Maybe some people are better at putting on various masks than others, I prefer the honesty of the moment probably due to a number of frustrations I'm sure it will pass.
"If Labour are out at the next election, NZ will get the future it deserves."
That's my fear in a way – that we may have to sink so low before an awakening, and by that time there'll be SFA left. (I'm a glass half full kinda guy).
My opinion is that Ardern's popularity has gone down because Ihumatao. Protesters have targeted her with their demand that she visit the site/march to her electorate office. Leading to some on the left no longer supporting her as the preferred PM.
I accept I could totally be wrong about this.
Jacinda is not the problem. If we lose the next election is will be a horror show.
BTW VTO your barely worth replying to in terms of how Ardern sounds. She is a good 30 points above Simon and I strongly believe that popularity has gone down because of Ihumatao. Its a year out to the next election. Long time in politics.
Afaik her popularity hasn't gone down. There was a rise after the mosque shootings, which seems pretty normal to me, and now it's dropped back to what it was before. Also seem normal to me.
According to the polls, and let's not forget the forces of manipulation at play from the right and the MSM.
meh – most people don’t care about Ihumātao at all. They will however if the government puts their hand in the tax payers pocket (even for a loan). Then you will really see popularity drop like a stone.
Still there are are plenty of other issues that it could be: kiwibuild, light rail not starting, complaints of sexual assault in the PMs office – the complete and dismal “year of delivery” backing off on CGT to name a few.
In 2013, as Labour's social development spokesperson, Ms Ardern criticised the drug sanctions telling NZ Herald that cutting support for drug users would reduce their chances of rehabilitation.
"All of the evidence suggests that responding in the way National has suggested doesn't work," she said.
"They will however if the government puts their hand in the tax payers pocket "
Funny there was no outcry when Joyce and National government around 2011 or so put their hand in taxpayers pocket to buy 45% of listed company Chorus for $940 mill.
Where was your outrage over that 'arrangement' James
this is my concern too. I had been hoping that Labour getting NZF votes and Greens getting Labour votes would work, but with National going right Peters may just end up following. Otoh, what can National offer him policy-wise if they've gone Trumpian right?
Which is basically National's best hope for government. But the nats are really hoping for a further-right party to be their politically-relevant friend. But that's not looking likely at all.
now I'm trying to imagine a scenario of the L/G govt and a Nat no mates and NZF opposition. I guess the Nat vote would have to collapse. Looking at the 2nd term election for Clark's government, the Nat vote went to NZF but between them they didn't have the numbers. I'm trying to remember what Labour were doing that was kept them there.
Watched the Alliance rot from the top down and made JimA deputy PM. Although Labour had ruled out a coalition with NZ1 in 2002, they played UF over the Greens.
If I were the PM and quite a few of her Ministers, I'd be putting a few of her senior officials on the Drip Dry setting. It bypasses the Spin cycle and saves time and heartache having to iron out all the bloody wrinkles afterwards.
They'd be some of those officials that thought it quite OK for example to use the likes of Thompson and Clark. As far as I know, not too many of them have yet been held to account in any sort of meaningful way
If I were the PM and quite a few of her Ministers, I'd be putting a few of her senior officials on the Drip Dry setting. It bypasses the Spin cycle and saves time and heartache having to iron out all the bloody wrinkles afterwards.
Brilliant!
I heard the other day that a person with whom I had small contact with in the course of their work as a National appointee to a disability work stream is now working in the Office of the Prime Minister. Strange, as I had the impression that this person was 'on to it' disability wise. Strange, because my constant moan at the moment when doing my usual government document search on matters disability is"… who the bloody hell is advising these Ministers???'
Another update on this from the Misery of Health’s website.
They have released this Cabinet Paper dated September 2018.
Also this 51 page tome dated around about when the announcement was made in July.
There’s over eighty pages of discussion, and since both Peter and I struggle to read volumes on screen I began to print them out.
Big mistake. Will I ever bloody learn? Not quite as many solid blacked out redactions as the Previous Incumbents’ effort that so riled readers here on Public Address back in 2013…but not far off.
By the way, I think we probably reached 'peak spin' 3 or 4 years ago.
I'm waiting for "Kaizen principles" to be reinvented and trotted out under a new label.
For the first time in my life of voting 'to the left' (Labour mostly with a tinge of Green), 2020 is going to be a bloody hard decision. (Did I tell you about the latest little Pinot Gris I've discovered darling? It goes wonderfully with the NZ salmon – which you can get 25% cheaper in Okkerland))
Yep, well to continue the analogy (from someone who has jumped in and out of the PS most of my life), there's also no need for the toxic fabric softeners either. And they just might find there'd be organisational culture improvements, the peons would feel safer and less bullied, staff turnover might get better (especially in places like the Munstry for Everything, but elsewhere),the number of Employment Court cases would reduce, and the idea of actual 'public service' (i.e. ekshully serving the public) might return.
Meanwhile ……………
It's possible they might even be able to catch up with things like Visa processing, or cases of worker exploitation, or processing Warrants and Certificates of Fitness, or closing down shoddy education, or even bloody radio interference (if that's even still on the agenda), or proper monitoring or oversight in a number of areas.
