I'll have another look at it this weekend (assuming that my bug list from QA doesn't grow again today). My current server had problems with the upgrade to the latest LTS version.
However the new server is sitting under my desk at the workplace. I just received the order of disk bays for it yesterday which was the last bit.
So I'll transfer the TS array to it this weekend and get that running, then do a fresh install on the current server.
I/S @ No Right Turn doesn't treat Luxon's anti-abortionism lightly:
"Over the weekend, the US Supreme Court followed through on its threat, and overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively outlawing abortion in much of the United States. People were outraged, in America and around the world. And in Aotearoa, this meant a lot of sudden questions for the National Party, which is led by a fundamentalist anti-abortionist, stuffed with fundamentalist anti-abortionist MPs, and which tends to take its lead from whatever crack the US Republicans are smoking this week. While National's fundy backbenchers celebrated the imposition of forced birth in America, Christopher Luxon desperately tried to backpedal on his past views and reassure the public that National had no intention of changing the law. Except that today, he's doubling down on being anti-abortion:"
Like I've said ad nauseam, when Jacinda needs a disaster, one appears. And this ones a beauty.
As night follows day, dumb voters have knee jerked in response. HDA received texts saying people are now reconsidering voting for National. You can bet there are many others thinking similar.
Seems they don’t understand abortion issues are the least of our worries.
I’ve already had two under 40-year-olds tell me they’re worried about the Nats and the abortion issue, and they’re both actually National voters. One of them now says they don’t think they can vote for National this time around.
No, there were others during open talkback, but that was the only link I could find to show I wasn't making stuff up. That link was her opening comments for that day's session.
My point is, even just using those two examples, there would be thousands of other women having second thoughts about voting National just like them. All they see is National has too many fundies in their party. And Luxon is one, too. And he's the leader.
From AB's post below.
''The might be the least of yours mate, but for women of childbearing age, it might be a bit different. And maybe a bit different too for men with daughters, sisters and female relatives in that category. Quite a few people then.''
That's how middleclass women and others will be thinking. People who previously were considering voting for National.
thanks. What I’m hoping is that you will learn to explain your thinking up front like that, so I don’t have to drag it out of you as a mod or commenter. What you have since provided that wasn’t in yoru original comment:
an explanation that HDPA opened her show with the example of two women
that others texted in during the show and said similar
your analysis of what women voters might be doing.
If you look at your first comment, it’s just some offhand, throw them out there reckons. But you can obviously formulate a decent political argument, so I’m asking that you do that up front.
This isn’t twitter or FB, we’re not here for the reckons, we’re here for the robust debate. When people put there argument (and links and quotes) up front, the debate improves. Everyone knows what is being discussed and the context. Good and robust debate is the point of the commentariat (robust doesn’t mean fractious, it means vigorous and resilient and of a certain standard).
Gordon Campbell brings his wisdom to the tawdry situation:
"After all… And starting at around 4 minutes into this December 2021 interview, Luxon (a) agreed that abortion is “tantamount to murder” and (b) refused to answer a question about whether he thought abortion should be allowed for victims made pregnant by rape or incest. This man is not a social liberal.
Footnote One: Apparently, access to abortion is not something the National caucus regards as being important. In yesterday’s mea culpa to his colleagues O’Connor said that his offensive tweet “had caused distress and trouble for the party, that just wants to focus on big issues.” Women voters, take note. Abortion rights = no big deal. Blokes got more important things to talk about."
The might be the least of yours mate, but for women of childbearing age, it might be a bit different. And maybe a bit different too for men with daughters, sisters and female relatives in that category. Quite a few people then.
And let's consider what it is emblematic of. This basically:
Luxon calls himself 'pro-life' but appears not care about the quality of life of the woman forced to bring the foetus to term, the eventual child itself or any other children the woman may already be caring for
Nor is he offering to make this imposition on women any easier through free universal contraception, free universal childcare, job guarantees from the state when he private sector can't or won't provide them at a livable wage, or a guaranteed right in the BORA to freedom from financial and housing insecurity, etc.
In fact, this latter point seems to dovetail exactly with his anti-human (not pro-life at all) extremism on economic matters in general, such as tax-cuts overwhelmingly favouring people with the most already, re-inflation of the housing market through removing brightline extensions further impoverishing future generations without inheritances from parents and turning them into debt serfs or lifelong renters, wage suppression through opening immigration taps again, etc.
Your saying Luxons poll levelling was down to a large faction of dumb voters? Good of Heather to be so up front and tell it to their faces on newstalk then.
Blade, there are people who vote on single issues- they're called single issue voters.
The abortion issue is one such issue. People on both sides of the issue can be very passionate about it. Some will vote against Luxon because to their one issue passion, but not many on his side of that debate will be impressed by his conflicted approach.
Even people who agree with Luxon's views on abortion as being 'tantamount to murder' will find it difficult to reconcile the seriousness of that moral position with his stated position not to have the National party do anything under his leadership.
If I were in that position of having a very strong anti-abortion stance that is of the 'die in a ditch' moral standing, then I'd be very disappointed even if I realised the political implications for Luxon. I'd want him to be telegraphing that he'd be working to change his party policy for the future.
Then there are voters who see inconsistencies in politician's views and summing them up accordingly vote for others.
There are others who see extremism in one set of a politician's views and wonder whether there are other similar views not yet revealed but that would also be undesirable if acted upon.
These are often middle of the road voters, centrist in nature who are suspicious of extremism.
Luxon has shown extremism, conflicted beliefs and an authoritarian approach to party dissent.
Some might argue that the member for The Upper Room might be better suited in a minority Christian conservative party, rather than leader of a political party that has been traditionally and largely liberal especially in its urban wing.
Others might argue that National is becoming a party with a growing and alarming group of social conservative, even extremist, MPs.
They would already be worried by the exodus from their ranks of socially liberal women MPs like Adams and Bennett. National has been struggling to regain women voters. Luxon's views, and those of illiberal members like O'Connor and Brown, will not help.
Lastly, if National is looking to reclaim the young vote with younger MPs like Brown and O'Connor, then they will be hard pressed with their espousal of illiberal causes that goes beyond the abortion issue but into other issues as gay rights and same-sex marriage where the young are far more liberal.
In sum, then, I'd say that National looks like a party for the socially conservative, male, older voter.
