Another article where the focus is how important Key is. He’s mentioned by Obama and the press quiver like schoolgirls getting to see their latest boy popstar.
“Obama personally invited Key to the first nuclear security summit in Washington in 2010, because of New Zealand’s staunch anti-nuclear position…
ANDREA VANCE IN SEOUL – Is she one of these Journalism graduates on her first assignment? Is she aware that National have just got into bed with an ACT party whose leader wants the policy gone by lunchtime, and that the core of the cabinet believe that our “proud-position-on-nuclear-issues” has been hindering trade talks with Obama’s and earlier administrations?
.
Brash isn’t ACT’s leader any more, I believe Banks is, and I don’t think he wants the nuclear free policy “gone by lunchtime”, or at least, not publicly. Really it’s actually a non-issue: even if we did repeal that policy, the US isn’t going to send warships here anyway. There’s really nothing to gain by repealing it.
“It is a compliment as Obama mentioned only one other leader in the address – Italy’s Mario Monti. ”
LOL – What a shocker, Key being mentioned along with another Goldman Sachs Gang member. Surprised that Papademous, and Draghi do not rate a mention too…
Triples from a low basis when it should never have dropped in the first place.
Ellis plundered millions on failed digital strategies, Tivo and a cultutre of overpaid out of control personalities like Henry/Vietch etc including himself.
How much content that can be resold/rerun do TVNZ produce James ? That’s the real measure as that’s repeat revenue for a once off production cost.
Any monkey can slash costs and get a profit with their advertsising revenue…where’s the sustainable model that Ellis got nearly $1m p.a. for eh.
goes to show that james III has no idea about “costs” or “management” or in fact, what a well run organisation looks like. James only knows about a few financial figures, and even then sweet fuck all.
Noticed this appalling comment in Minister Bennett press release re: benefit reforms:
“We have women consigned to a life of welfare because over thirty years ago society said women couldn’t support themselves without a man.”
Apart from being historically incorrect what an abysmal statement.
Violence, abuse, rape, poverty, concern for children – nope none of these things were factors.
Your choices should be man or work. That’s it.
Paying you a benefit was a punishment because you can’t get by, by yourself.
WTF were you doing leaving your husband. The one who beat and raped you. The one who took all the money and you had to feed the kids on family benefit. The one who you had to go out and work because he sat at home drunk.
And when he walked out on you and left you with the kids, traded you in for a younger model, had only married you to cover up the fact that he was gay cause society didn’t like gay people either, that left cause he couldn’t handle that his sperm had produced a disabled kid (you must have slept with someone else), that just didn’t come home one day, that left you in the bush with your kids (Barry Crump) you should have just got on with it and worked. You lazy, indolent person.
And apparently we society sent you there. Consciously. We consigned you – deliberately.
Made you the non-person you are today. We apologise for doing this to you – I can’t believe we thought it was a good thing.
We are much wiser now and we know that paying a benefit was just another form of abuse. We’re sorry for perpetuating this abuse on you. I know we thought we were helping you but we weren’t.
And also if you managed to get pregnant by yourself (i.e. unmarried) your would have to abandon your child to indifferent and overworked adoption services, due to no ability to afford to raise it unsupported. Prospective adopters were able to “choose” from about five to six assorted babies of either sex and even specify what colouring.
That is the problem with NZ, and when I mean “NZ”, I mean that often implied powerful mass of imbalanced animalistic reactions that do no good, that makes no improvement; is inexplicably unable to recognise itself when faced with its own reflection; the source of which is “somewhere out there”; and of which no one wants to take the credit.
As a commenter posted yesterday, NZ doesn’t have any collective moral or social philosophy, and they’re right. Often a set of beliefs is called a philosophy, but that isn’t a true definition – it’s just another one of the failings of a self-referencing, post-modern, pop-culture, age. To have a philosophy you’d need to actively seek out the truth about life. You’d have to have seen and acknowledged the stuff that proved you were wrong, not just once, but as many times as it took. What we hold dear, it seems, and what is promoted by politicians and businessmen at large, is a collection of beliefs, values and manifesto that place the ego of the person holding the beliefs at the centre of the universe and distorts and limits the interpretation of what they see in relation to their own beliefs. Or as yesterday’s quote named it “the economy”.
I think we get this way by being taught that our identity as people is only on what we want to be – what we “act as”, imitate or aspire to being. When you believe you can be anything you want, you are saying that your mind, the part that thinks thoughts is all there is to you and that this “you” is your god, you are your own creator, that there are no immutable laws to life, that you can hold back nature with your own short-lived human will. Everywhere people try to hold back nature; they get boob-jobs to stop sagging, face lifts and laser treatments to stop wrinkles and actively scorn anything old; anything to maintain the grossest illusion of youth, that man is invincible. Few people know how to age and die.
The problem in parliament is the thinking that what is good for us is good for another, that we are all the same, in every way – or can be made to be. We believe time is linear, that context does not matter, that “the future” and “the past” are concrete places and forget they were really just moments like right now – innumerable present moments, most of them apparently full of nothing. We believe that experience or some variation on experience can predict the future; that “success” – the manifestation of our ego desires – is an emotion and a measure of truth; even after reality continually proves us wrong with its insolent co-incidental “chance” and “accidents”.
The people in parliament got where they are by believing they could influence ancient human natures, with money. Understanding isn’t on the check list for entry. Their attitude is adolescent. Voting is now a game of one ego addressing another. The sooner our parliamentary system comes to its inevitable end the better. While we can’t be rid of the chaos of unchecked childish minds, perhaps soon they won’t be elevated to positions of power over others.
Just heard the interview with the Finnish comedian commenting on Brownlee’s performance. One thing that stood out was that his English was near perfect – not a bad education system then is it Gerry? Now how is your Finnish, or Maori, or French, or German, Latin … nah, you even struggle with your mother tongue don’t you given the “misunderstandings” over this issue?
Technically yes but contextually we all know this is the first stage of legislation to doing this – unless you are confident that changes will be made via the select committee process to remove this.
You will note that the Minister press releases make reference to the other future changes as well e.g. widows benefit.
Perhaps you might like to let her know her press release was incorrect as well.
Complaining about what will never happen is a bit stupid too don’t you think?
(that’s not a “favourite of the right” or the left, it’s a favourite of the stupid and the sky will fallers.)
A householder who insures his house isn’t really complaining about the fire that is going to happen. He is just taking precautions. Though I have to admit I don’t know what this argument is all about.
But the discussion wasn’t about your semantics. It was about deliberately or ignorantly misrepresenting what “we all know” about what is actually in the bill.
No one is forced to work. And no one is forced to remain on a benefit either.
It is a sad day for New Zealand with the passage of a shameful welfare bill which will force sole parents with babies as young as one year out to work.
The Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill passed its first reading today with the support of National, ACT, United Future and the Maori Party.
The MPs supporting this legislation should hang their heads in shame says Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Sue Bradford.
There is nothing in the bill that will force anyone out to work. Bradford is either ignorant of basic facts or is deliberately misrepresenting the stated aims of the act.
No, are you acting ignorant, or do you not know anything about the act?
