Linda Clark senses a certain sensationalism creeping into some political commentary – possibly stemming from the “entertainment-ification”, to coin a neologism, of politics.
“The commentators that really grate for me are not the Matthew Hootons or the Neale Joneses – the people who are ‘in the game’.
“The commentators – and I think they are political commentators, even though they would deny it vehemently – are the Mike Hoskings, the Kate Hawkesbys. The people who know very little about the subjects they talk about.
“They take no responsibility for the damage they do on the way through … and that’s much more damaging."
As I call it, Majick Radio…and similar neo infotainment. For morons. fark, cant stand it…: )
I remember when sir Key started his messin' with NZ TV. And Julie "Reality" Christie rolled out the mindlessness….for the mindless. (as well as some Flag waving : )
Where is OUR PBS !? RNZ has lost something somehow…not quite sure about them now. I mean having Michelle Boag on as talking head? Well I spose that was before the Leak… but Ben Thomas ?! (described as Hootens mini-me by "someone") lol
Anyway I get a laugh out of Steve Braunias : The secret diary of the Collins gang. "Special Agent Hooten"..lmao : ) Pay at the Herald..Free In ODT : )
Bomber Bradbury sums up the wretched Christie perfectly in these two sentences:
Julie Christie was cultural herpes who used TV to distract and dumb down a country. She is the McDonalds of entertainment and is nothing to celebrate or support.
However, as Bradbury wrote that, he must surely have felt a pang of guilt at his own role in a thankfully almost completely forgotten Christie-level program called Stake-Out, which consisted of secretly filming electricians, decorators and other working stiffs as they committed heinous Shane Jones-type transgressions, and then confronting them in the most high-handed and humiliating manner. It was the sleaziest, nastiest and most spurious local television program since Brian Edwards' lamentable attempt at a comeback in 2003….
I went to check out the Green School yesterday, 12 mins driving from home to get there. They explained that the scheduled tour was booked out – due to pandemic rules they could only cater for 20 – which was why the register button on their website didn't work last night!
New Plymouth mayor, Neil Holdom, says he wholeheartedly supports the establishment of Green School New Zealand in Taranaki. “New Zealand has a long history of innovation and leadership and what the world needs now are more environmental entrepreneurs tackling the problems brought on by a rapidly growing population, unable or unwilling to mitigate its impact on our planet."
“As a parent of three children, married to a teacher with a Masters in Education, specialising in working with gifted and talented children, as well as those with special needs, it is my view that our current model of education will need to evolve significantly to effectively prepare our young people for the future.” Holdom says the Green School model has the potential to blaze a new trail in New Zealand’s education sector.
“Our government has set some ambitious goals for New Zealand’s future. New Plymouth District Council has set some ambitious goals for our district’s future, and these goals will not be achieved by sticking to traditional attitudes and approaches. We need to support the Green School NZ team and help them transform their vision into reality in Taranaki, as a gift to our children.”
We know state education has failed to respond to climate change. That's why kids need a positive alternative. The adapt to survive ethos is evident:
After a decade of educating change makers in Bali, we bring with us a new model of education… Beyond mastering mathematics and literacy, our students will learn to think like entrepreneurs through student-guided, hands-on projects.
Connected deeply and richly to the natural environment, students will learn Maori cultural values intertwined into the spirit of the school, grounding us in the whenua, the land. Most importantly, Green School students cultivate a love of learning as a lifelong pursuit in and of itself. https://gsnz.openapply.com/
"the Green School model has the potential to blaze a new trail in New Zealand’s education sector. "
Why on earth would anyone support the blazing of a new trail?? How terrifying that thought is!! Leaving the well-worn path – no thank you!!! Stick to the track, Tootle!
For every child. The learnings from these front-runners will be taken and applied in every school in New Zealand (best case scenario). Who else will trial these systems and approaches? Enviroschools has been operating in New Zealand, with Government funding, for years and years; an injection of funds into an already-ahead-of-the-play enviro-school like this one gives the whole country a boost in the green direction.
"We know state education has failed to respond to climate change. That's why kids need a positive alternative. The adapt to survive ethos is evident:"
Now why would state education have failed so miserably? Surely not because it has been under-resourced and deliberately run down compared to private education since the neo-liberal privatisation push that started in the 1980s?
Why was the phasing out of state funding for private education ever written into the Green Party Education Policy if it was just a bit of old baggage that should be swept aside when a situation like this arose?
Do you not fear that the moment a school like this gets such a boon, the whole profit-gouging Charter School crowd will be queuing up asking for the same preferential treatment? Under a possible future National govt, would the Greens not look ridiculous arguing against privatisers' Charter schools after this episode?
If you so strongly believe in the innocence and beauty of such élitist schools, please be honest and openly advocate altering the Green Party Education Policy so that people can see what the Greens really stand for.
I am getting tired of the 'My Party, Right or Wrong' cant.
That is how the privatisers always work. Schools were offered special temptations to suck them into Bulk Funding of salaries in the '90s, and the cant at the time was always, "What possible harm can there be in this innocent, benign gesture? How could you be so dogmatic and blind as to oppose something that is good for education?"
The four ‘shovel ready’ Ministers ‘bought it’ because it met the criteria of the CRRF.
The funding for this individual construction project is not some ideological Education policy such as Bulk Funding or Charter Schools; that is false equivalence.
The scholarships are real enough (see my comment @ 2.1.1.2.2.1).
I can’t possibly comment on the other parts in your comment but I did try to find out more about the scholarships.
But we do have a scholarship program already. We're committed that 50% of the school as we grow will be key, first of all, and the scholarships will be available for local learners first.
Green School aims to allocate 20% of its places to scholarship students from Bali and other Indonesian islands. These scholarships enable some of Indonesia’s brightest, most creative, and engaged students the chance to receive a world-class education.
I tend to ignore almost everything else when I’m searching for specific info; ads don’t bother me the slightest. Dare I say it, I am pretty good at finding things.
The columns that look suspiciously like paid content especially vex me, for some reason. At best it's shite journalism asking patsy questions, but usually it's simply a publication masquerading as honest when it's simply spouting any old bullshit for cash.
There was zero information in that first link. There was shit that looked like information, but there were few actual specifics. Even the number of people on scholarships didn't say full ride scholarships (zero dollars, zero transaction fees) vs partial discounts on the massive fees.
The more I read about it, the more this "school" looks like it will churn out a bunch of trust fund kids who will spend their 20s instagramming their world tours before walking into C-level jobs in their family's business.
I do not see it churning out a cadre of environmental heroes.
I have not looked to school programme or pedagogy behind it because the precipitating issue has nothing to do with education as such.
I do not see it churning out a cadre of environmental heroes.
That’s a shame because we obviously need more heroes. How about a hybrid between Zorro and the Green Lantern? You might well be correct with your sceptical (cynical?) view. However, in the interim, it will create jobs and stimulate the local economy.
It's not the programme, it's the vibe that comes through from their marketing.
Saying that someone who rocks up in a ferrari shouldn't be judged on their environmental impact because they might have made a huge effort and ditched the private jet… yeah, whatevs.
Yup, the Ferraris are abundant among the Green School alumni. So predictable, so true, no need to check, of course. Facts do not matter, opinions rule. Yeah, I know this is most likely a cherry-picked selection of their ‘success stories’ and I’m as ‘convinced’ as you are that all the other alumni are smiling assassins without any empathy for the poor and disenfranchised.
… looks like it will churn out a bunch of trust fund kids who will spend their 20s instagramming their world tours before walking into C-level jobs in their family's business. (All the while congratulating themselves how environmental they are.)
My reaction to rummaging around on their site and the rest of the webz was pretty much the same.
"Nobody is saying that this particular project won't create jobs. Just that it's a profit-driven industry contrary to Green Party policy."
I'm under the impression that the jobs are building industry jobs, and one of the covid priorities was to stop building firms from going under. i.e. keep existing jobs.
I agree that the funding model of the GS and international students is an issue, but am not sure how it's too different from the tertiary education sectors large reliance on international student fees.
"Now the worry is that, of the "shovel ready" projects, this one was maybe closest to Green Party ideals. And that's not on the Greens, that's on NZ."
I understand that Shaw got quite a lot of gains in selection process, which was pleasantly surprising. I wish they would release the details on this. Not all the business details, but show case the green gains better. Might be a conflict between Shaw's Ministerial role and the GP though, or they just don't have time.
was it hipkins or robertson saying this was a project the Greens specifically were supporting?
Sounds like they divvied up the applications between the party and it was largely political horse trading. But it's on NZ as a whole that there wasn't e.g. a tidal generator and other renewables close enough to submit applications that the Greens could get behind.
And yeah, I'm not completely fine with the tertiary education sector marketing over merit philosophy, either. But then the entire fees thing pisses me off, and it's slowly turning into a perception of some students that they're paying for the degree, not the education.
Agreed that this is on NZ. We have the green edge that NZ wants, not what we need by any means.
The impression I have is that the four budget Ministers (GR, Jones, Shaw, don't know who the fourth was) worked through the process of shortlisting, and in that process Shaw worked on getting the projects more green generally. This surprised me, that there was this degree of influence, but it's hard to tell specifically.
Hipkins, when pressed, said it was something the Greens wanted, but I don't think that is true (the caucus wasn't involved in the decision afaik), it was Shaw and his team. So Hipkins was too removed to have a good informed opinion, and/or there was an advantage to Labour in presenting it this way. But his first response was to say it wasn't Ed money and journos should ask the relevant Ministers about it.