They're welcome………
An important factor for National will be the removal of a President who presided over a selection of politically dodgy candidates. Will they also look to their selection procedures to allow through more acceptable candidates, more representative, more liberal, more reasonable and uncontroversial?
The next few months as parties go into election and selection modes will be very revealing as to the direction of National- urban, liberal, centrist or rural, conservative, extremist?
" The voting gender gap is one thing. National‘s other dilemma on abortion is that it doesn’t want to alienate its Christian base before the election, but it also can’t risk looking to the general public as of it is captive to the Christian right. Answer: shut down the issue ASAP. Try to look as if you’re merely the steward of the status quo. Until such time as you can achieve the power to be otherwise."
I find it depressing that sections of the population think Roe v Wade is about banning abortion and even worse, it applies to New Zealand.
New Zealand already has the most liberal abortion regime in the world, voted in overwhelmingly with bi partisan support from both parties. Sure some National MPs voted against as did some Labour MPs. It is NOT going to change.
The US Supreme Court decision had little to do with abortion, it was about interpretation of the US Constitution and the separation of powers between the Legislative and Judicial Branches.
Certainly a highly contrived wedge issue in the NZ context at the moment … but that's how politics works … parties fighting tooth & nail for the affections of swing-voters (particularly those women – many of a morally-liberal disposition – who flowed from Clark to Key to Ardern then back to Luxon again).
It'll all end in tears before bedtime … but whose tears ? That's the question.
That doesn't really fit with a description of wedge issues, imo. They usually don't have a downside for the political faction pushing them forward.
In particular with Luxon he has only really shown a very detached position on any issues. It seems to be all high level rhetoric without much substance.
His actual policy positions are pretty extreme where he takes them. In particular on the economy he started regurgitating 80s monetarism as the only appropriate policy. I don't understand why saying most families should take a further pay cut so we can hand out tax increases to very few, is a viable political position. Never the less this was the proposal and it didn't seem relevant that QE was running for a decade without inflation, there has been massive supply side disruption, or that most families have taken a real wage cut due to inflation. Instead the only economic thinking of National is austerity must be the approach.
No, I'm saying Labour's indulging in the wedge politics here … not the Nats. [I'm not criticising, incidentally, it's a perfectly legitimate tactic in the game of electoral politics].
That sums him up. He constantly falls back on empty slogans and platitudes, and it only makes things worse.
Trying not to say what you really believe is rarely a smart approach in politics. But Luxon no doubt has advisers whispering in his ear "Don't be you. Be empty".
G, K and B, from the anti-abortion stable, saying that they respect the law of the land, then when on SOCTUS with a case before them then change the law. Team Luxon we have no plan to change the law, but individually will vote our conscience should a bill be before the House.
Well put. Now time for those in power to do something about one of the main sources of this inflation, those making record profits:
Banks making record profits, but impact of economic shocks to come
The country's banking sector continues to rack up record profits as it counters a slowdown in lending with improved margins, and lower expenses, but it could soon be the end of the golden weather.
I don't think it matters what environment banks want, record profits are record profits and when regular depositors are struggling with inflation related cost increases it's unacceptable that banks are setting profit records,
And then there's the global petrol companies record profits:
Largest oil and gas producers made close to $100bn in first quarter of 2022
Shell made $9.1bn in profit, almost three times what it made in the same period last year, while Exxon raked in $8.8bn
Regardless, my point is that bragging about profits while the majority of society is being pummelled by inflation costs and stagnant wages, should really be seen as the industry publicly requesting a windfall tax on their rampant profits.
when you change your email address, or make a typo, or can't remember what it is, your comments get treated as a new person and held back for manual approval. Might be good to take a note of the exact email address you are using 👍
Once upon a time the English told their cricket venues to develop pitches that lasted 5 days. A team toured the country and was put into bat first in two tests. In both tests England demonstrated they could score runs quickly and in great volume on the final day and thus no target set for them would be enough.
Then in the third test KW, the so called best captain in the world, decided to bat first. Is it the elbow, the time in the IPL or covid?
The next team to tour there will not make the same mistake and England will get burnt.
I can't believe how badly National have bungled this abortion issue. Luxon is hobbled by his own Christian fundamentalism, which leave him gruesomely floundering between credibility and electability on this issue and between him and his dumb as a sack of hammers fundy caucus they just can't help keeping the story alive. Judith Collins must be laughing her head off. What it shows is how brittle, undisciplined and bumbling their unrepresentative caucus is under pressure.
Goodfellow has a lot to answer for. One only hopes that now he is gone National can get some people into realistically electable positions who are representative of what constitutes the the bounds of NZ's social attitudes.
But it also shows that our MSM are ridiculously loaded into specialist minor-use health areas when in terms of thousands of people using the service the far more important health crises are in Emergency Departments and Eldercare. Those areas are where rights to health are in NZ under direct threat.
Agree Ad about the health cate crisis. Under this govt abortion likely to become less available cause of staffing shortages. Ironic isn’t it…….but never mind we will have our marvellous new health authority!
Well that is the lazy news cycle writ large. Morning Report and Checkpoint etc etc love these specialist minor-use health stories because they practically write themselves – and fact often do, given a lot of them seem to come from drug company funded lobby groups that want Pharmac to buy their latest incredibly expensive wonder drug.
Format for human interest health story (guaranteed outage and clicks):
< Desperate Deserving Person> with <specialist minor-use health problem>
complains to <outraged presenter> they can't get <specialist minor-use health outcome>
< Desperate Deserving Person> gives heart rending interview about their imminent demise
<outraged presenter> declares scandal and demands answers from <relevant minister>
And that is the lead 10 minutes of checkpoint or Morning Report four out of ten days.
Nine to Noon can then do a full thirty minutes twice a week talking about the health crisis du jour related to the above.
My partner went to the Dr last week and mentioned a mole on her toe. The Dr took a pic and mailed it to the Dermatology specialist at Auckland Hospital. On Monday she got an email from Green Lane hospital giving her an appointment with Dermatology for next Thursday.
Dreadful PR, actually. Luxon with three explanations about National's varied abortion views and then telling the women of New Zealand that National is their party was terrible public relations……
1. Trump wanted armed people waved onto the Hill because they were not there to threaten him
2. After calling for the crowd to go to Congress to protest the EC vote he wanted to join them – and tried to take control of the vehicle from secret service agents.
3. Meadows and his staff were given legal advice that anyone from the White House involved in trying to block the EC vote by attending the protest would likely go to prison.