There are requirements in the act to look for work, not to be in work, because obviously if there aren’t enough jobs then not everyone can take on jobs.
According to that comment, the issue is with the distinction between “working” and “looking for work”, is that correct? Or is there another way to interpret your comment?
Assuming the above, if Sue had said “force sole parents with babies as young as one year out to look for work” you’d be ok with that.
So Pete, are you saying that the intent of the legislation is only to look for work? That if a job is available and offered the ‘job-seeker’ can turn it down and remain of the DPB? It’ll be good if you can clear that up. Ta.
That happens now so I don’t see that it will change. It’s not even necessary to turn down a job, it’s quite easy to apply for a job and ensure that you aren’t offered one. Happens now.
Some do turn down jobs that are offered but there are systems already to try to stop this, some additional benefits can be lost if jobs are turned down.
This trying to get a balance between carrots and sticks is nothing new, different governments have been trying to find a reasonable but effective approach for a long time.
“Some do turn down jobs that are offered but there are systems already to try to stop this, some additional benefits can be lost if jobs are turned down.”
So just what I said, above, which you got all sensitive about.
So women on the DPB are currently required to take up a job if one is offered? Without losing benefit if they turn it down?
Paula Bennett says
the bill would mean they would have to be available for work when their children were at a younger age – five for part time work and 14 for full time work.
Note – not ‘look for work’ as you said, but be ‘available for work’. Is she wrong? and you don’t think this is different from current conditions of the DPB?
And you also think being able to manipulate a CV to avoid being chosen for a job you’ve applied for is good legislation?
Also, Pete, I’d point out that in a tough labour market, looking for a job can itself be very time consuming and can easily amount to the equivalent of a part-time job.
Yes, fair comment. And it can be very demoralising. Difficult when jobs are scarce.
But if you want to be self sufficient and do better for your family you have to find ways of doing that and it can cost – in the past I’ve shifted town/city with a family to get work, the initial cost is significant in the hope that the longer term benefits make it worth it.
There’s more unemployment now, but also more assistance to help people through difficult times.
It’s known that self supporting families generally have better outcomes for their children than families on benefits, so parents wanting the best for their kids (and themselves) should be striving to be as self supporting as possible. Shouldn’t they?
I didn’t insist nothing would change. A new act is obviously going to change things.
All the Government parties think it should change. Labour thinks it should change (albeit different degrees and methods). It has always been tweaked and changed, and it always will keep being changed. We live in a changing world.
It’s about degree of change. The act proposes a bit more encouragement/coercion (pick which word suits your side of the argument). It’s another tweak of the existing system. It isn’t a complete switch to a new draconian regime as some seem to be suggesting.
I don’t know what the new bill will do, it’s only been voted to first reading. But I haven’t seen anything yet that will force mothers to work. Have you?
Do you think mothers should have a free choice as to whether they work or get the DPB? If so to what age of children?
Your morning troll started with accusing Sue of being ignorant of the bill or lying about the bill.
Specifically you were upset that she said people will be forced into work/forced to look for work/forced to accept work depending which of your comments you pick.
You have insisted that she was wrong about this and that nothing in the new bill will change anything with regard to being forced to do these things.
It has since been shown by rosy, DoS, and others that your opinion is based on a misunderstanding of the current act and how it is implemented.
And now you’re trying to change the subject to ‘never mind all that, what should happen?’ because you can’t admit that you were wrong to accuse Sue of not knowing her stuff.
Turns out you don’t know what you’re talking about as usual, and Sue does, as usual.
And as usual Pete will think he’s done nothing wrong and you’re just nit-picking for no purpose.
But really this is modus operandi for Pete: say something imprecise, then defend-to-the-death that that wasn’t what he meant, despite it being what he said, and then when conclusively being shown he is wrong, he simply runs away from the thread and doesn’t post again.
So PiG, where are the jobs for these self supporting types? What has your buddy the cretinous Dunne (seller of state assets) done to create any work by way of voting with the inNACTion party?
I’m happy for we just to mean you and me. Just us two. The royal we. I feel so close to you now.
I’d have to say that as I talking colloquially I didn’t need to worry about pedantry.
Of course it could mean those that have read the ministers and this governments press releases and other comments that there are two stages to this legislation and only the first is going through parliament now. The second will be introduced later in the year.
This includes a fair chunk of the population and of the readership of these forums.
I’m sure you do actually know that.
To simplify:
Technically you are correct there is nothing in the current bill about this – anything about this will be in the next bill to be introduced later in the year.
The legislation is being introduced in two stages.
We know this to be a fact.
Of course you then apply similar language to that you are so disingenuously critical of by saying:
“It’s known that” without any qualifier – known by who Pete?
It’s not known by me, in fact I know many individuals for whom respite from looking for work when a relationship breaks up, the payment of DPB to help them get back on their feet without any pressure to conform to some other (white middle class male?) persons expectations of what and how they should do has been an absolute godsend.
And how come self supporting doesn’t include paying my taxes so that when something goes wrong I can get a benefit without being made to justify my existence, the reason for my breakup or my choices – and by extension paying my taxes so if my children are in that situation nor do they.
The morality arguments all break down when you start to look at individual cases and individual circumstances. But for the grace of god go I.
You lack of compassion for individuals by hiding behind applying the ( real and supposed) excesses of a minority to a majority is breathtaking for someone who purports to want to do things in a better, more caring and thinking way.
Just glanced at yesterdays Lying Liar caught lying again….unclean unclean…really foul. Why the F*** did anybody engage with the Mental Health Act duet?
I was wondering about that post and debate for some of today. On the one hand it was hilarious watching two small-minded and bitter fools disgracing themselves, but it got a bit much. It reminds me of the original serious of The Office. It was a brilliant portrayal of a dysfunctional environment, but I usually found it impossible to watch it until the end – the last five minutes in particular were just too painful, and not in a shocked laughter way. Same with this thread – they laid on so much idiocy, bile and ignorance that I just couldn’t get into it.
Normally I quite like that sort of thing, but too much vicious stupid, it hurted.
I know Nuz-ZINK! about this ‘Judith Collins’ or her sitting next to me with a knife in my ribs.
I know Nuz-ZINK! about this so-called ‘tea-pot tape.’
I know Nuz-ZINK! about Finland either…
That’s funny?
Late last night I spotted Audrey Young’s piece 8pm 27 March, on the “National refuses to answer questions about the Key Questions” in Parliament. This morning the item had disappeared but an Audrey search found it. (Getting better at this Search business.)
Wonder why it seemed to have been buried? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10794958
Of course methyl iodide based products are still being sold here in New Zealand. Politicians and ERMA will do their best to ignore the fact that it’s been removed from U.S. shelves, not because it wasn’t making a profit, but because it’s a highly dangerous carcinogen that was initially misclassified…
And he has moved into a ‘modest’ Remuera Townhouse… is that RWNJ-Former Minister-Snout in the Trough with a tasty Super and Perks modest, or Joe Public modest?
Use of the word progress, has allowed the sheep to be lulled into many false senses of security, which have and will contribute to current and future economic and social disasters, and mostly likely worse!
