The old folk will love him for it. But hey, I’ve a soft spot for his Peoples Public Credit, and love a good racist, sorry, realist, sorry. He actually claims he isn’t racist at all. Oh, this is all so confusing.
He is so wealthy he never checks his accounts or notices his bank balances. It must be awful for him. Does seem like a non story except the keeping quiet bit.
In fairness to newsroom, he lied on his form and said he was single when actually in a de facto relationship. She told the truth when she registered a few years later which is when they cross referenced.
Surely it doesnt matter why he lied, he lied and took money from the poor taxpayer. BUT unlike Turei this wont trigger outrage cos he wasnt a beneficiary and the hatred displayed toward them is not reserved for Super recipients
Cool, ganna be fun at customs next week with the old double passport, but woops forgot the NZ, but woops Student Loan. But woops did I really say that at Select Committee for National Security. “No Sir. No gold coins or political thoughts…”
…but looking forward to being back in NZ and sleeping in a car.
As opposed to the ongoing subversion of due process and transparency we see with slater, roastbusters, a prominent NZ’er etc etc.
National have politicised many sections of nz’s public service and SOE’s, some were happy to, others had managers dropped in to ensure they came to heel like RNZ, kiwirail and TVNZ.
I wish to write about the Dairy industry in a un biased manner.
As I was only hurt by one and a cop was part of that the other 2 were elderly and for that reason I will let them off.
All dairy farm workers including most farm owners work 7 days a week usually 430 am to 600 pm. THEY can not stop milking the cows as the cows would get sick I.e mastitis e.c.t rain hale or snow the cows have to get milked .I take my hat off to the farmers for that. Now the immigrant issue some kiwi workers have cost the farm owners money big money to tens of thousands of dollars have been lost because of incompetent workers.But not all kiwi workers are like this when I work or run a farm I strived to increase production and minimise stock losses I got the big picture the boss loses money no job + I thought about my reputation.
But some workers could not give a fuck not all kiwi workers are like this.Now all the tree in central north island are more productive being dairy farmed but not next to our water ways. A dairy farmer buys a cow he get about 5 season from the cow he doesn’t have to kill the cow for his production. A good cow will produce 4 times her body weight in milk solids and give the farmer 3 good calves.Most farmers look after there stock in a very HUMANE way as if they don’t the farmer would lose his ASS I.e go broke.So please don’t go being city slickers and bash farmers. Most farmers care about the environment they get that we have one planet they usely want to leave the farm to there children so they are not going to deliberately FUCK up there farming environment the media have a lot to blame for all the dairy farm haters well get real.
Now we have a industry that is world class most of our dairy farm are the best in the world for animal welfare. The cows are not locked inside in a unnatural environment.
Now let’s not make the mistake and think that they are sensitive to the environment like humans as cows have a hide that is a half inch thick and hair and when it rains hard they all gather together to keep warm.
Now were are lucky to have a environment that’s good for dairy farming. Our Dairy farming industry is the only industry that we have that is a price setter so all big powers in the world can not muck our dairy industry around and pay the farmers unstable money like some industry’s .So for a small nation we have a industry that puts us on top of the world .The dairy farmers insulate us from been bleed dry by larger more powerful Nations.I no that the dairy industry is not perfect but whom is a small persent are but you get that in any population or industry .All the photos of cows in water ways are beef cows I.E dry stock but townies can not tell the difference so those pictures are doctored up to shit on the dairy farming image So new zealand let’s not be led by the corrupt and paid for media. Let’s not kill our one world class industry .kill the only golden goose
We have sure they need to change abit but not that much to fuck it up
Come on the rest of the WORLD ARE VERY ENVYIUS OF OUR WOURLD CLASS DAIRY FARMERS AND OUR DAIRY INDUSTRY
Most dairy farmers are still struggling from the low milk solid payment of the last 3 season so they could not take a hit from legislation against them. We need to work with them to mitigate against climate change. Not kick them in the private parts.
All the flats that have been turned into dairy farms are good for NZ .It’s national fault for the way things are at the moment not dairy farmers.
We need to plant more trees on the hill country and around water ways . National are at fault for all the problems they have down south .The Allblacks are world class and we celebrate them And we should celebrate our would class DAIRY FARMERS .The only leader ship national showed was to subsidize Bills m8 down south.I believe that irritation is good when run properly and not a free for all circus.
As it what the ancient culture did thousand of years ago as insurance against droughts system that store water when there is plenty of water and we use it during droughts
Finland does not test.
It has the best educational system in the world.
National are copying the US and the UK with more testing.
Neo-liberalism is destroying our country.
Yes but having promised the 3Rs and after 9 years maths is worse any Right thonking person woukd introduce free language learning for primary schoolers. Wouldnt they?
Apparently studies have shown that online learning is considerably more effective when students have regular face to face meetings with other students.
The personal interaction both reinforces and motivates students.
I worked from 2015 to end of 2016 delivering and writing blended courses for Tertiary students. Blended meaning a mixture of online face to face and doing some work before class.
The students complained. Parents wrote emails demanding we “teach” their children properly cos “I am not paying them to teach themselves”. Leaving aside the obvious advantage of learning self directed learning these parents demanded mobey back cos we didnt stand up and lecture at their kids for 2 hours rather we used mixtures of discussion, activity and lecturing.
There is so much wrong in NZ cos too many parents want education to be for their children what it was for them. Even though it failed almost half of them.
There is so much wrong in NZ cos too many parents want education to be for their children what it was for them. Even though it failed almost half of them.
Probably for more than half of them actually. Some actually realised that though and have taken self-directed efforts to counter that failing and so have some idea as to how much better self-directed learning is.
The problem seems to be that many parents don’t understand the new system and so want us to go back to the old system simply because they feel comfortable with it. These are the people who haven’t realised how bad the old system was and, yes, they’re the very definition of ‘conservatives’. They really do see the past through rose-coloured glasses.
I had that conversation with my betters. That parents need to be educated on what we were doing and why. However my betters wete more concerned to change those 45s to 50s.
Pat,
Not as big as MT because he paid it back straight away. Also what were his circumstances 7 years ago when he first claimed it. Maybe he was not in a relationship back then and was therefore entitled to the single rate.
I guess we will soon find out.
bollocks…Peters a)was not a young inexperienced solo parent b) if anyone should know about super payments it is qualified lawyer, serial politician “gold card’ winston c) he took 7 years to correct, and curiously around the time of MTs scandal (I also note MT agreed to pay back any overpayment once the level determined)
….in his defence Iwill say that as I understand it the onus is on the dept to ensure the correct level of payment is made
All that needs to happen to get millennials to show up to vote is to run a competition for a new home. Entry would be a n/a/p into a separate box on the way out of the voting booth.
the claim of 100-200,000 New Zealanders being subject to illegal blanket surveillance is an extremely serious one, but I can’t see Bradbury’s evidence. He clearly has a very strong case personally against the plod – he has been treated outrageously.
However, if he has proof of a coupe of hundred thousand people – presumably including some leading figures on the left and centre left – being subject to arbitrary search then this is a gigantic scandal the media can’t ignore.
The government and police – who I think have almost certainly subverted security and police resources to further the governments own political agendas – will fall into a lockstep of blanket refusal to comment and claims of secrecy. Normally, they would get away with that, given the three day media cycle. But during an election campaign, I am not so sure.
Labour should stay out of this, unless it really blows up – and even then, simply promise a full public inquiry if they gain office.
M8 National will use every trick they can to keep power.
One would notice that I did Not use the phrase Every trick in the book.
Because they will use any thing to cling to power .But all the shit they have pulled makes that pole of power to slippery for them to hold on to hence the phrase national slip out of parliament.
Duncan garner looks a bit nervous this morning maybe he has heard that he has been played.Now Jack Tame is over compsioncating in his effort to keep a straight face when National are the subject But Hillary’s is not phased at all Yes our Black Ferns should be promoted and held up as role model for all our girls to aspire to and payed for there efforts Cemmon Steven this is 2017 = right this is 2017 we need to raze our women’s confidence so we get more women on the business boards council and Parliament so we have more of women’s ideals become part of our laws. MORE HUMANE LAWS that will benefit women as much as men
Coleman is blaming hospital overloading on a record flu season. Sounds familar to the excuse of a rat plague of bibilical proportions that seems to happen every year in the Kaharangi Park
I’d say that hospital overloading is due to a failing underfunded health system and people unable to afford going to the Dr’s.
Our local Drs only charge $18 per visit no matter who you are, so Nationals bribe of $18 Dr visits doesn’t mean jack to me or anyone else who already pays $18 a visit
thanks for that link….so the Nats are going to make the failed policy of teaching to test entrenched….brain dead. Completely undermines the subsequently promoted goal.
If anyone wants to hear from Guy Standing the author of “The Precariat”, he’s appearing in Auckland this Thursday, on the UBI idea:
Guy Standing – Basic Income: the case for a significant new policy
In conjunction with Basic Income New Zealand and Auckland Debating Society, we present Guy Standing, leading international speaker on Basic Income, author of The Precariat, with as a panel to respond to his presentation, Sue Bradford and Keith Rankin.
Guy Standing is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a founder and co-President of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), an NGO promoting basic income as a right. He has held chairs at the Universities of Bath and Monash (Australia) and was previously Director of the Socio-Economic Security Programme of the International Labour Organisation.
He is currently working on pilot basic income schemes in India and on issues relating to his two recent books, The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (2011) and A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens (2014).
Professor Standing’s book recently featured in University World News: Higher education and the precariat class.
When
Thursday 31 August, 6.30pm
Where
Epsom Campus
Lecture Theatre J1
University of Auckland
76 Epsom Ave
can someone explain to me why someone who earns several tens of thousands of dollars is eligable for superannuation.
btw, i have no issue with monied people getting super if they contributed to he fund, pass the right age crossing and stop working.
but why get it when you are still working?
the whole point about super is that it allows one to retire, stay at home grow a garden, ride a bike etc and hopefully someone younger fills the job.
please explain it to me and ‘its just the way it is’ does not cut it.
Why is someone who earns several tens of thousands of dollars plus perks on super? He is still working?
Yes it is – I worked for several years after I got my super – you get taxed on all your income, so for that time I was essentially paying my own super, or working tax-free, whichever way you like to look at it.
I think any other way would cost more to administer than it’s worth. What a nightmare it would be!
Don’t panic, Sabine, – your day will come!
mate, i don’t think my generation or any generation after mine will get anything. Inever thought we would get anything since at least the 80’s. Someone has to pay for that shit, and we are less and less paying for it
.
I don’t beguile someone the benefit, i just don’t think someone who makes more then the average income and who works full time should be receiving super. It should be reserved for people who retire and free workplaces up to younger people.
Basically the rich pricks (Capitalists) won’t let the poor get something unless they get it too. It’s about the only time they agree with socialism!
The other time is when they “need” a bail out when things don’t go their way.
its actually fairly simple
you are 65 years of age? yes/no
you work? yes/no
full time/part time?
annual income?
fill it out, provide your income stub from IRd and if you work then you are not retired and thus don’t receive ‘retirements’ benefits.