According to what was said in the hearing this morning Trump was happy for armed people to be in his crowd. Get them there, rouse them, stir them up, get them heading for the Capitol. Angry and armed.
"Backstage at the rally, Trump was irate that people with weapons were not being let through the magnetometers by Secret Service officers and agents who screen all attendees at any event featuring a sitting president. But Trump wanted the armed individuals to be allowed to attend the rally and complained that the magnetometers were adversely affecting his crowd size, Hutchinson overheard."
“I don’t f—ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me,” Trump said, according to Hutchinson’s recollection. “Take the f—ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the f—ing mags away.”
Great to see central government put its stake in the ground for public transport in central Wellington. Next test is to see Wellington Council and GWRC get on board and formally align.
Right before an election, this is what elections were for.
It also worked really well before they decided to trolley bus and then just bus. Enjoyed many a ride from the station to the zoo, Athletic Park, and the Basin on the trams light rail.
It would be great to see any passenger train in New Zealand get to 80kms an hour, whereas now from Huntly to Karapiro you can now put the pedal down and go 110km an hour.
I heard on RNZ yesterday something along the lines of "submissions received strongly supported the 110 km limit."
Well d'oh. There is huge gung-ho car/truck lobby out there always demanding higher speed limits. That doesn't mean it makes sense for safety and environmental reasons.
I drive the Waikato express way reasonably frequently ( It is in fact the easiest and quickest way to Te Rapa, Te Awa, The Base, and Hamilton from here. There are many sections where 110kph is quiet safe* – a very well formed road right up to international standards. Not unreasonable in my view to raise the limit a notch.
*personal view after 60+ years of incident free driving and having raced motorbikes and organised motorcycle racing events.
Ardern said misinformation, often originated as propaganda from foreign actors such as Russia, was harming New Zealand’s social cohesion and was proven to duel terrorism.
She described it as a threat which could stoke anything from war and terrorism to public health risks.
The response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the riot on Parliament’s grounds in Wellington, and the March 15 terror attack all had expressions of misinformation, she said.
I was reading the Finnish defense minister doing an only slightly more polite version of "we will kick Russia's ass if they try it on" interview the other day and I was struck at how bellicose the Europeans are given half a chance.
We haven't yet seen the energy equivalent of NATO evolve in Europe, but odds on this will occur.
Every time European states intervene, the markets have been shown to fail.
The hard open question is whether European countries can follow Lithuania's lead and built the port importing capacity to rid themselves of Russian gas addiction.
I think this is a really big shift.
Turkey has been remaining very cautiously neutral over the Ukraine situation (I think because of Russian involvement in Syria – and therefore the Kurdish situation on their border).
For them to come out supporting an expansion of NATO – when it's clearly an area Russia want to veto for their cordon saintaire countries (more Finland than Sweden) – is significant.
The Turks are playing a canny game. They may be neutral, but that didn't stop Bayraktar donating three TB2 drones in additional to the four a donation drive purchased (apparently fifty have now be delivered to the Ukraine.
Johnny Turk is happily hunting with the hounds and running with the hares and getting concessions and $$$ everywhere for their troubles.
In a very bad direction – towards nuclear escalation.
The Russians have effectively stated with this war that they are fed up with meaningless negotiations, with USA and NATO negotiating in bad faith.
The Russians do not trust the West's bad faith negotiations any more. They have been planning this for some time.
Don't expect them to conform to our standards of morality. They don't believe we have any.
They will escalate. Be very careful of what you wish for.
Personally, I do not like Putin, but I fear that we in the West have been propagandized to the point where we have no idea of the dangers that now face us.
Those of you who are more dialled into local body politics in Wellington – do you think that Eagles is likely to take the mayoralty? And will it make a difference?
I would think he has a very good chance and is probably favourite at the moment. I don't think he will be any good at the job but it is 12 years since we had a decent Mayor and at least 30 since we had a good one so I doubt if he will make any difference.
He was a reasonable Councillor though so we may be surprised. He'll have to get rid of the arrogance that he has picked up as a Labour MP though. He has developed their typical attitude that laws don't apply to them while he has been in the House. As an example try this
Why are those managing Kiwibuild now approaching lead contractors requesting fixed price contracts and the message is being relayed to sub contractors with expectations of those prices to both drop and be adhered to? All so price ceilings announced 4 years ago can still be achieved. I am aware of a development exceeding 50 Kiwibuild will be cancelled as the head provider can not provide product and still achieve ANY financial benefit(unless subbies reduce price) and that is not factoring in the element of risk. https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/129103773/weve-never-seen-anything-like-it-cost-increases-leave-builders-scrambling
'Figures released to Q+A with Jack Tame under the Official Information Act show just 4.8% of KiwiBuild buyers who gave their ethnicity on their application forms are Māori, and 4.4% are Pasifika.'
'These figures are well below the ethnicity breakdown of the general population, which is 16.5% Māori, and 8% Pasifika.'
'At the current rate of progress, the original target of 100,000 KiwiBuild homes will be reached around the year 2300'
National housing spokesperson Jacqui Dean falsely claims they built 30,000 state homes when last in power In fact, the state housing stock fell by 2000 between 2009 and 2017.
Turkyie may well have had a rethink and does not favour having on almost half its borders a belligerent Russia, if it is not stopped or contained. The Black Sea is more Turkyies sea with almost half the coastline and with a vulnerable Georgia and Bulgaria north and east of it, a Russian ally in Syria to the south the future huge costs and problems of defence and refugees etc would loom large.
Kiwibuild did its job, the building industry got its arse into gear and started building and selling houses and suddenly finding land that had been forgotten in the “ bank “, because it could see that Govt would dictate the future direction and it did not want to be sidelined. We must be close to peak house anytime soon with the number already consented and with the Govt continuing to build State Houses, downward price pressure may leaven the product inflation.
Dont fear a building bust so long as the Auckland and now Wellington light rail, Lake Onslow and other big badly needed infrastructure projects go ahead.
Yes Kiwibuild did its job. The job of kiwibuild was never to build 100,000 homes, it was simply to get Labour in to government. Job done. Everyone with half a brain said it was not achievable and have been proved right.
Three people hospitalised following violent attack during Dublin Pride
Three people have allegedly been hospitalised following a suspected transphobic attack which occurred in Dublin’s Stephen’s Green on Saturday, June 25 at 6.50 pm. According to a message received by Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain, the assault was carried out on a group of five LGBTQ+ people following Pride celebrations.
