Sub-editor at Stuff trying to set up a bullshit ‘gotcha’ narrative.
Headline:Test for Labour Government as France stands firm against strikes.
Article’s position on local wages/industrial relations: After years of relatively anaemic wage growth, I certainly don’t begrudge workers rattling the cage for a top-up to their take-home pay.
The article goes on to describe a rancorous mess in France and makes no mention of any sort of “test” for our government.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Labour the Greens and NZF emphasised the need for higher wages. Guess what happens if there are no wage rises: they get accused of “breaking promises”. Guess what happens if wages rise: they get accused of failing the “test”.
Shouldn’t be too hard to knock this sub-editor’s bullshit out of the park, so I expect to see ministers doing exactly that.
Resident Paul Davie, who was behind the meeting, said he did not know whether low-level criminals, people with mental health issues or paedophiles would live at the houses.
“How’s it going to be managed and who’s going to control these people if they need controlling?”
Could ask a similar question about the wealthy assholes in your suburb
I suppose that he didn’t write enough vacuous tripe and the newspaper had to increase the space that it took up so as to garner more readers and thus four photos.
Resident Paul Davie, who was behind the meeting, said he did not know whether low-level criminals, people with mental health issues or paedophiles would live at the houses.
“How’s it going to be managed and who’s going to control these people if they need controlling?”
Could ask a similar question about the wealthy assholes in your suburb
NZ dairy Farmers are first class whiners. They think they have a right to let their cows shit and piss in waterway that suits them, and not have to pay a cent towards remediation. Despite producing almost half of our greenhouse gas emissions they demand they be exempt from any costs associated with reducing our greenhouse gas outputs.
Mycoplasma bovis arrived in NZ because their overwhelming party of choice, National, defunded MPI and biosecurity to the point of ineffectiveness allowing not just Mycoplasma into NZ but other things like Myrtle rust as well. Dairy farmers also subverted the stock movement recording scheme with unrecorded and illegal stock movements for tax dodging purposes, making it extremely difficult to track the disease spread.
The government stumps up the thick end of a billion dollars of ordinary Kiwi’s money (you know, the struggling minimum wage cleaners of Otara that National spends some much time crying crocodile tears over when it suits them) to eradicate the disease caused by their political party and their greed and all they can do is go on the telly and the radio and whinge and bitch about how hard done by they are.
Personally, I would levy an extra charge on the the dairy industry to recover every last cent of taxpayers money spent on eradication and make them pay for their own f**k ups for a change.
Sadly wish there was as much urban anxiety about the shit from people and diesel from roads we are putting in our harbours.. resulting in record beach closures this year.
There has been a lot of action by people in Auckland about the pollution closing beaches. You need to look locally, the actions by people in their neighbourhoods.
I think most people know, or the ones I know anyway, acknowledge Auckland sewage crisis is one bad storm away from shutting down the city. We have had succession of councils who have ignored the fact that pipes are old, and in (desperate, which is were we are now) need of replacement. Not a huge fan of current crop, but at least their head is not buried in the sand on this issue.
Fortunately the government is not as stupid as you want them to be.
Imagine if the government said “no compensation, and we are going to levy all farmers (or maybe just the farmers affected) the cost of eradication” how much co-operation do you think MPI would get. In fact there would be demonstrations and blockades, since the farmers would think they have nothing to lose.
On top of that imagine all the stories on TV and media of bankruptcy, farm walk offs, suicide and family tragedy.
Just because most farmers don’t vote Labour, doesn’t mean their plight would not affect other voters.
I reckon the govt would not survive even till the next election. NZ First would have to walk and form a coalition with National, if it wanted any chance at all of electoral survival.
And in any event in emergencies like this, no government makes its policies on the basis of who votes for it. Thank goodness.
Serious question Wayne. Why should a private business that is a farm get state aid for compensation after taking risky business action but not other businesses?
I’d have thought the “best” example of misplaced subsidy is that which goes to the oil industry. According to the IMF, it’s about NZ$2 billion every single year (and climbing) when health costs and environmental costs for New Zealand are factored in.
Well, seeing as how I mentioned a couple of areas that are obviously in the category of indirect subsidy, yup, I think you can safely assume I know I’m not talking only about direct subsidies.
Do we subsidise the cane sugar industry by, for example, picking up the tab for associated health costs? Of course we do.
And for industry after business after industry, that’s the nature of the game. Some people make off like bandits while society absorbs the consequences of their actions in a myriad of ways.
It’s beyond me why we fete, honour and reward their likes, and why we often hold them and their ways up as examples for our children to emulate. (shrug)
Mickysavage
That point is so right Especially the payout to the investors who bought bonds after the company first failed …
Some of the knowledgable commenters here have painted a different picture of the SCF dealings showing Hubbard in a better light, and having helped good businesses get going. I am still ignorant of most, but take the point that there are facets that haven’t had full study by the public. There is just too much happening to grasp truth from hyperbole on everything.
In dire emergencies beyond the control of any business, lots of businesses get special assistance from government.
Some examples. Quite a lot during the GFC in 2009. Also a lot of support for Christchurch businesses following the earthquakes. Same in Kaikoura and Edgecumbe. Not to the level of normal business activity, but enough for most to survive.
Given the severity of the various crisises during 2009 to 2011, that was quite a bit of the overall work of Cabinet.
In a sense it is a form of social and economic insurance provided by society as a whole, beyond what any insurance company could ever offer.
This type of “insurance” seems essential for the stability and continuity of society. In some respects it is the business equivalent of the unemployment benefit. At the end of each business are actual people, and the assistance is in reality for them.
do these other businesses that suffer adverse effects attributable to risky business are held up as special needs and special value businesses by National No Mates and do they vote reliably for National No Mates?
they don’t? Then they are moochers that need to learn the hard way how to exists of the government tit.
If only they didn’t fund and support a political party that has repeatedly sought to smash the welfare state. A party that deliberately increases income inequality. A party that attacks human rights and the rule of law.
