generational change. And these quadrants are not in fact coherent places to occupy. Fundamentally, this is because there are not separate 'social' and 'economic' dimensions. The 'economic' is entirely a social creation – and disembedding the economic from the social and pretending it has immutable 'laws' like some sort of science, is a source of many problems. It also means that these social/economic matrix analyses are ultimately built on a false assumption and we probably need a better tool.
An unfortunately worded piece of rhetoric copy-pasted from American corporate democrats. According to the author, the working class is "fashy", "socially bigoted", "an impediment to progress", "Trump-curious", "in hatred of liberals", "racist" blah blah blah.
Evidently such reprobates are an "Upper Left Quadrant Problem" to be "gradually sort[ed] out of the electorate".
Pure divisive bullshit. This is a massive constituency that would have carried Bernie or Corbyn to power on a wave of people power, but was stuffed by their own parties, and awful slanders in the MSM, similar to the foregoing comment. Apparently the working class is not allowed to participate in democracy.
I was just wondering how those here feeling about Hipkin's seeming to almost be trying to out-National National at the moment.
I get the thing about wanting to win the election, and competing for the middle ground etc. But Hipkins was part of the government that introduced a lot of the things he has since dumped. And, I wonder, if he is focussed so much on the pragmatism of winning that he is in danger of losing his ideological soul.
Nah tsmithfield. He's centre of the political road. Always has been. Pragmatism is his middle name. He won't veer left or right from his current position because that is pretty much his ideological standpoint.
The one thing he has got in spades is a commonsense, steady as she goes outlook which is more than the right-leaning leadership has demonstrated at this point in time.
That's supposed to make us feel better Anne? Labour- betraying NZ since 1984.
You can feel any way you like. Nobody cares. 🙄 Fact is fact whether you like it or not.
Hipkins having an ideological soul!
Brilliant.
His ideology is re-election.
Mr Pak 'n' Save, steak and cheese, like Key, has principles. If you don't like them he has some others.
If you'd asked me 5-6 years ago when Corbynism was riding high, AOC was in full flight and Trump had trashed the arch centrist blast from the past Hillary Clinton I would have said centrism was dead and buried.
However since then, we've witnessed two things – first, the traditional political right self-radicalising in and out of office to ever more extremist culture war positions, from Fidesz in Hungary, the Tories (Suella Bravermann anyone?) in the UK, the MAGA/QANON Trump cult in the GOP, the increasingly extremist Morrison/Dutton in government in Aussie to the radicalisation of National's post 2020 rump caucus with a gowing number of vanguardist evangelical culture warriors using prosperity doctrine as a template to justify very unpopular economic policies.
Secondly multi-global crisises like COVID and various natural disasters have placed competent government back in the centre of voter concern.
The self-radicalisation of the traditional right and the need for good crisis management has given a new lease of life to centrism's main pitch – competent technocratric managerialism and an appeal to neoliberal incrementalism.
As long as the right remains distracted by culture wars and unserious about governing then centrism will hang on.
Just how viable it is in the long term for a healthy democracy to have as your sole realistic electoral options a choice between a bunch of unelectable increasingly far right culture warriors and the least worst centrist government that can be conjured up I'll leave to the reader to speculate.
Ah well, pretty much what I said @2.1 but with the I's dotted and T's crossed in a manner few can achieve. Sanctuary is one of them. We have others too. 😉
I don't think Chippy has dumped anything. I think he has put things aside until after election when all these non dumped things will be back on the full burner. He never voiced any concern about unpopular policy options during the Jacinda Ardern days.
Maybe rename or re-brand a few of the unpopular policies (see 3 / 5 / 10 waters or what evs it is called now)if you like but still the same stuff that upset people to the point where Jacinda felt they needed to leave in order to not tank Labour altogether on election day. And yes, i know their tank was empty.
Not sure if he has achieved that. Winter is coming, it is going to be a hard winter for many – and i mean those that receive no support from government, and Labour has no policies articulated for that discontent that will be coming in with the cold.
National, will do what National always does, so i have no expectations there.
That scenario might fit your embittered political outlook Sabine but it happens to be wrong. Jacinda Ardern left because SHE had physically and mentally tanked after five of the most grueling years any NZ prime minister has ever had to face. The fact she lasted as long as she did is a testament to her courage and determination in the face of multiple crisis and a level of manufactured vitriol never seen in this country before.