Gender Dynamix building fire labelled 'suspicious' by police
A building used by Gender Dynamix – an organisation that aims to meet the mental health needs of the transgender and nonbinary community in the Bay of Plenty – has been targetted by a ‘suspicious’ fire.
A 42-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts after a shooting in the centre of Norway's capital, Oslo.
Two people died and 21 were wounded early on Saturday in what police called an "act of Islamist terrorism".
The shootings were in and near the London Pub, a popular LGBTQ+ venue, the Herr Nilsen jazz club and another pub.
In Tuesday’s hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack — played police transmissions that described people carrying firearms near the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where Trump held his rally the morning of Jan. 6.
“Three men walking down the street in fatigues carrying AR-15s… at 14th and Independence,” a voice says in one transmission.
“White male… stock of an AR-15,” someone can be heard saying in another recording. “Green fatigues… Glock-style pistols in their waistband.”
“Elevated threat in the trees… American flag face mask… weapon on the right-side hip,” a third transmission says.
Cheney noted that among the supporters who chose to pass through metal detectors so they could get closer to Trump, security screened weapons and equipment including pepper spray, knives, batons and gas masks. Several thousand more people did not go through metal detectors and watched from the nearby Washington Monument lawn.
The committee also showed a report sent by Secret Service at 11 a.m. that day warning of a man with a rifle near the Ellipse, where Trump was speaking.
Just as we dont have the same problem with gun control legislation as the U.S. ,we dont have the same problem with abortion rights…our political systems are worlds apart so whipping ourselves into a moral panic over Roe v Wade appears to me to be superfluous.
Its highly relevant. Candidates for office and Parties will never have the opportunity to tell us precisely what they will do for every issue. We need to make future voting decisions based on how they approach issues which come up. In this case were observing the differences between a Luxon and an English approach to conscience questions.
Did you read Sandbrook ,I would suggest the member did not either,in a recent yougov poll only 2% were against abortion in the UK,not even significant at the 2 sigma level.More own goal there.
Posting as somebody who once wondered why Bill English was an electoral flop. I didn't understand the harm in his politics till he was already finance minister because his views were hardly news worthy. Its already apparent Luxon harbours multiple socially regressive traits, along with his economic wealth pandering tendencies.
This 'Social Investment' idea and its existing screwups should definitely have more focus. Unfortunately what seems to be reasonable social research program was basically undermined by the attempted pay off of implementing it as a money saving device.
Thats an interesting confession, however it dosnt address the point….how has the U.S. Supreme court decision changed any politicians ability to change NZ's abortion laws?
Hilarious to see the Herald come out as anti-capitalist on behalf of rural NZ and then try and blame the government too.
Two vodka entrepreneurs try to do something a bit different on a farm, which like their vodka is a bit kooky, but market focused and the absolute rural fap sees them top of the Herald online.
The rural establishment has a bit of trouble rationalising someone buying a farm and making more money off the land by not 'farming' it.
You start to wonder what, or rather, who, is being farmed.
But in reality most of the land between Queenstown and Wanaka is now retired / carbon farm / private conservation estate now. And one by one the old high country runs are going that way.
Halfway Bay sold last month and was immediately de-stocked and the farm manager laid off, going into carbon farm / conservation / high end tourism. Property covers the Lochy catchment which is one of the best trout fisheries around and has always been private, and has excellent hunting, so they should do better than the farm, and probably be a lot easier on the land.
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, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
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. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Test saving a message
Improved a lot with the innodb pool size increase. Still higher than I’d like.
Try running an optimize to clean up any db issues. The site will be a bit slower for about an hour.
Completed. I'll have a look at database performance under load today, but it appears to have been a issue with data pool sizes.
better but still noticeably slow loading at my end.
I'll have another look at it this weekend (assuming that my bug list from QA doesn't grow again today). My current server had problems with the upgrade to the latest LTS version.
However the new server is sitting under my desk at the workplace. I just received the order of disk bays for it yesterday which was the last bit.
So I'll transfer the TS array to it this weekend and get that running, then do a fresh install on the current server.
slowness could be my crappy internet connection too.
Yes, seems better. DR missed its schedule last night, which tends to happen when there are speed issues with TS (aka a canary in the coalmine).
I/S @ No Right Turn doesn't treat Luxon's anti-abortionism lightly:
"Over the weekend, the US Supreme Court followed through on its threat, and overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively outlawing abortion in much of the United States. People were outraged, in America and around the world. And in Aotearoa, this meant a lot of sudden questions for the National Party, which is led by a fundamentalist anti-abortionist, stuffed with fundamentalist anti-abortionist MPs, and which tends to take its lead from whatever crack the US Republicans are smoking this week. While National's fundy backbenchers celebrated the imposition of forced birth in America, Christopher Luxon desperately tried to backpedal on his past views and reassure the public that National had no intention of changing the law. Except that today, he's doubling down on being anti-abortion:"
Read more: http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2022/06/still-digging.html
he's doubling down on being anti-abortion
In other words, his position today is the same as it was yesterday. Yeah I can see how that might be annoying for some in the media. 🙂
So what is his position, yesterday or today?
Is he anti-abortion or is he not?
Like I've said ad nauseam, when Jacinda needs a disaster, one appears. And this ones a beauty.
As night follows day, dumb voters have knee jerked in response. HDA received texts saying people are now reconsidering voting for National. You can bet there are many others thinking similar.
Seems they don’t understand abortion issues are the least of our worries.
[citation needed for the HDA claim – weka]
mod note
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/opinion/heather-du-plessis-allan-luxon-needs-to-wheel-out-simon-oconnor-and-make-him-apologise/
this?
"two"?
Two?
Yikes!!
No, there were others during open talkback, but that was the only link I could find to show I wasn't making stuff up. That link was her opening comments for that day's session.
My point is, even just using those two examples, there would be thousands of other women having second thoughts about voting National just like them. All they see is National has too many fundies in their party. And Luxon is one, too. And he's the leader.
From AB's post below.
''The might be the least of yours mate, but for women of childbearing age, it might be a bit different. And maybe a bit different too for men with daughters, sisters and female relatives in that category. Quite a few people then.''