I don’t see this at hard. I again point out that i would base my system on contribution, i.e. taxed income for x amount of years at a minimum to be eligible. But being an active MP and thus at the receiving end of the government largesse should automatically exclude on from retirement funds.
with one difference tho, the minister still got the money even tho he did not need it, while those that need it don’t get it or have to perform circus acts to get some of it.
No. I said the system you propose is the same as the one that UB beneficiaries have to go through now. If you apply that to superannuation then the retirees will have to go through it as well.
Basically, you’re saying that retirees should be treated the same as beneficiaries are now.
Note they should be treated the same but through a UBI. It’s the simplest, most efficient system. We’d just need to alter the tax system a bit.
Actually, the main advantage of a universal system is that the amount of fields that need to be filled in and audited are vastly reduced. This speeds up collection, processing, administration, and averyone knows what they’re getting.
Your list of four questions, under the current system, is reduced to one: are you over 65?
It’s the same with student allowances – the amount of processing and auditing that has to go into whether someone’s parents earn over a particular threshhold, are the kids still dependent or married, number of points of study, academic attainment, weekly changable income declarations – back around the turn of the millenium WINZ-student services hadn’t calculated whether the hundreds of millions administering the system was more expensive than just giving 100k students a set income, and they probably still haven’t.
Whether this applies to the entire population I’m not so sure, but for those populations where a significant proportion are already receiving govt money (students, elderly, single parents) might as well just give it to everyone rather than paying people to be jerks.
I doubt Peters was trying to fraud the system – why for $50.00 extra a week. And he would probably lose as much as he gained in super. Ditto his partner. It may be he thought he should apply as a kind of support for the super policy he is aligned with.
my question stands. why do we pay super to someone who works.
personally i find this ‘benefit depended on partnership’ almost criminal. It essentially forces people to stay in toxic relationships if that is the only income thy are provided.
i personally favor a system where a benefit is paid to a person based on contribution irrespective if they live with family or as a hermit. You don’t pay lower taxes just because you are in a relationship.
so i don’t care if he forgot, mis understood, could not care enough of what ever. The point is, at his current work related income he should not have received super at the first place.
in the meantime however how about we give money to those that have none before we give it to people that already receive government largess such as active MP’s and contenders for the top spot?
One reason is that older people are more likely to be in part time work, so it’s simpler all round to have a set system rather than the complete cluster fuck that is what younger people have to do on a benefit (e.g. declaring income weekly).
Also, it’s not about someone working, it’s about people having adequate or surplus income. So someone could be getting income from investments.
And having pensioners having to jump the same hoops as other beneficiaries is a move in the wrong direction. Better to leave Super alone and fix the rest of WINZ so it is humane.
I’m not averse to people who have surplus income getting less, but it can be done via taxation instead of hoop jumping.
Max Rashbrooke @MaxRashbrooke
Replying to @mfyfyr
Susan St John has a pretty clever way to do it via raising taxes on the other income of ppl 65+. Wdnt test for assets but still.
Susan St John has a pretty clever way to do it via raising taxes on the other income of ppl 65+. Wdnt test for assets but still.
how many people would miss out if really super were means tested at say 50+ grand income a year after tax? (yes i know arbitrary, but then we have families with nothing live of less)
Very few people would miss out.
If you were in that situation you would do exactly what they do in Australia. You would put your money into expanding your house OR you would give it to your children OR you would spend it on luxury travel until you got down below the bar.
Australia has a National super scheme, at something like the level of the NZ one but it is asset tested.
A couple get, before tax, about $35k if their assets, not counting the family home are less than about $400k.
They get nothing if their assets are greater than about $800k. Between those numbers there is very steep abatement of the super.
Suppose you had $800k. There is no way that you can get a return on the extra $400k in assets that makes up for the loss of super. Indeed I have seen estimates that you would need about $1.5m to be better off without National Super than a person with $400k who gets the full amount.
What do people do? The expand their home. The go on a long world tour. They give it away. They do anything to get their assets over and above their house down to the $400k mark.
If you brought this idea in here people would do exactly the same as Australians do.
If you had an income of $300k you wouldn’t bother. If you had $60k you would definitely get it down to a safe level.
“Better to leave Super alone and fix the rest of WINZ so it is humane”.
I agree with this. Super has meant NZ has lower levels of poverty amongst older age groups and the universality means it is cheap to administer. We need to do something similar for others on benefits.
Tax will reduce payments for those with less need but needs to include a wealth as well as income.
Super has always been a sort of insurance scheme.
I remember 60 years ago my dad showing me his payslip and explaining it. The superann contribution was shown separatly as I recall.
I think it is still very much the same, it is structured like an insurance policy and think of the shit fight if an insurance company said that they werent going to pay out on a maturing life policy because … “you’ve got too much money “.
You are thinking of Social Security. This was a tax of one shilling and sixpence on each pound of income.
Politicians talked about it going into a fund to pay old age pensions but it didn’t of course. It simply went into the Consolidated Fund and was promptly spent.
It was much the same as the pension scheme for veteran MPs (before 1992) and retired Public Servants who belonged to their scheme prior to 1991 or 1992.
They pay tax free super. The fairy tale story about that is that it is being paid by capital gains made by the fund. If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. The payout comes straight from the taxpayer as the returns on the “fund” come nowhere near paying for their obligations. Wonderful if you belong. Inflation proof, guaranteed by the taxpayer. No risk of going bust.
And NO, you can’t join them now.
Now, perhaps reluctantly, Bill English has played the kids card.
When the National Party officially launched its election campaign at the Trusts Arena in Waitakere, the Prime Minister’s own kids were on show.
His 26-year-old daughter Maria sang the New Zealand national anthem and 17-year-old Xavier, in a smart-looking suit, accompanied his father and mother, Mary English, onto the stage.
Does this mean to say that families are fair game in political reporting/commenting now?
A bit of a contrast to an interview just the other week, when he told the interviewer he won’t give interviews in his family home because he likes to keep his work and family life seperate.
It’s like a Key style campaign with a few character replacements.
Gosh that venue had many empty seats and so many asian people in the audience, the crowd did not seem like a typical snap shot of our nz people and English appeared not very confident to me.
It is the same as Key and Max. Apparently it is ok for a PM to use their family to project their career but not the media to comment on their families.
You are right. Do you remember Andrew Little trying to put on a warm family face in his speech to the Labour Party Conference this year?
“It was the house we brought our baby boy home to.
I remember that time vividly. Preparing the baby room. And putting this precious bundle of humanity in his cot for the first time. This tiny little thing, in this ocean of sheets.
Of course, XXXX’s nearly 6 foot tall now. He doesn’t fit in the cot anymore!”.
Everyone cooed happily. But the press, and the blogs, left him alone thank God.
I won’t give the lad’s name or provide a link to the speech. Leave him alone.
Keep thinking about the Royal Flush from Tim Murphy – it could be that no. 1 Metira Turei defrauded WINZ way back in the piece, no. 2 ol’ Winnie has defrauded WINZ on his Super – whether he knew about it or not, now this new biggie supposedly coming out this week could be no.3 our Paula Benefit and her back story which we are not allowed to discuss. That would be a “sort of” Royal Flush being that these stories are all of the same ilk. Now wouldn’t that be fun and games.
They are hinting on the radio that Morgan is about to announce that he has a female co-leader. Apparently TOP chased away heaps of women voters with the lipstick comment last week, lolz
A move as obvious as morgans motives are IMO….propping up national as he sees their puppet parties dissolving. About as trustworthy as any banskta dealer is imo.
Monday, 28 August 2017, 11:33 am
Press Release: The Opportunities Party
Opportunities Party Announces New Co Deputy Leader
The Opportunities Party East Coast Bays candidate Teresa Moore will join Wellington Central candidate Geoff Simmons as Co Deputy Leader of the Party.
“Teresa is a welcome addition to TOP’s leadership team and will play a vital role on the campaign trail and in Parliament,” says TOP Founder and Leader Gareth Morgan, “With strong credentials in environmental matters and a proven track record in business Teresa is a fantastic addition to our leadership team.”.
“I’m proud to be part of TOP’s leadership team”, says Teresa, “It was already a privilege to be standing alongside a highly skilled group of candidates who believe in the need for real change in New Zealand, to be asked to help lead such a great team of people is an added honour”.
likes sailing, solar power, renewable energy, and green tourism – had a tourism company, been involved in the special education sector, and believes education should be tailored to the individual.
p5; the Board consists of 3-8 members, including the party leader. Party leader to preside at board meetings.
The initial board will be appointed by the initial party leader. (p8)
the Board determines candidates for election, based on the recommendations/nominations of a select committee and members – but the board makes the final decision, and there is no right for anyone to appeal against it.
Basically it’s a very top-down business type set up.
Certainly makes Morgan look like a bit of an egotistical control freak. And maybe explains why he just didn’t provide support and engagement with an existing party with some similar policies.
He is actually a very good fit with the greens in many ways but seems to want to bleed votes from the left. he says forget this left/Right thing (and I empathise with that view) but he is not having an impact on the Right… so what will he achieve?
He hates being questioned at all – it has to be his way or no way.
I find him to be an exceptionally obnoxious man and his choice of Sean Plunkett as PR just reinforces the general impression of him being a misogynist bully.
Same Teresa Moore who stood as a Green candidate in the Rodney electorate 2/3 elections ago? When we lived there I remember voting for the Green party and Christine Rose from Labour as my candidate vote. Intuition told me not to vote for Moore at the time!
Wow – Hooton is going bezerk on RNZ. He is actually advancing that Jacinda/Labour will implement a “wind tax” in addition to the “water tax” because they are so devoid of policy.
Bad move from Hooten that Diana comparison – simultaneously sneering at the emotions of the general public and elevating Jacinda to Diana status. Double fail right there.
Silly little elitist prig that he is – can’t discipline his own tongue.
Punters out Punter land is how Brash characterised the general populace. From what I’ve seen no right wing leader or media mouthpiece thinks any different.
Yep I’d imagine times it by 4 or 5 for attempts that didn’t work and inconclusive like no note, plus all the self harming hospitalizations. A total disaster imo. So much suffering and pain so much hurt and utter devastation.
How any government can even speak the words “Delivering for New Zealand” or “A Brighter Future”, with a statistic like this – is disgraceful and outrageous.
Education failing. hospitals failing, mental health failing, rivers failing, youth dying at own hands, houses unaffordable, people sleeping in cars, Tertiary allowing cheating and grade changes to get funding…
“..but back to the main point…I’m afraid 3000 members of the National Party stamping their feet and drumming their seats means absolutely nothing…other than that the National Party is in good heart…
The Jacinderella effect is real, and it’s frightening..here’s two totally different soundings, in two countries….I am a member of a 50 person focus group which responds weekly to various questions on the coming election…7/10 of that group thinks “it’s time for a change”
My roughneck mate Hughie, presently working in the West Australian desert, finds to his considerable astonishment that most of his kiwi workmates think Jacinda is fantastic…and more important, many of them are planning to vote, when normally they don’t bother, just so they can vote for her.