A party that tells lies about “personal responsibility” and the “high trust model”. The National Party.
Now they want some “communism”, let’s see if any of them can muster the grace to apologise.
Which party in NZ has “repeatedly sought to smash the welfare state”? Certainly not National. It was National who introduced the first real increase in benefits in over 30 years. National borrowed over the course of the GFC to maintain WFF and a raft of other components of the welfare state. If you referring to national introducing a more robust assessment regime, that actually enhances the welfare system by making more equitable (to the taxpayer) and more sustainable.
“It was National who introduced the first real increase in benefits in over 30 years.”
Only for families and then the vast majority of them got less than the headline figure because of supplementary allowances being reduced.
Job Seekers, Supported Living got nothing extra -except harassment and vilification from the National Government
“Only for families and then the vast majority of them got less than the headline figure because of supplementary allowances being reduced.”
So there was an increase. So no one lied. Well done.
Hey Baba, so long as no one lied then eh?
You’re ok with seriously ill and disabled citizens not having their benefit rate increased?
/rhetorical- of course you are.
Me and almost every single beneficiary. Still waiting.
But of course you already know that.
Happy to be proved wrong of course- Perhaps you would like to link to evidence of this increase to ALL beneficiaries, then point out to WINZ that they’ve been mucking up our payments since the announcement?
Get a new line why don’t you, it’s not going to work here.
Serious question micky. Why should a private person get ongoing state aid (benefits, housing etc) after taking risky personal action (not going to school, not taking contraception, not looking after supplied housing etc).
One might say that at least the majority of farmers are net taxpayers.
what benefits are available to other small business owner that loose their businesses to greed and general stupidity and support from National no Mates?
non. they can close shop, file for bankruptcy and go on the dole to be told “your Partner earns enough to feed you”.
so are these benefits only available to farmers or all businesses. cause if they are farming only then that would make the farmers more special and more deserving then anyone else.
One might also say that the taxes collected aren’t equal to the damage done by this current crop. After all, businesses fail all the time and the economy (and the associated tax take) carries on.
I note that the incentive to ignore NAIT is tax evasion. Business owners who cheat on their taxes belong in prison, or at the very least, out of business.
That’s what productive, non-polluting, successful operators call “a gap in the market”, so the sky will not fall, Chicken Little, no matter how many businesses change hands.
While playing golf with some farmers years ago, they said that NZ must understand that Farmers are the backbone of NZ. “Maybe so,” I said. “But are you farming for the good of the country or because you like the lifestyle and have good taxfree income from it?”
Ooops!
I saw it that they felt that we owe them a living.
Certainly compromise is needed to prevent rural revolt, no matter where the fault lies. Tom makes some very good points though; he talks about National’s failure to implement NAIT properly and that’s a significant factor in the present dire situation. His conclusion reflects his anger, and fair enough.
what percentage of the rural population actually works in dairy farming?
As fulltime paid workers with benefits? And how many of these are Kiwis or on a working visa?
Why do you expect a rural revolt, when as of now the unemployed and disregarded population of the rural areas are not revolting?
Are you speaking of a farmers revolt? Cause as i live rural now the only ones that are marching with stupid signs while living of the government tit receiving working for families are the farmers that we are now have to bail out due to their stupidity, willful stupidity, ignorance, willful ignorance, disregard for the land, disregard for their larger community and greed.
btw, can these rural non revolting people that are unemployed and disregarded actually afford butter, milk or mince?
Wayne, you are using alarmism to defend the status quo here and completely missing the wider problems with lightly regulated/enforced dairy intensification practices.
personal responsibilities is for single women and their children.
Farmers are poor humans that are hard done by and must be coddled and waddled in cotton at all times lest they have to pay the bill for the mess they created.
Imagine if the government said “no compensation, and we are going to levy all farmers (or maybe just the farmers affected) the cost of eradication” how much co-operation do you think MPI would get.
Imagine if those farmers not cooperating were sent to jail and lost everything for obstruction of justice.
In fact there would be demonstrations and blockades, since the farmers would think they have nothing to lose.
We can ensure that they lose everything.
Should give them plenty of ‘incentive’. Isn’t that what National’s ‘tough on crime’ is all about?
They can’t strike like nurses so the DHBs continue to exploit those caring for disabled.
Who else wants to work as a Support Carer?
If she was hesitant, I was astonished. The maximum rate, $64.50 for 24 hours, works out to be $2.69 per hour. Yes, you read that right – and as I recall has barely changed in over 30 years.
…
The Support Carer is still unable to claim mileage. So a return trip of 30k, at the IRD rate of 73c per kilometre allowed for mileage expenses, works out at a $21.90 cost to myself.
To add further insult, IRD requires the hourly $2.69 to be taxable. For a five day week working 24 hours with no breaks, the total payment is a taxable $312.50.
“If you don’t want to have affordable housing or quality density housing in your neighbourhood, you go and live in Pokeno or Dairy Flat,” he said.
Ok so its fair to say that National still haven’t quite cottoned to the fact they’re the opposition but its equally fair to say Labour and more specifically Twyford haven’t realised that what they could say and do in opposition is different to what you can say and do when you’re in power
Jude isn’t in power, Twyford is which means his words have power so he needs to stop taking a “us v them” mentality and realise hes working for all NZers
Rather then be deliberately confrontational he could explain why its happening unless the only reason he can think of is ideological
“Cleaning up the appalling mess National left the country” is a powerful weapon for Labour to wield; they’d be foolish not to wave it around all over the place, lopping off Natty heads, left, right and centre.
The only mess is in your mind. The only reason Labour can spend so much is because they have inherited a strong economy and a healthy balance sheet. From National.
Baba – I think your comment needs filling out a little.
As In: “The only reason Labour can spend so much is because they have inherited a falsely represented economy from a balance sheet faked through shameless underfunding of social services to create a false surplus as well as an ailing, unhealthy society.” But filling it out to reflect the truth makes nonsense of your comment, doesn’t it?