That's how middleclass women and others will be thinking. People who previously were considering voting for National.
thanks. What I’m hoping is that you will learn to explain your thinking up front like that, so I don’t have to drag it out of you as a mod or commenter. What you have since provided that wasn’t in yoru original comment:
If you look at your first comment, it’s just some offhand, throw them out there reckons. But you can obviously formulate a decent political argument, so I’m asking that you do that up front.
This isn’t twitter or FB, we’re not here for the reckons, we’re here for the robust debate. When people put there argument (and links and quotes) up front, the debate improves. Everyone knows what is being discussed and the context. Good and robust debate is the point of the commentariat (robust doesn’t mean fractious, it means vigorous and resilient and of a certain standard).
there is still another mod note for you to respond to, comments will be held back until that is attended to.
Understood.
Gordon Campbell brings his wisdom to the tawdry situation:
"After all… And starting at around 4 minutes into this December 2021 interview, Luxon (a) agreed that abortion is “tantamount to murder” and (b) refused to answer a question about whether he thought abortion should be allowed for victims made pregnant by rape or incest. This man is not a social liberal.
Footnote One: Apparently, access to abortion is not something the National caucus regards as being important. In yesterday’s mea culpa to his colleagues O’Connor said that his offensive tweet “had caused distress and trouble for the party, that just wants to focus on big issues.” Women voters, take note. Abortion rights = no big deal. Blokes got more important things to talk about."
http://werewolf.co.nz/2022/06/gordon-campbell-on-nationals-ongoing-problems-with-abortion/
The might be the least of yours mate, but for women of childbearing age, it might be a bit different. And maybe a bit different too for men with daughters, sisters and female relatives in that category. Quite a few people then.
And let's consider what it is emblematic of. This basically:
In short – the guy is even worse than Key.
Your saying Luxons poll levelling was down to a large faction of dumb voters? Good of Heather to be so up front and tell it to their faces on newstalk then.
Blade, there are people who vote on single issues- they're called single issue voters.
The abortion issue is one such issue. People on both sides of the issue can be very passionate about it. Some will vote against Luxon because to their one issue passion, but not many on his side of that debate will be impressed by his conflicted approach.
Even people who agree with Luxon's views on abortion as being 'tantamount to murder' will find it difficult to reconcile the seriousness of that moral position with his stated position not to have the National party do anything under his leadership.
If I were in that position of having a very strong anti-abortion stance that is of the 'die in a ditch' moral standing, then I'd be very disappointed even if I realised the political implications for Luxon. I'd want him to be telegraphing that he'd be working to change his party policy for the future.
Then there are voters who see inconsistencies in politician's views and summing them up accordingly vote for others.
There are others who see extremism in one set of a politician's views and wonder whether there are other similar views not yet revealed but that would also be undesirable if acted upon.
These are often middle of the road voters, centrist in nature who are suspicious of extremism.
Luxon has shown extremism, conflicted beliefs and an authoritarian approach to party dissent.
Some might argue that the member for The Upper Room might be better suited in a minority Christian conservative party, rather than leader of a political party that has been traditionally and largely liberal especially in its urban wing.
Others might argue that National is becoming a party with a growing and alarming group of social conservative, even extremist, MPs.
They would already be worried by the exodus from their ranks of socially liberal women MPs like Adams and Bennett. National has been struggling to regain women voters. Luxon's views, and those of illiberal members like O'Connor and Brown, will not help.
Lastly, if National is looking to reclaim the young vote with younger MPs like Brown and O'Connor, then they will be hard pressed with their espousal of illiberal causes that goes beyond the abortion issue but into other issues as gay rights and same-sex marriage where the young are far more liberal.
In sum, then, I'd say that National looks like a party for the socially conservative, male, older voter.
They're welcome………
An important factor for National will be the removal of a President who presided over a selection of politically dodgy candidates. Will they also look to their selection procedures to allow through more acceptable candidates, more representative, more liberal, more reasonable and uncontroversial?
The next few months as parties go into election and selection modes will be very revealing as to the direction of National- urban, liberal, centrist or rural, conservative, extremist?
Gordon Campbell adds a pithy footnote:
" The voting gender gap is one thing. National‘s other dilemma on abortion is that it doesn’t want to alienate its Christian base before the election, but it also can’t risk looking to the general public as of it is captive to the Christian right. Answer: shut down the issue ASAP. Try to look as if you’re merely the steward of the status quo. Until such time as you can achieve the power to be otherwise."
I find it depressing that sections of the population think Roe v Wade is about banning abortion and even worse, it applies to New Zealand.
New Zealand already has the most liberal abortion regime in the world, voted in overwhelmingly with bi partisan support from both parties. Sure some National MPs voted against as did some Labour MPs. It is NOT going to change.
The US Supreme Court decision had little to do with abortion, it was about interpretation of the US Constitution and the separation of powers between the Legislative and Judicial Branches.
Your history of spreading citation-less bullshit consequence-free on here is depressing.
That’s inaccurate. The final vote was 68/51 (for/against).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_Legislation_Act_2020#Third_reading
.
Certainly a highly contrived wedge issue in the NZ context at the moment … but that's how politics works … parties fighting tooth & nail for the affections of swing-voters (particularly those women – many of a morally-liberal disposition – who flowed from Clark to Key to Ardern then back to Luxon again).
It'll all end in tears before bedtime … but whose tears ? That's the question.
That doesn't really fit with a description of wedge issues, imo. They usually don't have a downside for the political faction pushing them forward.
In particular with Luxon he has only really shown a very detached position on any issues. It seems to be all high level rhetoric without much substance.
His actual policy positions are pretty extreme where he takes them. In particular on the economy he started regurgitating 80s monetarism as the only appropriate policy. I don't understand why saying most families should take a further pay cut so we can hand out tax increases to very few, is a viable political position. Never the less this was the proposal and it didn't seem relevant that QE was running for a decade without inflation, there has been massive supply side disruption, or that most families have taken a real wage cut due to inflation. Instead the only economic thinking of National is austerity must be the approach.
No, I'm saying Labour's indulging in the wedge politics here … not the Nats. [I'm not criticising, incidentally, it's a perfectly legitimate tactic in the game of electoral politics].
Yes, they are. Good thing too – public service, I reckon!
Mac1, Well put .
It's not only the "abortion issues". It's the Luxon issue.
Today he declared that National is "a party for women".
https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/29-06-2022/luxons-morning-media-round-dominated-by-aftermath-of-roe-v-wade
That sums him up. He constantly falls back on empty slogans and platitudes, and it only makes things worse.