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It’s a comment on a Kiwiblog thread – one that quotes Tracy Watkins saying that English has delivered on the need to push back against Labour’s success, by, er, announcing a second-language policy for schools.
NB: not recommended for those easily offended by the sight of dim bulbs parading their misogyny.
They are just punters.
Punters on the most powerful site in the country. like ZB or other talkback.
Really useful to understand the mood.
I engage there when I have the time, with a different handle.
Keeps you sharp and clear.
Thanks BG, I’ve been following Houston today and I was wondering about that very thing. Drop some links if have anything of interest, I might put a post up on the differences.
Sadly flooding in Houston is far worse than the destruction of half of Bangladesh. I note that the lead article in the Guardian (wrt the Sub-Continent) just now is about a guru tried for rape – no mention of the millions forced to abandon their homes.
Most of us can also see a past in which homelessness was rare in NZ, Bill – having lived in that past right up until your tenure as finance minister. Still, I guess if he can’t remember making that statement to Police last year it would be way too much to expect him to remember stuff from ten years ago.
LOL. I just cannot see Shearer, Cunliffe or Little or Shaw saying this kind of shit and not being ridiculed in the press. Let alone admitting a maths learning deficit and solving it with imaginary teachers from the rapidly destaffing Humanities courses at Unis teaching every primary child 1 of ten possible second languages
In Australia they would be having a satire field day.
…. “activists charged under the ‘Anadarko Amendment’ after swimming in front of the world’s largest seismic oil ship, have pleaded Not Guilty.
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, and activist Sara Howell, will be using a greater good defense to fight the charges.
“I have to fight these charges laid against us because we are in a climate emergency that’s being fueled by the oil industry and propped up by our own Government. Politicians and industry are failing us, but people everywhere are rising up and taking action.”
“The legal defense used by the Waihopai 3 – that they mounted an attack on the spy base to prevent suffering – is to be reformed or repealed, Justice Minister Simon Power has announced.”
Good momentum for the next govt to declare a National Disaster, as a legal requirement for financial innovation. Housing is the obvious, but with environmental issues added, it does stake up.
“There is overwhelming support for a water tax in New Zealand even if it means higher costs for consumers, a new poll shows.
The Herald-ZB Kantar TNS online survey shows that 70 per cent of people agree that commercial water users should pay a royalty to help fund the clean-up of waterways.
Just 19 per cent of the 1000 respondents oppose the idea, while the remainder are unsure.”
Well that’s where their campaign has been focused for the last week – boot camps, getting tough on freedom campers, more testing of school kids. They’ve given up on the floating 50% voter, now it’s pitched right at the core of the core. the bleed line must have gone back that far.
“if they do an ounce of fucking work on the campaign”
As opposed to doing what their donors are demanding, which may be what’s going on. I’ve just spent 9 years watching them being poll driven, centre focused fruitcakes, so the past weeks performance has been a bit different.
Green Energy Markets analyst Tristan Edis said the emergence of renewables, in particular wind and solar, as a “significant source of power” had ushered in a “construction jobs and investment boom”.
“The renewable energy sector has staged a remarkable recovery, after investment completely dried-up under former prime minister Tony Abbott,” Edis said.
Edis said the renewables sector was on track to meet the federal government’s renewable energy target of 20% of total generation by 2020 over a year early, by the end of 2018.
At least 46 large-scale energy projects under construction by the end of June were providing enough work to employ 8,868 people full-time for a year. This figure had surged to 10,000 by July. Most jobs were in NSW (3,018), thanks largely to wind farms, while Queensland (2,625) was next, with 70% of its jobs coming from solar farms.
Rooftop solar installations supported a further 3,769 full-time jobs across Australia in 2016-17.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a government committed to doing something about meeting our Paris Commitments.
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This column will be calling it out. There’s so much folx need to educate ourselves about and DO BETTER. From cis privilege to white privilege, whether it’s how to decolonise, how to handle the pronoun illiterates, this column will be an inclusive space, for ALL GENDERS and ALL IDENTITIES. It ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh, Colombia, 26 February 2021 The recent decision taken in California to place men and women in the same wings of prisons as a response to the violence meted out to trans prisoners is a nascent issue in Colombia, but sooner or later it will get here. ...
About 10 years ago there was a proliferation of home wares promoting ‘Keep calm and carry on’. This adage came from World War 2 posters produced by the British Government in an effort to boost the morale of its citizens. Typically printed as white lettering on a red background you ...
Having spent most of the pandemic alternately calling for mass-death by relaxing lockdowns "for the economy", and for those who breach lockdowns to face harsher and harsher punishments, the National Party has finally made a useful contribution by calling for people told to self-isolate to be paid directly: The ...
The Ombudsman is supposed to be our core watchdog on administrative decision-making. Their central job is to review decisions by public agencies to ensure they are fair and reasonable and followed a proper process. So its more than a little embarrassing that they've been called to account by the courts ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Samantha Harrington For many, people life moved online in 2020. From preschool to dissertation defenses, first dates to weddings, video calls brought us together. To entertain ourselves, we streamed concerts and movies, played video games, and scrolled social media. Demand for internet ...
The Government has made a litany of mistakes over Covid, and we have been more than willing to forgive Labour these missteps and give them some leeway. Branko Marcetic says that when members of the public also make mistakes, we should be focusing on designing a wider system that insulates ...
Naïve optimism has been blinding everyone from Ashley Bloomfield to Case M. Josh Van Veen argues we need to be more aware of our biases in dealing with Covid – but especially the authorities. In the United States, naive optimism was at the heart of the Trump Administration’s failed ...
Cecile Meier walks us through some of the costs of a border system that has neither been able to safely scale up to meet need, nor able to find any reasonable way of prioritising entry into those scarce MIQ spaces. When Zane Gillbee hugged his family goodbye in South Africa ...
Technology lists, what’s this thing called “Deep Tech”, and thinking beyond the tech. Top “x” lists of technology developments, breakthroughs and trends aren’t hard to find. But how useful are they? MIT’s “Breakthrough Technologies” This time every year MIT’s Technology Review magazine produces a “10 breakthrough technologies” list. This ...
Having watched and read about the Conference of the Paranoid, Angry and just plain Crazy (CPAC), including the Orange Merkin’s return to the political centre stage, I am more convinced then ever that if US conservatism, and indeed the US itself, is to find its way back to some semblance ...
Back in 2019, following media revelations that bullying was widespread within the police, the Independent Police Conduct Authority announced that it would be investigating the issue. Today, they reported back, and found the police to be a completely toxic organisation: An independent report into police culture has described a ...
Dr Ben Gray*New Zealand has begun to roll out its Covid-19 vaccination programme, starting with those working at the border, including in the Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) facilities. There have been calls for prioritising other groups such as those in South Auckland [1] and meat industry workers ...
The Climate Change Commission’s recommendations span the breadth of the economy. They are required to come up with sector-by-sector climate budgets consistent with getting New Zealand with net zero emissions under the Zero Carbon Act. The sector-by-sector budgets rest on underlying models. The models build predictions about what will happen ...
Revolution From Below: The original “Long March” was, of course, undertaken by Mao Zedong and what was left of his communist military forces. They did not, however, head off for the nearest school or university, government office or medical clinic. Their goal was not to infiltrate the institutions of capitalism, but ...
There are some genre authors who like to demonstrate their edgy, iconoclastic credentials by sticking the boot into J.R.R. Tolkien. Michael Moorcock springs to mind, with the much-beaten dead horse that is the Epic Pooh essay. Each to their own, I suppose, though seeing as Epic Pooh really boils ...
John SchwartzElizabeth Kolbert lives her stories. In the course of reporting her new book, “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” she got hit by a leaping carp near Ottawa, Illinois (“It felt like someone had slammed me in the shin with a Wiffle-ball bat”) and visited ...
New Zealand has an excellent Emissions Trading Scheme covering everything except agriculture – a non-trivial exclusion, but we can come back to that later. The ETS has a cap. Net emissions from the covered sector cannot exceed the cap. So any other regulations that affect sectors covered by the cap ...
Michael SchulsonDays before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, at a time when some Americans were animated by the false conviction that former President Donald J. Trump had actually won the November election, a man in Colorado began texting warnings to his family. The coming days, he wrote, would ...
Last year, Beef and Lamb New Zealand produced a bought-and-paid-for report claiming that their industry was already carbon neutral, so didn't need to do anything to reduce emissions. The report was full of obviously dodgy accounting - basicly, it didn't bother to follow international carbon accounting rules, because they would ...
Last year, the government chickened out on clean rivers, setting "water standards" that failed to properly control poisonous nitrates. So who was to blame? MPI: The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) opposed introducing a tough bottom line for nitrogen levels in rivers over concerns the economic impact would outweigh ...
Robert Greenberg, University of AucklandThe world was excited by the news last week that NASA’s Perseverance rover had successfully landed in a Martian crater. The rover will now set about collecting samples from what scientists say was an ancient lake fed by a river. The name of this exotic ...
Faith In The Essentials: Fenced-in, almost literally, by motorways. Located, seemingly permanently, at the bottom of politicians’ priority-lists. Heaped with praise for their cultural vibrancy, but not rewarded for it by the presence of white pupils in their public schools, South Aucklanders (like people of colour everywhere) provide their paler ...
Image credit:POLITICAL BLOG I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL ...
Since the pandemic began, the UK government has restricted protests in an effort to contain the plague. But of course, they're plotting to make these restrictions permanent: Concern over the government’s limitation of the right to protest during lockdown continues to mount after it emerged that the home secretary, ...
Completed reads for February: The Dream of Scipio, by CiceroThe Dragon Masters, by Jack Vance The Dream of Scipio is Pearman’s translation. A very quiet month in the reading department… but a truly excellent one in the writing department. Better yet, this was not merely short stories, but solid ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (Colombia, 18 February 2020) Two soldiers, Jhony Andrés Castillo Ospino and Jesús Alberto Muñoz Segovia, fell into the hands of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN; National Liberation Army). Their capture produced the usual reactions that they had been kidnapped when in fact they were prisoners ...
As much of the world is still implementing lockdowns, including New Zealand, it is a good time to see how Sweden has fared. After being demonised for a year for having relatively moderate restrictions the Swedish death toll is rather much in line with other years. Sweden followed the standard ...
Under The Influence Of The "Governance" Kool-Aid: The furore surrounding Mayor Andy Foster's "review" of the Wellington City Council's "governance" is but the latest example of the quite conscious delegitimization, and sinister re-framing, of spirited political opposition and debate as irresponsible, immature and “dysfunctional”. It shows how very far from ...
Hello there everybody. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come on his blog today and speak my mind about stuff. The government has a lot to answer for. I was sitting there last week as Auckland came out of it’s latest lockdown and I knew the government was making ...
There are times when tikanga needs to be broken for tikanga to survive.I recently gave a presentation on Māori economic history based on my Not in Narrow Seas. Its most important message was that Māori proved to be a very adaptable people continually evolving as new opportunities arose. The European ...