The downside of course is that Astoria's business might take a huge dive but that'd be quite easy to fix
The problem is dumping Ministers looks like the Government doesn’t know what it’s doing. !!!?? If National had a leader! The Coalition would be in shitters ditch.
Time to toughen up, speak more clearly, straighten the shoulders, do bolder things.
There's an element of truth to vto's comment.
Jacinda's tough, but it's time she showed it more. Yesterday in response to Paula Bennett she retaliated with a barb which went straight to the heart of the matter under discussion and created a minor uproar. She reminded Paula B that:
" I would never weaponise people's personal information" It was a direct reference to Bennett's release of the financial details of the two solo mums back in 2010.
“The quote by JA is around 5 mins in.)
It was a perfect response and there should be more of this kind of rhetoric coming from Jacinda Ardern. It is an essential part of the political fabric to treat 'like with like' and can't be avoided if Labour wants to remain in power.
I too, find her responses to interviewers to be less than clear on occasion both in delivery and content. It's as if she's trying to appease everyone and it often comes across as piecemeal and hard to decipher. Relatively brief down to earth responses will always have a bigger impact on voters than slightly rambling dissertations.
I was interested to discover through doing an interview with farming land use consultant, that the furore in the region I live in over people buying hill country farms and converting them to forestry has nothing to do with the government's One Billion Trees Programme. Instead he says the conversions are being driven by good commercial returns on forestry when the trees are harvested, along with additional cash flow from carbon credits. The 50 Shades of Green sheep & beef farmer lead movement seems to have conveniently conflated the two together, and it is being reported as such in the media
Often the 'hill country' is marginal for stock and prone to erosion. Usually the deal will involve keeping the flatter parts in production and only taking out the steeper parts.
What is the matter with the civil service – they are failing to do a good job for the citizens. The Home Office in the UK has been reprimanded over a misleading advertisement and their first response is to disagree. We get the Departments spending taxpayers money to fight what appear to be reasonable judicial decisions.
Brexit: Home Office advert banned for 'misleading' EU citizens
And some Brits are finding us too dear. Oh dear now someone else has noticed we aren't 100% anything maybe the gummint and smart-business will get their a into g.
It is tiresome to have so many business people parroting (on the likes of Q+A, The Nation etc) things they heard at the latest business breakfast.
"We need to get rid of red tape"
"We need to reduce government regulation"
If you cannot do business in NZ it is most likely not the fault of government.
The World Bank's latest 2019 Doing Business report has ranked NZ, for the third year running, as THE NUMBER ONE EASIEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD in which to do business.
– better than Singapore, Denmark and Hong Kong (2, 3 & 4 respectively)
– better than the US (#8), UK (#9), Australia (#18)
So why the need for a regulation bonfire? To cynically exploit an unexamined bias against government in order to gather votes? Yet another dog whistle?
If your business is not doing as well as you would like then you had better look at other factors than regulation:
1. External environmental factors (the advice given in almost any year one of a business degree – know your operating environment) i.e the world economy, weak or absent demand for the widgets you produce, trade protectionism in foreign markets etc etc
2. Internal environment factors – management failure, poor or short-sighted planning, unrealistic expectations, lack of innovation & research to keep up with customer demands etc.
In the regulations that matter most to business customers, however, businesses find massive barriers to entry against them, and plenty of government weakness to perpetuate it. There are near-cartels operating in whole industries including:
– Supermarkets
– Media
– Oil and petrol supply
– Electricity generation
– Primary and secondary education
– Telecommunications
– Insurance
– Banking
– All construction materials
– Sea ports
– Alcoholic drinks
All of those need massive competition interventions by the government because we know they are screwing us for either service or cost or both. Few are natural monopolies such as public water. So far this government has started on petrol, but we won't see any results to that this term. That's it.
National should concentrate on promising to smash some cartels up. Voters I am sure would take notice.
The upper-class authoritarian rule of the Conservatives under Boorish. Can't have a very restrained mural about the EU on a wall of a booring building.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said it would make also way for Boris Johnson's new administration to hold a Queen's Speech – laying out the government's plans – on 14 October…
Laura Kuenssberg said only a small number of government ministers knew about the plan before its announcement and it would inevitably cause a huge row…
With the sale of Westland Milk, Westpower are one of the last New Zealand owned west coast corporates keeping lots of people there on good salaries. No amount of serving coffee to tourists at $18 an hour will compare to this kind of business.
I probably don't have to describe how the monolith 51% owned generator and retailer Genesis is sucking blood out of us, and the government essentially assisting them by crunching any attempt at major competition doesn't help us consumers:
Yup. As a kayaker who once upon a time might have had the skills to paddle that gorge (but would never have had the cojones for it), I do indeed support Minister Parker's decision.
In terms of adding to renewables capacity, there's hundreds of megawatts of wind farms already consented, but not being built due to lack of demand. Against that background, a decision to decline a 20MW scheme that would trash a pretty special bit of river seems just simply the right thing to do.
The people with enough money to enjoy NZ and like to do it in style should be considered as top priority? It may be good to have water conserved in a dam or lake, and make electricity too. Kayakers might have to suck it up and go elsewhere. This is not the 20th century, and we run the risk of losing a lot more than a thrilling set of rapids.