Progress is what ever the sheep want to believe it is, as long as it maintains an illusion , of which they are not aware exists!
One scam in London was a auction, the marks would be brought into a room and the auction would not start until they’d shut the doors and created a buzz for buying, the marks would spend more and not notice the quality was shite. A classic switch and bait, switch even the rules of the auction from open to closed, and then change the value the mark was expecting.
The teapot switch and bait, invited journalists into a open press room, then switched the rules, that it was illegal to take voice recordings while taking video, that somehow the organizer of the event had a right to suddenly declare a meeting private.
Sorry but my understanding of what is legal (from a non-lawyer) is the reasonableness standard of a jury trial. Would a jury feel it was fair that the rules suddenly changed, the expectation of a full open press conference. That ministers are also aware of the buy beware notion, that if their mouths are moving and they consent to a video camera being on, then inevitably they consent to a lip reading them.
We cannot have a free democracy when the government press organize thinks they can decide how journalists use material they legally obtain. Ambrose had the consent to take video, photos, and voice not because there were two men talking privately in a coffee shop, but because two men invited him there, and did not have a right to switch the rules from FULLY open to PARTIALLY open without informed consent of Ambrose.
Puddleglum’s latest on the Smith/Pullar saga; “The banality of corruption” is well worth reading. I’ll leave a teaser:
…Writing a reference for his friend Bronwyn Pullar was the crucial ‘error of judgment’ committed by Dr Smith. At least that’s what almost all commentators appear to agree upon despite John Key claiming that it was the second unearthed letter (actually written and signed earlier than the ‘first’ (reference) letter) that tripped the switch of Smith’s resignation.
But discussion of Dr Smith’s ‘errors of judgment’ and whether or not they amounted to ‘corruption’ or ‘cronyism’ seems to me to have missed a point so obvious, so banal – and so likely – that I think that omission says something significant about just how ‘corrupt’ our everyday responses have become…
Worth every minute it took to read; the recipe for corruption is an insightful moment; reads like a person about flick over the first in a long line of cultural dominoes.
Years ago, after the Second World War, my family was living in a prefabricated house (‘prefab’) in the north of England (lined with sheets of asbestos as it happens – my sister still remembers rubbing her finger up and down her bedroom wall as all the dust came off it). They were meant to be used for just a few years but they were still there in the mid-60s. Compared to brick houses, they weren’t well-made or as warm in winter.
Dad got politically active, giving speeches off the back of a lorry, hassling the (Tory) council. One by one, he (and those supporting him) fought for individual families and got them rehoused on various grounds.
But there was one fight he wouldn’t fight.
Mum got onto him about the fact that, here he was, getting everyone else into better houses and we were still living in ours.
He gave her a quick run through of Corruption 101: He couldn’t do it for us, otherwise his opponents would say that, all the time, it was just about him trying to help himself and there was no matter of principle involved. More importantly, that could then derail what he was trying to do for others. We would have to be last in the queue.
It would have been easy for him to justify it to himself. After all, we were a family, like all the rest; he had three children (I was pre-school age). He could have used what little political power and influence he had to get us a new home. (And the councillors would have probably seen it as a cheap way of getting him off their backs.) Where’s the harm?
He saw, I think, that the judgment about who should get rehoused next wasn’t his to make. The Council should have held to its promise (and plan) to replace the housing. It was a political issue, not an issue simply for him and his family. That wasn’t the point.
Corruption is pretty easy to see, really. It’s like when we say that a file on a computer is ‘corrupt’. All it means is that it can’t do what it’s meant to do. Same goes for political corruption – it means our political and bureaucratic processes can’t do what they’re meant to do. Dad would have corrupted his activism – and the political process it set in train – if he’d put his energies into getting us rehoused.
I think corruption is not so much about individuals becoming corrupted. It’s really about our society (or culture) becoming corrupted. We all have an interest in stopping that from happening.
The problem is, when we all look at life individualistically – as I think we increasingly do, today – each one of us then has an (self-)interest in just being a little bit corrupt, just this once … others will understand. After all, they do it too, don’t they? And we’re all human, so let’s not be so hard on small ‘errors of judgment’, yadda, yadda, yadda.
It’s like the tragedy of the commons. We less and less have a sense of the importance – the ‘sacrosanct’ nature – of the collective processes we’ve supposedly set up to regulate how we do things, together.
Slippery-slope arguments aren’t always valid, but I think corruption has to be a paradigmatic exemplar of when it is. Once it starts not only do we, individually, start to ‘normalise’ it, but also others start to feel the pressure to join in – or miss out. It gains its own momentum.
Ultimately, everything that happens in the public realm becomes a sham – nothing actually happens how it’s supposedly meant to happen.
In one of my past lives I was involved in training delivery.
It was always interesting to see who would cheat on team exercises. At one level the exercises are often no more than puffery but at another what became clear over years of doing this was that the people who would cheat the exercise were almost without exception the same staff who would cheat the important things at work.
The ones who openly said it’s not OK and maintained a high level of integrity were invariably the ones who did so at work.
While on the surface they were team building exercises they actually became quite valuable in managing risk.
The thing was that for most of those people it was a learned, ingrained habit to cheat – they couldn’t help themselves as they were so accustomed to doing this.
For them it definitely wasn’t a slippery slope – it was how they behaved. Where it was a slippery slope however was in the influence they could have ( and on some occasions did have) on other staff.
Yes, well described mr puddleglum. As rl says, ti explains one hell of a lot, such as why there seems to be far less of the public service element to, well, public service, today. Evidenced by comparisons of public to private enterprise over salaries for just one example.
Is there a way to resurrect things do you think? Or must the current norms run their course? Or perhaps it is probably a combination of the two – small changes here and there to push and guide the “good” way. For crude example, prohibit ex-Ministers from entering conflicted private enterprise roles, such as Simon Power going to his new role at Westpac.
Today, 3 News reported that the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright will be undertaking an official investigation into Fracking.
I read this one earlier, and was initially pleased. Will have to see what comes out the other side, and see if it contradicts the findings abroad already carried out!
or do they simply want to produce a report saying their are some potential health issues that need legislative attention and whammo they end up introducing laws like this one??
an amendment to Title 52 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, requires that companies provide to a state-maintained registry the names of chemicals and gases used in fracking. Physicians and others who work with citizen health issues may request specific information, but the company doesn’t have to provide that information if it claims it is a trade secret or proprietary information, nor does it have to reveal how the chemicals and gases used in fracking interact with natural compounds. If a company does release information about what is used, health care professionals are bound by a non-disclosure agreement that not only forbids them from warning the community of water and air pollution that may be caused by fracking, but which also forbids them from telling their own patients what the physician believes may have led to their health problems. A strict interpretation of the law would also forbid general practitioners and family practice physicians who sign the non-disclosure agreement and learn the contents of the “trade secrets” from notifying a specialist about the chemicals or compounds, thus delaying medical treatment.
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The StrategistBy Sandy Juda Pratama, Curie Maharani and Gautama Adi Kusuma
As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel ...