Some of you may remember our blog post "A conundrum: our continued presence on Facebook" in which we detailed our misgivings about and decision to stick with Facebook for the time being. So these latest developments - reposted from the Cranky Uncle homepage - might come as a bit of surprise! ...
Image credit:Quick Data Lessons: Data Dredging Oh dear – another scientific paper claiming evidence of toxic effects from fluoridation. But a critical look at the paper shows evidence of p-hacking, data dredging and motivated reasoning to derive their conclusions. And it was published in a journal shown to be ...
We've had a housing crisis for the past decade, and successive governments have done nothing to solve it. Why not? Bernard Hickey gets it right when he says its all about protecting the rich: The Government is reluctant to push down house prices fearing they'll loses the support of ...
There’s more of the Obama legacy here and Deporter in Chief: Obama chucks out 2,000,000 and Can Trump really deport more people than Obama? and Obama, gay rights and the killing drones ...
My Department Right Or Wrong: Far from “politicians involving themselves in some Corrections matters” being a bad thing, their involvement – along with that of the Ombudsman – constitutes a necessary check upon the unreasonable and unlawful exercise of authority over prison inmates by prison staff. A Corrections Minister who ...
New Zealand is supposed to have a progressive tax system, which taxes people according to their ability to pay. But it turns out that the rich are cheating: The wealthiest New Zealanders pay just 12 per cent of their total income in tax on average, according to research from ...
Ground truths on warming When we think about rapid climate change of the kind we've accidentally unleashed and the warming of Earth systems inherent in the process, we tend to focus on phenomena in order of their immediate tangibility, their drama. Sea ice loss in the Arctic, atmospheric and ocean ...
by Daphna Whitmore The Department of Corrections has called in the police over a pamphlet that supports protests at Waikeria Prison, saying the material might incite another riot. The group People Against Prisons Aotearoa denies it advocates for riots and has said it “encourages persistent, peaceful protest action such as striking from ...
One theme in the literature dedicated to democratic theory is the notion of a “tyranny of the minority.” This is where the desire to protect the interests of and give voice to electoral minorities leads to a tail wagging the dog syndrome whereby minorities wind up having disproportionate influence in ...
I've just lodged my fourth complaint to the Ombudsman for deemed refusal of an OIA request by police this year. That brings their total to four for four - every request I have sent them has not been answered within the legal timeframe, even when they extend it to give ...
Will the health reforms proposed for the Labour Government make the system better or worse? Health commentator Ian Powell (formerly the Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists) gives his analysis of what change is most necessary, and what should be avoided. The review of the Health ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections An off-course polar vortex meandered toward the Mexican border, bringing with it frigid Arctic air rarely seen as far south as Texas. Frozen equipment rendered power generation systems in the state inoperable, forcing grid operators to begin rolling blackouts to customers then left to fend ...
Just as National once produced a “rock star economy” that Grant Robertson rejected as being only for the rich, the Labour Government has produced an economic “bounce back” that leaves out the poor. Branko Marcetic argues for a rise in benefit levels to give the poor a real bounce back. ...
Virginia has voted to abolish the death penalty: State lawmakers gave final approval on Monday to a bill that will end capital punishment in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people than any other. The legislation repealing the death penalty now heads to the ...
Yesterday a New Zealand Judge issued a formal finding that the Department of Corrections had treated prisoners in a cruel, degrading and inhumane manner, illegally detaining them, using excessive force, denying them basic necessities unless they performed degrading rituals of submission first. Some of the conduct appears to be criminal: ...
The Herald reports that there is a "storm brewing for the Climate Change Commission". The "problem"? Polluters are unhappy with its economic projections saying that action will not be as costly as they have previously claimed: Last week a coalition of over a dozen New Zealand business and industry ...
You're Move: What would a genuinely powerful Maori Caucus do? What policies would it insist upon? More to the point, since the single most important question in politics is always “Or you’ll what?”, does the Maori Caucus possess the wherewithal to enforce its demands?THAT LABOUR’S MAORI CAUCUS is potentially powerful ...
This post is a mix of a few recent reports on trends, recent discoveries or developments. Topics covered are the future of work, the geopolitical shift from oil to semiconductors, transition to low carbon futures, disappearing Artic sea ice, and AI in health care. Yesterday’s Gone A Canadian report ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson One of the hottest years in U.S. history, 2020 was besieged by a record number of billion-dollar disasters, led by two of the most dangerous phenomena with links to climate change: wildfires and hurricanes. In its initial U.S. climate summary for 2020, ...
Just because something is bad, doesn’t mean it’s easy to criminalise. Graham Adams argues that the proposed ban on gay conversion therapy is messier than many realise, and he delves into some of the difficulties facing the Government in their promise to legislate. A highly successful petition has inadvertently ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Absolutely ridiculous’: top scientist slams UK government over coalmineExclusive:Prof Sir Robert Watson says backing of ...
Over the weekend we learned that Turkey plans to deport a New Zealand woman and her children who had fled Syria after previously joing the Islamic State. Which means that Andrew Little's tyrannical Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Act 2019 - rammed through under all-stages urgency on the basis of an ...
While it has made a lot of noise about inequality, Labour has resolutely avoided reversing the 1990 benefit cuts and improving living standards for the poorest in our society. Meanwhile, 70% of kiwis think they should: A survey has found seven out of 10 New Zealanders believe the government ...
Anti-Philosopher President? Emmanuel Macron and his party’s reaction to the terrorist atrocities committed on French soil targets the very same philosophical movements excited and emboldened by New Zealand’s own terrifying tragedy.IT IS NOT the sort of thought experiment New Zealanders are encouraged to conduct in these culturally sensitive times. Even ...
If Jacinda Ardern or ay of her Auckland-based cabinet ministers stepped outside this weekend, they would have realised that this afternoon’s cabinet decision on whether to move Auckland back to Level 1 has already been made. The residents of our biggest city have voted with their feet.While some places where ...
According to epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker, the decision to end the second Auckland lockdown after just three days was a ‘calculated risk’. The possibility of undetected community transmission cannot be ruled out. In the United States, modelling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that the ...
The Green Party are calling on the Government to assess how the COVID-19 leave support scheme can be better improved, distributed and enforced so that workers can properly take leave when self-isolating. ...
We know that when our rural communities do well, all of New Zealand benefits. Labour is committed to supporting our regions so that, together, we can achieve even more. Here are just some of the ways we’re backing rural communities. ...
Government data today shows that the wealthiest New Zealanders aren’t paying their fair share of tax, whilst everyone else chips in, Green Party spokesperson on Finance Julie Anne Genter said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the change in the Reserve Bank’s remit to consider the impacts on housing when making financial decisions, but housing affordability shouldn’t be left to the Reserve Bank, Green Party Co-leader and Housing spokesperson Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the passing of the Local Electorate Act Māori Wards Amendment Bill which ensures Māori have a say on local issues across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
New UMR research reveals that 69 percent of New Zealanders agree that the government should increase the amount if income support paid to those on low incomes or not in paid work. ...
The Green Party are celebrating the Labour Government bringing forward the timeline to ban conversion therapy, and will push to ensure any draft bill properly protects all of our Rainbow communities. ...
The Green Party is joining the call for ‘brave policy action’ to address rapidly increasing inequality in New Zealand, which is likely to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
Green MPs currently in Auckland, Marama Davidson, Chlöe Swarbrick and Golriz Ghahraman, will remain in Auckland for the next 72 hours. Those in Auckland today for Big Gay Out who have flown home will self-isolate for 72 hours. These decisions will be subject to any new information that may arise ...
It’s Pride month, and as we celebrate our LGBTIA+ community, we’re taking the next steps towards a more inclusive Aotearoa. From investing in mental health services to banning harmful conversion therapy, we’re building a New Zealand where everyone can be safe, healthy and happy. ...
More than half of New Zealand’s estimated 12,000 border workforce have now received their first vaccinations, as a third batch of vaccines arrive in the country, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. As of midnight Tuesday, a total of 9,431 people had received their first doses. More than 70 percent ...
The Government has confirmed details of COVID-19 support for business and workers following the increased alert levels due to a resurgence of the virus over the weekend. Following two new community cases of COVID-19, Auckland moved to Alert Level 3 and the rest of New Zealand moved to Alert Level ...
The Government remains committed to hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2022 should a decision be made by World Rugby this weekend to postpone this year’s tournament. World Rugby is recommending the event be postponed until next year due to COVID-19, with a final decision to ...
Community and social service support providers have again swung into action to help people and families affected by the current COVID-19 alert levels. “The Government recognises that in many instances social service, community, iwi and Whānau Ora organisations are best placed to provide vital support to the communities impacted by ...
The Government is following through on an election promise to conduct an independent review into PHARMAC, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Andrew Little announced today. The Review will focus on two areas: How well PHARMAC performs against its current objectives and whether and how its performance against these ...
Some of the country’s most forward-thinking early-career conservationists are among recipients of a new scholarship aimed at supporting a new generation of biodiversity champions, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. The Department of Conservation (DOC) has awarded one-year postgraduate research scholarships of $15,000 to ten Masters students in the natural ...
I acknowledge our whānau overseas, joining us from Te Whenua Moemoeā, and I wish to pay respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today. I am very pleased to be part of the conversation on Indigenous business, and part ...
Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced today that main benefits will increase by 3.1 percent on 1 April, in line with the rise in the average wage. The Government announced changes to the annual adjustment of main benefits in Budget 2019, indexing main benefit increases to the average ...
A Deed of Settlement has been signed between Ngāti Maru and the Crown settling the iwi’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The Ngāti Maru rohe is centred on the inland Waitara River valley, east to the Whanganui River and its ...
With a suite of Government income support packages available, Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni is encouraging people, and businesses, connected to the recent Auckland COVID-19 cases to check the Work and Income website if they’ve been impacted by the need to self-isolate. “If you are required to ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed her condolences at the passing of long-serving former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. “Our thoughts are with Lady Veronica Somare and family, Prime Minister James Marape and the people of Papua New Guinea during this time of great ...
E te tī, e te tā Tēnei te mihi maioha ki a koutou Ki te whenua e takoto nei Ki te rangi e tū iho nei Ki a tātou e tau nei Tēnā tātou. It’s great to be with you today, along with some of the ministerial housing team; Hon Peeni Henare, the ...
The Government is backing a new project to use drone technology to transform our understanding and protection of the Māui dolphin, Aotearoa’s most endangered dolphin. “The project is just one part of the Government’s plan to save the Māui dolphin. We are committed to protecting this treasure,” Oceans and Fisheries ...
Major water reform has taken a step closer with the appointment of the inaugural board of the Taumata Arowai water services regulator, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. Former Director General of Health and respected public health specialist Dame Karen Poutasi will chair the inaugural board of Crown agency Taumata Arowai. “Dame ...