We are building a dam here in Tasman. I hope it is being built for practical purposes of having water available in droughts, which is the stated reason. If it is to change land use to irrigated dairying it will result in some very angry people who have lost a clean lovely river.
The west coast if it stuck to the basics of water conservation, not exporting it, and electricity at lower prices to the local area would not be disadvantaged.
Business, we have learned how to start them. But how to keep them going and profitable seems our problem.
When we decided to make exporting a push for NZ to make more money and opened up our borders and chucked out the tariffs, it put a lot of people out of jobs within a short time. The attitude was that new jobs would grow which would take us into the future at a more modern level. We would be seeing more high tech, value added jobs. But the 'hospo' jobs that have arisen have been built on low wages, and the 'modern' has disappeared. So ordinary workers have had their opportunities to make their way in life diminished by the behaviour of government.
There seems to be the same attitude to the micro businesses that people are forced to start up to have an income, and then compete with each other and profits can be absent. Competition can include foreign sharks coming from Britain to take us down! There can be barriers to income with councils working on roads and cutting off the customer access to a tiny family business. Police may shut off a road and access to shops there while they scour the area for evidence after a crime in poor areas. Sub-contractors don't get paid after working on a job because of a rort.
There need to be a group of trouble shooters who can act as movers and shakers as part of a Small Business Agency. Tiny businesses can call to them for help, when the machine of state pushes their ability to make a living aside.
I agree Aotearoa is in a great position to weather the financial storm being created by America.
The capitalists are lureing our Rangatahi to vaping our government is going to bring them back to heal with new legislation to stop the advertising targeting youth.
That's a good move putting food in lower decial school some tamariki have no food in their whare what A crying shame.
boris is just a fool who likes to win at all cost watch his party flop out.
I don't think a NZ Mp using a cryptic phone while in China is offensive to China. They know that its not about trust. Its about making sure that one coms is safe they would use those pH all the time.
Good on you Greata sailing to America to champion human cause climate change We are doing our bit to lower our carbon footprint to Ka pai.
Condolences to Pita Pione whanau I'm sure he will be missed by his whanau
I, , whanau make sure you pepi and tamariki have been vaxcernated don't risk them getting measles do all you can to avoid them catching the virus.
Our Government putting lunches in lower decial school will be great for tangata whenua Rangatahi quite a lot of our tamariki are in lower decial school.
New trade training in Manukau and other places in Auckland will help Maori and Pacific youth get a great skill set and qualification to lift them up there ladders of life. This move back to training our youth with trade training is well over due I tryed to get my son into a good trade but there were to many Awa to cross to get them in a course in those days.
That's great Tainui is mahi with the Cook Islands people that's the way many hands make light mahi.
Science is advancing fast its not going to be long before we have technology that advances learning to just PAY and down load the knowledge hence the wealth will have a huge advantage over the rest of us. Hence we need simple smart solutions to this un democratic phenomenon as everyone has to be held accountable for their Actions.
This measles outbreak is happening all Around the Western Papatuanuku cause right leaders get power they slash social security payments to the people slashed health spending and give hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidys to the carbon barons..
Food in school for the poor tamariki is a perfect opportunity to teach tamariki how to eat healthy foods. Eating and food is a very serious subject in A GREAT country France they feed there tamariki at school and teach them to eat healthy foods after all we are what we eat.
Ed music fits in with the common people across the Papatuanuku I like his music Aotearoa was one place were his music started to hit the charts first kia kaha Ed.
When we have had a government that shorts the housing market so it takes one person's wage to pay rent add organisation beening aloud to hire people on temporary no hours guarantee employment contract they don't know if they will get 2 hours or 50 hours for the week they can't guarantee putting food on the table . The price of good food has gone from being one of the cheapest in the OECD to the dearest in 9 year. Thanks steven once Head of the retailers accocation. The Trolls have a cheek trying to justify their putting down free food for tamariki. Eco Maori wrote the above words before the Wahine from Kids Can came on the show.
Fungi Truffles Mushrooms ect are a super food that is under underutilised in Europe its quite the trend to forage for mushrooms Peter I say you using our great food produce is awesome I enjoy watching your shows. That is going to be the new way to do thing use the local food or food with a low carbon footprint like ours I sit here watching sheep with 3 lambs at foot enjoying Te Ra sitting in a green grass paddock
I agree the money organising are fleece people the whole Papatuanuku over why charge heaps for a computing transactions to change currency and all the other services that are just computer transfer????????.
Tris great subject I don't agree that New Zealand did not support the Great White Shark being protected by the international community sad but this subject was under the rada there was little reported in the media on the subjects.
I think it's great that our government is investing in growing seaweed for food production it is a super food that we need to grow commercialy to feed the people in the future.
I think that study about genitics on gay people is fulse of course its genitics not just the environment effects. I have seen people from baby's displaying a gay behavior the people who commissioned this study are religious or people who are against our gay community.
No comment on the USA space commanded
Its great that Aotearoa fashion community is celebrating diversity having elderly models large models this is a great move to getting people to except equallity for all as just showing the perfect person actually discrimination against the others whom are a different culture colour.
Tahu Potiki is a well respected person in the Maori community he got a big send off.