So long as they’re out of touch with you, authoritarian centrist followers and sociopaths, I’m not too concerned: Judith has that constituency covered quite well.
It would be a welcome gesture if farmers could show their appreciation for what the Government and New Zealanders (via their taxes) are doing to attempt to eradicate this biosecurity breach that they have brought upon themselves. Instead of holding up banners about a “pretty communist”. Ironic that “communism/state aid” is now going their way – which it should of course at a time like this.
Farmers will hopefully realise they can’t operate like Wild West Cowboys and society as a whole has to work together for the benefit of all.
During night time talkback it was good to hear a National voter express his admiration for Jacinda’s handling of the whole situation and for how well informed she was.
“We are, at last, navigating out of the “meth contamination” debacle
“Testing for low levels of methamphetamine in residential properties in New Zealand has come at a very high cost,” reads the report of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman into the national panic over the alleged meth contamination of thousands of properties, which was published today.”
Yes thumbs up to the Government on sorting this sorry state of affairs out.
“Several hundred state homes sitting needlessly empty would be put back into use within weeks, and Housing New Zealand would save up to $30m a year on testing, Twyford said.
“The great majority is testing and remediation was completely unnecessary,” Twyford said.
A review into how the standards were set would also be carried out by Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi.
“Very significant sums of money have been spent on testing and decontamination of houses that are thought to have been contaminated by methamphetamine. Housing New Zealand alone in the last fours years has spent $100m on testing and remediation,” Twyford said.
“Large numbers of homes thought to have been contaminated were left empty in the middle of a housing crisis.”
At last we get some sense on this issue – the question everyone should be pondering is why did it take so long and why wasn’t something done sooner? The wastage from this mess is unbelievable.
‘National’s housing spokeswoman Judith Collins said it was time for Housing Minister Phil Twyford to face the facts.’
“You’ve had builders, academics, the Treasury, Reserve Bank, MBIE, economists and media commentators all pointing out the serious flaws in his policy, and saying the Government won’t deliver on its promises, in spite of Phil’s ‘Hear No Evil’ approach to his responsibilities.”
“And today it’s the Salvation Army urging Phil to accept he’s not up to it and calling on the Government to bring in the experts to deliver more houses,” she said in a statement.
@PR, who are the experts, Fletchers, Master builders, China construction bank and the Ozzie banks, Phil Goff, the council cronies that can’t even put a legal argument in for the unitary plan, the Sallies, illegal/semi legal labourer’s and their exploiters, Tilers????
At least they have got a few hundred empty state houses back into production.
But Labour are still heavily neoliberal is their approaches and more people still coming into NZ than going out.
When both the MBIE, Treasury and the Sallies are telling you its not looking good and the only person who thinks its going well is the reflection in the mirror then you might have some issues
But don’t worry when kiwibuild fails i’m sure National won’t remind everyone of the promises made and failed to be kept
Be great if Twyford fails eh PR?
More untaxed capital gain for you and me (I’m at $1.4M and going up whoopee) and more people sleeping in cars but they’ve made bad decisions so who cares? I’m a fan of personal responsibility you see. And excellence too. I put the doubling of the ‘value’ of my properties in 10 years entirely down to my personal excellence in every respect. And my brilliant decision-making – I decided to be born to professional parents. I think I’m pretty fantastic in every respect and my money is evidence of that.
Earth – meet scum of.
Failing miserably because you can’t or won’t take advice is no better than trying nothing since the result is the same but at least he can get some nice feelz for “trying”
Maybe if he took some advice then instead of failing he might actually make it work
It seems like the outcome is that the committee attended to criticisms and decided they were without merit: especially with regard to ISDS issues.
They say they are working on consultation with Māori over treaty issues.
So the Committee Recommends:
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committeehas conducted
the international treaty examination of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The committee recommends that the House take note of its report and note that the Government intends the treaty to be implemented through a bill.
I suspect the committee was stacked with pro-CPTPPA supporters. I think we need to ask for an independent analysis, as did some submitters.
Simon O’Connor (Chairperson)
Hon Gerry Brownlee (until 21 March 2018)
Golriz Ghahraman
Hon Willie Jackson
Hon Tim Macindoe (from 21 March 2018)
Hon Todd McClay
Hon Mark Mitchell (until 21 March 2018)
Christopher Penk (from 21 March 2018)
Louisa Wall
Dr Duncan Webb
@Carolyn_Nth, Oh what a surprise, they listened to the submissions. Probably more like ‘listening’ aka surveilling the submitters, while telling themselves it will all be ok.
Sad and predictable result explaining Labour and NZ First’s positions in the polls. And Greens very weak on their position of this farce, against the government.
I get so frustrated with the flack coming from all corners about Twyford not achieving his goals in Kiwibuild. Maybe he won’t reach the targets he set, but at least he is DOING SOMETHING !
I get so frustrated that a promise that was made to help win an election isn’t being lived up to and probably won’t even get close to succeeding because Twyford is so arrogant to think he has all the answers
But its ok because hes “doing something”, how about instead of him wasting millions/billions we just give him a gold star sticker and tell him hes special
Or maybe instead he takes advice, puts his ego in check and actually works through the problems to get this sorted, like hes supposed to
I don’t like that National lost the election, I think National would be doing a much better job and if we’re all lucky this will only be a one term government
That being said Twyford said they’d build 100 000 houses, it was a big plank of their election campaign, it was “proof” that Labour cares, cares so much more than National so i don’t think anyone should have a problem with wanting Labour to actually carry out their promises
Should the Labour-led government reach out to the opposition National party for assistance in dealing with the housing crisis?
John Key campaigned on addressing the growing housing crisis over ten years ago, so National must have ‘built’ up considerable expertise during nine years in power, and were poised to ‘Act’. They just needed three more years to ‘turn’ things around – so cruel.
The reality is that if National was still in power, then they would be continuing to do SFA – fiddling while NZ churns.
“The Man in the Panama Hat would love nothing more than staying indoors.”