The newly completed Hibiscus Coast Bus Station will help people make better transport choices to help ease congestion and benefit the environment, Transport Minister Michael Wood and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said today. Michael Wood and Phil Goff officially opened the Hibiscus Coast Bus Station which sits just off the ...
New funding announced by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan today will provide work and help protect the unique values of Northland’s Te Ārai Nature Reserve for future generations. Te Ārai is culturally important to Te Aupōuri as the last resting place of the spirits before they depart to Te Rerenga Wairua. ...
Today the Government has taken a key step to support Pacific people to becoming Community Housing providers, says the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “This will be great news for Pacific communities with the decision to provide Pacific Financial Capability Grant funding and a tender process to ...
Conservation Minister Kiri Allan is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on a proposed marine mammal sanctuary to address the rapid decline of bottlenose dolphins in Te Pēwhairangi, the Bay of Islands. The proposal, developed jointly with Ngā Hapū o te Pēwhairangi, would protect all marine mammals of the ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges. Two of the appointees will take up their roles on 1 April, replacing sitting Judges who have reached retirement age. Kirsten Lummis, lawyer of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to ...
Government announces list of life-shortening conditions guaranteeing early KiwiSaver access The Government changed the KiwiSaver rules in 2019 so people with life-shortening congenital conditions can withdraw their savings early The four conditions guaranteed early access are – down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Huntington’s disease and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder An alternative ...
The Reserve Bank is now required to consider the impact on housing when making monetary and financial policy decisions, Grant Robertson announced today. Changes have been made to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee’s remit requiring it to take into account government policy relating to more sustainable house prices, while working ...
The Labour Government will invest $6 million for 70 additional adult cochlear implants this year to significantly reduce the historical waitlist, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Cochlear implants are life changing for kiwis who suffer from severe hearing loss. As well as improving an individual’s hearing, they open doors to ...
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill passed its third reading today and will become law, Minister of Local Government Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. “This is a significant step forward for Māori representation in local government. We know how important it is to have diversity around ...
The Government has added 1,000 more transitional housing places as promised under the Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan (HAP), launched one year ago. Minister of Housing Megan Woods says the milestone supports the Government’s priority to ensure every New Zealander has warm, dry, secure housing. “Transitional housing provides people ...
A second batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived safely yesterday at Auckland International Airport, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “This shipment contained about 76,000 doses, and follows our first shipment of 60,000 doses that arrived last week. We expect further shipments of vaccine over the coming weeks,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni has today announced $18 million to support creative spaces. Creative spaces are places in the community where people with mental health needs, disabled people, and those looking for social connection, are welcomed and supported to practice and participate in the arts ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little today welcomed Moriori to Parliament to witness the first reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. “This bill is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from all the parties involved. “I am delighted to reach this significant milestone today,” Andrew ...
22,400 fewer children experiencing material hardship 45,400 fewer children in low income households on after-housing costs measure After-housing costs target achieved a year ahead of schedule Government action has seen child poverty reduce against all nine official measures compared to the baseline year, Prime Minister and Minister for Child Poverty ...
It’s time to recognise the outstanding work early learning services, kōhanga reo, schools and kura do to support children and young people to succeed, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins says. The 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards are now open through until April 16. “The past year has reminded us ...
Three new Jobs for Nature projects will help nature thrive in the Bay of Plenty and keep local people in work says Conservation Minister Kiri Allan. “Up to 30 people will be employed in the projects, which are aimed at boosting local conservation efforts, enhancing some of the region’s most ...
The Government has accepted all of the Holidays Act Taskforce’s recommended changes, which will provide certainty to employers and help employees receive their leave entitlements, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said the Government established the Holidays Act Taskforce to help address challenges with the ...
The Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and faster than expected economic recovery has been acknowledged in today’s credit rating upgrade. Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today raised New Zealand’s local currency credit rating to AAA with a stable outlook. This follows Fitch reaffirming its AA+ rating last ...
Tena koutou e nga Maata Waka Ngai Tuahuriri, Ngai Tahu whanui, Tena koutou. Nau mai whakatau mai ki tenei ra maumahara i te Ru Whenua Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga mate ki te hunga mate Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga ora ki te hunga ora Tena koutou, Tena ...
The Minister of Justice has reaffirmed the Government’s urgent commitment, as stated in its 2020 Election Manifesto, to ban conversion practices in New Zealand by this time next year. “The Government has work underway to develop policy which will bring legislation to Parliament by the middle of this year and ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Social Development Hon Carmel Sepuloni today launched a new Creative Careers Service, which is expected to support up to 1,000 creatives, across three regions over the next two years. The new service builds on the most successful aspects of the former Pathways to ...
Overseas consumers eager for natural products in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic have helped boost honey export revenue by 20 percent to $425 million in the year to June 30, 2020, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says. “The results from the latest Ministry for Primary Industries’ 2020 Apiculture Monitoring ...
Thanks to more than $10-million in new services from the Government, more rangatahi will be able to access mental health and addiction support in their community. Minister of Health Andrew Little made the announcement today while visiting Odyssey House Christchurch and acknowledged that significant events like the devastating earthquakes ten ...
Two month automatic visitor visa extension for most visitor visa holders Temporary waiver of time spent in New Zealand rule for visitor stays Visitor visa holders will be able to stay in New Zealand a little longer as the Government eases restrictions for those still here, the Minister of Immigration ...
The Tourism and Conservation Ministers say today’s report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) adds to calls to overhaul the tourism model that existed prior to COVID19. “The PCE tourism report joins a chorus of analysis which has established that previous settings, which prioritised volume over value, are ...
The Government is providing certainty for the dietary supplements industry as we work to overhaul the rules governing the products, Minister for Food Safety Dr Ayesha Verrall said. Dietary supplements are health and wellness products taken orally to supplement a traditional diet. Some examples include vitamin and mineral supplements, echinacea, ...
Cabinet ministers have been sitting on advice regarding a nationwide vaccination schedule for weeks, but have yet to finalise or publish a complete plan. ...
The Finance Minister is worried about the risk that interest-only home loans pose to the country's financial stability – and that's just the half of it This month is crunch time for home-owners and investors who signed up for the Government's mortgage deferral scheme in last year's economic downturn. In ...
An innovative programme to find and develop 25 exceptional young women leaders is open again for nominations. Eleanor Black outlines one student's experience Isabella Ieremia clearly remembers being sat down as a new law student and told that because she was a woman of colour there would be people who would ...
The Climate Change Commission report highlights electrifying our transport system as a priority, but Alan Brent lays out the potential burdens of switching to EVs without properly considering their 'end-of-life' impacts. ...
Collin Tukuitonga explains why vaccinating New Zealand citizens of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau early is a good investment Rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine is in its early stage in New Zealand and pressure is on the Government to make priorities which, as I have made very clear before, must ...
ReadingRoom named Jane Ussher's natural history book the best book of 2020. Nonsense, argues Mike Dickison I used to work out amongst bears and wolves. Back in 1990 I was given a bench press and weights, but there was no room in the flat. A colleague pointed out there was ...
Once close to death, Louise Duncan has overcome the severe impacts of meningococcal meningitis and is back in the saddle - riding dressage for New Zealand and on the verge of the Tokyo Paralympics. In her last year at secondary school, Louise Duncan’s life changed overnight. While sitting at home in ...
Nobody should have to choose between putting food on the table and keeping the rest of the country safe from Covid-19. But for some that’s a reality as lockdowns continue to hit vulnerable communities - and it’s the National Party that’s responding to their plight, writes political editor Jo Moir. ...
The non-commercial future of the merged entity must be secured, argues Better Public Media Trust chair Myles Thomas – and there’s a way to do it that won’t cost the government a cent.TVNZ and RNZ are to be merged. We know this much from several statements from the broadcasting and ...
The government has released few details about this country’s Covid-19 vaccine programme as it progresses. Overseas, meanwhile, countries are increasingly ambitious in their public goals to get jabs out. Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s vaccine programme will move to its second stage next week as the families of border workers become ...
For many people, especially those who rely on community for friendship, Level 3 lockdown is a depressing and lonely time "You just think, 'Oh, not again'." It's Auckland's fourth time locking down because of Covid-19, but for many it's not just about being locked inside; it's being locked out of ...
The military is showing little sign of backing down, but the coup could have the unintended consequence of unifying Myanmar society in opposition, across significant ethnic divisions. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University There’s one graph that sums up both the good and not-yet-as-good detailed by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at Wednesday’s national accounts press conference. It’s a graph of the level of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Christian Porter’s denial of the historical rape allegation is unequivocal, but it won’t draw a line under the issue for him or for the Morrison government. Porter declares he’s determined to stay in his job, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University There’s one graph that sums up both the good and not-yet-as-good detailed by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at Wednesday’s national accounts press conference. It’s a graph of the level of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University There’s one graph that sums up both the good and not-as-good detailed by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at Wednesday’s national accounts press conference. It’s a graph of the level of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne Aside from his strenuous denials of the rape allegation against him, the central point made by Attorney-General Christian Porter at his media conference was that he had been the ...
The New Zealand Food & Grocery Council (NZFGC) is pleased to hear this long-running Court proceeding is effectively now at an end. However, NZFGC wishes to reiterate it did not pay anyone to write any stories on its behalf on Whale Oil, or any other ...
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Darn. The # isn’t released yet.
Edit: Bomber’s one …a distant cousin https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/08/28/exclusive-my-case-against-a-secret-nz-police-investigation-that-breached-my-privacy-and-my-civil-rights/
The MOAS?
Yes that #. Although TDB story is offensive the type of behavior is almost expected and needs urgent attention.
Has it been picked up by MSM and English questioned, and the current Police Minister of course.
Newshub and Seymour are trying to turn Peters overpayment into a *thing*, Newshub claiming he told them two different stories. Pathetic.
Love him or hate him… Winnie has always got something up the sleeve. Bet this pans out for him 10x better than MT’s benefit story.
Sadly I think that will be the case. Newsroom has a better story on this.
Even so all it does is highlight why we need means resting on Super.
The old folk will love him for it. But hey, I’ve a soft spot for his Peoples Public Credit, and love a good racist, sorry, realist, sorry. He actually claims he isn’t racist at all. Oh, this is all so confusing.
He is so wealthy he never checks his accounts or notices his bank balances. It must be awful for him. Does seem like a non story except the keeping quiet bit.
In fairness to newsroom, he lied on his form and said he was single when actually in a de facto relationship. She told the truth when she registered a few years later which is when they cross referenced.
Surely it doesnt matter why he lied, he lied and took money from the poor taxpayer. BUT unlike Turei this wont trigger outrage cos he wasnt a beneficiary and the hatred displayed toward them is not reserved for Super recipients
You have no proof he lied – i suggest being more circumspect as the way to go.
!!! OK…this is more like it. And I bet anyone commenting or reading this site will be included in that surveillance.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/08/28/exclusive-the-rawshark-investigation-secret-police-mass-surveillance-program-against-100-000-nzers/
100 000.
Goodness me.
I’d love to see the reckoning that led to that figure.
On a more serious note, what are the odds that various people connected to The Standard Trust are on that list?