I am being realistic. The polls had Jacinda in the lowest numbers possible, and that was as much a part in the decision making then Jacinda understanding that they had not enough left in the tank to fight against that. Did they receive bad press, yes and sometimes it was warranted and other times it was not, did they take decisions that in the end back fired, yes, that too, but the day they left and resigned their polls were in no where land, or at least not good enough to assure a guaranteed win. For the record, i was equally unimpressed with John Key resigning for very much the same reason. I believe that if someone has the slightest doubts that they can not do the job, they should not apply for it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131023687/poll-taken-before-pms-resignation-saw-arderns-favourability-rate-slide-into-negative-territory
Unless of course you think that Stuff is embittered.
As for Jacinda being a she/her – no thank you, that won't fly anymore. Unless they have claimed that they are a women with she/her pronouns i am staying on the safe side and use they/them and not assume their gender identity. Sex no longer is an arbiter of anything.
After all we currently have a PM who can not define what a women is unless they have a pre-formulated answer to the questions ‘ what is a women’ or ‘can you define women’.
So that is not helping in identifying who is a women.
And that includes the idiocy of proclaiming to have half of cabinet being 'women' when they can't identify or define what a women is. The 50% could be made up of males who identify as women. IT is a meaningless statement, not worth the paper it is printed on.
Jacindas years in government were no more grueling then the years of the CHCH earthquakes, world war 1 and two, and the Spanish influence to name a few hard years for people who ran the country. In fact, one could argue that they had it alright, as NZ as a whole was happy to help during the first year of Covid, and did help in keeping the country safe. And that support propelled them into a full majority in government.
To me Jacinda Ardern is a person how sometimes excelled – the CHCH massacre was a fine showing of them, and sometimes did /say things that did not work for them. The mandates come to mind, the lawn protests come to mind, and in the end Self ID – any one who identifies as a man or a women is it, sex no longer being applicable to identify someone or to even just assume some ones 'idendity'. No more then i would assume you or anyone else to be either a women or a man unless they state so explicitly.
Personally i have no more use for Jacinda then i have for John Key, they are people that at best create a world that is easier for workers/poor people at worst they make it harder , and every other year they get replaced and workers and the poor will have to live with their legacy what ever that may be, and they will still be looked after well thanks to nice appointments and perks courtesy of the tax payer.
Yes Anne, there are false narratives abounding, the biggest of those.." Labour has caused hardship."
I don't think those bitter people realise how hard people are working to reconnect communities after the storms, how they are trying so hard to mend the patchwork of the contract act's lowest common denominator of any past work, the lowest price.
The past lying about "efficiencies', which turned out to be the lowest bid for the contract, not the most efficient at meeting real needs.
Our Forestry is an example. The cheapest labour transport and a small portion of the tree used. The left over materials? Some one else will wear that, "not their problem." All contracts need environmental frameworks which have been missing in the "austerity efficiency drive"of past governments.
We need to ask ourselves, "What outcomes overall do we want?"
It is not "a dog eat dog race to the bottom." It is community care and co-operation which supports people to find their good life.
So called past efficiencies were built on poor practice, because contracting was aiming to be the cheapest not the best.
To build consensus to work together threatens power plays of the 5%, and Chippy is avoiding the cult of personality, while setting frameworks in place and selecting a competent group of facilitators like Keirin McAnulty.
It is always hard to win a 3rd term, but Chippy and Labour are giving it their best shot, with work done by Parker to show the rich were rich before covid, and are not contributing as much as their poorer cousins to the community pot, but they are happy to skew the playing field with huge donations to National and Act.
Winter has always come Sabine, and remember this government provided a payment to help with that, and will always support encourage and help people in the face of huge problems. As Chippy stated, "we are for skills science and opportunity".
Personally, at 81 I am glad we had the government we did through the problems we have had. I do not see the National or Act group as any improvement, and probably climate denial to read their skimpy policy positions.
The raising of divisive issues to divide us into factions, is more of the same old same old from them.
As someone affected by the summer storms, I have had visits from multiple sources ranging from my insurance company, related groups, tradesmen of all shapes and sizes 😀 and other individuals. I'm surprised there have been no local rumours of a newly minted brothel in their midst but maybe age…….. 🙁
All of them have gone above and beyond to be helpful and, at least in part, I believe the government's overall handling of the crisis has made a big difference. And of course it is just the latest of a series of crisis that have befallen this government and every one of them has been competently handled.