Nice story on the Radio New Zealand website about the change in government thinking on the dodgy Meth testing practices that became common under National and cost Tax Payers and a lot of people unnecessary problems while also making the housing crisis worse all so a few dodgy firms that owned both meth testing and cleaning companies could rake in big money for unnecessary work.
The country’s top scientists say New Zealand has been gripped by hysteria and are recommending people do not test their homes for meth – unless the Police specifically indicate it was a meth lab.
A new report by the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman found there’s never been a documented case of someone getting sick from third-hand exposure to meth.
Mr Twyford said the moral panic around meth has led to needless clean-ups and evictions.
“A hundred million dollars in the case of Housing New Zealand, goodness knows how much in the private sector – so money’s been wasted,” Mr Twyford said.
…And
”However in several news stories at the time Bennett and English said they approved of the Housing NZ regime. English said the agency was “rightly taking a firm stance on the health risks posed by meth, and will continue to do so for as long as it is detected in its properties” in 2016, and Bennett told Newshub in 2016 there was “no evidence” Housing NZ were evicting tenants unfairly.’
The WH are exposed thanks to brave people like @EvaKBartlett and @VanessaBeeley. First I saw the electrodes in the centre. On the phone I see they are placed quite correctly. I did not lie. I made a mistake! I apologise. Will the WH and others too?
A heartwarming story about the trials (literally) of those hardworking rich folks…
‘Elizabeth Huljich alleges her son Christopher Huljich and her grandson Peter Huljich failed to comply with the conditions of a $750,000 loan agreement she organised for them….
‘In 2011 Peter Huljich and his company Huljich Wealth Management was convicted and ordered to pay $447,000 for undermining public confidence in the KiwiSaver investment market and misleading investors by using his own money to artificially inflate the performance of the company’s KiwiSaver fund.’
Good morning The AM Show can’t you see this was a drilibrit move to cause a housing crisis shuttering houses because of PEEEEE. PEEEEE test was also a gravy train for some retired people who think that there views are the only ones that count. As for Sir Peter Gluckman The Labour lead coalition government top science advisor if the boss say stay out of the debate we’ll that’s what he did we know who the boss was.
How many houses have been condemned because of this con job.Maybe there should be a law pasted that the people who were running the government at the time should pay te tangata compensation A.
I was going to include the Rose Anne shoe in one of my post it does show you how hard poor people have it in America I did not no she was a racist trump admire I wonder if he is going to stop printing money this action actually takes wealth from the rest of the Papatuanukue.
The last bonus I got was 11 years ago I used the money to buy my truck that was when Farmers value there workers before shonky decided to change the laws immigration and employment. It did not take long for some farmers to start treating workers like——- now its a shame people laugh at you when you say that you are a dairy farm worker because of the – – – – – way tangata have been treated bad Karma bites NO.
Mark calm down its not your fault that all nationals shitty secrets are coming to light 400 million to irrigate land that would have stay in the low intensity farming with out the gift of millions billy boy A looking after his m8 You made all the wrong moves Ka kite ano
The AM Show Duncan don’t try and blame the scientists just look at the human caused global warming debacle If a government does not want to use common sense there is no way OUR scientist are going to change there views thru a lens of $$$$$$ bills No. you know the old saying. Ka kite ano
I think it’s bull that those retired civil servants the people from the PEEEEE testing industry are commenting on this subject don’t you think its a conflict of interest just like the Alcohol lobbying group commenting on Alcohol issues a conflict of interest No so don’t listen to the bull that comes from people like them. An toa kai Ka kite ano
Good evening Newshub the sandflys are not happy with my post this morning they are doing the same here in Auckland sending actor to try and – – – with ECO MAORI but know effect arrr why don’t they find someone worthy of their attention they obviously got to much time to waste intimidating me.
Good on the Tall Black playing in Rotorua soon it will be good for Aotearoa Basketball if Steven Adams plays for the Tall Blacks.
Ingrid I hope we are going to get some warmer weather soon.
Ka kite ano. P.S Ill have to put a TV in the Truck lol its Matariki on the first of June ECO MAORI will be celebrating this event
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Sub-editor at Stuff trying to set up a bullshit ‘gotcha’ narrative.
Headline: Test for Labour Government as France stands firm against strikes.
Article’s position on local wages/industrial relations: After years of relatively anaemic wage growth, I certainly don’t begrudge workers rattling the cage for a top-up to their take-home pay.
The article goes on to describe a rancorous mess in France and makes no mention of any sort of “test” for our government.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Labour the Greens and NZF emphasised the need for higher wages. Guess what happens if there are no wage rises: they get accused of “breaking promises”. Guess what happens if wages rise: they get accused of failing the “test”.
Shouldn’t be too hard to knock this sub-editor’s bullshit out of the park, so I expect to see ministers doing exactly that.
Lol Aucklander
Resident Paul Davie, who was behind the meeting, said he did not know whether low-level criminals, people with mental health issues or paedophiles would live at the houses.
“How’s it going to be managed and who’s going to control these people if they need controlling?”
Could ask a similar question about the wealthy assholes in your suburb
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104193297/phil-twyford-rules-out-statesponsored-gentrification-in-auckland
He is a former Conservative Party candidate who thinks that child abuse is ok as long as they do not touch the face …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/96120907/allow-light-smacks-but-leave-the-face–conservative-candidate
Looks like he borrowed Seymour’s dog whistle …
And his write up is so fulsome and with four photos no less. What the…
I suppose that he didn’t write enough vacuous tripe and the newspaper had to increase the space that it took up so as to garner more readers and thus four photos.
Looks like you don’t know what child abuse is.
dumb, dumb, dumb…
As far as stupid comments go, I think todays winner is baba yaga. For more idiocy, you will see more comments below.
I would rather not live in the community of Paul Davie, thank you.
Unlike him or his neighbours – we do not know whether they are high-level criminals or paedophiles.
Lol Aucklander
Resident Paul Davie, who was behind the meeting, said he did not know whether low-level criminals, people with mental health issues or paedophiles would live at the houses.
“How’s it going to be managed and who’s going to control these people if they need controlling?”