Somewhere between a strong likelihood and a certainty.
Cool, ganna be fun at customs next week with the old double passport, but woops forgot the NZ, but woops Student Loan. But woops did I really say that at Select Committee for National Security. “No Sir. No gold coins or political thoughts…”
…but looking forward to being back in NZ and sleeping in a car.
I think @tmurphyNZ dropped the final clue…sounds like National
Sounds like Winston, you mean.
This is the “mother of all scandals”?!
Next.
I’m very disappointed in the quality of this scandal.
Perhaps the real scandal is the exposure of Patrick Gower et al’s revolting partisan double standards.
Not exactly news to anyone here.
It isnt even headlining on stuff or Herald… you have to scroll down
Ok, so Bradbury actually came up with something. Seriously out-of-control cops. How many other people’s human rights have they violated this way?
Edit: I see Bradbury is claiming 100k. So somewhere between two, and one-hundred thousand.
As opposed to the ongoing subversion of due process and transparency we see with slater, roastbusters, a prominent NZ’er etc etc.
National have politicised many sections of nz’s public service and SOE’s, some were happy to, others had managers dropped in to ensure they came to heel like RNZ, kiwirail and TVNZ.
I wish to write about the Dairy industry in a un biased manner.
As I was only hurt by one and a cop was part of that the other 2 were elderly and for that reason I will let them off.
All dairy farm workers including most farm owners work 7 days a week usually 430 am to 600 pm. THEY can not stop milking the cows as the cows would get sick I.e mastitis e.c.t rain hale or snow the cows have to get milked .I take my hat off to the farmers for that. Now the immigrant issue some kiwi workers have cost the farm owners money big money to tens of thousands of dollars have been lost because of incompetent workers.But not all kiwi workers are like this when I work or run a farm I strived to increase production and minimise stock losses I got the big picture the boss loses money no job + I thought about my reputation.
But some workers could not give a fuck not all kiwi workers are like this.Now all the tree in central north island are more productive being dairy farmed but not next to our water ways. A dairy farmer buys a cow he get about 5 season from the cow he doesn’t have to kill the cow for his production. A good cow will produce 4 times her body weight in milk solids and give the farmer 3 good calves.Most farmers look after there stock in a very HUMANE way as if they don’t the farmer would lose his ASS I.e go broke.So please don’t go being city slickers and bash farmers. Most farmers care about the environment they get that we have one planet they usely want to leave the farm to there children so they are not going to deliberately FUCK up there farming environment the media have a lot to blame for all the dairy farm haters well get real.
Now we have a industry that is world class most of our dairy farm are the best in the world for animal welfare. The cows are not locked inside in a unnatural environment.
Now let’s not make the mistake and think that they are sensitive to the environment like humans as cows have a hide that is a half inch thick and hair and when it rains hard they all gather together to keep warm.
Now were are lucky to have a environment that’s good for dairy farming. Our Dairy farming industry is the only industry that we have that is a price setter so all big powers in the world can not muck our dairy industry around and pay the farmers unstable money like some industry’s .So for a small nation we have a industry that puts us on top of the world .The dairy farmers insulate us from been bleed dry by larger more powerful Nations.I no that the dairy industry is not perfect but whom is a small persent are but you get that in any population or industry .All the photos of cows in water ways are beef cows I.E dry stock but townies can not tell the difference so those pictures are doctored up to shit on the dairy farming image So new zealand let’s not be led by the corrupt and paid for media. Let’s not kill our one world class industry .kill the only golden goose
We have sure they need to change abit but not that much to fuck it up
Come on the rest of the WORLD ARE VERY ENVYIUS OF OUR WOURLD CLASS DAIRY FARMERS AND OUR DAIRY INDUSTRY
Most dairy farmers are still struggling from the low milk solid payment of the last 3 season so they could not take a hit from legislation against them. We need to work with them to mitigate against climate change. Not kick them in the private parts.
All the flats that have been turned into dairy farms are good for NZ .It’s national fault for the way things are at the moment not dairy farmers.
We need to plant more trees on the hill country and around water ways . National are at fault for all the problems they have down south .The Allblacks are world class and we celebrate them And we should celebrate our would class DAIRY FARMERS .The only leader ship national showed was to subsidize Bills m8 down south.I believe that irritation is good when run properly and not a free for all circus.
As it what the ancient culture did thousand of years ago as insurance against droughts system that store water when there is plenty of water and we use it during droughts
The cops are still pissing in the wind WTF
Finland does not test.
It has the best educational system in the world.
National are copying the US and the UK with more testing.
Neo-liberalism is destroying our country.
Yes but having promised the 3Rs and after 9 years maths is worse any Right thonking person woukd introduce free language learning for primary schoolers. Wouldnt they?
Languages can be learnt for free by apps eg Duolingo and travel.
Sister is head of a language department at a highschool. She says that online language learning only works if the student is highly motivated.
Apparently studies have shown that online learning is considerably more effective when students have regular face to face meetings with other students.
The personal interaction both reinforces and motivates students.
I worked from 2015 to end of 2016 delivering and writing blended courses for Tertiary students. Blended meaning a mixture of online face to face and doing some work before class.
The students complained. Parents wrote emails demanding we “teach” their children properly cos “I am not paying them to teach themselves”. Leaving aside the obvious advantage of learning self directed learning these parents demanded mobey back cos we didnt stand up and lecture at their kids for 2 hours rather we used mixtures of discussion, activity and lecturing.
There is so much wrong in NZ cos too many parents want education to be for their children what it was for them. Even though it failed almost half of them.
Probably for more than half of them actually. Some actually realised that though and have taken self-directed efforts to counter that failing and so have some idea as to how much better self-directed learning is.
The problem seems to be that many parents don’t understand the new system and so want us to go back to the old system simply because they feel comfortable with it. These are the people who haven’t realised how bad the old system was and, yes, they’re the very definition of ‘conservatives’. They really do see the past through rose-coloured glasses.
I had that conversation with my betters. That parents need to be educated on what we were doing and why. However my betters wete more concerned to change those 45s to 50s.
There is a lot to be said for educating parents about education.
Almost as big a beat up as MT…..lets see if the opprobrium reaches the same fever pitch, somehow I suspect not.
Pat,
Not as big as MT because he paid it back straight away. Also what were his circumstances 7 years ago when he first claimed it. Maybe he was not in a relationship back then and was therefore entitled to the single rate.
I guess we will soon find out.
bollocks…Peters a)was not a young inexperienced solo parent b) if anyone should know about super payments it is qualified lawyer, serial politician “gold card’ winston c) he took 7 years to correct, and curiously around the time of MTs scandal (I also note MT agreed to pay back any overpayment once the level determined)
….in his defence Iwill say that as I understand it the onus is on the dept to ensure the correct level of payment is made
Yes. He must have been on struggle street with his MP pension… his travel perks… his legal work.
Legal? Yes. And that is all that matters, right Wayne?
All that needs to happen to get millennials to show up to vote is to run a competition for a new home. Entry would be a n/a/p into a separate box on the way out of the voting booth.
Have put up a post on the Peters super thing…
the claim of 100-200,000 New Zealanders being subject to illegal blanket surveillance is an extremely serious one, but I can’t see Bradbury’s evidence. He clearly has a very strong case personally against the plod – he has been treated outrageously.
However, if he has proof of a coupe of hundred thousand people – presumably including some leading figures on the left and centre left – being subject to arbitrary search then this is a gigantic scandal the media can’t ignore.
The government and police – who I think have almost certainly subverted security and police resources to further the governments own political agendas – will fall into a lockstep of blanket refusal to comment and claims of secrecy. Normally, they would get away with that, given the three day media cycle. But during an election campaign, I am not so sure.
Labour should stay out of this, unless it really blows up – and even then, simply promise a full public inquiry if they gain office.
M8 National will use every trick they can to keep power.
One would notice that I did Not use the phrase Every trick in the book.
Because they will use any thing to cling to power .But all the shit they have pulled makes that pole of power to slippery for them to hold on to hence the phrase national slip out of parliament.
Duncan garner looks a bit nervous this morning maybe he has heard that he has been played.Now Jack Tame is over compsioncating in his effort to keep a straight face when National are the subject But Hillary’s is not phased at all Yes our Black Ferns should be promoted and held up as role model for all our girls to aspire to and payed for there efforts Cemmon Steven this is 2017 = right this is 2017 we need to raze our women’s confidence so we get more women on the business boards council and Parliament so we have more of women’s ideals become part of our laws. MORE HUMANE LAWS that will benefit women as much as men
Hell no. They should be a) promising better legislation b) an inquiry into what has actually happened and c) who was spied upon by the police
Yup votes right there in pursuing this and it also highlights nationals intransigence/tacit approval as this is on Bills watch now.
Coleman is blaming hospital overloading on a record flu season. Sounds familar to the excuse of a rat plague of bibilical proportions that seems to happen every year in the Kaharangi Park
I’d say that hospital overloading is due to a failing underfunded health system and people unable to afford going to the Dr’s.
Our local Drs only charge $18 per visit no matter who you are, so Nationals bribe of $18 Dr visits doesn’t mean jack to me or anyone else who already pays $18 a visit
now for something of real political importance…the response to Nationals Education policy..
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201856292/national-out-of-touch-on-education-principals-teachers
They have no idea….much like everything else, if the market doesn’t deliver (and we know it doesn’t in the round) they are clueless
They were like this always. In the 90’s
Lockwood Smith said we had to “implement the new English curriculum in Term 1.”
We didn’t get the curriculum documents ’till Term 2 ,
and the training ’till the following year.
So Bill, did you consult University Research? Principals? Teachers? Boards? Parents? Children? No????? Why not???
Policy on the hoof!!
Hoots is calling it “real policy”. LOL
There was another Education Policy released separately, and quietly , on Saturday. Read about it here. https://saveourschoolsnz.com/2017/08/28/whats-the-real-reason-national-are-implementing-progress-tracking-via-pact/
thanks for that link….so the Nats are going to make the failed policy of teaching to test entrenched….brain dead. Completely undermines the subsequently promoted goal.
If anyone wants to hear from Guy Standing the author of “The Precariat”, he’s appearing in Auckland this Thursday, on the UBI idea:
Guy Standing – Basic Income: the case for a significant new policy
In conjunction with Basic Income New Zealand and Auckland Debating Society, we present Guy Standing, leading international speaker on Basic Income, author of The Precariat, with as a panel to respond to his presentation, Sue Bradford and Keith Rankin.
Guy Standing is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a founder and co-President of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), an NGO promoting basic income as a right. He has held chairs at the Universities of Bath and Monash (Australia) and was previously Director of the Socio-Economic Security Programme of the International Labour Organisation.
He is currently working on pilot basic income schemes in India and on issues relating to his two recent books, The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (2011) and A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens (2014).
Professor Standing’s book recently featured in University World News: Higher education and the precariat class.