I haven't listened to what GR said. But afaik Labour signed off on it and were ok with it too. It met the main criteria (jobs) so I expect all the parties were pretty happy.
did you ask him if the 'families of the international students that get to live with their children in NZ get a permanent and or work permit to live in NZ courtesy of the 48.000 school fee?
did you ask him how many kiwi kids can get access to his school for courtesy of 24.000 fee?
And is that really worth the career of a Green polititan who put his own likes above that of the party, and it is really a green school when you import people – whole families from overseas to live here, you now, the all vaunted carbon foot print – or is that only something we should worry about when it is a public venture rather then a private one.
I believe that no one in this country would care one bit if this amount of money would have been spend equally on the poorest schools in NZ for the same type of curriculum, but alas it is getting spend on a 250 kids and their f amily who are mainly from overseas.
This schools should have never been in the shovel ready programm, if they can't pay builders atm or pay them with the fees they collect already then the best the should get is the wage subsidy, maybe a government loan – free of interest and repayable from a years after the loan was issues, see the exact same conditions other private businesses (not AIRNZ of course) have given.
For both the Government and the Greens, this was a dumb move. And i don't watch any of the guys that are so often spoken about here cause they have nothing to say of interest, but i see people every day, and this yesterday was a point of discussion. Tone: I can't stand this government giving money willy nilly to everyone and their dog. Try counter that with your 'its green". Good luck with that.
This was the most tone deaf decision this year. It wins the golden toilet seat.
In the meantime our kids sit in cold, damp, leaky, totally non green – can't give a fuck type building – schools and are told to wait a few more years for something better.
” We know state education has failed to respond to climate change. That’s why kids need a positive alternative.”
yeah, because like right now , we don’t give a shit and shovel money up the arses of people who will do everything to keep kids from poor people out. 24.000 a year is not affordable for 90% of people in this country. That is why the state fails in anything regarding climate change. Because it can’t be bothered doing something. And besides, if the private businesses such as this, that serve the very few, very rich and very conntected don’t get money where would people like our beige suits in parliament get jobs once they are done giving taxpayers money to private businesses.
It was money from the Covid Recovery fund for shovel-ready, applied-for, criteria-meeting construction projects that would boost local economies. Education is provided-for (or not) in another budget. Shaw has worked hard to boost those as well.
So State schools which have outstripped their capacity because of roll growth and are now way overcrowded, or old schools which are just crappy for clearly observed reasons, have to wait years for Ministry funded expansion and improvement plans. Yet a private school with wealthy feepaying parents scores 11 million odd. Dressing this up with green virtue signalling doesn't cut it. It's bullshit.
It would be better for you to ask Jacinda those questions, Sabine. James told us he was approving budget recommendations, so it was a coalition funding initiative. If the concept of `Labour led' seems valid to you, give that a try with her.
Yes he was announcing with his Ministerial hat on (as Associate Minister of Finance) as I understood it, not as his leader of the Green party hat.
Seems that this fundamental constitutional point has been overlooked in the rush to condemn. I guess he could have said ‘I won't announce’ but then that would probably go against yet another constitutional expectation that the time for 'fighting/concerns' is before the decision is made while you are part of the team (ie coalition) making the decision.
In view of all the hoo-ha have I missed something here? Are people not able to see the nuances and difference between MPs/parties and Ministers in Govt?
In view of all the hoo-ha have I missed something here?
Not obviously. He apologised to GP members, but I didn't hear a specific reason for the apology, so I presume Green sectarianism required a ritualised formality – sufficiently general and bland to appease those into purity at the expense of coalition consensus.
Are people not able to see the nuances and difference between MPs/parties and Ministers in Govt?
Some commentators here qualify for that description. Those that went straight into shock-horror mode in response to his announcement, plus those for whom partisan ideology is meant to defeat the common good.
I've appreciated your stance on the situation during the past couple of days, btw. I felt the need to refrain due to lack of explanation for the announcement (in msm) so, like Weka, I held off forming an opinion until James briefed us.
Understood and appreciated. My opinion crystallised over the last few days too; the communication was lacking although Chlöe Swarbrick did a very good job of responding to questions in her daily Facebook sessions. It should have been handled better and not left to me having to go on FB and watch long videos in search of the scant answers.
did you not go to the school to speak to the people there? that is why i asked you if you also asked these questions as i personally would have asked. 🙂
Cause that is why i asked you :). As for labour, well, its the lesser evil, i don't really expect anything from them. Talk to Jacinda, she is kinder gentler then Judith, but it seems as happy as to sponsor private business that serves no one but the very rich.
Ideology embeds. Problem is, the world changes around it. Ongoing relevance of the ideology then comes into question. In times of rapid change (such as now) folks often attach limpet-like to some rock of ideology amongst the turbulence. Those going with the flow cruise on by, looking askance at the weirdos as they drift past…
oh if you can afford 48.000 a year for schooling a kid and get a permanent residence permit it sure is sound.
It just makes no sense what so ever for the tax payers whose kids sit in cold, damp, over crowed schools with leaky roofs, shotty internet connection and not enough ipads for all kids, nor student aids and free school lunches. These are nice to have projects and thus are not getting anything.
NZ banks are appalling at investing in anything beyond housing loans. If they were doing their jobs then yes, we would not require any public subsidies like this.
James Shaw apology last night has left a gaping hole in The Green Party as far as their own political credibility, and more importantly their values and principles as an alternative left leaning party to support goes.
Shaw has on the one hand confirmed what we already knew about him..that he is a liberal free market green politician ( with all the numerous contradictions and unseemly contortions that involves ) but on the other hand he has shown us something new about himself…that he is a straight out gutless bullshitter ( “We were thinking about it in terms of building and constructions, not education") and worse than that it turns out Shaw is actually one of, and represents the interests of, the elitist greens that the working classes have always suspected that greens were being constantly drawn toward ideologically…probably one of the most self serving, narcissistic, political groups operating today….yuk, the Greens should have made Shaw step down…..not only is he an elitist prick, he is a stupid one, imagine doing this just before an election..what a fucking dummy.
Adrian-Slight over-reaction there perhaps? Shaw realised he had made a dumb mistake and has now owned up.
Shaw is the man who saved the Green Party at the last election and has been largely instrumental in keeping it relevant during this term of government.
Adrian-perhaps you would like to compare the policies of the Greens to the other parties in order to justify your manic attack on the Party, rather than justify the attack on this relatively minor issue? For instance what do you think of their Wealth Tax?
The media climbed all over this comparatively small mistake in order to try to push the Greens below 5%.
For some reason half the people on this site don't seem to feel the need or believe it appropriate that citizens hold the politicians that they say represent them to any kind of account.
Lets just make it clear here what James Shaw just did…he knowingly and under the name of the NZ Green Party funded a private elite school to the tune of 12 million dollars..in direct contradiction to the stated aims of that party…why?,..seriously if that isn't plainly obvious to you and you really think he made a mistake, well then you are just being willingly stupid and there is no need for us to continue this conversation.
Your personal dislike for James Shaw is making you vitriolic and unreasonable. James Shaw is highly regarded in Parliament across the spectrum of politicians.
interesting. So you want the Green Party out of parliament. How would that work in terms of your politics? We'd then either have a Labour only govt, or a Lab/NZF one, or a Nat one. Please explain how this is an improvement on what we have now?
No what I want is just one political party in NZ that isn't headed by a liberal, free market elitist bullshit artist… I know that it is regarded as extremely unreasonable and almost radical around here to demand highly held values and principles from our selected political representatives… you and others here obviously don't and that's your prerogative, but I do, and sure as hell am not going to shift from that position or apologize for demanding that high bar from people whom I vote for.
Calling for the Greens co-leader to step down 8 weeks before an election IS a call for them to be out of parliament (I don't think you are naive enough to believe that such a move wouldn't drop the GP vote).
Under James Shaw's leadership, The Greens have been somewhere other than in Opposition; that is, at the levers of power, where we wanted them to be since forever and achieving as much as any small support party could ever hope to achieve, but, let's call for his head! Off with it!
I must have. What I do remember though is his ability to increase the Wellington Central party vote by 10% over two elections. I naively thought he could do something similar at a national level. The sooner we find out what Chloe can do instead, the better imo.
I would have thought a Green Party supporter would not be into cult-style political leadership heroism but I guess for some the symbolism of a pixie princess riding a snow white unicorn has a too strong a pull to resist. Chlöe Swarbrick is a more natural communicator than Jacinda Ardern who tends to come across as patronising and too polished at times, in my opinion. Mind you, I haven’t watched any of Jacinda Ardern’s Facebook videos (I avoid videos like Covid) so I cannot really compare 🙂
Burning something down in the hope that something closer to the ideal form will magically appear does not have a good track record of success in politics, especially democracy.
The trouble with most regulations bonfires that have been proposed is that they have been proposed in the transparent desire that nothing will grow to replace the incinerated regulations.
You'd have more credibility with that framing if you could prove that state schools are teaching the same curriculum as the Green School, eh?
Kids need to upskill to survive now. As long as state educators ignore this imperative private educators will be seen by the public as providing the only intelligent option.