Ka pai to Te Maori King for going to Rarotonga to meet their leaders
Its excellent that our government is putting money into Para kore to boost the zero waste program for marae.
Cool seeing other native cultures included in the physicalogical society a lot of western institutions ignore Te tangata whenua knowledge
I agree with Dr Kopu the stats don't lie there is case of instructional raceism in New Zealand even the Eco Maori phenomenon points directly at the problem.
That is what is needed everyone getting vaxcernated against the infection of measles through pop up clinics in Auckland.
Drug companies hide the negative effects of the drugs they make all in the name of profits.
I back the workers of sky city striking for a better wage and fair conditions.
There is great interest in Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Arterfacts Art and culture awesome.
Checking twice for bikes is a great way to teach people to think about their fellow people on the road riding bikes Ka pai.
Its about time Brazil is making moves to stop the fire in the Amazon that farmers was just talking with his wallet no though process going on there fool.
Ka pai Jared your mahi teaching tangata whenua about living a sustainable life with a low carbon footprint is excellent I talk to everyone about zero waste and lower carbon energy. I will be copying you and planting a food forest my cus has one. With that life style one is busy most times.
A lot of doctors discrimination against tangata whenua I know how the Wahine felt. I have seen it with my own eyes I make sure I deal with them professionally mite be a bit loud but that's because Te atua gave me a strong voice.
People need to respect Ngāti Toa haka Ka mate and ask if they want to use it commercially. Its tatau tatau give and take but a lot of people just want to take take take.
Eco Maori tau toko this brave young Wahine I say all the tamariki of the Papatuanuku should join her in protecting there future environment from the lying cheating carbon barrons love of money over LIFE ON EARTH.
Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg was joined by swelling and excited crowds of American teenagers at a protest outside the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, in a further blossoming of the youth environment movement given extra thrust by the Swede’s transatlantic boat crossing.
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Some US children said they were at their first ever climate demonstration; others said they had been passionate about the environment for a while but had been galvanized to act by Thunberg’s rising profile.
On Friday afternoon, Thunberg and two young activists were spontaneously invited inside the UN for a meeting with a senior leader, described as “very supportive”.
Greta Thunberg 'wants a concrete plan, not just nice words' to fight climate crisis
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Just two days after Thunberg disembarkedfrom a yacht in New York, following two weeks on rough seas crossing from the UK, young protesters dominated the crowd of up to 1,000 outside the United Nations skyscraper in Manhattan.
They came together to demand politicians and older generations take urgent and comprehensive action to reverse the climate crisis.
Carrying hand-drawn placards with messages such as “United behind the science” and “Act now or we will”, children and young people of all ages surged into a park in front of the flags of the world outside the UN on Friday morning.
Thunberg sat cheerfully but pensively in the middle of the rally, which had a rather more earnest than festive atmosphere. Young speakers gave spontaneous speeches or led chants of “System change, not climate change” and “Don’t just watch us, join us.
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Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
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 ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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 ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
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Jacinda Adern doesn't come across very well any longer I think… too earnest, too many mealy words and qualifications, too much hesitation.
This combined with little real left-type action (e.g. letting the wealthy retain tax-free capital income) points to trouble with re-election imo.
Time to toughen up, speak more clearly, straighten the shoulders, do bolder things
Maybe some people are better at putting on various masks than others, I prefer the honesty of the moment probably due to a number of frustrations I'm sure it will pass.
Winston First may struggle to be re-elected for the governing coalition ditching CGT, I guess.
My awakening horror is that as National track right, NZF will pick up soft right votes and get to control the formation of government again.
If Labour are out at the next election, NZ will get the future it deserves.
"If Labour are out at the next election, NZ will get the future it deserves."
That's my fear in a way – that we may have to sink so low before an awakening, and by that time there'll be SFA left. (I'm a glass half full kinda guy).
My opinion is that Ardern's popularity has gone down because Ihumatao. Protesters have targeted her with their demand that she visit the site/march to her electorate office. Leading to some on the left no longer supporting her as the preferred PM.
I accept I could totally be wrong about this.
Jacinda is not the problem. If we lose the next election is will be a horror show.
BTW VTO your barely worth replying to in terms of how Ardern sounds. She is a good 30 points above Simon and I strongly believe that popularity has gone down because of Ihumatao. Its a year out to the next election. Long time in politics.
Afaik her popularity hasn't gone down. There was a rise after the mosque shootings, which seems pretty normal to me, and now it's dropped back to what it was before. Also seem normal to me.
According to the polls, and let's not forget the forces of manipulation at play from the right and the MSM.
meh – most people don’t care about Ihumātao at all. They will however if the government puts their hand in the tax payers pocket (even for a loan). Then you will really see popularity drop like a stone.
Still there are are plenty of other issues that it could be: kiwibuild, light rail not starting, complaints of sexual assault in the PMs office – the complete and dismal “year of delivery” backing off on CGT to name a few.
Stories like this won't be helping:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/ardern-labelled-hypocrite-enforcing-drug-sanctions-beneficiaries
In 2013, as Labour's social development spokesperson, Ms Ardern criticised the drug sanctions telling NZ Herald that cutting support for drug users would reduce their chances of rehabilitation.
"All of the evidence suggests that responding in the way National has suggested doesn't work," she said.