When
Thursday 31 August, 6.30pm
Where
Epsom Campus
Lecture Theatre J1
University of Auckland
76 Epsom Ave
Flood before and after pics Houston, Texas vs Harvey with motorway sign indicating depth.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-27/houston-surreal-and-after-photo
https://mobile.twitter.com/MattSitkowski/status/901782145814978560
can someone explain to me why someone who earns several tens of thousands of dollars is eligable for superannuation.
btw, i have no issue with monied people getting super if they contributed to he fund, pass the right age crossing and stop working.
but why get it when you are still working?
the whole point about super is that it allows one to retire, stay at home grow a garden, ride a bike etc and hopefully someone younger fills the job.
please explain it to me and ‘its just the way it is’ does not cut it.
Why is someone who earns several tens of thousands of dollars plus perks on super? He is still working?
One of the few universal benefits, I believe.
Yes it is – I worked for several years after I got my super – you get taxed on all your income, so for that time I was essentially paying my own super, or working tax-free, whichever way you like to look at it.
I think any other way would cost more to administer than it’s worth. What a nightmare it would be!
Don’t panic, Sabine, – your day will come!
mate, i don’t think my generation or any generation after mine will get anything. Inever thought we would get anything since at least the 80’s. Someone has to pay for that shit, and we are less and less paying for it
.
I don’t beguile someone the benefit, i just don’t think someone who makes more then the average income and who works full time should be receiving super. It should be reserved for people who retire and free workplaces up to younger people.
That’s because we have a delusional system that looks at money rather than the productive capability and carrying capacity of the nation.
Basically the rich pricks (Capitalists) won’t let the poor get something unless they get it too. It’s about the only time they agree with socialism!
The other time is when they “need” a bail out when things don’t go their way.
That’s what we get with WINZ and the governments present punitive policies.
its actually fairly simple
you are 65 years of age? yes/no
you work? yes/no
full time/part time?
annual income?
fill it out, provide your income stub from IRd and if you work then you are not retired and thus don’t receive ‘retirements’ benefits.
I don’t see this at hard. I again point out that i would base my system on contribution, i.e. taxed income for x amount of years at a minimum to be eligible. But being an active MP and thus at the receiving end of the government largesse should automatically exclude on from retirement funds.
The system you describe is the one at work in WINZ ATM in regards to the Unemployment Benefit.
with one difference tho, the minister still got the money even tho he did not need it, while those that need it don’t get it or have to perform circus acts to get some of it.
No. I said the system you propose is the same as the one that UB beneficiaries have to go through now. If you apply that to superannuation then the retirees will have to go through it as well.
Basically, you’re saying that retirees should be treated the same as beneficiaries are now.
Note they should be treated the same but through a UBI. It’s the simplest, most efficient system. We’d just need to alter the tax system a bit.
Actually, the main advantage of a universal system is that the amount of fields that need to be filled in and audited are vastly reduced. This speeds up collection, processing, administration, and averyone knows what they’re getting.
Your list of four questions, under the current system, is reduced to one: are you over 65?
It’s the same with student allowances – the amount of processing and auditing that has to go into whether someone’s parents earn over a particular threshhold, are the kids still dependent or married, number of points of study, academic attainment, weekly changable income declarations – back around the turn of the millenium WINZ-student services hadn’t calculated whether the hundreds of millions administering the system was more expensive than just giving 100k students a set income, and they probably still haven’t.
Whether this applies to the entire population I’m not so sure, but for those populations where a significant proportion are already receiving govt money (students, elderly, single parents) might as well just give it to everyone rather than paying people to be jerks.
Seems odd that he got anything in the sense he had MP Super plus was working.
I doubt Peters was trying to fraud the system – why for $50.00 extra a week. And he would probably lose as much as he gained in super. Ditto his partner. It may be he thought he should apply as a kind of support for the super policy he is aligned with.
that is not my point.
my question stands. why do we pay super to someone who works.
personally i find this ‘benefit depended on partnership’ almost criminal. It essentially forces people to stay in toxic relationships if that is the only income thy are provided.
i personally favor a system where a benefit is paid to a person based on contribution irrespective if they live with family or as a hermit. You don’t pay lower taxes just because you are in a relationship.
so i don’t care if he forgot, mis understood, could not care enough of what ever. The point is, at his current work related income he should not have received super at the first place.
Why not?
But then we have to ask why we’re not doing the same for everyone else.
i like your utopia of giving money to everyone.
in the meantime however how about we give money to those that have none before we give it to people that already receive government largess such as active MP’s and contenders for the top spot?
We give it to everyone and their taxes pay for it.
It’s not as hard as you seem to think it is.
“why do we pay super to someone who works.”
One reason is that older people are more likely to be in part time work, so it’s simpler all round to have a set system rather than the complete cluster fuck that is what younger people have to do on a benefit (e.g. declaring income weekly).
Also, it’s not about someone working, it’s about people having adequate or surplus income. So someone could be getting income from investments.
well considering the current situation, namely that payment is dependent of live in partners etc we can conclude its already a clusterfuck.
And having pensioners having to jump the same hoops as other beneficiaries is a move in the wrong direction. Better to leave Super alone and fix the rest of WINZ so it is humane.
I’m not averse to people who have surplus income getting less, but it can be done via taxation instead of hoop jumping.
Max Rashbrooke @MaxRashbrooke
Replying to @mfyfyr
Susan St John has a pretty clever way to do it via raising taxes on the other income of ppl 65+. Wdnt test for assets but still.
question, and i don’t try to be unreasonable.
how many people would miss out if really super were means tested at say 50+ grand income a year after tax? (yes i know arbitrary, but then we have families with nothing live of less)
Who cares when there’s a better system available?
Very few people would miss out.
If you were in that situation you would do exactly what they do in Australia. You would put your money into expanding your house OR you would give it to your children OR you would spend it on luxury travel until you got down below the bar.
Australia has a National super scheme, at something like the level of the NZ one but it is asset tested.
A couple get, before tax, about $35k if their assets, not counting the family home are less than about $400k.
They get nothing if their assets are greater than about $800k. Between those numbers there is very steep abatement of the super.
Suppose you had $800k. There is no way that you can get a return on the extra $400k in assets that makes up for the loss of super. Indeed I have seen estimates that you would need about $1.5m to be better off without National Super than a person with $400k who gets the full amount.
What do people do? The expand their home. The go on a long world tour. They give it away. They do anything to get their assets over and above their house down to the $400k mark.
If you brought this idea in here people would do exactly the same as Australians do.
If you had an income of $300k you wouldn’t bother. If you had $60k you would definitely get it down to a safe level.
“Better to leave Super alone and fix the rest of WINZ so it is humane”.
I agree with this. Super has meant NZ has lower levels of poverty amongst older age groups and the universality means it is cheap to administer. We need to do something similar for others on benefits.
Tax will reduce payments for those with less need but needs to include a wealth as well as income.
Super has always been a sort of insurance scheme.
I remember 60 years ago my dad showing me his payslip and explaining it. The superann contribution was shown separatly as I recall.
I think it is still very much the same, it is structured like an insurance policy and think of the shit fight if an insurance company said that they werent going to pay out on a maturing life policy because … “you’ve got too much money “.
You are thinking of Social Security. This was a tax of one shilling and sixpence on each pound of income.
Politicians talked about it going into a fund to pay old age pensions but it didn’t of course. It simply went into the Consolidated Fund and was promptly spent.
It was much the same as the pension scheme for veteran MPs (before 1992) and retired Public Servants who belonged to their scheme prior to 1991 or 1992.
They pay tax free super. The fairy tale story about that is that it is being paid by capital gains made by the fund. If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. The payout comes straight from the taxpayer as the returns on the “fund” come nowhere near paying for their obligations. Wonderful if you belong. Inflation proof, guaranteed by the taxpayer. No risk of going bust.
And NO, you can’t join them now.
Bill English plays his own youth card
Does this mean to say that families are fair game in political reporting/commenting now?
A bit of a contrast to an interview just the other week, when he told the interviewer he won’t give interviews in his family home because he likes to keep his work and family life seperate.
It’s like a Key style campaign with a few character replacements.
Gosh that venue had many empty seats and so many asian people in the audience, the crowd did not seem like a typical snap shot of our nz people and English appeared not very confident to me.
Wonder when the next polls come out?
As the judge says in American court room dramas, “You opened the door Mr English.”
Shows how low the tick from dipton is – he is so fake that guy.
Yes maybe he should’ve borrowed max key who loves the limelight, they could all do a chorus line to a showtune or 2 from les miserables.
Lol noooooooooooooo
It is the same as Key and Max. Apparently it is ok for a PM to use their family to project their career but not the media to comment on their families.
You are right. Do you remember Andrew Little trying to put on a warm family face in his speech to the Labour Party Conference this year?
“It was the house we brought our baby boy home to.
I remember that time vividly. Preparing the baby room. And putting this precious bundle of humanity in his cot for the first time. This tiny little thing, in this ocean of sheets.
Of course, XXXX’s nearly 6 foot tall now. He doesn’t fit in the cot anymore!”.
Everyone cooed happily. But the press, and the blogs, left him alone thank God.
I won’t give the lad’s name or provide a link to the speech. Leave him alone.
Yup. It must be dizzying trying to keep track of all the double standards in public life.
I think there’s a difference between mentioning family and having them on stage with you while electioneering.
One invites happy coos, the other invites political participation and comment.
YESAH!
Kids, huh.
//
Keep thinking about the Royal Flush from Tim Murphy – it could be that no. 1 Metira Turei defrauded WINZ way back in the piece, no. 2 ol’ Winnie has defrauded WINZ on his Super – whether he knew about it or not, now this new biggie supposedly coming out this week could be no.3 our Paula Benefit and her back story which we are not allowed to discuss. That would be a “sort of” Royal Flush being that these stories are all of the same ilk. Now wouldn’t that be fun and games.
They are hinting on the radio that Morgan is about to announce that he has a female co-leader. Apparently TOP chased away heaps of women voters with the lipstick comment last week, lolz
Ha that would be funny – Morgan is yesterday’s man through and through – ‘hey look at me’ is where he is at and where he’ll stay thank the gods
Kind of like trying to put a dress on a misogynist.
Lol.
Touche
A move as obvious as morgans motives are IMO….propping up national as he sees their puppet parties dissolving. About as trustworthy as any banskta dealer is imo.
ah. Of course, Morgan would never share the leadership with anyone.
They have just announced a new co DEPUTY leader, who is a woman – an environmentalist, standing for East Coast Bays – looks like one of the privileged business classes to me – a blue green.
Her profile on the TOP website.
likes sailing, solar power, renewable energy, and green tourism – had a tourism company, been involved in the special education sector, and believes education should be tailored to the individual.
She’s third on the list, with Simmons at #2.
Do the members vote or does Morgan appoint?
It looks like the Board has the ultimate discretion on any decision.
p5; the Board consists of 3-8 members, including the party leader. Party leader to preside at board meetings.
The initial board will be appointed by the initial party leader. (p8)
the Board determines candidates for election, based on the recommendations/nominations of a select committee and members – but the board makes the final decision, and there is no right for anyone to appeal against it.