Trying not to say what you really believe is rarely a smart approach in politics. But Luxon no doubt has advisers whispering in his ear "Don't be you. Be empty".
He can't keep that up for long. Nobody can.
Luxon needs to improve his party’s scorecard (but so does Labour).
https://www.genderjustice.nz/scorecard_election_2020
G, K and B, from the anti-abortion stable, saying that they respect the law of the land, then when on SOCTUS with a case before them then change the law. Team Luxon we have no plan to change the law, but individually will vote our conscience should a bill be before the House.
Parseltongues.
Never trust a religious fundamentalist!
When the crunch comes, he'll do what his god (conveniently) tells him to do.
And it’ll all be justified by words in his little book of myths!
Very true.
Try reading The Book of Mormon sometime.
I have, and I couldn't!
I just wish god would text me occasionally.
Robert, that is illuminating. Thank you.
Got a text from our local medical centre telling us that they are having to put their prices up because of inflation.
I texted them back, "Putting prices up, is what causes inflation."
Well put. Now time for those in power to do something about one of the main sources of this inflation, those making record profits:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/469976/banks-making-record-profits-but-impact-of-economic-shocks-to-come
While lots of people think that a low interest rate environment is the ideal one for commercial banks and what they lobby for this is miss leading.
It's actually a high interest rate environment which is more profitable for banks.
I don't think it matters what environment banks want, record profits are record profits and when regular depositors are struggling with inflation related cost increases it's unacceptable that banks are setting profit records,
And then there's the global petrol companies record profits:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/13/oil-gas-producers-first-quarter-2022-profits
In most countries, including NZ, commercial banks are directly involved in central bank lobbying activities via the media. Thats why this is relevant.
Regardless, my point is that bragging about profits while the majority of society is being pummelled by inflation costs and stagnant wages, should really be seen as the industry publicly requesting a windfall tax on their rampant profits.
Govt don’t fund the health services properly. So the health centre needs to cover its costs. Write to Andrew Little about it
when you change your email address, or make a typo, or can't remember what it is, your comments get treated as a new person and held back for manual approval. Might be good to take a note of the exact email address you are using 👍
Apologies Weka!
Once upon a time the English told their cricket venues to develop pitches that lasted 5 days. A team toured the country and was put into bat first in two tests. In both tests England demonstrated they could score runs quickly and in great volume on the final day and thus no target set for them would be enough.
Then in the third test KW, the so called best captain in the world, decided to bat first. Is it the elbow, the time in the IPL or covid?
The next team to tour there will not make the same mistake and England will get burnt.
We need a change in the leadership thinking so we can encourage our spinners and stop selecting bits and pieces players
Williamson to stop playing IPL and to relinquish the captaincy would also help immeasurably
I can't believe how badly National have bungled this abortion issue. Luxon is hobbled by his own Christian fundamentalism, which leave him gruesomely floundering between credibility and electability on this issue and between him and his dumb as a sack of hammers fundy caucus they just can't help keeping the story alive. Judith Collins must be laughing her head off. What it shows is how brittle, undisciplined and bumbling their unrepresentative caucus is under pressure.
Goodfellow has a lot to answer for. One only hopes that now he is gone National can get some people into realistically electable positions who are representative of what constitutes the the bounds of NZ's social attitudes.
Agree.
But it also shows that our MSM are ridiculously loaded into specialist minor-use health areas when in terms of thousands of people using the service the far more important health crises are in Emergency Departments and Eldercare. Those areas are where rights to health are in NZ under direct threat.
Agree Ad about the health cate crisis. Under this govt abortion likely to become less available cause of staffing shortages. Ironic isn’t it…….but never mind we will have our marvellous new health authority!
Well that is the lazy news cycle writ large. Morning Report and Checkpoint etc etc love these specialist minor-use health stories because they practically write themselves – and fact often do, given a lot of them seem to come from drug company funded lobby groups that want Pharmac to buy their latest incredibly expensive wonder drug.
Format for human interest health story (guaranteed outage and clicks):
< Desperate Deserving Person> with <specialist minor-use health problem>
complains to <outraged presenter> they can't get <specialist minor-use health outcome>
< Desperate Deserving Person> gives heart rending interview about their imminent demise
<outraged presenter> declares scandal and demands answers from <relevant minister>
And that is the lead 10 minutes of checkpoint or Morning Report four out of ten days.
Nine to Noon can then do a full thirty minutes twice a week talking about the health crisis du jour related to the above.
My partner went to the Dr last week and mentioned a mole on her toe. The Dr took a pic and mailed it to the Dermatology specialist at Auckland Hospital. On Monday she got an email from Green Lane hospital giving her an appointment with Dermatology for next Thursday.
You cannot complain about that sort of service.
VV Glad you got good service. Good wishes for a good diagnosis.
"dumb as a sack of hammers fundy caucus"….brilliant….excelling yourself today Sanc.
The abortion issue in NZ is a nothing burger led by the media desperate to create another 'controversy'
100% PR.
Dreadful PR, actually. Luxon with three explanations about National's varied abortion views and then telling the women of New Zealand that National is their party was terrible public relations……
The National Party created the controversy when one of their MPs celebrated the US Supreme Court decision.
And another of their MPs approved the celebration.
Trump watch resumes on Capitol Hill
1. Trump wanted armed people waved onto the Hill because they were not there to threaten him
2. After calling for the crowd to go to Congress to protest the EC vote he wanted to join them – and tried to take control of the vehicle from secret service agents.
3. Meadows and his staff were given legal advice that anyone from the White House involved in trying to block the EC vote by attending the protest would likely go to prison.
According to what was said in the hearing this morning Trump was happy for armed people to be in his crowd. Get them there, rouse them, stir them up, get them heading for the Capitol. Angry and armed.
"Backstage at the rally, Trump was irate that people with weapons were not being let through the magnetometers by Secret Service officers and agents who screen all attendees at any event featuring a sitting president. But Trump wanted the armed individuals to be allowed to attend the rally and complained that the magnetometers were adversely affecting his crowd size, Hutchinson overheard."
https://rollcall.com/2022/06/28/trump-wanted-armed-supporters-allowed-into-jan-6-rally-and-to-lead-capitol-charge/
Great to see central government put its stake in the ground for public transport in central Wellington. Next test is to see Wellington Council and GWRC get on board and formally align.