"They will however if the government puts their hand in the tax payers pocket "
Funny there was no outcry when Joyce and National government around 2011 or so put their hand in taxpayers pocket to buy 45% of listed company Chorus for $940 mill.
Where was your outrage over that 'arrangement' James
Not forgetting SCF, mediaw**ks, and AMI….
Personally think it hasn’t really come down.
It has just returned to what it was before the massive jump from Ch Ch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_New_Zealand_general_election#Individual_polls
"If Labour are out at the next election, NZ will get the future it deserves."
A plausible scenario next election is Greens bigger vote than NZ First who then decide to go with National.
That means Labour and Greens out . Winston has always liked a 'simple coalition' rather than 3 legged stools
this is my concern too. I had been hoping that Labour getting NZF votes and Greens getting Labour votes would work, but with National going right Peters may just end up following. Otoh, what can National offer him policy-wise if they've gone Trumpian right?
Which is basically National's best hope for government. But the nats are really hoping for a further-right party to be their politically-relevant friend. But that's not looking likely at all.
now I'm trying to imagine a scenario of the L/G govt and a Nat no mates and NZF opposition. I guess the Nat vote would have to collapse. Looking at the 2nd term election for Clark's government, the Nat vote went to NZF but between them they didn't have the numbers. I'm trying to remember what Labour were doing that was kept them there.
Watched the Alliance rot from the top down and made JimA deputy PM. Although Labour had ruled out a coalition with NZ1 in 2002, they played UF over the Greens.
Lots of parties in parliament in those days.
Might be spending too much time with her 'officials' ?
"Ultimately" it will all sort itself out in the wash "going forward"
Thanks for your observations, I am sure they'll be noted with the gravity they deserve.
ha ha, I'm sure 2c goes a long way in Wellington…. can you even buy a lolly for 2c there?
Fancy admitting your observations are only worth 2c VTO. Mind you, that might be infinitely more than Sanctuary thinks they are worth.
If I were the PM and quite a few of her Ministers, I'd be putting a few of her senior officials on the Drip Dry setting. It bypasses the Spin cycle and saves time and heartache having to iron out all the bloody wrinkles afterwards.
They'd be some of those officials that thought it quite OK for example to use the likes of Thompson and Clark. As far as I know, not too many of them have yet been held to account in any sort of meaningful way
If I were the PM and quite a few of her Ministers, I'd be putting a few of her senior officials on the Drip Dry setting. It bypasses the Spin cycle and saves time and heartache having to iron out all the bloody wrinkles afterwards.
Brilliant!
I heard the other day that a person with whom I had small contact with in the course of their work as a National appointee to a disability work stream is now working in the Office of the Prime Minister. Strange, as I had the impression that this person was 'on to it' disability wise. Strange, because my constant moan at the moment when doing my usual government document search on matters disability is"… who the bloody hell is advising these Ministers???'
From my recent post on Pubic Address…https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/access-reviewing-funded-family-care-and-repealing/?p=382656#post382656
Another update on this from the Misery of Health’s website.
They have released this Cabinet Paper dated September 2018.
Also this 51 page tome dated around about when the announcement was made in July.
There’s over eighty pages of discussion, and since both Peter and I struggle to read volumes on screen I began to print them out.
Big mistake. Will I ever bloody learn? Not quite as many solid blacked out redactions as the Previous Incumbents’ effort that so riled readers here on Public Address back in 2013…but not far off.
Simply not acceptable.
Not.Fucking. Okay.
Open and transparent government my arse.
Heard of the Ombudsman and their OIA guidelines. Check it out and if you dont like the deletions APPEAL.
Clearly its a major interest for you but dont just let it slip.
By the way, I think we probably reached 'peak spin' 3 or 4 years ago.
I'm waiting for "Kaizen principles" to be reinvented and trotted out under a new label.
For the first time in my life of voting 'to the left' (Labour mostly with a tinge of Green), 2020 is going to be a bloody hard decision. (Did I tell you about the latest little Pinot Gris I've discovered darling? It goes wonderfully with the NZ salmon – which you can get 25% cheaper in Okkerland))
Yep, well to continue the analogy (from someone who has jumped in and out of the PS most of my life), there's also no need for the toxic fabric softeners either. And they just might find there'd be organisational culture improvements, the peons would feel safer and less bullied, staff turnover might get better (especially in places like the Munstry for Everything, but elsewhere),the number of Employment Court cases would reduce, and the idea of actual 'public service' (i.e. ekshully serving the public) might return.
Meanwhile ……………
It's possible they might even be able to catch up with things like Visa processing, or cases of worker exploitation, or processing Warrants and Certificates of Fitness, or closing down shoddy education, or even bloody radio interference (if that's even still on the agenda), or proper monitoring or oversight in a number of areas.
The downside of course is that Astoria's business might take a huge dive but that'd be quite easy to fix
And is anyone listening to them? – organisational culture sets the filtering out of 'distractions'.
The problem is dumping Ministers looks like the Government doesn’t know what it’s doing. !!!?? If National had a leader! The Coalition would be in shitters ditch.
Time to toughen up, speak more clearly, straighten the shoulders, do bolder things.
There's an element of truth to vto's comment.