Donald Trump, who has called the Chair of the Federal Reserve “a major loser”. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22:US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. Trump says some ...
Last night, the news came through that Pope Francis had passed away at 7:35 am in Rome on Monday, the 21st of April, following a reported stroke and heart failure. Pope Francis. Photo: AP.Despite his obvious ill health, it still came as a shock, following so soon after the Easter ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review found the NIC to be highly capable and performing well. So, it is not a surprise that most of the 67 recommendations are incremental adjustments and small but nevertheless important ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkThe world has made real progress toward tacking climate change in recent years, with spending on clean energy technologies skyrocketing from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars globally over the past decade, and global CO2 emissions plateauing.This has contributed to a reassessment of ...
Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...
Once the formalities of honouring the late Pope wrap up in two to three weeks time, the conclave of Cardinals will go into seclusion. Some 253 of the current College of Cardinals can take part in the debate over choosing the next Pope, but only 138 of them are below ...
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The audacity of Don Brash never ceases to amaze. The former National Party and Hobson’s Pledge mouthpiece has now sunk his claws into NZME, the media giant behind the New Zealand Herald and half of our commercial radio stations. Don Brash has snapped up shares in NZME, aligning himself with ...
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
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MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
New Zealand’s housing crisis is a sad indictment on the failures of right wing neoliberalism, and the National Party, under Chris Luxon’s shaky leadership, is trying to simply ignore it. The numbers don’t lie: Census data from 2023 revealed 112,496 Kiwis were severely housing deprived...couch-surfing, car-sleeping, or roughing it on ...
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 a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ...
Simeon Brown, the National Party’s poster child for hubris, consistently over-promises and under-delivers. His track record...marked by policy flip-flops and a dismissive attitude toward expert advice, reveals a politician driven by personal ambition rather than evidence. From transport to health, Brown’s focus seems fixed on protecting National's image, not addressing ...
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications:Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...
Once a venomous thorn in New Zealand’s blogosphere, Cathy Odgers, aka Cactus Kate, has slunk into the shadows, her once-sharp quills dulled by the fallout of Dirty Politics.The dishonest attack-blogger, alongside her vile accomplices such as Cameron Slater, were key players in the National Party’s sordid smear campaigns, exposed by Nicky ...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned for low-income workers given new data released by Stats NZ that shows inflation was 2.5% for the year to March 2025, rising from 2.2% in December last year. “The prices of things that people can’t avoid are rising – meaning inflation is rising ...
Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...
In yesterday’s post I tried to present the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement for 2025-30, as approved by the Minister of Finance and the Bank’s Board, in the context of the previous agreement, and the variation to that agreement signed up to by Grant Robertson a few weeks before the last ...
Australia’s bid to co-host the 31st international climate negotiations (COP31) with Pacific island countries in late 2026 is directly in our national interest. But success will require consultation with the Pacific. For that reason, no ...
Old and outdated buildings being demolished at Wellington Hospital in 2018. The new infrastructure being funded today will not be sufficient for future population size and some will not be built by 2035. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Thursday, April 17:Simeon Brown has unveiled ...
Thousands of senior medical doctors have voted to go on strike for 24 hours overpay at the beginning of next month. Callaghan Innovation has confirmed dozens more jobs are on the chopping block as the organisation disestablishes. Palmerston North hospital staff want improved security after a gun-wielding man threatened their ...
The introduction of AI in workplaces can create significant health and safety risks for workers (such as intensification of work, and extreme surveillance) which can significantly impact workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. It is critical that unions and workers are involved in any decision to introduce AI so that ...
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role ...
Sunday marks three months since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. What a ride: the style rude, language raucous, and the results rogue. Beyond manners, rudeness matters because tone signals intent as well as personality. ...
There are any number of reasons why anyone thinking of heading to the United States for a holiday should think twice. They would be giving their money to a totalitarian state where political dissenters are being rounded up and imprisoned here and here, where universities are having their funds for ...
Taiwan has an inadvertent, rarely acknowledged role in global affairs: it’s a kind of sponge, soaking up much of China’s political, military and diplomatic efforts. Taiwan soaks up Chinese power of persuasion and coercion that ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Peng, Lecturer in Accounting, The University of Queensland Shutterstock For Australians approaching retirement, recent market volatility may feel like more than just a bump in the road. Unlike younger investors, who have time on their side, retirees don’t have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judith Brett, Emeritus Professor of Politics, La Trobe University Beatrice Faust is best remembered as the founder, early in 1972, of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL). Women’s Liberation was already well under way. Betty Friedan had published The Feminine Mystique in 1962, ...
The Spinoff’s top picks of events from around the motu. Wow lucky us, it’s time to kiss the wheelie office chairs goodbye and begin another(!) long weekend. As tempting as I know it is to lean into the phone addiction and do just about nothing, you should make the most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor (Practice), Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University In the past week, at least seven women have been killed in Australia, allegedly by men. These deaths have occurred in different contexts – across state borders, communities and relationships. But ...
National MP and diehard Shihad fan Chris Bishop sings the praises of his favourite band’s classic 1995 album. Last week I went to my first ever Taite Music Prize ceremony, the annual bash to honour independent music in New Zealand. I’d love to say I was invited, but I wasn’t ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wayne Peake, Adjunct research fellow, School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Western Sydney University The story goes that the late billionaire Australian media magnate Kerry Packer once visited a Las Vegas casino, where a Texan was bragging about his ranch and how ...
Coal mine expansion into the West Coast’s Denniston plateau attracted more than 70 protesters over the Easter weekend. Climate activists say this is only the first step in resisting the Bathurst mining company. “Oh yeah – right there is where we’re digging trenches to keep tents from getting flooded,” said ...
The Department of Internal Affairs buys and replaces these cars for ex PMs and/or spouses, with the exception of Chris Hipkins, who wasn’t in the job more than two years, and John Key, who declined the entitlement. ...
Te Pūkenga divisions are going to be trusted to take new apprentices and trainees but the ones they currently care for and teach are going to be ripped away from them in a messy transition. ...
The strike is part of a growing rebellion by health workers internationally against attacks by capitalist governments, led by the US Trump administration, on public health services. ...
Alex Casey talks to Aaron Yap, the New Zealander behind the viral interview format adored by movie fans worldwide. For the last few years, the showbiz publicity circuit has become dominated by novelty interview formats. Celebrities now answer questions while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings, or playing with puppies, or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nazia Pathan, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University Biobanks have become some of the most transformative tools in medical research, enabling scientists to study the relationships between genes, health and disease on an unprecedented scale(Piqsels/Siyya) If there’s a ...