Could ask a similar question about the wealthy assholes in your suburb
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104193297/phil-twyford-rules-out-statesponsored-gentrification-in-auckland
NZ dairy Farmers are first class whiners. They think they have a right to let their cows shit and piss in waterway that suits them, and not have to pay a cent towards remediation. Despite producing almost half of our greenhouse gas emissions they demand they be exempt from any costs associated with reducing our greenhouse gas outputs.
Mycoplasma bovis arrived in NZ because their overwhelming party of choice, National, defunded MPI and biosecurity to the point of ineffectiveness allowing not just Mycoplasma into NZ but other things like Myrtle rust as well. Dairy farmers also subverted the stock movement recording scheme with unrecorded and illegal stock movements for tax dodging purposes, making it extremely difficult to track the disease spread.
The government stumps up the thick end of a billion dollars of ordinary Kiwi’s money (you know, the struggling minimum wage cleaners of Otara that National spends some much time crying crocodile tears over when it suits them) to eradicate the disease caused by their political party and their greed and all they can do is go on the telly and the radio and whinge and bitch about how hard done by they are.
Personally, I would levy an extra charge on the the dairy industry to recover every last cent of taxpayers money spent on eradication and make them pay for their own f**k ups for a change.
Great comment. Spot on!
Sadly wish there was as much urban anxiety about the shit from people and diesel from roads we are putting in our harbours.. resulting in record beach closures this year.
There has been a lot of action by people in Auckland about the pollution closing beaches. You need to look locally, the actions by people in their neighbourhoods.
I think most people know, or the ones I know anyway, acknowledge Auckland sewage crisis is one bad storm away from shutting down the city. We have had succession of councils who have ignored the fact that pipes are old, and in (desperate, which is were we are now) need of replacement. Not a huge fan of current crop, but at least their head is not buried in the sand on this issue.
+111
Tom
Fortunately the government is not as stupid as you want them to be.
Imagine if the government said “no compensation, and we are going to levy all farmers (or maybe just the farmers affected) the cost of eradication” how much co-operation do you think MPI would get. In fact there would be demonstrations and blockades, since the farmers would think they have nothing to lose.
On top of that imagine all the stories on TV and media of bankruptcy, farm walk offs, suicide and family tragedy.
Just because most farmers don’t vote Labour, doesn’t mean their plight would not affect other voters.
I reckon the govt would not survive even till the next election. NZ First would have to walk and form a coalition with National, if it wanted any chance at all of electoral survival.
And in any event in emergencies like this, no government makes its policies on the basis of who votes for it. Thank goodness.
Serious question Wayne. Why should a private business that is a farm get state aid for compensation after taking risky business action but not other businesses?
“Why should a private business …get state aid for compensation after taking risky business action ”
South Canterbury Finance.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/7066704/SCF-bailout-means-lessons-not-learnt
SCF is perhaps the best example of misplaced state aid. Especially the payout to the investors who bought bonds after the company first failed …
https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/some-big-winners-south-canterbury-collapse-129218
I’d have thought the “best” example of misplaced subsidy is that which goes to the oil industry. According to the IMF, it’s about NZ$2 billion every single year (and climbing) when health costs and environmental costs for New Zealand are factored in.
That’s not a direct subsidy Bill and it can be questioned at being called one at all. Are we subsidising the cane sugar industry?
Well, seeing as how I mentioned a couple of areas that are obviously in the category of indirect subsidy, yup, I think you can safely assume I know I’m not talking only about direct subsidies.
Do we subsidise the cane sugar industry by, for example, picking up the tab for associated health costs? Of course we do.
And for industry after business after industry, that’s the nature of the game. Some people make off like bandits while society absorbs the consequences of their actions in a myriad of ways.
It’s beyond me why we fete, honour and reward their likes, and why we often hold them and their ways up as examples for our children to emulate. (shrug)
Mickysavage
That point is so right Especially the payout to the investors who bought bonds after the company first failed …
Some of the knowledgable commenters here have painted a different picture of the SCF dealings showing Hubbard in a better light, and having helped good businesses get going. I am still ignorant of most, but take the point that there are facets that haven’t had full study by the public. There is just too much happening to grasp truth from hyperbole on everything.
In dire emergencies beyond the control of any business, lots of businesses get special assistance from government.
Some examples. Quite a lot during the GFC in 2009. Also a lot of support for Christchurch businesses following the earthquakes. Same in Kaikoura and Edgecumbe. Not to the level of normal business activity, but enough for most to survive.
Given the severity of the various crisises during 2009 to 2011, that was quite a bit of the overall work of Cabinet.
In a sense it is a form of social and economic insurance provided by society as a whole, beyond what any insurance company could ever offer.
This type of “insurance” seems essential for the stability and continuity of society. In some respects it is the business equivalent of the unemployment benefit. At the end of each business are actual people, and the assistance is in reality for them.
Thanks Wayne.
What about businesses that suffer adverse effects attributable to risky business behavior?
do these other businesses that suffer adverse effects attributable to risky business are held up as special needs and special value businesses by National No Mates and do they vote reliably for National No Mates?
they don’t? Then they are moochers that need to learn the hard way how to exists of the government tit.
see that was easy.
Come on mickysavage call it what it is in this case – criminal behaviour.
If only they didn’t fund and support a political party that has repeatedly sought to smash the welfare state. A party that deliberately increases income inequality. A party that attacks human rights and the rule of law.
A party that tells lies about “personal responsibility” and the “high trust model”. The National Party.
Now they want some “communism”, let’s see if any of them can muster the grace to apologise.
Which party in NZ has “repeatedly sought to smash the welfare state”? Certainly not National. It was National who introduced the first real increase in benefits in over 30 years. National borrowed over the course of the GFC to maintain WFF and a raft of other components of the welfare state. If you referring to national introducing a more robust assessment regime, that actually enhances the welfare system by making more equitable (to the taxpayer) and more sustainable.
So you admit it.
No I am refuting it.