Right before an election, this is what elections were for.
'Once in a generation': Government backs light rail for $7.4b Wellington transport overhaul | Stuff.co.nz
is that like light rail in Auckland?
Brilliant-well done the government. Light rail will do wonders for Wellington.
From personal experience it works really well in Sydney and Seville.
Of course if fundy Luxon is elected as PM this will be canned and it will be roads roads roads.
It also worked really well before they decided to trolley bus and then just bus. Enjoyed many a ride from the station to the zoo, Athletic Park, and the Basin on the
tramslight rail.And the Gold Coast QLD.
Thanks Patricia…I didn't know that.
This is what Wellington needs. Great. We are gathering momentum.
It would be great to see any passenger train in New Zealand get to 80kms an hour, whereas now from Huntly to Karapiro you can now put the pedal down and go 110km an hour.
Speed limit on parts of Waikato Expressway increasing to 110km/h (1news.co.nz)
That's the result of all that money put into cars.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your Polestar.
I heard on RNZ yesterday something along the lines of "submissions received strongly supported the 110 km limit."
Well d'oh. There is huge gung-ho car/truck lobby out there always demanding higher speed limits. That doesn't mean it makes sense for safety and environmental reasons.
TBF I'm looking forward to bypassing Hamilton post haste and doing a circuit of the Cambridge and Paeroa antique shops in an easy day.
The antique shops in Paeroa suffered a bit over the past couple of years – but still a good supply of children's dolly prams to be had. 🙂
I drive the Waikato express way reasonably frequently ( It is in fact the easiest and quickest way to Te Rapa, Te Awa, The Base, and Hamilton from here. There are many sections where 110kph is quiet safe* – a very well formed road right up to international standards. Not unreasonable in my view to raise the limit a notch.
*personal view after 60+ years of incident free driving and having raced motorbikes and organised motorcycle racing events.
NZ is well placed to use the NATO summit to accentuate this message:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300624319/misinformation-is-a-threat-and-affecting-nz-jacinda-ardern-says-ahead-of-nato-speech
I think the author meant "fuel" not duel.
NATO expansion is all on. Turkey agrees.
Turkey ready to back Sweden, Finland NATO bids | News | DW | 28.06.2022
In your eye Putin.
I was reading the Finnish defense minister doing an only slightly more polite version of "we will kick Russia's ass if they try it on" interview the other day and I was struck at how bellicose the Europeans are given half a chance.
What a quarrelsome lot they are.
Fiins have history here.
Russia isn't likely to forget the Winter War any time soon….
Europe will lose the winter war,as it has insufficient energy reserves,or an ability to produce sufficient heating.
https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1541830101351948295?cxt=HHwWjoCz8dyT1-UqAAAA
https://twitter.com/SStapczynski/status/1541806195903971328?cxt=HHwWgIDStZ-kzOUqAAAA
We haven't yet seen the energy equivalent of NATO evolve in Europe, but odds on this will occur.
Every time European states intervene, the markets have been shown to fail.
The hard open question is whether European countries can follow Lithuania's lead and built the port importing capacity to rid themselves of Russian gas addiction.
Germany needs 2 LNG stations to be ready for NOV, consents have yet to be formatted.( nor have investment decisions)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germanys-lng-terminals-completion-could-be-delayed-sector-lobby-says-2022-06-27/
Producing around 400gwh a day from coal and lignite a day,and still not diverting enough gas to winter storage.168 gwh in generation a day (gas)
Lithuania's lead? Ha ha. USA obviously behind that. Strangely enough, not NATO?
Anyway, this adds to the danger of nuclear escalation.
Nobody should be stupid enough to write shallow inanities like, "In your eye, Putin.'
Sorry Ad – that was really disappointing for me.
If only they'd listened to Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfJv9QYrlwg
Nice smirking by the Germans, wonder if they're smirking now
The British disease has crossed the channel.
https://twitter.com/SStapczynski/status/1541731378210803712?cxt=HHwWgMCglaShquUqAAAA
I think this is a really big shift.
Turkey has been remaining very cautiously neutral over the Ukraine situation (I think because of Russian involvement in Syria – and therefore the Kurdish situation on their border).
For them to come out supporting an expansion of NATO – when it's clearly an area Russia want to veto for their cordon saintaire countries (more Finland than Sweden) – is significant.
The Turks are playing a canny game. They may be neutral, but that didn't stop Bayraktar donating three TB2 drones in additional to the four a donation drive purchased (apparently fifty have now be delivered to the Ukraine.
Johnny Turk is happily hunting with the hounds and running with the hares and getting concessions and $$$ everywhere for their troubles.
It's called "field testing" and remarkably successfully too. Orders from observing countries will be flooding in.
I agree, Belladonna – a really big shift.
In a very bad direction – towards nuclear escalation.
The Russians have effectively stated with this war that they are fed up with meaningless negotiations, with USA and NATO negotiating in bad faith.
The Russians do not trust the West's bad faith negotiations any more. They have been planning this for some time.
Don't expect them to conform to our standards of morality. They don't believe we have any.
They will escalate. Be very careful of what you wish for.
Personally, I do not like Putin, but I fear that we in the West have been propagandized to the point where we have no idea of the dangers that now face us.
Nor of the duplicity of our own leaders.
Those of you who are more dialled into local body politics in Wellington – do you think that Eagles is likely to take the mayoralty? And will it make a difference?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/rongotai-mp-paul-eagle-announces-wellington-mayoral-bid/ZD5WUG3IOJLSLDWMFZVR3UCJ74/
Darn it, autocorrect…. Eagle
I would think he has a very good chance and is probably favourite at the moment. I don't think he will be any good at the job but it is 12 years since we had a decent Mayor and at least 30 since we had a good one so I doubt if he will make any difference.
He was a reasonable Councillor though so we may be surprised. He'll have to get rid of the arrogance that he has picked up as a Labour MP though. He has developed their typical attitude that laws don't apply to them while he has been in the House. As an example try this
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/06/wellington-mayoral-candidate-and-labour-mp-paul-eagle-refuses-to-remove-campaign-billboards-despite-being-ordered-to.html
test
Why are those managing Kiwibuild now approaching lead contractors requesting fixed price contracts and the message is being relayed to sub contractors with expectations of those prices to both drop and be adhered to? All so price ceilings announced 4 years ago can still be achieved. I am aware of a development exceeding 50 Kiwibuild will be cancelled as the head provider can not provide product and still achieve ANY financial benefit(unless subbies reduce price) and that is not factoring in the element of risk.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/129103773/weve-never-seen-anything-like-it-cost-increases-leave-builders-scrambling
Don't worry the ( kiwibuild )affordable homes are unaffordable at 6%,there will be no takers at 10% mortgages.