"that he is a straight out gutless bullshitter ( “We were thinking about it in terms of building and constructions, not education") "
Having listened to the 30 min explanation by Shaw in the GP zoom last night, and then the 45min Q and A from members and the co-leaders, I think you are flat out wrong here. His indepth explanation of how government actually works, in this instance the process of development of the fund, how applications were received and dealt with, which people were involved (the four budget Ministers) and weren't involved (GP caucus), the speed at which massive decisions were being made during the first months of the pandemic, and the factors that affected his decision making. All of that was nuanced and real. I learned a lot and my guess is that I already knew more about how government works than you do.
Your comment appears to be based on nothing other than a large amount of antipathy towards Shaw because he wears a suit, and a desire to beat the Green Party with your anti-neolib stick despite the Greens having the most progressive set of left wing policies in parliament. Your position here is mind boggling.
For those that want to pay attention to what is happening, the Green Party education policy remains the same, and Shaw is completely behind that. The GP's other policies remain the same too.
How can we have any faith in a leader who does the opposite of Party policy.? This own goal is just so stupid at this time that it beggars belief. A guaranteed vote loser like this is more serious than you believe. I find it so disheartening that he did this when everything is at stake. Trying to sweep it under the carpet by making out it is trivial doesn’t work. Something miraculous needs to happen for us to get to 5%.
People make mistakes. He didn't intentionally go against party policy, he just failed to take it into account when looking at a project through an entirely different lens while under a lot of pressure.
I have more faith in Shaw now, because he immediately admitted the mistake and is making amends.
Shaw says it's not true to say the Greens have abandoned their policy to not publicly fund private schools.
"Well that is our policy and this money doesn't go into the operations."
Asked if he was being cute, Shaw replied, "there's a balance of objectives we're trying to achieve here – remember that we are going through an unprecedented time with Covid-19''.
It's just a building, he says.
"In terms of the infrastructure spend, it is in many ways just another construction project.''
He's only become contrite under a barrage of justified criticism.
This has been reported as being $43m a year, according to a report prepared by Green School International and peer reviewed by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.
However, GSNZ has refused to release a copy of the report to Stuff.
“It has gone through all of the traditional and official checks and measures required by the government criteria for the shovel ready funding and GS (Green School) doesn’t feel it is our responsibility to justify this document.”
…our elitist green educators don't feel they have to.
Legitimate general issue there about accountability and transparency (especially given Shane Jones' involvement) – but do the other businesses which receive investment from that fund have to release their business case details to the public, if the govt agencies involved don't as part of that process?
Businesses keep information that could benefit their competition confidential for the obvious reason that it could benefit their competition. There's no reason the government should require them to make that info public just to satisfy your curiosity.
NZ is a representative democracy, ie we elect people to represent us and then leave them to do that until the next election. They shouldn't keep information confidential unnecessarily, but neither should they publish info that should be confidential.
I hope their flash laminated beams pull apart.
The roof falling on them would teach those kids not to go to a private school, huh?
Its government money…I am so over this 'commercially sensitive' and 'legally privileged and confidential' shit. If they can't declare all…bugger off and find your putea from another trough.
Don't worry about the children, they'll have plenty of warning. And they can always slum it at the state school down the road for free while the problem's sorted…oh, that's right…that school hasn't even got it's $400,000 yet to fix the leaks.
You're entitled that opinion, and the businesses are entitled to the opinion that if the government's making a special offer to help them fund commercial infrastructure development, then commercial considerations apply.
It is a construction project, for buildings, not funding a Charter School from the Education Budget. People who cannot tell the legalistic difference or who cannot cope with it should sue the Government.
The more I think about, the more I appreciate that this happened because it highlights so many issues and reasons why political discourse in NZ sucks big time and why we make no meaningful progress and, in fact, seem to be going backwards.
It happened because Shaw's desire to promote Green gains during a campaign outweighed the predictable downside in this case. Neither he nor his staff caught the implications and managed expectations. Ongoing strategic comms failures in that machinery since Labour hired away some of their key people.
Not a snowball's chance in hell! Since the funding already had coalition support before James agreed, pissed-off Greens can't see Labour or NZF as better options. So you think they will refuse to vote at all?
Human nature will prevail. Few folk persist in resentment at others in their tribe for long periods. Greens are even more inclined to tribal solidarity than others. Sometimes pragmatism must prevail over principle in politics. This is one such occasion. The disgruntled will gradually figure that out.
They will stick to their values and principles and punish the Green Party into the lush wilderness of purity and moral virtue where unicorns graze and pixies flatter around unencumbered by Covid. That will teach them to betray their loyal followers once and forever.
The trouble is you're trying to look at the situation through a lens of reason without political bloodlust.
The political and electoral environment we live in is one of emotion and insanity not reason. Funny thing is how some who dislike the Greens intensely and have no truck with them at all are now telling them what and how they should be doing things.
The decision was indefensible by Shaw and he apologised for that.
The project is defensible and worthy of funding, in my opinion. The $11.7 million would not have gone to a public school but to another shovel ready project or nowhere.
The project is defensible and worthy of funding, in my opinion. The $11.7 million would not have gone to a public school but to another shovel ready project or nowhere.
then maybe the issue is really that the Labour led government could not be bothered to add schools iwth leaky roofs and not enough classrooms to the shovel ready jobs. Cause it appears that there are quite a few schools that would like to be considered shovel ready, but they are told to wait for a better day or something.
Now that takes me back to my secondary school days in the early 1960's. The school was opened in 1955, just in time for the first of the new surge in post war children. But it leaked like a sieve. The DP announced at morning assembly to a great outburst of laughter,
"When you are walking down the corridors, please don't kick the bucket, they are there to catch the drips."
Leaky buildings have been with us for a very long time, schools are given funding for maintenance and other operational expenses as part of the Budget.
There are different pots of money for that. Unless they’re private schools they wouldn’t be eligible for CRRF AFAIK but that seems to lead into a political cul-de-sac because of the Green Party.
A further $23m will be used for rightsizing Spotswood College in Taranaki, and replacing poor condition classrooms. Design work will start from the middle of 2021.
You got any idea off the top of your head how deeply Medsafe look into the manufacturing side of things before they approve a vaccine or drug?
My general impression is that some former soviet countries might even be ahead of the west in general virology and stuff like phage treatments, so I find it plausible they could have developed an innovative safe and effective vacccine. Provided it's also manufactured up to standard.
My experience with stuff manufactured in Russia is the quality control is appalling, particularly given the stuff I was involved in would very likely get used in safety critical applications. Then there's the apparent low value put on health and safety in russia generally. So I'd be awfully wary of a vaccine produced in Russia, but probably more comfortable with a vaccine developed in Russia but produced somewhere else more reliable.
Review of manufacturing is a critical part of Medsafe's review and approval process it would be unlikely to be approved without an on site audit by an approved agency such as the EMEA, MHRA, FDA etc
“It appears the agreement signed up to by the former government was loose and failed to protect taxpayers’ money. It seems to have been rushed through without the necessary due diligence being carried out.”
He said Wellingtonians and taxpayers “deserve to know exactly what has happened”.
“We want to make sure future governments aren’t left in the same predicament our Government has been.”
Step aside from your focus of the green school, take a minute and look at a bigger picture, because there are larger issues than that. Don't lose sight of the forest for the tree's and all that, excuse the pun
First up this morning: She predicted our second wave, and she’s reviewing the global response. Former Prime Minister
Now if I want to vote for a pro-environment party it looks like I'm faced with the charming choice between wasting my vote on the sub-5% Greens or the barely over 1% TOP.
The Greens are giving money to a private school, they are the devil incarnate. The world is going to end.
Simple solution: Vote for Judith Collins to be Prime Minister and Gerry Brownlee the Deputy. She is our saviour, he is or saviour. Everything, (well almost everything) will be wonderful with the world.
StoatsSome on the political left are so well adapted to negotiating tight spaces they actually have whiskers on their tails to help them reverse out of tight burrows.
When asked to define what his second-term agenda would be, Trump replied:
“But so I think, I think it would be, I think it would be very, very, I think we’d have a very, very solid, we would continue what we’re doing, we’d solidify what we’ve done, and we have other things on our plate that we want to get done.”
. Chinese New Zealanders not part of Major Party Support Re-alignment
A strong majority of Chinese New Zealanders say they still prefer National to Labour, even though they're pretty happy with the government's Covid response.
.
Ethnic Chinese voters
Party-Vote Intention .. 2020 …. 2017
National ………………. 62% ….. 71.1% ….. Down 9.1 Points
ACT ………………………. 8.8% …… 2.0% ……. Up 6.8 Points
Labour …………………. 21% ….. 21.6% ……. Down 0.6 Points
NZF ……………………… .1.2% …… 2.4% ……. Down 1.2 Points
Green …………………… 0.8% ….. No Data
.
Preferred PM
Collins ….. 52.2 …… English … 58.5% … Down 6.3
Ardern …. 26.5 …. Ardern ….. 20.1% ….. Up 6.4
.
Satisfied : with the government's response to Covid-19 …. 74.7%
What it indicates is to me is they are playing 'follow our local leader' and have little understanding of how politics works in NZ or what the various parties actually stand for. It will be interesting to see how that changes over the next couple of decades as their off-spring become eligible to vote.
Simpler: we have predominantly approved only the most wealthy migrants from that part of the world, so they back the party which supports the wealthy. Not the same as the 'support the current govt' thinking some commentators believe must apply. And certainly not ignorance of our political landscape.