I’ve just realised that I dislike one of my friends. What do I do? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHi Hera, I have figured out that I just… don’t like someone in my extended friend group. They’re the kind of person who comes with the warning label, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Laurikainen Gaete, PhD Candidate, University of Wollongong Chris Laurikainen Gaete Large kangaroos today roam long distances across the outback, often surviving droughts by moving in mobs to find new food when pickings are slim. But not all kangaroos have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone McCarthy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Commercial Determinants of Health, Deakin University Wpadington/Shutterstock Whatever the code, whatever the season, Australian sports fans are bombarded with gambling ads. Drawing on Australians’ passion, loyalty and pride for sport, the devastating health ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol Johnson, Emerita Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Adelaide “Women’s” issues are once again playing a significant role in the election debate as Labor and the Liberals trade barbs over which parties’ policies will benefit women most. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Scrivener, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock Imagine suddenly losing the ability to move a limb, walk or speak. You would probably recognise this as a medical emergency and get ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C. Van Dyk, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Waikato Australian Comforts Fund buffet in Longueval, France, 1916.Australian War Memorial The Anzac biscuit is a cultural icon, infused with mythical value, representing the connection between women on the home front ...
The flag is half-masted by first raising it to the top of the mast and then immediately lowering it slowly to the half-mast position. The half-mast position will depend on the size of the flag and the length of the flagpole. ...
All 15 recommendations from a review of ECE regulations have been accepted, with the government promising a simpler, cheaper system for providers, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.Big changes for early childhood education approved Cabinet has ...
"He has a rather Winston way of communicating with media where he's going to push back on journalists, as is his right to do so," Christopher Luxon says. ...
The tech sector is New Zealand's third biggest source of exports behind meat and dairy, the prime minister has told those attending an event in London. ...
The call has sent ripples through the veteran community — but behind the protest lies a deeper story of neglect, frustration and a system many say has failed those it was meant to serve.Every year on April 25, politicians and dignitaries stand before the nation, flanked by medals and ...
From real-terms minimum wage cuts to watering down health and safety, the government is subtly chipping away at pay, conditions and many of the other things that make work life-giving, writes Max Rashbrooke. Frogs, it turns out, do notice when they’re being boiled. For years the favourite metaphor for people’s ...
On a tattered Red Cross map, four nearly-straight pencil lines track north from Capua, near Naples, to Chavari then Ubine. From here, over the border to Breslau in what was then German-occupied Poland, then on to Lübeck, north-east of Hamburg. Above each line a single handwritten word – “Train”, “Train”, ...
After weeks of turmoil in the global markets, economists and commentators have used words like ‘bloodbath’ and ‘carnage’ to describe the world’s financial situation.And while New Zealand often feels relatively cushioned, what happens in the US is inextricably linked to the rest of the world.“It will impact us to some ...
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6648578/PM-tells-leaders-to-take-nuclear-threat-seriously
Another article where the focus is how important Key is. He’s mentioned by Obama and the press quiver like schoolgirls getting to see their latest boy popstar.
“Obama personally invited Key to the first nuclear security summit in Washington in 2010, because of New Zealand’s staunch anti-nuclear position…
ANDREA VANCE IN SEOUL – Is she one of these Journalism graduates on her first assignment? Is she aware that National have just got into bed with an ACT party whose leader wants the policy gone by lunchtime, and that the core of the cabinet believe that our “proud-position-on-nuclear-issues” has been hindering trade talks with Obama’s and earlier administrations?
.
Might be my imagination but I felt that Andrea was slightly tongue in cheek. A slightly satirical breathlessness perhaps.
Brash isn’t ACT’s leader any more, I believe Banks is, and I don’t think he wants the nuclear free policy “gone by lunchtime”, or at least, not publicly. Really it’s actually a non-issue: even if we did repeal that policy, the US isn’t going to send warships here anyway. There’s really nothing to gain by repealing it.
“It is a compliment as Obama mentioned only one other leader in the address – Italy’s Mario Monti. ”
LOL – What a shocker, Key being mentioned along with another Goldman Sachs Gang member. Surprised that Papademous, and Draghi do not rate a mention too…
Felt a bit dirty after reading that article!
“It is a compliment as Obama mentioned only one other leader in the address – Italy’s Mario Monti. ”
Oh yes, seconded!
Good to see for TVNZ just goes to show what can do if you keep a focus on costs ,and management.
http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/tvnz-1h-profit-more-triples-
Triples from a low basis when it should never have dropped in the first place.
Ellis plundered millions on failed digital strategies, Tivo and a cultutre of overpaid out of control personalities like Henry/Vietch etc including himself.
How much content that can be resold/rerun do TVNZ produce James ? That’s the real measure as that’s repeat revenue for a once off production cost.
Any monkey can slash costs and get a profit with their advertsising revenue…where’s the sustainable model that Ellis got nearly $1m p.a. for eh.
goes to show that james III has no idea about “costs” or “management” or in fact, what a well run organisation looks like. James only knows about a few financial figures, and even then sweet fuck all.
Noticed this appalling comment in Minister Bennett press release re: benefit reforms:
“We have women consigned to a life of welfare because over thirty years ago society said women couldn’t support themselves without a man.”
Apart from being historically incorrect what an abysmal statement.
Violence, abuse, rape, poverty, concern for children – nope none of these things were factors.
Your choices should be man or work. That’s it.
Paying you a benefit was a punishment because you can’t get by, by yourself.
WTF were you doing leaving your husband. The one who beat and raped you. The one who took all the money and you had to feed the kids on family benefit. The one who you had to go out and work because he sat at home drunk.
And when he walked out on you and left you with the kids, traded you in for a younger model, had only married you to cover up the fact that he was gay cause society didn’t like gay people either, that left cause he couldn’t handle that his sperm had produced a disabled kid (you must have slept with someone else), that just didn’t come home one day, that left you in the bush with your kids (Barry Crump) you should have just got on with it and worked. You lazy, indolent person.
And apparently we society sent you there. Consciously. We consigned you – deliberately.
Made you the non-person you are today. We apologise for doing this to you – I can’t believe we thought it was a good thing.
We are much wiser now and we know that paying a benefit was just another form of abuse. We’re sorry for perpetuating this abuse on you. I know we thought we were helping you but we weren’t.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/welfare-reform-1
And also if you managed to get pregnant by yourself (i.e. unmarried) your would have to abandon your child to indifferent and overworked adoption services, due to no ability to afford to raise it unsupported. Prospective adopters were able to “choose” from about five to six assorted babies of either sex and even specify what colouring.
Selective amnesia from Paula the Rotund about the “benefit” she has had from her Benefit.
Not amnesia – she’s just never accepted the truth. Ot, to put it another way, she only accepts her fantasies as truth (which is true of all RWNJs).
+1
That is the problem with NZ, and when I mean “NZ”, I mean that often implied powerful mass of imbalanced animalistic reactions that do no good, that makes no improvement; is inexplicably unable to recognise itself when faced with its own reflection; the source of which is “somewhere out there”; and of which no one wants to take the credit.
As a commenter posted yesterday, NZ doesn’t have any collective moral or social philosophy, and they’re right. Often a set of beliefs is called a philosophy, but that isn’t a true definition – it’s just another one of the failings of a self-referencing, post-modern, pop-culture, age. To have a philosophy you’d need to actively seek out the truth about life. You’d have to have seen and acknowledged the stuff that proved you were wrong, not just once, but as many times as it took. What we hold dear, it seems, and what is promoted by politicians and businessmen at large, is a collection of beliefs, values and manifesto that place the ego of the person holding the beliefs at the centre of the universe and distorts and limits the interpretation of what they see in relation to their own beliefs. Or as yesterday’s quote named it “the economy”.