Is Kiwibuild still a thing?
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/06/26/revealed-how-kiwibuild-failed-maori-and-pasifika/
'Figures released to Q+A with Jack Tame under the Official Information Act show just 4.8% of KiwiBuild buyers who gave their ethnicity on their application forms are Māori, and 4.4% are Pasifika.'
'These figures are well below the ethnicity breakdown of the general population, which is 16.5% Māori, and 8% Pasifika.'
'At the current rate of progress, the original target of 100,000 KiwiBuild homes will be reached around the year 2300'
"the original target of 100,000 KiwiBuild homes will be reached around the year 2300"
Now that statement shows a spectacular degree of wishful thinking. Add another thousand I would say.
Generational thinking all right
At least they're having a go
Chris Bishop’s baby now; Dean’s moved on to Conservation (presumably not of state houses).
I've really changed my views on Russell Brand, hes got some good ideas
Nope, being behind the times, more like it.
Turkyie may well have had a rethink and does not favour having on almost half its borders a belligerent Russia, if it is not stopped or contained. The Black Sea is more Turkyies sea with almost half the coastline and with a vulnerable Georgia and Bulgaria north and east of it, a Russian ally in Syria to the south the future huge costs and problems of defence and refugees etc would loom large.
Kiwibuild did its job, the building industry got its arse into gear and started building and selling houses and suddenly finding land that had been forgotten in the “ bank “, because it could see that Govt would dictate the future direction and it did not want to be sidelined. We must be close to peak house anytime soon with the number already consented and with the Govt continuing to build State Houses, downward price pressure may leaven the product inflation.
Dont fear a building bust so long as the Auckland and now Wellington light rail, Lake Onslow and other big badly needed infrastructure projects go ahead.
'Kiwibuild did its job'
I thought its job was to build 100 000 houses
You thought wrong, which you would have known if you had read your own link.
Yes Kiwibuild did its job. The job of kiwibuild was never to build 100,000 homes, it was simply to get Labour in to government. Job done. Everyone with half a brain said it was not achievable and have been proved right.
Ah well
https://nypost.com/2022/06/27/trans-woman-beats-13-year-old-in-womens-skateboarding-contest/
These are all completely unrelated
/
https://gcn.ie/three-people-hospitalised-violent-attack-dublin-pride/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/bay-of-plenty/128986082/gender-dynamix-building-fire-labelled-suspicious-by-police
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61933817
What’s your point, this time?
Lots of good bits still to come.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1540399689098579968
https://twitter.com/darinself/status/1541839007021240324
Not a bunch of unarmed yahoos, eh Pucks.
/
In Tuesday’s hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack — played police transmissions that described people carrying firearms near the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where Trump held his rally the morning of Jan. 6.
“Three men walking down the street in fatigues carrying AR-15s… at 14th and Independence,” a voice says in one transmission.
“White male… stock of an AR-15,” someone can be heard saying in another recording. “Green fatigues… Glock-style pistols in their waistband.”
“Elevated threat in the trees… American flag face mask… weapon on the right-side hip,” a third transmission says.
Cheney noted that among the supporters who chose to pass through metal detectors so they could get closer to Trump, security screened weapons and equipment including pepper spray, knives, batons and gas masks. Several thousand more people did not go through metal detectors and watched from the nearby Washington Monument lawn.
The committee also showed a report sent by Secret Service at 11 a.m. that day warning of a man with a rifle near the Ellipse, where Trump was speaking.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/house-committee-describes-weapons-trump-190545024.html
Just as we dont have the same problem with gun control legislation as the U.S. ,we dont have the same problem with abortion rights…our political systems are worlds apart so whipping ourselves into a moral panic over Roe v Wade appears to me to be superfluous.
Its highly relevant. Candidates for office and Parties will never have the opportunity to tell us precisely what they will do for every issue. We need to make future voting decisions based on how they approach issues which come up. In this case were observing the differences between a Luxon and an English approach to conscience questions.
British historians cannot understand the angst,of the Relevance to the UK either.
Sandbrook blames the Americanisation of the social culture such as tv and film.
https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1541681953509867520
Nothing to see here.
https://twitter.com/MirrorPolitics/status/1541778555088011264
Did you read Sandbrook ,I would suggest the member did not either,in a recent yougov poll only 2% were against abortion in the UK,not even significant at the 2 sigma level.More own goal there.
https://twitter.com/dcsandbrook/status/1541676279073837056
how exactly do you deem it relevant?
Posting as somebody who once wondered why Bill English was an electoral flop. I didn't understand the harm in his politics till he was already finance minister because his views were hardly news worthy. Its already apparent Luxon harbours multiple socially regressive traits, along with his economic wealth pandering tendencies.
Gordon Campbell on Luxon’s scary ‘social investment’ neither investment or social adherence.
Campbell in scoop
This 'Social Investment' idea and its existing screwups should definitely have more focus. Unfortunately what seems to be reasonable social research program was basically undermined by the attempted pay off of implementing it as a money saving device.
Thats an interesting confession, however it dosnt address the point….how has the U.S. Supreme court decision changed any politicians ability to change NZ's abortion laws?
The answer quite simply it hasnt.
Hilarious to see the Herald come out as anti-capitalist on behalf of rural NZ and then try and blame the government too.
Two vodka entrepreneurs try to do something a bit different on a farm, which like their vodka is a bit kooky, but market focused and the absolute rural fap sees them top of the Herald online.
The rural establishment has a bit of trouble rationalising someone buying a farm and making more money off the land by not 'farming' it.
You start to wonder what, or rather, who, is being farmed.
But in reality most of the land between Queenstown and Wanaka is now retired / carbon farm / private conservation estate now. And one by one the old high country runs are going that way.
Halfway Bay sold last month and was immediately de-stocked and the farm manager laid off, going into carbon farm / conservation / high end tourism. Property covers the Lochy catchment which is one of the best trout fisheries around and has always been private, and has excellent hunting, so they should do better than the farm, and probably be a lot easier on the land.