Forget the Lincoln Project nonsense – the best ad around is from the latest cool old guy, Ed Markey, It's from his Democratic party Senate primary against the Pelosi-endorsed Joe Kennedy III. Effectively Markey is saying, "We should elect Biden, then pressure the crap out of him to do then right thing. You need me to help apply that pressure."
And speaking of the Lincoln Project ads, here Sam Seder convincingly elaborates on their real purpose. The ads are not aimed at converting Trump Republicans to voting Biden. Instead, they are aimed at persuading the left that Trump is merely an exceptionally atrocious individual – and not a natural outcome of Republicanism, or ideologically consistent with Republicanism. The correct response to the Lincoln Project ads is therefore, "thanks but no thanks."
The correct response to the Lincoln Project ads is therefore, "thanks but no thanks."
No. It's really not. The best response is pointing out that CovidCamacho is merely the embodiment of everything the Repugs have been working towards for decades.
I appreciate that. Seder is not the only one to try to shed some light. Your reference further back was on the mark when you mentioned 'remaining shreds of sanity.' The whole thing is insane. (America) Even the insane bits have grown side strains of insanity, and so on, and so on …
The only normal is that nothing is 'normal', anything goes.
Just one part of the total economic response is the " Summary of the Initiatives in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF) Foundational Package" that money has already been targeted for. The initiatives funded are extensive, swift and smart directing monies into areas not really given consideration before ( because of Covid19 impacts and a green influence).
The social well being investment is becoming more balanced imo and has begun to head into newer ways to distribute state spending. Non-profits also get a bite of the economic stimulus pie addressing issues at grassroots and have a future focus on sustainability and equality issues.
Along with the measures of Government response to Covid19 in February 2020 , Treasury have compiled this recent report on all post Budget monetary support across sectors including spending that is on top of the $50 billion CRRF package of which $ 14 billion remains.
National's quickly stitched together- old policy posing as new- is pitiful as their response in the wider context of issues facing people in even the near future.
The old neoliberalism is implicit in their released Business policy and Freshwater policy. Along with National resurrecting an " people can eat shit pie – social investment" approach to have social ills racially profiled then privatised, the overall picture signals the intent to bring back the abnormal normal.
Though, I'd be happy to see Judith take her own medicine, the 90 day trial and no lunches enacted on her, that would make her gone by lunchtime early October !
Or for choices on offer there's ACT spinning their new dogma to sell elitism as "The Final Solution".
Tim McCready 🇳🇿 (@Tim_McCready) Tweeted:
Got an unexpected laugh with this line from @HeatherRoyNZ! #nationnz
Thanks Sacha for that. Still having problems with reply buttons and working through mobile apps permissions , share buttons etc. Samsung did a 253 item update and has downed even logging into online websites.
I'm reminded of the American woman who attended a mass church rally a few months back. When asked by a reporter if she is concerned about the spread of the virus she said:
"I'm covered in Jesus' blood so I’m safe.
Selfish mad cow. Not concerned with anyone else but herself. Hope she caught it.
At level 2 regional travel will resume for Aucklanders. Apprehensive over the potential mobility of Covid19 across NZ next week given there's 25 new cases in last two days. Are alterations to crowd numbers a risk then in other regions, with risks like the first NZ wedding cluster ?
"Apprehensive over the potential mobility of Covid19 across NZ next week…"
Me too. Only way our Government wins on this is if the planned relaxation of restrictions doesn't result in current Covid ripples becoming waves – in the (IMHO likely) event of increased community transmission they will be castigated for easing up too soon.
Barclay, Ross, Bennett, Falloon, Walker, Boag, Woodhouse, Bridge(s), Muller, Collins, Brownlee, Mitchell, Nick Smith, etc. etc., and all right-footers.
Maybe the secret of political survival in NZ is to have no standards, no shame, and a raison d'être of self-enrichment- the secret of National's success (largest party in parliament no less).
Many NZers get a kick out of denigrating do-gooders. Where do the Green's get off, advocating for environmental and societal sustainability, when they make hypocritical mistakes like this time and time again – it's unconscionable.
Time to cut Marama, Shaw and co. down to size (< 5%), eh – definitely achievable.
Indeed, it is sad when a peaceful Green School in rural Taranaki is portrayed and treated as if it is the epicentre of Mordor and a fortress of evil capitalist parasites profiteering off the public purse.
It's remarkable to me that this one mistake could bring the Greens low (I really hope it doesn't) – FFS, tiny wee-brained lefties are now baying for Shaw's blood, and I'm sounding like Dennis Frank.
I can only hope that the standards some are holding the Greens to will be applied impartially to all other parties. This pandemic has many of us rattled and focussed on tomorrow's Covid numbers (cases and alert levels) at a time when Green party policies promoting long term sustainability and resilience are more crucial than ever, IMHO.
Rightly or wrongly, the Greens were on a pedestal, which carries a higher risk of tripping and causing injury. Some quarters [poll pun] have been trying to shoot the pixie princess off Cloud 9 and if/when that happens this Shaw shit show will be like a flea circus and pale in comparison.
Public resilience is wearing very thin, I agree. Just as well, the Election was postponed by only four weeks.
this is about the saddest indictment of these very rich people i can actually think of. Their kid did not do well in ordinary school NZ so instead of putting their considerable clout and money behind lobbying for better schools for all NZ kids, they went to Bali to study a 'green' school for the very rich kids like theirs. And then they came back and started building 'their own' schools for rich kids like theirs so that they don't have to go to the ordinary underfunded, crowded, leaky, cold, and standard schools of NZ, and our government gave them money for it.
Pathetic comes to mind, but i am sure that the kids of the Labour Party, NZFirst, the Green Party will be welcome at this school for a fee of course. And in order to pretend that they actually gave a shit about the country and the schools they gonna give a scholarship or three to one of the little poor urchins. How very very charitable of them.
Seriously i don't want to hear anything anymore about foreign students coming here for a few years of study. If we can open the borders for the kids of this school and their parents, then we can have the borders open of the fee paying kids of other people.
they could have done so much for the Schools of NZ , and instead its the parents of kids sitting in shitty schools for years on end that is going to finance their private little scheme.
btw, the owners of this schools are the HRV founders who sold for what i would guess many many millions their business and should thus be able to fund their own project.
Shame on Labour, NZFIRST and the Greens to allow this project to be funded by the public.
Green School New Zealand has a focus on sustainability, but it doesn't come cheap, with enrolment and tuition fees costing up to $40,000 for some overseas students.
now we can argue that they can't come here now, but if they get a residence permit the families can come here, be put up in a quarantine hotel for 2 weeks and bingo.
so yes, is it.
and i urge you to read the article below from a few years ago as to why the very rich owners of this school created this school in the first place, for their very rich son who was not doing well in NZ public school. And rather then change the schools of NZ for all kids they are now building one with public funds.
This project should never have been in the fund in the first place. Nothing good will come from it for the government from it. Nothing. What. So . Ever.
here read it yourself, and then ask yourself if this is what we want to fund.
They would have little chance of getting a place in the queue for non Kiwis (engineers, skilled workers will have priority), so they are will not be receiving foreigners/foreign students during the pandemic.
So your earlier foreign students dig was plain wrong.
And they invested millions setting up the school themselves (its already half built).
The fund is for business that creates on-going jobs (and in this case foreigners bring some of the revenues in) – economic growth. Which is why it qualified.
Whether I would have set up a $3B fund for such investment in pandemic impacted businesses when there were plenty of capital spending nned for HB's and schools is another matter.
The objection about money for the rich, also applies to the Americas Cup funding and subsidising film-making.
yes, they build a school for their son, and they should finish it, they have enough money, on which we can rest assured they paid as little in taxes as rich people as these get away with. But hey, money must be made and if we can get free money, even better. Just don't expect us to pay taxes or vote for Labour :).
And yes, they are actively trying to get rich people from overseas to send their kids there, they have it costed and are just now in a bit of a lurch cause there aren't enough rich people to pay for their'unschooling' green school.
And this fund does nothing to create jobs, as far as i am aware the only ones currently having work are the builders. At the very best they will be a trickle down – or rather a pissing down – on the locals that gett o be janitor, cook, cleaner, just like the locals in that fancy school in Bali. Who also are too poor to send their kids to this amazing school for primarily white people. 🙂
Nothing anyone here has said so far is anything else that any National or Act supporter here has said in defense of public money going to private enterprise. In fact all the Green supporters and their Labour allies currently sound like they are auditioning for Act.
It may have been intended and frankly i would not be surprised to hear again of this school and not in a good way,
And the very sad thing is that we have to vote for that. Cause its not as bad as Judith. Vote 2020 Labour /NZFirst/Green cause we are not as bad as National/Act.
Job advertisements for New Zealand's first Green School have finally gone online – and more than 400 applications have been received for the nine vacancies.
this is about the saddest indictment of these very rich people i can actually think of. Their kid did not do well in ordinary school NZ so instead of putting their considerable clout and money behind lobbying for better schools for all NZ kids, they went to Bali to study a 'green' school for the very rich kids like theirs. And then they came back and started building 'their own' schools for rich kids like theirs so that they don't have to go to the ordinary underfunded, crowded, leaky, cold, and standard schools of NZ, and our government gave them money for it.
You seem to be conflating things there. There will always be kids that do badly in mainstream schools. Nothing to do with the run down state of buildings thanks to National. It's about the core philosophy of state schools, what they think is important to teach, and how they teach it. The best lobbying in the world is unlikely to change that.