I know exactly what you mean by “enhances”, Wormtongue.
Liar!!
“It was National who introduced the first real increase in benefits in over 30 years.”
Only for families and then the vast majority of them got less than the headline figure because of supplementary allowances being reduced.
Job Seekers, Supported Living got nothing extra -except harassment and vilification from the National Government
“Only for families and then the vast majority of them got less than the headline figure because of supplementary allowances being reduced.”
So there was an increase. So no one lied. Well done.
Hey Baba, so long as no one lied then eh?
You’re ok with seriously ill and disabled citizens not having their benefit rate increased?
/rhetorical- of course you are.
” It was National who introduced the first real increase in benefits in over 30 years.”
Ho hum… been saying it often enough so I guess you believe it.
You’re saying they didn’t?
Me and almost every single beneficiary. Still waiting.
But of course you already know that.
Happy to be proved wrong of course- Perhaps you would like to link to evidence of this increase to ALL beneficiaries, then point out to WINZ that they’ve been mucking up our payments since the announcement?
Get a new line why don’t you, it’s not going to work here.
Of course, this isn’t actually a dire emergency and their own practices caused it.
And all the finance companies should have collapsed during the GFC rather than getting bailed out.
And only provided to National’s rich mates. The poor got kicked again and again.
At the end of a failed business is the unemployment benefit – just like everyone else. What they shouldn’t be getting is government bailouts.
The unemployed are also people but you seem to forget that easily enough.
Serious question micky. Why should a private person get ongoing state aid (benefits, housing etc) after taking risky personal action (not going to school, not taking contraception, not looking after supplied housing etc).
One might say that at least the majority of farmers are net taxpayers.
Because social security is a safety net to prevent people sliding into penury? Benefits are available for farmers if their businesses fail.
what benefits are available to other small business owner that loose their businesses to greed and general stupidity and support from National no Mates?
non. they can close shop, file for bankruptcy and go on the dole to be told “your Partner earns enough to feed you”.
so are these benefits only available to farmers or all businesses. cause if they are farming only then that would make the farmers more special and more deserving then anyone else.
One might also say that the taxes collected aren’t equal to the damage done by this current crop. After all, businesses fail all the time and the economy (and the associated tax take) carries on.
I note that the incentive to ignore NAIT is tax evasion. Business owners who cheat on their taxes belong in prison, or at the very least, out of business.
That’s what productive, non-polluting, successful operators call “a gap in the market”, so the sky will not fall, Chicken Little, no matter how many businesses change hands.
A crappy little deflection based upon the’ we’re deserving – they’re not argument.
Except for the fact that they’re not. What they are is a bunch of bludgers.
Are you comparing the bailing out of business malpractice to the bailing out of kids wagging school and mums who can’t afford to nourish their kids?
While playing golf with some farmers years ago, they said that NZ must understand that Farmers are the backbone of NZ. “Maybe so,” I said. “But are you farming for the good of the country or because you like the lifestyle and have good taxfree income from it?”
Ooops!
I saw it that they felt that we owe them a living.
Certainly compromise is needed to prevent rural revolt, no matter where the fault lies. Tom makes some very good points though; he talks about National’s failure to implement NAIT properly and that’s a significant factor in the present dire situation. His conclusion reflects his anger, and fair enough.
what percentage of the rural population actually works in dairy farming?
As fulltime paid workers with benefits? And how many of these are Kiwis or on a working visa?
Why do you expect a rural revolt, when as of now the unemployed and disregarded population of the rural areas are not revolting?
Are you speaking of a farmers revolt? Cause as i live rural now the only ones that are marching with stupid signs while living of the government tit receiving working for families are the farmers that we are now have to bail out due to their stupidity, willful stupidity, ignorance, willful ignorance, disregard for the land, disregard for their larger community and greed.
btw, can these rural non revolting people that are unemployed and disregarded actually afford butter, milk or mince?
Wayne, you are using alarmism to defend the status quo here and completely missing the wider problems with lightly regulated/enforced dairy intensification practices.
Not to mention his measure of personal responsibilty for the entire situation.
personal responsibilities is for single women and their children.
Farmers are poor humans that are hard done by and must be coddled and waddled in cotton at all times lest they have to pay the bill for the mess they created.
+111
Imagine if those farmers not cooperating were sent to jail and lost everything for obstruction of justice.
We can ensure that they lose everything.
Should give them plenty of ‘incentive’. Isn’t that what National’s ‘tough on crime’ is all about?
They can’t strike like nurses so the DHBs continue to exploit those caring for disabled.
Who else wants to work as a Support Carer?
If she was hesitant, I was astonished. The maximum rate, $64.50 for 24 hours, works out to be $2.69 per hour. Yes, you read that right – and as I recall has barely changed in over 30 years.
…
The Support Carer is still unable to claim mileage. So a return trip of 30k, at the IRD rate of 73c per kilometre allowed for mileage expenses, works out at a $21.90 cost to myself.
To add further insult, IRD requires the hourly $2.69 to be taxable. For a five day week working 24 hours with no breaks, the total payment is a taxable $312.50.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12059985
Thanks for putting this up AWW….and a very good article too. Some slight errors, and maybe later I’ll expand a bit on the information.
Needless to say, as per usual the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services will not emerge covered in glory.
CSS is a fine example of why I truly believe MOH;DSS hate disabled people and their family carers.
Anything for this in the Budget?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104193297/phil-twyford-rules-out-statesponsored-gentrification-in-auckland
“If you don’t want to have affordable housing or quality density housing in your neighbourhood, you go and live in Pokeno or Dairy Flat,” he said.
Ok so its fair to say that National still haven’t quite cottoned to the fact they’re the opposition but its equally fair to say Labour and more specifically Twyford haven’t realised that what they could say and do in opposition is different to what you can say and do when you’re in power
Right, because that’s what Judith Collins does 🙄
Jude isn’t in power, Twyford is which means his words have power so he needs to stop taking a “us v them” mentality and realise hes working for all NZers
Rather then be deliberately confrontational he could explain why its happening unless the only reason he can think of is ideological
And how did she behave when she was in power? Totes non-confrontational, eh.