Basically it’s a very top-down business type set up.
Thanks Carolyn. Sounds like it might be traditionally patriarchal 😉
Certainly makes Morgan look like a bit of an egotistical control freak. And maybe explains why he just didn’t provide support and engagement with an existing party with some similar policies.
He is actually a very good fit with the greens in many ways but seems to want to bleed votes from the left. he says forget this left/Right thing (and I empathise with that view) but he is not having an impact on the Right… so what will he achieve?
He hates being questioned at all – it has to be his way or no way.
I find him to be an exceptionally obnoxious man and his choice of Sean Plunkett as PR just reinforces the general impression of him being a misogynist bully.
thanks for that, that confirms a lot of things for me too about the underlying values.
Carolyn_nth @ (14.4) ….
Same Teresa Moore who stood as a Green candidate in the Rodney electorate 2/3 elections ago? When we lived there I remember voting for the Green party and Christine Rose from Labour as my candidate vote. Intuition told me not to vote for Moore at the time!
What radio Cinny?
sorry, it was on radio live and came from Bill Rolleston.
Looking at the election feed on stuff now, it looks like bill was a little off the mark, deputy female co-leader rather than a co-leader.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96209636/live-on-the-campaign-trail
Wow – Hooton is going bezerk on RNZ. He is actually advancing that Jacinda/Labour will implement a “wind tax” in addition to the “water tax” because they are so devoid of policy.
So desperate its embarrassing, seriously.
He’s rumourmongering on twitter too.
The hollow one is barking – reminds me of those yappy tiny lap dogs – how he ever your any respect I’ll never know.
He also compared her to Princess Diana…
Silly – just a way to denigrate women from mattspew imo
The funny thing is the things he criticises Jacinda for he praise Key for in campaign 2008
Bad move from Hooten that Diana comparison – simultaneously sneering at the emotions of the general public and elevating Jacinda to Diana status. Double fail right there.
Silly little elitist prig that he is – can’t discipline his own tongue.
Punters out Punter land is how Brash characterised the general populace. From what I’ve seen no right wing leader or media mouthpiece thinks any different.
Hooten should be charged a wind tax, due to the toxic vapour arising from his verbal crap
15.4 I agree Cinny … Hooten produces total maure induced farts with no oxygen.
roy cartland (15) … ha ha, Hooton blows plenty of hot air, so he’s probably scared he will be charged a wind tax 🙂
Yes rootin’ tootin’ Hooton is in real panic mode now, realising Natz is on the way out.
More nzers killed themselves last year than any year before – 606 year to end of june
Lead item on news – there is a scandal right there
Higher than road deaths…
One of many things we need to hang our heads in shame, but will not.
Needs research into why and if that increase is in any way attributable to National’s punitive policies.
in 1916 147 people committed suicide,as a proportion of population that would not be significantly different from 2016.
Reasons? Avoiding going to war? Deprivations of War? Impacts of brutal colonisation? Yup comparable to today
can’t have been wages as they went up15% 1914-1917,food prices increased but rents went down.
You do realise that suicide has been decreasing since then don’t you?
It’s just gone up.
Imagining the pain and suffering for all touched by it, just horrific, heart goes out to them, this should not be happening.
Yep I’d imagine times it by 4 or 5 for attempts that didn’t work and inconclusive like no note, plus all the self harming hospitalizations. A total disaster imo. So much suffering and pain so much hurt and utter devastation.
and the ones left behind their mental health suffering, circles and cycles, it’s horrendous.
and how they’ve cut or cleared out funding to so many aspects of prevention.
3 years is creating a trend, i hope much investigation goes into the stats
Self Help/Parenting etc channel on the telly please. Educate the country
Capitalism is killing NZ
Over 600 suicides last year, third year in a row of increases. Welcome to National’s aspirational Brighter Future. What a team eh?
Don’t worry, Wayne will tell you that he’s feeling quite cheerful so obviously New Zealand doesn’t have a suicide problem.
LOL
Looks like the RSS feed keeps jamming up. I will have a look at it this evening.
It seemed like it was about 3 days behind when I had a look at it yesterday.
Garibaldi – the link on RNZ reporting record suicide rates – and especially high rates for Maori:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/338160/suicide-numbers-rise-to-highest-on-record
How any government can even speak the words “Delivering for New Zealand” or “A Brighter Future”, with a statistic like this – is disgraceful and outrageous.
Education failing. hospitals failing, mental health failing, rivers failing, youth dying at own hands, houses unaffordable, people sleeping in cars, Tertiary allowing cheating and grade changes to get funding…
Suicide rate given top priority on Stuff and RNZ while is right at the bottom right corner of the Heralds website.
David Garrett @KB
“..but back to the main point…I’m afraid 3000 members of the National Party stamping their feet and drumming their seats means absolutely nothing…other than that the National Party is in good heart…
The Jacinderella effect is real, and it’s frightening..here’s two totally different soundings, in two countries….I am a member of a 50 person focus group which responds weekly to various questions on the coming election…7/10 of that group thinks “it’s time for a change”
My roughneck mate Hughie, presently working in the West Australian desert, finds to his considerable astonishment that most of his kiwi workmates think Jacinda is fantastic…and more important, many of them are planning to vote, when normally they don’t bother, just so they can vote for her.
Thumb up 26 Thumb down 1
David Garrett … “Jacinderella”? and he is a member of a focus group?
God help us all.
What was it called when Key was popular? Statesmanlike? Popular? “Finger on the pulse”?
Misogyny is alive and well in its subtle and not so subtle incarnations.
where on earth did you find that?
KB – Kiwiblog. I know, it’s grotty there, but sometimes someone there spills the beans, reveals their inner socialist, lets drop their guard 🙂
KB = Kiwiblog? My first thought was the sewer.
It’s a comment on a Kiwiblog thread – one that quotes Tracy Watkins saying that English has delivered on the need to push back against Labour’s success, by, er, announcing a second-language policy for schools.
NB: not recommended for those easily offended by the sight of dim bulbs parading their misogyny.
Win Kiwiblog and win the election.
I admit the “obnoxious arsehole” constituency is a very large one, but it’s not one you want the party you support to be trying to appeal to.
They are just punters.
Punters on the most powerful site in the country. like ZB or other talkback.
Really useful to understand the mood.
I engage there when I have the time, with a different handle.
Keeps you sharp and clear.
with Farrar conducting thats an ominous statement….
September 2017: Hurricane Harvey kills 6 in Texas. Floods kill 1000 in Nepal, India and Bangladesh.
Guess which got by far the most media attention?
Maybe Trump will now move his wall to the sea?
Thanks BG, I’ve been following Houston today and I was wondering about that very thing. Drop some links if have anything of interest, I might put a post up on the differences.
This one here is good weka:
Worst flooding in years.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/floods-kill-1200-india-nepal-bangladesh-170826230610924.html
cheers.
yes cheers Macro.
Sadly flooding in Houston is far worse than the destruction of half of Bangladesh. I note that the lead article in the Guardian (wrt the Sub-Continent) just now is about a guru tried for rape – no mention of the millions forced to abandon their homes.
For the first time on my life I’d actually like to punch a politician. Of course I won’t… But I’m just saying he should probably watch out for flying dildos
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96211348/bill-english-can-foresee-a-future-where-homelessness-is-rare-in-new-zealand
Its such a manufactured crisis and perfect set up to make money that it should have been related to MOAS.
This is right up there with Key’s disingenuous regret he didnt solve poverty. And by solve he means acknowledge
“bill-english-can-foresee-a-future-where-homelessness-is-rare-in-new-zealand”
So could I 30 years ago. How wrong I was.
This crowd is truly oblivious to the damage they have done… aka Douglas and Richardson.
Most of us can also see a past in which homelessness was rare in NZ, Bill – having lived in that past right up until your tenure as finance minister. Still, I guess if he can’t remember making that statement to Police last year it would be way too much to expect him to remember stuff from ten years ago.
LOL. I just cannot see Shearer, Cunliffe or Little or Shaw saying this kind of shit and not being ridiculed in the press. Let alone admitting a maths learning deficit and solving it with imaginary teachers from the rapidly destaffing Humanities courses at Unis teaching every primary child 1 of ten possible second languages
In Australia they would be having a satire field day.
LOL ASLEEP W W
to rephrase the headline, Bill English can foresee himself losing this election.
…. “activists charged under the ‘Anadarko Amendment’ after swimming in front of the world’s largest seismic oil ship, have pleaded Not Guilty.
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, and activist Sara Howell, will be using a greater good defense to fight the charges.
“I have to fight these charges laid against us because we are in a climate emergency that’s being fueled by the oil industry and propped up by our own Government. Politicians and industry are failing us, but people everywhere are rising up and taking action.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1708/S00544/greenpeace-crew-plead-not-guilty-in-historic-climate-case.htm
“Greater Good” worked for the Ploughshares, didn’t it, but I recall moves to erase that defense as a result.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3917806/Waihopai-3s-greater-good-defence-to-go
“The legal defense used by the Waihopai 3 – that they mounted an attack on the spy base to prevent suffering – is to be reformed or repealed, Justice Minister Simon Power has announced.”
Or..
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/ironmaiden/forthegreatergoodofgod.html
Maybe not your gig Robert but..
‘”But I don’t know, I don’t know” …
Cheers, JC. I’m taken-aback!
Good momentum for the next govt to declare a National Disaster, as a legal requirement for financial innovation. Housing is the obvious, but with environmental issues added, it does stake up.
“Majority of Kiwis back water tax even if it means higher costs”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11912604
“There is overwhelming support for a water tax in New Zealand even if it means higher costs for consumers, a new poll shows.
The Herald-ZB Kantar TNS online survey shows that 70 per cent of people agree that commercial water users should pay a royalty to help fund the clean-up of waterways.
Just 19 per cent of the 1000 respondents oppose the idea, while the remainder are unsure.”
19%.
Sounds like a base National support level.
Yup – a bunch have died since Bill hit bedrock at 23%
LOL….. yes I can see this result Nats 19 Lab 61 Green 8 NZF 8 Top 2 Others 2.
One can but hope.
“Sounds like a base National support level”
Well that’s where their campaign has been focused for the last week – boot camps, getting tough on freedom campers, more testing of school kids. They’ve given up on the floating 50% voter, now it’s pitched right at the core of the core. the bleed line must have gone back that far.
Oh please.
National are good for 40% if they do an ounce of fucking work on the campaign.
“if they do an ounce of fucking work on the campaign”
As opposed to doing what their donors are demanding, which may be what’s going on. I’ve just spent 9 years watching them being poll driven, centre focused fruitcakes, so the past weeks performance has been a bit different.
Some good news from across the ditch:
Renewable energy generates enough power to run 70% of Australian homes
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a government committed to doing something about meeting our Paris Commitments.
A long but informative read…
“The story of Bill English, before he became a nice guy”
by Branko Marcetic
http://werewolf.co.nz/2017/08/bill-english-the-forgotten-history/
https://i.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/95138963/southlanders-have-their-say-environment