"Teachers were no longer hung up on his spelling, or whether his stories were shorter than the other kids', or whether he wrote on the lines. They cared about his ideas."
I have friends whose kids have been like this. Those kids did better in Steiner schools or being homeschooled. Low income households, before you go off on a rant about privilege.
I'm hoping that down the line schools like the Green School can be accommodated in the system that integrates private schools into the state system and thus influences the state system, or at least gives options for kids who need to be in alt education.
Our place is directly under the Green X23A flightpath into Auckland airport. Just now another Covid capsule quietly sneaked in delivering its masked occupants coughing and spluttering grim death.
11 community cases today and we are having to open up on Monday. This is an indication the country is going to have to live with it.
One of my Akl customers is going home tonight again. this is the second time she rode out lock down here in Rotorua. Ahh, to be wealthy in NZ, rules don't apply. In the meantime the poor sap in a bus with no face covering will get a 300 NZD fine.
Now this turns up – children can retain the virus (in the nose) for three weeks and so we have a perfect storm. Outbreaks through schools and into homes and then workplaces and then out of Auckland.
That would require an end to our elimination policy (permanent social distancing and masks in schools until there is a vaccine), or a resumed lockdown nationwide and delay of the election to November.
Given the likely cause, government policy on mask wearing will be cited and they will be blamed.
Children can carry coronavirus in their noses for up to three weeks, according to a study from South Korea.
Dr DeBiasi believes that while the "vast majority of infected children have mild or unrecognised disease," they may play an "important" role in enabling the spread of infection through communities.
The information about the three week carry duration should give the government pause about schools being open next week – or at least require mask use and social distancing.
One thing that i have observed here is people are using the app before coming in, they wait outside for the customers in the shop to leave first and quite a few wear masks. So at least here in Vegas people are trying to keep their community safe.
But i do expect the virus to travel from Sunday midnight on. No easy solutions here.
I thought that JLR took time out for quiet reflection. He must have spent the time looking in a mirror as he doesn't seem wiser after that remark about using the military. Actually JLR it is good that the forces can do some peacetime support work for their own country, they will feel good being able to help their own when needed.
And then who takes responsibility for the spread, the individual who overides risks to others and wants to leave Auckland for a wedding , or the Government?
Or the same evangelical group who have now admitted to carrying on hallelujah sessions together in secret?
And that's why all the residents of West and South Auckland have been advised to line up for a COVID test. If we all went to a testing site right now there would be insufficient testers / swabs etc. We are talking big numbers.
You already know that Belarus revolution is made by women. And I can’t stop admiring Nina Bahinskaja, 74, who doesn't give up through years and continues her fight despite intimidation. She is the conscience of the nation.
And that's why all the residents of West and South Auckland have been advised to line up for a COVID test. If we all presented at a testing site right now there would be insufficient testers / swabs etc. We are talking big numbers.
The spy sandflys could not touch Eco Maori so they setup my Tamariki an set the courts onto them the under underbelly Of New Zealand's is full of rotting people. They don't like Eco Maori showing the World their true colours hence the VENDETTA.
For several decades under Labour and National-led governments New Zealand has claimed to have an independent (and sometimes autonomous) foreign policy. This foreign policy independence is said to be gained by having a “principled but pragmatic” approach to international relations: principled when possible, pragmatic when necessary. More recently NZ foreign ...
This video produced in Seattle looks at the gender identity curriculum used in schools in the US. A thin veneer of pseudoscience is being used to indoctrinate children with an ideology based on scientific and medical inaccuracies. ...
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The Green Party is calling for the Government to do more for New Zealanders who continue to miss out, as main benefits are set to rise by less than $8 a week tomorrow, Thursday 1 April (at the start of the financial year). ...
Sunday 28th March 70 Rongomaiwahine descendants welcomed members of the Green Party’s Māori Caucus, Te Mātāwaka, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere and Teanau Tuiono, to discuss concerns about RocketLab’s operations on the Mahia Peninsula. ...
The new homes enabled through additional borrowing capacity for Kāinga Ora announced by Government today must have a Te Tiriti o Waitangi lens, having Māori take the lead in developing homes ...
We’ve announced the next steps in our plan to tackle New Zealand’s housing crisis, as we take urgent action to help more Kiwis into homes. Here, we answer your questions about our plan to improve housing in New Zealand. ...
We believe everyone deserves a warm, dry place to call home, which is why we’ve announced the next steps in our plan to tackle the housing crisis. The new policies we’ve announced build on the work we’ve already done to improve housing in New Zealand. Here’s a look at everything ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today expressed New Zealand’s sorrow at the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Our thoughts are with Her Majesty The Queen at this profoundly sad time. On behalf of the New Zealand people and the Government, I would like to express ...
We, the Home Affairs, Interior, Security and Immigration Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (the ‘Five Countries’) met via video conference on 7/8 April 2021, just over a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Guided by our shared ...
Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni has today announced the opening of the first round of Ngā Puninga Toi ā-Ahurea me ngā Kaupapa Cultural Installations and Events. “Creating jobs and helping the arts sector rebuild and recover continues to be a key part of the Government’s COVID-19 response,” Carmel ...
Interim legislation that is already proving to keep people safer from drugs will be made permanent, Health Minister Andrew Little says. Research by Victoria University, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, shows that the Government’s decision in December to make it legal for drug-checking services to operate at festivals ...
Public consultation launched on ways to improve behaviour and reduce damage Tighter rules proposed for either camping vehicles or camping locations Increased penalties proposed, such as $1,000 fines or vehicle confiscation Rental companies may be required to collect fines from campers who hire vehicles Public feedback is sought on proposals ...
The Government is continuing to support Air New Zealand while aviation markets stabilise and the world moves towards more normal border operations. The Crown loan facility made available to Air New Zealand in March 2020 has been extended to a debt facility of up to $1.5 billion (an additional $600 ...
Christchurch’s Richmond suburb will soon have a new community hub, following the gifting of a red-zoned property by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to the Richmond Community Gardens Trust. The Minister for Land Information, Damien O’Connor said that LINZ, on behalf of the Crown, will gift a Vogel Street house ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the reopening of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ (MPP) Languages Funding in 2021 will make sure there is a future for Pacific languages. “Language is the key to the wellbeing for Pacific people. It affirms our identity as Pasifika and ...
It is a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you Cameron for the introduction and thank you for ERANZ for also hosting this event. Last week in fact, we had one of the largest gatherings in our sector, Downstream 2021. I have heard from my officials that the discussion on ...
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has today announced the 16 projects that will together get $3.9 million through the 2021 round of Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund, further strengthening the Government’s commitment to Māori knowledge in science and innovation. “We received 78 proposals - the highest ...
The Government is delivering on a key election commitment to tackle climate change, by banning new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers and partnering with the private sector to help it transition away from fossil fuels. This is the first major announcement to follow the release of the Climate Commission’s ...
Six projects, collectively valued at over $70 million are delivering new schools, classrooms and refurbished buildings across Central Otago and are helping to ease the pressure of growing rolls in the area, says Education Minister Chris Hipkins. The National Education Growth Plan is making sure that sufficient capacity in the ...
Two more schools are now complete as part of the Christchurch Schools Rebuild Programme, with work about to get under way on another, says Education Minister Chris Hipkins. Te Ara Koropiko – West Spreydon School will welcome students to their new buildings for the start of Term 2. The newly ...
The Government is acting to ensure decisions on responding to the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic are informed by the best available scientific evidence and strategic public health advice. “New Zealand has worked towards an elimination strategy which has been successful in keeping our people safe and our economy ...
Six Māori scholars have been awarded Ngārimu VC and the 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial scholarships for 2021, Associate Education Minister and Ngārimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The prestigious Manakura Award was also presented for the first time since 2018. “These awards are a tribute to the heroes of the 28th ...
New Zealand’s aerospace industry is getting a boost through the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), to grow the capability of the sector and potentially lead to joint space missions, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has announced. 12 New Zealand organisations have been chosen to work with world-leading experts at ...
The Government is backing more initiatives to boost New Zealand’s food and fibre sector workforce, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “The Government and the food and fibres sector have been working hard to fill critical workforce needs. We've committed to getting 10,000 more Kiwis into the sector over the ...
Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the Social Security (Subsequent Child Policy Removal) Amendment Bill in the House this evening. “Tonight’s first reading is another step on the way to removing excessive sanctions and obligations for people receiving a Main Benefit,” says ...
The Government has taken a significant step towards delivering on its commitment to improve the legislation around mental health as recommended by He Ara Oranga – the report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction, Health Minister Andrew Little says. The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Amendment ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has welcomed the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Bill passing its third reading today. “After nearly 100 years of a system that was not fit for Māori and did not reflect the partnership we have come to expect between Māori and the Crown, ...
New Zealand’s successful management of COVID means quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will start on Monday 19 April, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the conditions for starting to open up quarantine free travel with Australia have ...
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little welcomed ngā uri o Ngāti Hinerangi to Parliament today to witness the third reading of their Treaty settlement legislation, the Ngāti Hinerangi Claims Settlement Bill. “I want to acknowledge ngā uri o Ngāti Hinerangi and the Crown negotiations teams for working tirelessly ...
Minister of Police Poto Williams has announced the members of the Ministers Arms Advisory Group, established to ensure balanced advice to Government on firearms that is independent of Police. “The Ministers Arms Advisory Group is an important part of delivering on the Government’s commitment to ensure we maintain the balance ...