If the past six years had followed a more normal course, many of the problems still facing the country would have been well on the way to recovery which is something the naysayers – that includes sections of the media as well at the opposition parties – never acknowledge of course.
I hope it all holds good in this coming piece of weather
Anne.
It beggars belief it might happen over again. This time more of NZ could be in the firing line. The outcome depends on a very stubborn high pressure system to the east of NZ which looks like it is going to refuse to move on.
The giant minds of National explain that their being nice to landlords policy allows trickledown to tenants … if and when landlords want to …
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/04/michael-wood-lashes-out-at-national-s-cold-hearted-promise-to-allow-evictions-without-reason-says-it-won-t-fix-lack-of-housing.html
So in 3 years from 2017 to February 2021 rents went up $90 and in the 2 years since another $60 and this is proof that the new rental standards pushed up rent costs. It's basically the same rate of increase in rent as before the change.
And these are the people who want to restore the teaching of maths back to where it was when they were in school?
The average rent was $350 in March 2015 and increased to $450 in 2017. $100 that time. That rate of increase is clearly faster than since Feb 2021.
https://ecoprofile.infometrics.co.nz/wellington%20region/StandardOfLiving/Rent
More fact free policy from National pandering to their donors, party members and their interests, not those of tenants. Nor those who want to buy first homes as their policy is designed to enable more buying up of property by the rentier class.
PS the dollar amounts of increase in recent years are off a higher base and thus a smaller percentage rate of increase per dollar (for those in the mathematically challenged National caucus).
Here's National's policy. "“National has a plan to help combat the cost of living. We will bring discipline to government spending, reduce cost on businesses, fix worker shortages and provide tax relief to hard working Kiwis.”
This is designed to fix what they say are these problems. “The recent release of benefit statistics shows that the cost-of-living crisis is completely out of control with more than $247 million spent in the last three months on hardship payments – the highest in New Zealand’s history.
“Almost 659,000 New Zealanders received a hardship assistance payment in the first quarter of this year – more than a 100 per cent increase compared with five years ago.
“The vast majority of hardship payments were for food, making it abundantly clear Kiwis are struggling to put food on the table.
“Labour has been in power for over five and half years and their economic mismanagement and lack of plan to address the cost-of-living crisis is hurting too many New Zealanders, who are now unable to live without additional financial support."
That, folks, is where National is going to be heading with its rhetoric and policies. All this from a news release emailed from Louise Upston's office today.
More New Zealanders to get hardship support
22 October 2021.
People who are struggling to meet essential costs such as rent, heating, and food may be eligible for hardship support from Work and Income.
From 1 November, anyone who meets the increased income thresholds, such as casual or part-time workers, or people who aren't already getting financial support may be eligible for assistance.
For example:
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/about-work-and-income/news/2021/more-new-zealanders-to-get-hardship-support.html
The National Party is merely identifying that Labour is helping people with the cost of living (the inflation is global by the way) increase via the hardship grant.
They're right though, the problem is they ain't gonna fix it ,
The animated simulation is quite something.
The report's authors said their simulated peak height of the largest blast, number five in the sequence, was 85 metres.
"Immediately after the explosion, the transient blast cavity that becomes the tsunami is 6km across, forming a wave 85m high on the north side of HTHH and 65m high to the south.
"The wave runups from the 2022 HTHH explosive event comfortably meet the criteria for a megatsunami and contend for the largest event anywhere in the past 100 years."
Watch a simulation of the eruption.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/488758/scale-of-2022-tonga-eruption-leads-to-rethink-on-underwater-volcanoes
Can we now agree the United States of America is fucked?
Man shoots neighbour dead for using leqaf blower in own yard
Why anyone believes that this failed state has anything of value to offer others on planet Earth trying to find a way to live a life of meaning and compassion amid climate collapse and gross human greed fails my comprehension.
The USA is the place to be, a six year old black child knocked on the neighbors door to get permission to recover his ball from the back lawn and got blown away. Molly the Monk. Hence I am not that keen on relaxing the Gun Laws here in NZ.
The brainwashing of my dad
A US youtube doco that explores how outrage tv and outrage talkback rot social connections and turn mild people into angry, fearful bigots. Don’t think it doesn’t happen here.