Not to mention Bill “lazy, stoned” English.
Raise the double standard, Puck.
Good then don’t complain when the same charges of being arrogant and out of touch are levelled at Labour
…and so soon in their tenure.
“Cleaning up the appalling mess National left the country” is a powerful weapon for Labour to wield; they’d be foolish not to wave it around all over the place, lopping off Natty heads, left, right and centre.
The only mess is in your mind. The only reason Labour can spend so much is because they have inherited a strong economy and a healthy balance sheet. From National.
Baba, ya ditzy ol’ granny, you!
Baba – I think your comment needs filling out a little.
As In: “The only reason Labour can spend so much is because they have inherited a falsely represented economy from a balance sheet faked through shameless underfunding of social services to create a false surplus as well as an ailing, unhealthy society.” But filling it out to reflect the truth makes nonsense of your comment, doesn’t it?
Our responses to Baba are practically identical, IV!
Creepy!
So long as they’re out of touch with you, authoritarian centrist followers and sociopaths, I’m not too concerned: Judith has that constituency covered quite well.
It would be a welcome gesture if farmers could show their appreciation for what the Government and New Zealanders (via their taxes) are doing to attempt to eradicate this biosecurity breach that they have brought upon themselves. Instead of holding up banners about a “pretty communist”. Ironic that “communism/state aid” is now going their way – which it should of course at a time like this.
Farmers will hopefully realise they can’t operate like Wild West Cowboys and society as a whole has to work together for the benefit of all.
During night time talkback it was good to hear a National voter express his admiration for Jacinda’s handling of the whole situation and for how well informed she was.
“We are, at last, navigating out of the “meth contamination” debacle
“Testing for low levels of methamphetamine in residential properties in New Zealand has come at a very high cost,” reads the report of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman into the national panic over the alleged meth contamination of thousands of properties, which was published today.”
https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/we-are-at-last-navigating-out-of-the-meth/
That’s very good
A.
Yes thumbs up to the Government on sorting this sorry state of affairs out.
“Several hundred state homes sitting needlessly empty would be put back into use within weeks, and Housing New Zealand would save up to $30m a year on testing, Twyford said.
“The great majority is testing and remediation was completely unnecessary,” Twyford said.
A review into how the standards were set would also be carried out by Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi.
“Very significant sums of money have been spent on testing and decontamination of houses that are thought to have been contaminated by methamphetamine. Housing New Zealand alone in the last fours years has spent $100m on testing and remediation,” Twyford said.
“Large numbers of homes thought to have been contaminated were left empty in the middle of a housing crisis.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104287037/rental-meth-panic-over
At last we get some sense on this issue – the question everyone should be pondering is why did it take so long and why wasn’t something done sooner? The wastage from this mess is unbelievable.
I thought Curran might be the best Labour MP National has but now I’m convinced its Twyford…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12060251
As the first lady of NZ politics puts it
‘National’s housing spokeswoman Judith Collins said it was time for Housing Minister Phil Twyford to face the facts.’
“You’ve had builders, academics, the Treasury, Reserve Bank, MBIE, economists and media commentators all pointing out the serious flaws in his policy, and saying the Government won’t deliver on its promises, in spite of Phil’s ‘Hear No Evil’ approach to his responsibilities.”
“And today it’s the Salvation Army urging Phil to accept he’s not up to it and calling on the Government to bring in the experts to deliver more houses,” she said in a statement.
@PR, who are the experts, Fletchers, Master builders, China construction bank and the Ozzie banks, Phil Goff, the council cronies that can’t even put a legal argument in for the unitary plan, the Sallies, illegal/semi legal labourer’s and their exploiters, Tilers????
At least they have got a few hundred empty state houses back into production.
But Labour are still heavily neoliberal is their approaches and more people still coming into NZ than going out.
When both the MBIE, Treasury and the Sallies are telling you its not looking good and the only person who thinks its going well is the reflection in the mirror then you might have some issues
But don’t worry when kiwibuild fails i’m sure National won’t remind everyone of the promises made and failed to be kept
@PR – oh I agree with you about Kiwibuild failure, but probably for different reasons.
To be fair, Sallies were only saying that people were being unsettled by reports that it might not deliver.
In other words, the undermining has been going well.
But Kiwibuild has clear objectives. If they are not met, the minister will be held responsible. That is what a government with integrity looks like.
Be great if Twyford fails eh PR?
More untaxed capital gain for you and me (I’m at $1.4M and going up whoopee) and more people sleeping in cars but they’ve made bad decisions so who cares? I’m a fan of personal responsibility you see. And excellence too. I put the doubling of the ‘value’ of my properties in 10 years entirely down to my personal excellence in every respect. And my brilliant decision-making – I decided to be born to professional parents. I think I’m pretty fantastic in every respect and my money is evidence of that.
Earth – meet scum of.
Failing miserably because you can’t or won’t take advice is no better than trying nothing since the result is the same but at least he can get some nice feelz for “trying”
Maybe if he took some advice then instead of failing he might actually make it work
Today, I got an email with links to the select committee report on the CPTPPA, because I made a submission.
report can be accessed here.
It seems like the outcome is that the committee attended to criticisms and decided they were without merit: especially with regard to ISDS issues.
They say they are working on consultation with Māori over treaty issues.
So the Committee Recommends:
I suspect the committee was stacked with pro-CPTPPA supporters. I think we need to ask for an independent analysis, as did some submitters.
The Foreign Affairs, defence and Trade Committee has 1 GP 3 Labour, and 4 Nat MPs.
Listed on P8 of the Report:
@Carolyn_Nth, Oh what a surprise, they listened to the submissions. Probably more like ‘listening’ aka surveilling the submitters, while telling themselves it will all be ok.
Sad and predictable result explaining Labour and NZ First’s positions in the polls. And Greens very weak on their position of this farce, against the government.
I came across this quote – it seems relevant at present.