Kiri Allan, Minister of Conservation and Emergency Management will undertake a leave of absence while she undergoes medical treatment for cervical cancer, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “I consider Kiri not just a colleague, but a friend. This news has been devastating. But I also know that Kiri is ...
Excellent progress has been made at the new prison development at Waikeria, which will boost mental health services and improve rehabilitation opportunities for people in prison, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. Kelvin Davis was onsite at the new build to meet with staff and see the construction first-hand, following a ...
To reduce the trauma of road crashes caused by drug impaired drivers, an Independent Expert Panel on Drug Driving has proposed criminal limits and blood infringement thresholds for 25 impairing drugs, Minister of Police Poto Williams and Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. The Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill ...
Temporary COVID-19 immigration powers will be extended to May 2023, providing continued flexibility to support migrants, manage the border, and help industries facing labour shortages, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced today. “Over the past year, we have had to make rapid decisions to vary visa conditions, extend expiry dates, and ...
Temporary COVID-19 immigration powers will be extended to May 2023, providing continued flexibility to support migrants, manage the border, and help industries facing labour shortages, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced today. “Over the past year, we have had to make rapid decisions to vary visa conditions, extend expiry dates, and ...
The Government is expanding its Pregnancy and Parenting Programme so more women and whānau can access specialist support to minimise harm from alcohol and other drugs, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “We know these supports help improve wellbeing and have helped to reduce addiction, reduced risk for children, and helped ...
*** Please check against delivery *** It’s an honour to be here in Rūātoki today, a rohe with such a proud and dynamic history of resilience, excellence and mana. Tūhoe moumou kai, moumou taonga, moumou tangata ki te pō. The Ahuwhenua Trophy competition is the legacy of a seed planted ...
The economic recovery from COVID-19 continues to be reflected in the Government’s books, which are again better than expected. The Crown accounts for the eight months to the end of February 2021 showed both OBEGAL and the operating balance remain better than forecast in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson and Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash have welcomed confirmation New Zealand will host the opening ceremony and match, and one of the semi-finals, of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023. Grant Robertson says matches will be held in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin, ...
Changes to the minimum wage, main benefit levels and superannuation rates that come into force today will raise the incomes for around 1.4 million New Zealanders. “This Government is committed to raising the incomes for all New Zealanders as part of laying the foundations for a better future,” Minister for ...
The New Dunedin Hospital – Whakatuputupu has been approved for consideration under the fast track consenting legislation. The decision by Environment Minister David Parker signifies the importance of the project to the health of the people of Otago-Southland and to the economy of the region. “This project ticks all the ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood is getting Auckland light rail back on track with the announcement of an establishment unit to progress this important city-shaping project and engage with Aucklanders. Michael Wood said the previous process didn’t involve Aucklanders enough. ...
The Minister of Tourism is to re-open a government fund that supports councils to build infrastructure for visitors, with a specific focus on regions hardest hit by the loss of overseas tourists. “Round Five of the Tourism Infrastructure Fund will open for applications next month,” said Stuart Nash. It ...
A Governance Group of eight experts has been appointed to lead the next phase of work on a potential new public media entity, Minister for Broadcasting and Media Kris Faafoi announced today. “The Governance Group will oversee the development of a business case to consider the viability of a new ...
Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson today helped launch a new fund to provide direct financial support for tamariki and rangatahi Māori throughout the South Island who is experiencing financial hardship and missing out on physical activity opportunities. “Through Te Kīwai Fund, we can offer more opportunities for Māori to ...
Six whānau in Pāpāmoa receive the keys to their brand-new rental homes today, in stage four of a papakāinga project providing safe and affordable housing in the regions. Minister for Māori Development, Willie Jackson congratulates Mangatawa Pāpāmoa Blocks Incorporated on the opening of three affordable rentals and three social housing ...
Kia ora tatou. It’s great to be here today and to get a conversation going on the disarmament issues of greatest interest to you, and to the Government. I’m thrilled to be standing here as a dedicated Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, which I hope reinforces for you all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute The idea that young Australians should be able to dip into their super to help buy their first home keeps going round and round. The most recent iteration put forward by the Coalition’s Tim ...
This week MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi was invited to attend a community hui at Hurungaterangi Marae in Ngapuna, Rotorua - where locals spoke of the physical and psychological suffering they are experiencing, caused by faulty sewerage plant ...
Dunedin writer Victor resumes his Sunday odes to public figures. Today: Mike HoskingThe Hosky and Cindy Show I want you on my show. And then I do not. I’ve fired you again. You’ve had your shot. You cancelled yourself. You’re on the shelf. But now ...
Sex is life in acclaimed Waikato writer Tracey Slaughter’s latest short story collection. Of course it’s there in Slaughter’s stories about affairs. In those pieces sex thumps and pants and dominates, it goes so hard it knocks grit off the ceiling and onto the bed, it sets fire to a marriage, ...
Bathroom, kitchen, sitting room, bookshelves, friends, memories – Linda Burgess ponders the decluttering of life. Made possible thanks to the support of Creative New ZealandOriginal illustrations by Gary Venn Go to the second drawer down in your bathroom. Open it. In it are countless small bottles of shampoo and skin cream ...
Analysis by Bryce Edwards. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Judith Collins’ National Party leadership is under more scrutiny, with increased talk in the media of her being replaced by brand new MP Christopher Luxon. For many commentators it’s just a question of “when” rather than “if” Collins is replaced. While ...
Kiwi Seafarers continue to feel shortchanged by the New Zealand Government. On the 1st of December 2020 the UN general Assembly called for all Seafarers to be designated as Key Workers . International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack ...
Revelations that foreign affairs officials have approved the sale of military equipment to a host of human-rights-abusing countries, including Israel, is an outrage. In recent years foreign affairs has been dominated by trade priorities with concerns ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Quilty, Senior Staff Specialist, Alice Springs Hospital. Honorary, Australian National University A sizeable chunk of Northern Territory’s doctors are thinking about leaving the territory because of climate change, our new research shows. Our study, just published in The Lancet Planetary Health, ...
With the trans-Tasman bubble on the way, Auckland Airport has undertaken the unique challenge of splitting one airport into two. Matthew Scott went along to see what the parallel worlds look like. Birdsong is piped into an empty hallway. A message to nobody plays on the intercom. Luxury stores ...
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners is today marking the death of their patron, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Phillip had been patron of the College for 47 years, since he formally handed over ...
"People are walking up the hill, as we walk down, with their hands on their hips, their faces red, or looking directly at the path, not game enough to look up to see how far they’ve got to go": a portrait of a relationship set in a Dunedin landmark, by ...
It was with great sadness that I received notification from Buckingham Palace that His Royal Highness Prince Philip has died at Windsor Castle. The death of His Royal Highness is a great loss to Her Majesty the Queen, the members of the Royal Family ...
The Royal Commonwealth Society expresses its deepest condolences on the passing of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Royal Commonwealth Society expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to our Patron, Her Majesty ...
9 April 2021 Monarchy New Zealand today expresses its sadness at the passing of Queen of New Zealand’s consort, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Prince Philip died aged 99. Prince Philip is the longest-serving consort in New Zealand’s history. ...
"On behalf of ACT, I would like to express sincere condolences to Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family. "Prince Philip will be remembered for his long dedication to public service. He has selflessly contributed to a long period of stability ...
WATCH: Silver Ferns shooter Monica Falkner talks about the pain of losing her dad, then fighting back from injury in part three of Pure As. Monica Falkner knows her dad, David, would have shed tears watching her finally play for the Silver Ferns against England last year - after five harrowing ...
Critic's Chair: Guy Somerset salutes Losing Alice, a compelling eight-part psychological thriller showing on Apple TV+ Who doesn’t like a compliment, a bit of flattery? But, unless you happen to be Donald J Trump, when the flattery spills over into sycophancy you tend to get suspicious. Alice Ginor (Ayelet Zurer) ...
Rampant house prices mean saving money for a deposit on a home is becoming increasingly fruitless. But just how long does it take in today’s market compared to a few years ago?Of all the essential and obscure pecuniary concepts that we learn throughout life, saving is one of those things ...
From the trauma of loss, Jean Sergent built a stage production that offers an invitation to others to embrace the radical possibility that things can get better.I’ve always been interested in death and dying – not the mechanics of it, but the social conditions. How death is prepared for, announced, ...
For almost three years, Onzo’s black and yellow fleet littered New Zealand’s streets with an accessible and affordable two-wheel option. Then it vanished, leaving behind a trail of angry and perplexed customers. Auckland’s first dockless bike-share scheme has disappeared in much the same way it first arrived – quietly, mysteriously and ...
Ardent disciple of mountain, valley, river and sky, Brian Turner is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated poets. Michelle Langstone travelled to his central Otago home to meet and hear the man who commands the language of the landscape.The landscape starts speaking to you from the turnoff on to the ...
George Driver heads to the end of the Earth to spend his birthday alone in New Zealand’s forgotten city.“Don’t go to Invercargill.”I’d spent most of my life a couple of hours’ drive from Invercargill. But every time I considered going I was confronted with this advice: “Don’t go, it’s not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Jeffrey, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Southern Cross University Trees are the Earth’s lungs – it’s well understood they drawdown and lock up vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But emerging research is showing trees can also emit methane, and it’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Last week, people were falling over themselves to get vaccination appointments and had to be told, by their doctors and their government, to be patient. Patience is still needed — indeed, more than ever — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A week ago, people were falling over themselves to get vaccination appointments and had to be told, by their doctors and their government, to be patient. Patience is still needed — indeed, more than ever ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University Last night, the federal government announced substantially revised plans for the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia. Due to concerns about the vaccine’s possible links to a rare blood-clotting disorder, and following advice from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Aigner, PhD candidate Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy, Australian National University On Saturday at the Adelaide Festival there will a public showing of Australian Atomic Confessions, a documentary I co-directed about the tragic and long-lasting effects of the atomic weapons testing ...