Jacinda's tough, but it's time she showed it more. Yesterday in response to Paula Bennett she retaliated with a barb which went straight to the heart of the matter under discussion and created a minor uproar. She reminded Paula B that:
" I would never weaponise people's personal information" It was a direct reference to Bennett's release of the financial details of the two solo mums back in 2010.
“The quote by JA is around 5 mins in.)
It was a perfect response and there should be more of this kind of rhetoric coming from Jacinda Ardern. It is an essential part of the political fabric to treat 'like with like' and can't be avoided if Labour wants to remain in power.
I too, find her responses to interviewers to be less than clear on occasion both in delivery and content. It's as if she's trying to appease everyone and it often comes across as piecemeal and hard to decipher. Relatively brief down to earth responses will always have a bigger impact on voters than slightly rambling dissertations.
Never hurt Key to be full of cliches and catch phrases. ….."at the end of the day"
VTO. 1 Wow nothing to add from me except support for your comment.
Great animation of nations ranked by military spending year by year, 1914-2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw2Wm8T6tio
Great graphic Sacha. Thank you.
I learned a lot in that short time.
I was interested to discover through doing an interview with farming land use consultant, that the furore in the region I live in over people buying hill country farms and converting them to forestry has nothing to do with the government's One Billion Trees Programme. Instead he says the conversions are being driven by good commercial returns on forestry when the trees are harvested, along with additional cash flow from carbon credits. The 50 Shades of Green sheep & beef farmer lead movement seems to have conveniently conflated the two together, and it is being reported as such in the media
Often the 'hill country' is marginal for stock and prone to erosion. Usually the deal will involve keeping the flatter parts in production and only taking out the steeper parts.
What is the matter with the civil service – they are failing to do a good job for the citizens. The Home Office in the UK has been reprimanded over a misleading advertisement and their first response is to disagree. We get the Departments spending taxpayers money to fight what appear to be reasonable judicial decisions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49488324
Brexit: Home Office advert banned for 'misleading' EU citizens
And some Brits are finding us too dear. Oh dear now someone else has noticed we aren't 100% anything maybe the gummint and smart-business will get their a into g.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/397602/what-makes-britain-great-fewer-brits-up-sticks-to-head-our-way
So we are set for a "bonfire" of regulations?
It is tiresome to have so many business people parroting (on the likes of Q+A, The Nation etc) things they heard at the latest business breakfast.
"We need to get rid of red tape"
"We need to reduce government regulation"
If you cannot do business in NZ it is most likely not the fault of government.
The World Bank's latest 2019 Doing Business report has ranked NZ, for the third year running, as THE NUMBER ONE EASIEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD in which to do business.
– better than Singapore, Denmark and Hong Kong (2, 3 & 4 respectively)
– better than the US (#8), UK (#9), Australia (#18)
https://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/media/Annual-Reports/English/DB2019-report_web-version.pdf
So why the need for a regulation bonfire? To cynically exploit an unexamined bias against government in order to gather votes? Yet another dog whistle?
If your business is not doing as well as you would like then you had better look at other factors than regulation:
1. External environmental factors (the advice given in almost any year one of a business degree – know your operating environment) i.e the world economy, weak or absent demand for the widgets you produce, trade protectionism in foreign markets etc etc
2. Internal environment factors – management failure, poor or short-sighted planning, unrealistic expectations, lack of innovation & research to keep up with customer demands etc.
<sigh>
In the regulations that matter most to business customers, however, businesses find massive barriers to entry against them, and plenty of government weakness to perpetuate it. There are near-cartels operating in whole industries including:
– Supermarkets
– Media
– Oil and petrol supply
– Electricity generation
– Primary and secondary education
– Telecommunications
– Insurance
– Banking
– All construction materials
– Sea ports
– Alcoholic drinks
All of those need massive competition interventions by the government because we know they are screwing us for either service or cost or both. Few are natural monopolies such as public water. So far this government has started on petrol, but we won't see any results to that this term. That's it.
National should concentrate on promising to smash some cartels up. Voters I am sure would take notice.
Biggest barrier to small business is National, impoverishing our customers.
Their sneaky charges, support for businesses who underpay migrant staff, and cuts to business services don’t help either.
The upper-class authoritarian rule of the Conservatives under Boorish. Can't have a very restrained mural about the EU on a wall of a booring building.
https://katv.com/news/entertainment/banksys-brexit-mural-disappears-from-wall-in-seaside-port
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LjF-oAJza4
Eddie Izzard says we have to be both brave and curious as far as getting on with the world is concerned. 4.40 with Joe Rogan – thoughts on Brexit.
Jordan Peterson thinks that referendums are a bad way of governing the country – Brexit 10 mins
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou62KYgXu_I&t=143s
Christopher Hitchens Destroys Angry Conservatives, Theists & Liberals 13 mins Religion leads to authoritarianism is theme.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/397690/uk-government-to-request-queen-to-suspend-parliament-ahead-of-brexit-deadline
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said it would make also way for Boris Johnson's new administration to hold a Queen's Speech – laying out the government's plans – on 14 October…
Laura Kuenssberg said only a small number of government ministers knew about the plan before its announcement and it would inevitably cause a huge row…
Government to hold a Queen’s Speech, just as all new Governments do. https://t.co/fgKSmLdOzb
— James Cleverly MP (@JamesCleverly) August 28, 2019
I am sure there will be avid kayakers who will support this decision of Minister Parker to stop the power station on the West Coast Waitaha River.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12262859
But to me it's a much bigger call than Minister Smith declining the gondola concession into Fiordland National Park a few years ago.