Shocking. Profits first.
The number of Maui dolphins in the world is continuing to drop, with only a few dozen now left alive.
I get so frustrated with the flack coming from all corners about Twyford not achieving his goals in Kiwibuild. Maybe he won’t reach the targets he set, but at least he is DOING SOMETHING !
I get so frustrated that a promise that was made to help win an election isn’t being lived up to and probably won’t even get close to succeeding because Twyford is so arrogant to think he has all the answers
But its ok because hes “doing something”, how about instead of him wasting millions/billions we just give him a gold star sticker and tell him hes special
Or maybe instead he takes advice, puts his ego in check and actually works through the problems to get this sorted, like hes supposed to
And yet you never made a peep about the completely useless Nick Smith.
We are all touched by your concern.
I don’t like that National lost the election, I think National would be doing a much better job and if we’re all lucky this will only be a one term government
That being said Twyford said they’d build 100 000 houses, it was a big plank of their election campaign, it was “proof” that Labour cares, cares so much more than National so i don’t think anyone should have a problem with wanting Labour to actually carry out their promises
and pointing out when they break those promises
Should the Labour-led government reach out to the opposition National party for assistance in dealing with the housing crisis?
John Key campaigned on addressing the growing housing crisis over ten years ago, so National must have ‘built’ up considerable expertise during nine years in power, and were poised to ‘Act’. They just needed three more years to ‘turn’ things around – so cruel.
The reality is that if National was still in power, then they would be continuing to do SFA – fiddling while NZ churns.
“The Man in the Panama Hat would love nothing more than staying indoors.”
Nice story on the Radio New Zealand website about the change in government thinking on the dodgy Meth testing practices that became common under National and cost Tax Payers and a lot of people unnecessary problems while also making the housing crisis worse all so a few dodgy firms that owned both meth testing and cleaning companies could rake in big money for unnecessary work.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/358454/meth-house-contamination-debunked-by-pm-s-science-advisor
…And
”However in several news stories at the time Bennett and English said they approved of the Housing NZ regime. English said the agency was “rightly taking a firm stance on the health risks posed by meth, and will continue to do so for as long as it is detected in its properties” in 2016, and Bennett told Newshub in 2016 there was “no evidence” Housing NZ were evicting tenants unfairly.’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104287037/rental-meth-panic-over
National claimed to be reviewing it – basically 2 years ago with no action even with people sleeping in cars.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/81548539/Officials-reviewing-P-contamination-guidelines-as-expert-says-risk-overstated
Thank you new government with new Housing Minister.
Fake News: Or, some people just like fascism
https://arcdigital.media/how-one-doctors-false-claim-was-used-to-erase-atrocities-in-syria-d76459ffa4e2
The swansong of the Assadist.
Where would fascism be without useful idiots?
Indeed
Peas in a pod squad.
Where would fascism be without cynical hypocrites ? … https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/4273/8695/original.jpg
A Genuine Little girl wishing for fascists to stop shooting 3mins.20 secs https://www.bitchute.com/video/H44EYHitZM4q/
A heartwarming story about the trials (literally) of those hardworking rich folks…
‘Elizabeth Huljich alleges her son Christopher Huljich and her grandson Peter Huljich failed to comply with the conditions of a $750,000 loan agreement she organised for them….
‘In 2011 Peter Huljich and his company Huljich Wealth Management was convicted and ordered to pay $447,000 for undermining public confidence in the KiwiSaver investment market and misleading investors by using his own money to artificially inflate the performance of the company’s KiwiSaver fund.’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/104247358/squabbling-within-one-of-new-zealands-richest-families-plays-out-in-high-court
the party is over.
time for the speaker to crack the whip and bring this inept mediocre nationals rump to heel.
happy holiday.
Good morning The AM Show can’t you see this was a drilibrit move to cause a housing crisis shuttering houses because of PEEEEE. PEEEEE test was also a gravy train for some retired people who think that there views are the only ones that count. As for Sir Peter Gluckman The Labour lead coalition government top science advisor if the boss say stay out of the debate we’ll that’s what he did we know who the boss was.
How many houses have been condemned because of this con job.Maybe there should be a law pasted that the people who were running the government at the time should pay te tangata compensation A.
I was going to include the Rose Anne shoe in one of my post it does show you how hard poor people have it in America I did not no she was a racist trump admire I wonder if he is going to stop printing money this action actually takes wealth from the rest of the Papatuanukue.
The last bonus I got was 11 years ago I used the money to buy my truck that was when Farmers value there workers before shonky decided to change the laws immigration and employment. It did not take long for some farmers to start treating workers like——- now its a shame people laugh at you when you say that you are a dairy farm worker because of the – – – – – way tangata have been treated bad Karma bites NO.
Mark calm down its not your fault that all nationals shitty secrets are coming to light 400 million to irrigate land that would have stay in the low intensity farming with out the gift of millions billy boy A looking after his m8 You made all the wrong moves Ka kite ano
The AM Show Duncan don’t try and blame the scientists just look at the human caused global warming debacle If a government does not want to use common sense there is no way OUR scientist are going to change there views thru a lens of $$$$$$ bills No. you know the old saying. Ka kite ano
I think it’s bull that those retired civil servants the people from the PEEEEE testing industry are commenting on this subject don’t you think its a conflict of interest just like the Alcohol lobbying group commenting on Alcohol issues a conflict of interest No so don’t listen to the bull that comes from people like them. An toa kai Ka kite ano
Good evening Newshub the sandflys are not happy with my post this morning they are doing the same here in Auckland sending actor to try and – – – with ECO MAORI but know effect arrr why don’t they find someone worthy of their attention they obviously got to much time to waste intimidating me.
Good on the Tall Black playing in Rotorua soon it will be good for Aotearoa Basketball if Steven Adams plays for the Tall Blacks.
Ingrid I hope we are going to get some warmer weather soon.
Ka kite ano. P.S Ill have to put a TV in the Truck lol its Matariki on the first of June ECO MAORI will be celebrating this event