The Human Rights Commission is calling for more information on the justification behind the temporary suspension of travel from India. “Temporarily banning New Zealanders from returning home from India is a significant limitation on their freedom ...
The Chinese developers who caused an environmental disaster on an idyllic Fijian island have been found guilty on two counts of undertaking unauthorised developments in relation to a planned 370-bure resort and casino. The Suva Magistrates Court delivered its verdict against Freesoul Real Estate today, after the ruling date was pushed out twice with no ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Australia Australia’s vaccine rollout is in chaos. The news last night the AstraZeneca vaccine, the only one Australia has guaranteed supply of, would not be recommended for people under 50 due to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Golembiewski, Researcher, University of Technology Sydney The Royal Commission into Aged Care left organisations that provide housing for aged care wondering how they will put its recommendations into effect. Most of these recommendations relate to the models of care and levels ...
Our Beehive bulletin The Government’s ban on new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers and partnering with the private sector to help it transition away from fossil fuels perhaps ranked as the most important Beehive announcement yesterday. It was the first major announcement to follow the release of the Climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nikki Turner, Professor, University of Auckland From next week, unvaccinated staff working at managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities will be moved to low-risk jobs, following a case of a worker who missed vaccination appointments and then tested positive for COVID-19. The ...
The proposed Regulatory Standards Bill has been welcomed by Energy Resources Aotearoa as a useful tool in developing better public policy. The Bill was drawn from the members ballot at Parliament on Thursday. "This should help deliver better policy ...
Division and social discord has undermined Covid-19 responses in other western nations. We must do everything we can to prevent that taking seed here, writes Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman. The Ministry of Health has done a stellar job in keeping us all safe. I have no doubt that the latest ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Mirror Book by Charlotte Grimshaw (Vintage, $38)Excerpt from Emma Espiner’s fantastic Spinoff review of this fantastic ...
Eight Wellington City Councillors – given the critical constitutional choice of Treaty partnership or democracy – yesterday voted in favour of further undermining the council’s democratic election and decision-making structures by granting voting rights to the representatives appointed by Maori tribes to sit on council committees. Only six councillors voted ...
Mike Hosking did, didn’t, does, doesn’t, will and won’t want to have the PM on his radio show, while simultaneously accusing the New Zealand media of being asleep at the wheel, writes James Elliott It was reported in the news this week that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere ...
Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez March’s labelling of police dogs as being “attack dogs” is as out of touch as it is insulting to our entire police force, says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “A bill seeking to increase the maximum ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Reilly, Professor, University of Western Australia Could a change be afoot in the way Australians vote in federal elections? The Coalition government may be eyeing a shift to optional preferential voting — as used in New South Wales — which allows ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is urging action in the case against New Zealand-born Paul Mora, who allegedly fraudulently claimed €113 million in German tax credits. Paul Mora is wanted by Interpol in relation to the Cum-Ex tax affair after failing ...
An almost forgotten moment in our history, brought into the spotlight by a gutsy new theatre show, reveals uncomfortable truths about the history of race relations in Aotearoa.In a country that has until very recently avoided teaching its own history in schools, it’s perhaps unsurprising that a confrontation between university ...
A new poem from Ōtautahi-based poet Claudia Jardine.Ode to Mons Pubisfatty tissue, edifice of overturesjoints, ligaments, bones, cartilagedark turns to stars when I think aboutthe buttress of pubic symphysisyes! paths of faery lights, yes! brambly wadsyes! tracks of calligraphic gastropodsyes! tender grasses, yes! boxed bedsclippings from a crooner’s greenhousetopiary of ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is speaking to media a day after announcing a suspension of travel from India because of high numbers of Covid-19 cases. ...
The country's largest education union, NZEI Te Riu Roa, is backing the school students striking for climate action across the country today. NZEI Te Riu Roa President Liam Rutherford says the organisation "fully supports tamariki and educators who ...
At its core, Aotearoa New Zealand’s housing crisis is not about houses, but about the way we think about wealth, community, ourselves and our neighbours, the economy, education system, and much more. The only solutions to this problem involve everyone. ...
One year ago today managed isolation became mandatory for travellers arriving into New Zealand. The joint heads of Managed Isolation and Quarantine, Megan Main and Brigadier Jim Bliss, have paid tribute to the efforts of those who’ve contributed ...
Public feedback is now invited to improve freedom camping in New Zealand. To support the public consultation, the first of a series of public meetings throughout Aotearoa is being held at the Ellen Melville Centre in central Auckland from 2pm – 4pm on ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s contentCovid: India travel ban Luke Malpass (Stuff): Is the the ‘temporary’ India travel ban proportional ...
Hospitals should be a place of welcome and healing. But for gender-diverse people and their families, going to the hospital can feel like walking into a linguistic minefield. While a child was being treated at a New Zealand hospital last month, a health professional kept using the wrong gender pronouns ...
Local Government New Zealand welcomes the long overdue review of self-contained freedom camping rules announced by Tourism Minister Stuart Nash today. “Many councils across the country welcome the contribution freedom campers make to local economies,” ...
A new just transition plan released today by Climate Justice Taranaki calls for a major shift towards a domestic economy and away from exports and imports in a phase out of fossil fuels by 2030. The document focuses on Aotearoa’s three main greenhouse ...
Today Renters United launches their campaign for #RentControlsNow. This comes just weeks after the Government announced it’s housing package, a package that Renters United said “fell short of delivering any change to over one third of New Zealanders ...
Three… two… one… blast-off! They’re an incredible sight, but what’s the impact of rocket launches on the environment? Mirjam Guesgen investigates.Commercial space flights, moon colonies and missions to Mars are all exciting prospects. Some of them are even being helped along by New Zealand companies. Rocket launches are loud, ground-shaking, smoggy ...
A government committed to fairness and responsible law-making should not allow two bills recently drawn from the Member’s Ballot to sink without debate, Federated Farmers says. "At the very least the Regulatory Standards Bill and the Income ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ritesh Chugh, Senior Lecturer – Information Systems and Analysis, CQUniversity Australia If you’ve ever gotten your phone wet in the rain, dropped it in water or spilt liquid over it, you’re not alone. One study suggests 25% of smartphone users have damaged ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Macaulay, Professor of Public Administration, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Following a number of high-profile inquiries into workplace misconduct — including within parliament, the police and fire service — it became clear people who report such behaviour in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW This year is shaping up as the year of the COVID-19 vaccination photo, with the pandemic providing seemingly endless photo opportunities. We’ve seen stock photos of people getting vaccinated in news reports, images of the prime minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lucinda McKnight, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy and Curriculum, Deakin University Robots are writing more of what we read on the internet. And artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools are becoming freely available for anyone, including students, to use. In a period of rapid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW House prices are back in the news, and out of control. In the past three months the median house price in Sydney has risen by more than A$100,000 to A$1.12 million. Sydney’s median residential property price ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for April 9, bringing you the latest news throughout the day. For one day only, Stewart is off, so to get in touch email Bulletin editor Alex Braae at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.The Spinoff can’t exist without our members. If you want to help us stay ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Four key questions for the climate strikers, unvaccinated border worker tests positive, and big implications of ban on arrivals from India.We’re going to start today’s Bulletin with something different – a short interview. Because today teenagers across the country will once ...
The climate strikes are finally back! It’s been a turbulent year-and-a-half since our last strike, with two cancellations due to COVID-19, but finally we’re back with our fourth Intergenerational Strike 4 Climate. Christina Sieberhagen, 15, is ...
Political "Insight"?…well, there is this. :
Linda Clark senses a certain sensationalism creeping into some political commentary – possibly stemming from the “entertainment-ification”, to coin a neologism, of politics.
“The commentators that really grate for me are not the Matthew Hootons or the Neale Joneses – the people who are ‘in the game’.
“The commentators – and I think they are political commentators, even though they would deny it vehemently – are the Mike Hoskings, the Kate Hawkesbys. The people who know very little about the subjects they talk about.
“They take no responsibility for the damage they do on the way through … and that’s much more damaging."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018761232/insight-spin-and-political-commentary
As I call it, Majick Radio…and similar neo infotainment. For morons. fark, cant stand it…: )
I remember when sir Key started his messin' with NZ TV. And Julie "Reality" Christie rolled out the mindlessness….for the mindless. (as well as some Flag waving : )
Heres a (pretty) brutal, but apt take on it…
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/06/07/duncan-grieves-unbelievable-blog-supporting-julie-christie-highlights-every-criticism-ever-made-about-his-cash-for-copy-blog-the-spinoff/
Absolutely the Dumbing Down of NZ TV.
Where is OUR PBS !? RNZ has lost something somehow…not quite sure about them now. I mean having Michelle Boag on as talking head? Well I spose that was before the Leak… but Ben Thomas ?! (described as Hootens mini-me by "someone") lol
Anyway I get a laugh out of Steve Braunias : The secret diary of the Collins gang. "Special Agent Hooten"..lmao : ) Pay at the Herald..Free In ODT : )
Thanks for that PLA. What is annoying is the knowledge that those partisans who spit it out is accepted by some as true news. What can we do about it?