I think we get this way by being taught that our identity as people is only on what we want to be – what we “act as”, imitate or aspire to being. When you believe you can be anything you want, you are saying that your mind, the part that thinks thoughts is all there is to you and that this “you” is your god, you are your own creator, that there are no immutable laws to life, that you can hold back nature with your own short-lived human will. Everywhere people try to hold back nature; they get boob-jobs to stop sagging, face lifts and laser treatments to stop wrinkles and actively scorn anything old; anything to maintain the grossest illusion of youth, that man is invincible. Few people know how to age and die.
The problem in parliament is the thinking that what is good for us is good for another, that we are all the same, in every way – or can be made to be. We believe time is linear, that context does not matter, that “the future” and “the past” are concrete places and forget they were really just moments like right now – innumerable present moments, most of them apparently full of nothing. We believe that experience or some variation on experience can predict the future; that “success” – the manifestation of our ego desires – is an emotion and a measure of truth; even after reality continually proves us wrong with its insolent co-incidental “chance” and “accidents”.
The people in parliament got where they are by believing they could influence ancient human natures, with money. Understanding isn’t on the check list for entry. Their attitude is adolescent. Voting is now a game of one ego addressing another. The sooner our parliamentary system comes to its inevitable end the better. While we can’t be rid of the chaos of unchecked childish minds, perhaps soon they won’t be elevated to positions of power over others.
This most definitely deserves a +1. Well said.
Just heard the interview with the Finnish comedian commenting on Brownlee’s performance. One thing that stood out was that his English was near perfect – not a bad education system then is it Gerry? Now how is your Finnish, or Maori, or French, or German, Latin … nah, you even struggle with your mother tongue don’t you given the “misunderstandings” over this issue?
(can’t delete so editing out duplicate post)
Technically yes but contextually we all know this is the first stage of legislation to doing this – unless you are confident that changes will be made via the select committee process to remove this.
You will note that the Minister press releases make reference to the other future changes as well e.g. widows benefit.
Perhaps you might like to let her know her press release was incorrect as well.
(response to your now removed duplicate post)
‘You can’t complain about things that haven’t happened yet’ is a trusty old favourite of the right.
To be followed at a later date with a ‘You can’t complain about things that have already happened’.
Complaining about what will never happen is a bit stupid too don’t you think?
(that’s not a “favourite of the right” or the left, it’s a favourite of the stupid and the sky will fallers.)
A householder who insures his house isn’t really complaining about the fire that is going to happen. He is just taking precautions. Though I have to admit I don’t know what this argument is all about.
I think it’s a pretty good analogy.
And the reason for insuring is that we’ve seen for ourselves what fires can do.
Petey just wants to pretend we don’t know an arsonist when we see one.
Nah, the stupid insist that things outside of their control “will never happen”.
The solipsistic insist that things that won’t happen to them “will never happen” to anyone else.
And the deceitful pretend that nothing has ever happened before .
But the discussion wasn’t about your semantics. It was about deliberately or ignorantly misrepresenting what “we all know” about what is actually in the bill.
No one is forced to work. And no one is forced to remain on a benefit either.
Nah, it wasn’t about what we all know is in the bill.
DoS was talking about what we all know is coming next.
Whatever you think of the “we all know” bit, (and I see why you do) you’ve still misrepresented him/her quite badly there Petey.
They are if they can’t find a job! (And if they don’t want to starve).
A lack of basic facts don’t help promoting a view.
There is nothing in the bill that will force anyone out to work. Bradford is either ignorant of basic facts or is deliberately misrepresenting the stated aims of the act.
You mean because they always have the option of forfeiting their benefit? Is that where you’re going?
No, are you acting ignorant, or do you not know anything about the act?
There are requirements in the act to look for work, not to be in work, because obviously if there aren’t enough jobs then not everyone can take on jobs.
According to that comment, the issue is with the distinction between “working” and “looking for work”, is that correct? Or is there another way to interpret your comment?
Assuming the above, if Sue had said “force sole parents with babies as young as one year out to look for work” you’d be ok with that.
Right?
So Pete, are you saying that the intent of the legislation is only to look for work? That if a job is available and offered the ‘job-seeker’ can turn it down and remain of the DPB? It’ll be good if you can clear that up. Ta.
That happens now so I don’t see that it will change. It’s not even necessary to turn down a job, it’s quite easy to apply for a job and ensure that you aren’t offered one. Happens now.
Some do turn down jobs that are offered but there are systems already to try to stop this, some additional benefits can be lost if jobs are turned down.
This trying to get a balance between carrots and sticks is nothing new, different governments have been trying to find a reasonable but effective approach for a long time.
“Some do turn down jobs that are offered but there are systems already to try to stop this, some additional benefits can be lost if jobs are turned down.”
So just what I said, above, which you got all sensitive about.
So women on the DPB are currently required to take up a job if one is offered? Without losing benefit if they turn it down?
Paula Bennett says
Note – not ‘look for work’ as you said, but be ‘available for work’. Is she wrong? and you don’t think this is different from current conditions of the DPB?
And you also think being able to manipulate a CV to avoid being chosen for a job you’ve applied for is good legislation?
Also, Pete, I’d point out that in a tough labour market, looking for a job can itself be very time consuming and can easily amount to the equivalent of a part-time job.
Time consuming and very expensive. Printing, posting, travelling, new clothes and haircuts, mobile phone costs, etc.
Yes, fair comment. And it can be very demoralising. Difficult when jobs are scarce.
But if you want to be self sufficient and do better for your family you have to find ways of doing that and it can cost – in the past I’ve shifted town/city with a family to get work, the initial cost is significant in the hope that the longer term benefits make it worth it.
There’s more unemployment now, but also more assistance to help people through difficult times.
Nobody is self-sufficient. That’s why we live in a community.
Lolwut! 😀 No, there’s not.
but contextually we all know this is the first stage of legislation to doing this
“we all know”? I’m sure you can’t substantiate that, so not point in asking.
Who are you speaking on behalf of? The misinformed or the misinformers?
So Petey
Solo mums will be forced to look for work but not take a job if one is offered?
You really need to get out more.
Currently solo mums do not have to take a job that is offered and can even leave their job consciously and deliberately to go on DPB.
Are you saying this won’t change Pete?
I think it should change.
It’s known that self supporting families generally have better outcomes for their children than families on benefits, so parents wanting the best for their kids (and themselves) should be striving to be as self supporting as possible. Shouldn’t they?
Hang on Pete.
This is the very thing that you’ve been insisting wouldn’t be changing.
Is it or not?
I didn’t insist nothing would change. A new act is obviously going to change things.
All the Government parties think it should change. Labour thinks it should change (albeit different degrees and methods). It has always been tweaked and changed, and it always will keep being changed. We live in a changing world.
It’s about degree of change. The act proposes a bit more encouragement/coercion (pick which word suits your side of the argument). It’s another tweak of the existing system. It isn’t a complete switch to a new draconian regime as some seem to be suggesting.