Forest and Bird of course love it. Even though I'm a member, I disagree with them on this one. Their statement:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1908/S00698/waitaha-river-saved-from-hydro-scheme.htm
With the sale of Westland Milk, Westpower are one of the last New Zealand owned west coast corporates keeping lots of people there on good salaries. No amount of serving coffee to tourists at $18 an hour will compare to this kind of business.
Here's the Minister's statement in full:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1908/S00281/waitaha-river-hydro-application-declined.htm
I probably don't have to describe how the monolith 51% owned generator and retailer Genesis is sucking blood out of us, and the government essentially assisting them by crunching any attempt at major competition doesn't help us consumers:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1908/S00781/update-genesis-underlying-profit-up-on-improved-retail.htm
Also hard to see anyone wanting to invest in the ability to make us 100% energy renewable using any kind of water resource after this.
Bit of a bugger for the West Coast all round.
Yup. As a kayaker who once upon a time might have had the skills to paddle that gorge (but would never have had the cojones for it), I do indeed support Minister Parker's decision.
In terms of adding to renewables capacity, there's hundreds of megawatts of wind farms already consented, but not being built due to lack of demand. Against that background, a decision to decline a 20MW scheme that would trash a pretty special bit of river seems just simply the right thing to do.
'Consented' is therefore of no consequence to whether the West Coast or electricity renewals will benefit then.
WestPower had the money and will to do it.
Nothing was going to be "trashed". Fully backed by DoC.
The people with enough money to enjoy NZ and like to do it in style should be considered as top priority? It may be good to have water conserved in a dam or lake, and make electricity too. Kayakers might have to suck it up and go elsewhere. This is not the 20th century, and we run the risk of losing a lot more than a thrilling set of rapids.
We are building a dam here in Tasman. I hope it is being built for practical purposes of having water available in droughts, which is the stated reason. If it is to change land use to irrigated dairying it will result in some very angry people who have lost a clean lovely river.
The west coast if it stuck to the basics of water conservation, not exporting it, and electricity at lower prices to the local area would not be disadvantaged.
Business, we have learned how to start them. But how to keep them going and profitable seems our problem.
When we decided to make exporting a push for NZ to make more money and opened up our borders and chucked out the tariffs, it put a lot of people out of jobs within a short time. The attitude was that new jobs would grow which would take us into the future at a more modern level. We would be seeing more high tech, value added jobs. But the 'hospo' jobs that have arisen have been built on low wages, and the 'modern' has disappeared. So ordinary workers have had their opportunities to make their way in life diminished by the behaviour of government.
There seems to be the same attitude to the micro businesses that people are forced to start up to have an income, and then compete with each other and profits can be absent. Competition can include foreign sharks coming from Britain to take us down! There can be barriers to income with councils working on roads and cutting off the customer access to a tiny family business. Police may shut off a road and access to shops there while they scour the area for evidence after a crime in poor areas. Sub-contractors don't get paid after working on a job because of a rort.
There need to be a group of trouble shooters who can act as movers and shakers as part of a Small Business Agency. Tiny businesses can call to them for help, when the machine of state pushes their ability to make a living aside.
Kia Ora Newshub.
I agree Aotearoa is in a great position to weather the financial storm being created by America.
The capitalists are lureing our Rangatahi to vaping our government is going to bring them back to heal with new legislation to stop the advertising targeting youth.
That's a good move putting food in lower decial school some tamariki have no food in their whare what A crying shame.
boris is just a fool who likes to win at all cost watch his party flop out.
I don't think a NZ Mp using a cryptic phone while in China is offensive to China. They know that its not about trust. Its about making sure that one coms is safe they would use those pH all the time.
Good on you Greata sailing to America to champion human cause climate change We are doing our bit to lower our carbon footprint to Ka pai.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Condolences to Pita Pione whanau I'm sure he will be missed by his whanau
I, , whanau make sure you pepi and tamariki have been vaxcernated don't risk them getting measles do all you can to avoid them catching the virus.
Our Government putting lunches in lower decial school will be great for tangata whenua Rangatahi quite a lot of our tamariki are in lower decial school.
New trade training in Manukau and other places in Auckland will help Maori and Pacific youth get a great skill set and qualification to lift them up there ladders of life. This move back to training our youth with trade training is well over due I tryed to get my son into a good trade but there were to many Awa to cross to get them in a course in those days.
That's great Tainui is mahi with the Cook Islands people that's the way many hands make light mahi.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Science is advancing fast its not going to be long before we have technology that advances learning to just PAY and down load the knowledge hence the wealth will have a huge advantage over the rest of us. Hence we need simple smart solutions to this un democratic phenomenon as everyone has to be held accountable for their Actions.
This measles outbreak is happening all Around the Western Papatuanuku cause right leaders get power they slash social security payments to the people slashed health spending and give hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidys to the carbon barons..