“I didn’t insist nothing would change.”
I didn’t say you did.
But you said the new bill wouldn’t change this specific aspect.
Will it or not?
You’re getting very vague.
I don’t know what the new bill will do, it’s only been voted to first reading. But I haven’t seen anything yet that will force mothers to work. Have you?
Do you think mothers should have a free choice as to whether they work or get the DPB? If so to what age of children?
No, I’m being quite specific.
Your morning troll started with accusing Sue of being ignorant of the bill or lying about the bill.
Specifically you were upset that she said people will be forced into work/forced to look for work/forced to accept work depending which of your comments you pick.
You have insisted that she was wrong about this and that nothing in the new bill will change anything with regard to being forced to do these things.
It has since been shown by rosy, DoS, and others that your opinion is based on a misunderstanding of the current act and how it is implemented.
And now you’re trying to change the subject to ‘never mind all that, what should happen?’ because you can’t admit that you were wrong to accuse Sue of not knowing her stuff.
Turns out you don’t know what you’re talking about as usual, and Sue does, as usual.
And as usual Pete will think he’s done nothing wrong and you’re just nit-picking for no purpose.
But really this is modus operandi for Pete: say something imprecise, then defend-to-the-death that that wasn’t what he meant, despite it being what he said, and then when conclusively being shown he is wrong, he simply runs away from the thread and doesn’t post again.
So PiG, where are the jobs for these self supporting types? What has your buddy the cretinous Dunne (seller of state assets) done to create any work by way of voting with the inNACTion party?
hmmm – Nia Glassie’s mother was striving to be as self supporting as possible.
Maybe Paula should be passing legislation to ensure childcare is freely available for working parents…. there’s a thought. /sarc
I’m happy for we just to mean you and me. Just us two. The royal we. I feel so close to you now.
I’d have to say that as I talking colloquially I didn’t need to worry about pedantry.
Of course it could mean those that have read the ministers and this governments press releases and other comments that there are two stages to this legislation and only the first is going through parliament now. The second will be introduced later in the year.
This includes a fair chunk of the population and of the readership of these forums.
I’m sure you do actually know that.
To simplify:
Technically you are correct there is nothing in the current bill about this – anything about this will be in the next bill to be introduced later in the year.
The legislation is being introduced in two stages.
We know this to be a fact.
Of course you then apply similar language to that you are so disingenuously critical of by saying:
“It’s known that” without any qualifier – known by who Pete?
It’s not known by me, in fact I know many individuals for whom respite from looking for work when a relationship breaks up, the payment of DPB to help them get back on their feet without any pressure to conform to some other (white middle class male?) persons expectations of what and how they should do has been an absolute godsend.
And how come self supporting doesn’t include paying my taxes so that when something goes wrong I can get a benefit without being made to justify my existence, the reason for my breakup or my choices – and by extension paying my taxes so if my children are in that situation nor do they.
The morality arguments all break down when you start to look at individual cases and individual circumstances. But for the grace of god go I.
You lack of compassion for individuals by hiding behind applying the ( real and supposed) excesses of a minority to a majority is breathtaking for someone who purports to want to do things in a better, more caring and thinking way.
pete, your showing that while the act does say what it does, you have no idea of how this works in practice.
how this is applied is where the force and coercion comes in.
Just glanced at yesterdays Lying Liar caught lying again….unclean unclean…really foul. Why the F*** did anybody engage with the Mental Health Act duet?
I was wondering about that post and debate for some of today. On the one hand it was hilarious watching two small-minded and bitter fools disgracing themselves, but it got a bit much. It reminds me of the original serious of The Office. It was a brilliant portrayal of a dysfunctional environment, but I usually found it impossible to watch it until the end – the last five minutes in particular were just too painful, and not in a shocked laughter way. Same with this thread – they laid on so much idiocy, bile and ignorance that I just couldn’t get into it.
Normally I quite like that sort of thing, but too much vicious stupid, it hurted.
Brownlee: I Know Nuz-ZINK!
I know Nuz-ZINK! about this ‘Judith Collins’ or her sitting next to me with a knife in my ribs.
I know Nuz-ZINK! about this so-called ‘tea-pot tape.’
I know Nuz-ZINK! about Finland either…
Yep if they ever do a remake of Hogans Hero’s ol’ Jabba would be perfect for SGT Shultze.
But who would they get to play Col Klink ?
John Key, obvs.
That’s funny?
Late last night I spotted Audrey Young’s piece 8pm 27 March, on the “National refuses to answer questions about the Key Questions” in Parliament. This morning the item had disappeared but an Audrey search found it. (Getting better at this Search business.)
Wonder why it seemed to have been buried?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10794958
Jane Clifton’s piece on Stuff on the same subject is good for a laugh – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/6648574/The-obfuscutory-art-of-knowing-nothing
should be ‘obfuscatory’ – though obfuscutory does sound worse
don’t know if this helps, but here are the full transcripts for questions for oral answer from yesterdays question time.
http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/CE0696D1-9F83-4147-8FCE-F6BE28CFFFE9/212011/50HansQ_20120327_00000005_3.pdf
Dangerous chemical recalled but not in NZ
Of course methyl iodide based products are still being sold here in New Zealand. Politicians and ERMA will do their best to ignore the fact that it’s been removed from U.S. shelves, not because it wasn’t making a profit, but because it’s a highly dangerous carcinogen that was initially misclassified…
Remorse?
One thing struck me
Graham said his only income was
His parlimentary pension of 26k
That seems rather low for a minister, can any one shed light on how much he should be getting.
AND
as he was born in 42, he would be entitled to nat super as well
26k income does not stack up?
No holdings, no rental income, no trusts, no interest bearing accounts etc etc…
26K sounds a little low in its own right!
$26K after tax, in hand? Suggests an income of around $32K p.a. Still light for a Ministerial pension + NZ super.
are you suggesting he might have made an untrue statement?
And he has moved into a ‘modest’ Remuera Townhouse… is that RWNJ-Former Minister-Snout in the Trough with a tasty Super and Perks modest, or Joe Public modest?
On $26k p.a…
In Remuera…
I smell a porkie.
OH! So it might just be a “me so poor, me porsche is owned by a family trust”.
“”We don’t disclose the amount of stores [allowed by] the agreement but it’s all based on population and demand,” Roberts said. “We want to be wherever we can sell burgers.”
Who could have guessed it would turn out like that….
it’s called progress apparently.
although there seems to be absolutely no indication as to how it is such.
does anyone know?
Use of the word progress, has allowed the sheep to be lulled into many false senses of security, which have and will contribute to current and future economic and social disasters, and mostly likely worse!
Progress is what ever the sheep want to believe it is, as long as it maintains an illusion , of which they are not aware exists!
“disclose the number of stores …”
I feel like the grammar police, but I just had to.
After the summit, Mr Key said New Zealand had given about $6 million towards disposal of nuclear material in other countries since 2006.
Wow thats great, because its not like we contibute to the problem, but we should contribute to the clean up of it….righto!
One scam in London was a auction, the marks would be brought into a room and the auction would not start until they’d shut the doors and created a buzz for buying, the marks would spend more and not notice the quality was shite. A classic switch and bait, switch even the rules of the auction from open to closed, and then change the value the mark was expecting.
The teapot switch and bait, invited journalists into a open press room, then switched the rules, that it was illegal to take voice recordings while taking video, that somehow the organizer of the event had a right to suddenly declare a meeting private.
Sorry but my understanding of what is legal (from a non-lawyer) is the reasonableness standard of a jury trial. Would a jury feel it was fair that the rules suddenly changed, the expectation of a full open press conference. That ministers are also aware of the buy beware notion, that if their mouths are moving and they consent to a video camera being on, then inevitably they consent to a lip reading them.
We cannot have a free democracy when the government press organize thinks they can decide how journalists use material they legally obtain. Ambrose had the consent to take video, photos, and voice not because there were two men talking privately in a coffee shop, but because two men invited him there, and did not have a right to switch the rules from FULLY open to PARTIALLY open without informed consent of Ambrose.
Solid Energy’s daft logic exposed by Sir Geoffrey Palmer:
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/solid-energy-and-tobacco-industry.html
http://www.thepoliticalscientist.org/?p=744#more-744
Puddleglum’s latest on the Smith/Pullar saga; “The banality of corruption” is well worth reading. I’ll leave a teaser:
…Writing a reference for his friend Bronwyn Pullar was the crucial ‘error of judgment’ committed by Dr Smith. At least that’s what almost all commentators appear to agree upon despite John Key claiming that it was the second unearthed letter (actually written and signed earlier than the ‘first’ (reference) letter) that tripped the switch of Smith’s resignation.
But discussion of Dr Smith’s ‘errors of judgment’ and whether or not they amounted to ‘corruption’ or ‘cronyism’ seems to me to have missed a point so obvious, so banal – and so likely – that I think that omission says something significant about just how ‘corrupt’ our everyday responses have become…
Worth every minute it took to read; the recipe for corruption is an insightful moment; reads like a person about flick over the first in a long line of cultural dominoes.
Thanks for the comments just saying and Uturn.
When I wrote it I was thinking of my Dad.
Years ago, after the Second World War, my family was living in a prefabricated house (‘prefab’) in the north of England (lined with sheets of asbestos as it happens – my sister still remembers rubbing her finger up and down her bedroom wall as all the dust came off it). They were meant to be used for just a few years but they were still there in the mid-60s. Compared to brick houses, they weren’t well-made or as warm in winter.
Dad got politically active, giving speeches off the back of a lorry, hassling the (Tory) council. One by one, he (and those supporting him) fought for individual families and got them rehoused on various grounds.
But there was one fight he wouldn’t fight.
Mum got onto him about the fact that, here he was, getting everyone else into better houses and we were still living in ours.
He gave her a quick run through of Corruption 101: He couldn’t do it for us, otherwise his opponents would say that, all the time, it was just about him trying to help himself and there was no matter of principle involved. More importantly, that could then derail what he was trying to do for others. We would have to be last in the queue.
It would have been easy for him to justify it to himself. After all, we were a family, like all the rest; he had three children (I was pre-school age). He could have used what little political power and influence he had to get us a new home. (And the councillors would have probably seen it as a cheap way of getting him off their backs.) Where’s the harm?
He saw, I think, that the judgment about who should get rehoused next wasn’t his to make. The Council should have held to its promise (and plan) to replace the housing. It was a political issue, not an issue simply for him and his family. That wasn’t the point.
Corruption is pretty easy to see, really. It’s like when we say that a file on a computer is ‘corrupt’. All it means is that it can’t do what it’s meant to do. Same goes for political corruption – it means our political and bureaucratic processes can’t do what they’re meant to do. Dad would have corrupted his activism – and the political process it set in train – if he’d put his energies into getting us rehoused.
I think corruption is not so much about individuals becoming corrupted. It’s really about our society (or culture) becoming corrupted. We all have an interest in stopping that from happening.
The problem is, when we all look at life individualistically – as I think we increasingly do, today – each one of us then has an (self-)interest in just being a little bit corrupt, just this once … others will understand. After all, they do it too, don’t they? And we’re all human, so let’s not be so hard on small ‘errors of judgment’, yadda, yadda, yadda.
It’s like the tragedy of the commons. We less and less have a sense of the importance – the ‘sacrosanct’ nature – of the collective processes we’ve supposedly set up to regulate how we do things, together.
Slippery-slope arguments aren’t always valid, but I think corruption has to be a paradigmatic exemplar of when it is. Once it starts not only do we, individually, start to ‘normalise’ it, but also others start to feel the pressure to join in – or miss out. It gains its own momentum.
Ultimately, everything that happens in the public realm becomes a sham – nothing actually happens how it’s supposedly meant to happen.
That explains one hell of a lot. Thanks.
Couldn’t agree more.
In one of my past lives I was involved in training delivery.
It was always interesting to see who would cheat on team exercises. At one level the exercises are often no more than puffery but at another what became clear over years of doing this was that the people who would cheat the exercise were almost without exception the same staff who would cheat the important things at work.
The ones who openly said it’s not OK and maintained a high level of integrity were invariably the ones who did so at work.
While on the surface they were team building exercises they actually became quite valuable in managing risk.
The thing was that for most of those people it was a learned, ingrained habit to cheat – they couldn’t help themselves as they were so accustomed to doing this.
For them it definitely wasn’t a slippery slope – it was how they behaved. Where it was a slippery slope however was in the influence they could have ( and on some occasions did have) on other staff.
Ah that explains a few things I have been seeing recently too.
Yes, well described mr puddleglum. As rl says, ti explains one hell of a lot, such as why there seems to be far less of the public service element to, well, public service, today. Evidenced by comparisons of public to private enterprise over salaries for just one example.
Is there a way to resurrect things do you think? Or must the current norms run their course? Or perhaps it is probably a combination of the two – small changes here and there to push and guide the “good” way. For crude example, prohibit ex-Ministers from entering conflicted private enterprise roles, such as Simon Power going to his new role at Westpac.
Today, 3 News reported that the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright will be undertaking an official investigation into Fracking.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6652401/Probe-into-fracking-announced
I read this one earlier, and was initially pleased. Will have to see what comes out the other side, and see if it contradicts the findings abroad already carried out!
Most likely it’ll turn out like the Government’s report on peak oil did. Don’t hold your breath.
or do they simply want to produce a report saying their are some potential health issues that need legislative attention and whammo they end up introducing laws like this one??
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/walter-brasch/42038/fracking-pennsylvania-gags-physicians
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/HTM/2012/0/0013..HTM
Thanks freedom that’s startling reading.
Found while surfing – Key’s threeway handshakes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7sH0vFg6eU&feature=player_embedded
Under the Iron Heel
This is footage of Israeli soldiers raiding a home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on the night of March 20th, 2012. This video captures a raid on the home of imprisoned Palestinian nonviolent leader Bassem Tamimi. His wife, children, and likely his mother, can be seen in the video reacting in horror to the ransacking of their home, albeit it rather common across the West Bank and in Nabi Saleh itself.