Food in school for the poor tamariki is a perfect opportunity to teach tamariki how to eat healthy foods. Eating and food is a very serious subject in A GREAT country France they feed there tamariki at school and teach them to eat healthy foods after all we are what we eat.
Ed music fits in with the common people across the Papatuanuku I like his music Aotearoa was one place were his music started to hit the charts first kia kaha Ed.
When we have had a government that shorts the housing market so it takes one person's wage to pay rent add organisation beening aloud to hire people on temporary no hours guarantee employment contract they don't know if they will get 2 hours or 50 hours for the week they can't guarantee putting food on the table . The price of good food has gone from being one of the cheapest in the OECD to the dearest in 9 year. Thanks steven once Head of the retailers accocation. The Trolls have a cheek trying to justify their putting down free food for tamariki. Eco Maori wrote the above words before the Wahine from Kids Can came on the show.
Fungi Truffles Mushrooms ect are a super food that is under underutilised in Europe its quite the trend to forage for mushrooms Peter I say you using our great food produce is awesome I enjoy watching your shows. That is going to be the new way to do thing use the local food or food with a low carbon footprint like ours I sit here watching sheep with 3 lambs at foot enjoying Te Ra sitting in a green grass paddock
I agree the money organising are fleece people the whole Papatuanuku over why charge heaps for a computing transactions to change currency and all the other services that are just computer transfer????????.
Tris great subject I don't agree that New Zealand did not support the Great White Shark being protected by the international community sad but this subject was under the rada there was little reported in the media on the subjects.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub
I think it's great that our government is investing in growing seaweed for food production it is a super food that we need to grow commercialy to feed the people in the future.
I think that study about genitics on gay people is fulse of course its genitics not just the environment effects. I have seen people from baby's displaying a gay behavior the people who commissioned this study are religious or people who are against our gay community.
No comment on the USA space commanded
Its great that Aotearoa fashion community is celebrating diversity having elderly models large models this is a great move to getting people to except equallity for all as just showing the perfect person actually discrimination against the others whom are a different culture colour.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Tahu Potiki is a well respected person in the Maori community he got a big send off.
Ka pai to Te Maori King for going to Rarotonga to meet their leaders
Its excellent that our government is putting money into Para kore to boost the zero waste program for marae.
Cool seeing other native cultures included in the physicalogical society a lot of western institutions ignore Te tangata whenua knowledge
I agree with Dr Kopu the stats don't lie there is case of instructional raceism in New Zealand even the Eco Maori phenomenon points directly at the problem.
Ka kite Ano
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/5Yj4j_lZMBo
Kia Ora Newshub.
That is what is needed everyone getting vaxcernated against the infection of measles through pop up clinics in Auckland.
Drug companies hide the negative effects of the drugs they make all in the name of profits.
I back the workers of sky city striking for a better wage and fair conditions.
There is great interest in Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Arterfacts Art and culture awesome.
Checking twice for bikes is a great way to teach people to think about their fellow people on the road riding bikes Ka pai.
Its about time Brazil is making moves to stop the fire in the Amazon that farmers was just talking with his wallet no though process going on there fool.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Ka pai Jared your mahi teaching tangata whenua about living a sustainable life with a low carbon footprint is excellent I talk to everyone about zero waste and lower carbon energy. I will be copying you and planting a food forest my cus has one. With that life style one is busy most times.
A lot of doctors discrimination against tangata whenua I know how the Wahine felt. I have seen it with my own eyes I make sure I deal with them professionally mite be a bit loud but that's because Te atua gave me a strong voice.
People need to respect Ngāti Toa haka Ka mate and ask if they want to use it commercially. Its tatau tatau give and take but a lot of people just want to take take take.
Ka kite Ano
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
Eco Maori tau toko this brave young Wahine I say all the tamariki of the Papatuanuku should join her in protecting there future environment from the lying cheating carbon barrons love of money over LIFE ON EARTH.
Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg was joined by swelling and excited crowds of American teenagers at a protest outside the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, in a further blossoming of the youth environment movement given extra thrust by the Swede’s transatlantic boat crossing.
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Some US children said they were at their first ever climate demonstration; others said they had been passionate about the environment for a while but had been galvanized to act by Thunberg’s rising profile.
On Friday afternoon, Thunberg and two young activists were spontaneously invited inside the UN for a meeting with a senior leader, described as “very supportive”.
Greta Thunberg 'wants a concrete plan, not just nice words' to fight climate crisis
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Just two days after Thunberg disembarkedfrom a yacht in New York, following two weeks on rough seas crossing from the UK, young protesters dominated the crowd of up to 1,000 outside the United Nations skyscraper in Manhattan.
They came together to demand politicians and older generations take urgent and comprehensive action to reverse the climate crisis.
Carrying hand-drawn placards with messages such as “United behind the science” and “Act now or we will”, children and young people of all ages surged into a park in front of the flags of the world outside the UN on Friday morning.
Thunberg sat cheerfully but pensively in the middle of the rally, which had a rather more earnest than festive atmosphere. Young speakers gave spontaneous speeches or led chants of “System change, not climate change” and “Don’t just watch us, join us.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/30/greta-thunberg-un-climate-protest-new-york