Bomber Bradbury sums up the wretched Christie perfectly in these two sentences:
However, as Bradbury wrote that, he must surely have felt a pang of guilt at his own role in a thankfully almost completely forgotten Christie-level program called Stake-Out, which consisted of secretly filming electricians, decorators and other working stiffs as they committed heinous Shane Jones-type transgressions, and then confronting them in the most high-handed and humiliating manner. It was the sleaziest, nastiest and most spurious local television program since Brian Edwards' lamentable attempt at a comeback in 2003….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/edwards-at-large-excruciatingly.html
lol…luckily my Mind/Sanity Protector must have been working for the Bomber's Bomb : )
He's always been a loose canon…: ) and The good Dr Edwards…similar. Ah well…
Satire…sweet satire is at least still around.
I went to check out the Green School yesterday, 12 mins driving from home to get there. They explained that the scheduled tour was booked out – due to pandemic rules they could only cater for 20 – which was why the register button on their website didn't work last night!
Had a chat with the CEO (Chris Edwards), who was doing welcomes, then left after a brief scan of the site & buildings. See that in this report from last summer: https://educationcentral.co.nz/green-school-is-coming-to-new-zealand/
We know state education has failed to respond to climate change. That's why kids need a positive alternative. The adapt to survive ethos is evident:
"the Green School model has the potential to blaze a new trail in New Zealand’s education sector. "
Why on earth would anyone support the blazing of a new trail?? How terrifying that thought is!! Leaving the well-worn path – no thank you!!! Stick to the track, Tootle!
"the Green School model has the potential to blaze a new trail in New Zealand’s education sector. " …for the rich and wealthy.
For every child. The learnings from these front-runners will be taken and applied in every school in New Zealand (best case scenario). Who else will trial these systems and approaches? Enviroschools has been operating in New Zealand, with Government funding, for years and years; an injection of funds into an already-ahead-of-the-play enviro-school like this one gives the whole country a boost in the green direction.
From Dennis Frank comment 2:
"We know state education has failed to respond to climate change. That's why kids need a positive alternative. The adapt to survive ethos is evident:"
Now why would state education have failed so miserably? Surely not because it has been under-resourced and deliberately run down compared to private education since the neo-liberal privatisation push that started in the 1980s?
Why was the phasing out of state funding for private education ever written into the Green Party Education Policy if it was just a bit of old baggage that should be swept aside when a situation like this arose?
Do you not fear that the moment a school like this gets such a boon, the whole profit-gouging Charter School crowd will be queuing up asking for the same preferential treatment? Under a possible future National govt, would the Greens not look ridiculous arguing against privatisers' Charter schools after this episode?
If you so strongly believe in the innocence and beauty of such élitist schools, please be honest and openly advocate altering the Green Party Education Policy so that people can see what the Greens really stand for.
I am getting tired of the 'My Party, Right or Wrong' cant.
Learnings? What's wrong with good old normal lessons?
Learn is an active verb.
But could they unlearn and relearn ?
It depends on whether it is stored in your declarative or procedural memory on how easy it is to unlearn and relearn things.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/opinion/300094305/new-plymouth-mayor-explains-why-he-supported-private-schools-117m-government-funding
Don’t you hate it when things are not neatly B & W?
That is how the privatisers always work. Schools were offered special temptations to suck them into Bulk Funding of salaries in the '90s, and the cant at the time was always, "What possible harm can there be in this innocent, benign gesture? How could you be so dogmatic and blind as to oppose something that is good for education?"
Sorry, I don't buy it.
The four ‘shovel ready’ Ministers ‘bought it’ because it met the criteria of the CRRF.
The funding for this individual construction project is not some ideological Education policy such as Bulk Funding or Charter Schools; that is false equivalence.
The scholarships are real enough (see my comment @ 2.1.1.2.2.1).
lol
What percentage of students are/will be on full ride scholarships?
Nobody is saying that this particular project won't create jobs. Just that it's a profit-driven industry contrary to Green Party policy.
The mistake has been acknowledged, it still pisses me off but fair enough.
Now the worry is that, of the "shovel ready" projects, this one was maybe closest to Green Party ideals. And that's not on the Greens, that's on NZ.
I can’t possibly comment on the other parts in your comment but I did try to find out more about the scholarships.
https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/05/26/most-of-our-time-is-spent-outside-would-you-send-your-kids-to-a-green-school
https://www.greenschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Balinese-Scholarship-Program.pdf
https://infocus.wief.org/where-the-school-has-no-walls/
Not quite yet reached the target of 20%.
I also read that 11/55 students at the NZ Green School are not fee-paying because they are children of staff.
That first advert made my fists itch.
Maybe I'm just too cynical in me old age.
I tend to ignore almost everything else when I’m searching for specific info; ads don’t bother me the slightest. Dare I say it, I am pretty good at finding things.
The columns that look suspiciously like paid content especially vex me, for some reason. At best it's shite journalism asking patsy questions, but usually it's simply a publication masquerading as honest when it's simply spouting any old bullshit for cash.
There was zero information in that first link. There was shit that looked like information, but there were few actual specifics. Even the number of people on scholarships didn't say full ride scholarships (zero dollars, zero transaction fees) vs partial discounts on the massive fees.
The more I read about it, the more this "school" looks like it will churn out a bunch of trust fund kids who will spend their 20s instagramming their world tours before walking into C-level jobs in their family's business.
I do not see it churning out a cadre of environmental heroes.
I have not looked to school programme or pedagogy behind it because the precipitating issue has nothing to do with education as such.
That’s a shame because we obviously need more heroes. How about a hybrid between Zorro and the Green Lantern? You might well be correct with your sceptical (cynical?) view. However, in the interim, it will create jobs and stimulate the local economy.
It's not the programme, it's the vibe that comes through from their marketing.
Saying that someone who rocks up in a ferrari shouldn't be judged on their environmental impact because they might have made a huge effort and ditched the private jet… yeah, whatevs.
Yup, the Ferraris are abundant among the Green School alumni. So predictable, so true, no need to check, of course. Facts do not matter, opinions rule. Yeah, I know this is most likely a cherry-picked selection of their ‘success stories’ and I’m as ‘convinced’ as you are that all the other alumni are smiling assassins without any empathy for the poor and disenfranchised.
https://www.greenschool.org/bali/our-alumni/
… looks like it will churn out a bunch of trust fund kids who will spend their 20s instagramming their world tours before walking into C-level jobs in their family's business. (All the while congratulating themselves how environmental they are.)
My reaction to rummaging around on their site and the rest of the webz was pretty much the same.
"Nobody is saying that this particular project won't create jobs. Just that it's a profit-driven industry contrary to Green Party policy."
I'm under the impression that the jobs are building industry jobs, and one of the covid priorities was to stop building firms from going under. i.e. keep existing jobs.
I agree that the funding model of the GS and international students is an issue, but am not sure how it's too different from the tertiary education sectors large reliance on international student fees.
"Now the worry is that, of the "shovel ready" projects, this one was maybe closest to Green Party ideals. And that's not on the Greens, that's on NZ."
I understand that Shaw got quite a lot of gains in selection process, which was pleasantly surprising. I wish they would release the details on this. Not all the business details, but show case the green gains better. Might be a conflict between Shaw's Ministerial role and the GP though, or they just don't have time.
was it hipkins or robertson saying this was a project the Greens specifically were supporting?
Sounds like they divvied up the applications between the party and it was largely political horse trading. But it's on NZ as a whole that there wasn't e.g. a tidal generator and other renewables close enough to submit applications that the Greens could get behind.
And yeah, I'm not completely fine with the tertiary education sector marketing over merit philosophy, either. But then the entire fees thing pisses me off, and it's slowly turning into a perception of some students that they're paying for the degree, not the education.
Agreed that this is on NZ. We have the green edge that NZ wants, not what we need by any means.
The impression I have is that the four budget Ministers (GR, Jones, Shaw, don't know who the fourth was) worked through the process of shortlisting, and in that process Shaw worked on getting the projects more green generally. This surprised me, that there was this degree of influence, but it's hard to tell specifically.
Hipkins, when pressed, said it was something the Greens wanted, but I don't think that is true (the caucus wasn't involved in the decision afaik), it was Shaw and his team. So Hipkins was too removed to have a good informed opinion, and/or there was an advantage to Labour in presenting it this way. But his first response was to say it wasn't Ed money and journos should ask the relevant Ministers about it.
I haven't listened to what GR said. But afaik Labour signed off on it and were ok with it too. It met the main criteria (jobs) so I expect all the parties were pretty happy.
We get your point…
Aww that takes me back Robert. "Tootle" was my favourite book as a 4 year old! But Tootle was a little steam engine Robert – fossil fuelled on coal!
did you ask him if the 'families of the international students that get to live with their children in NZ get a permanent and or work permit to live in NZ courtesy of the 48.000 school fee?
did you ask him how many kiwi kids can get access to his school for courtesy of 24.000 fee?
And is that really worth the career of a Green polititan who put his own likes above that of the party, and it is really a green school when you import people – whole families from overseas to live here, you now, the all vaunted carbon foot print – or is that only something we should worry about when it is a public venture rather then a private one.
I believe that no one in this country would care one bit if this amount of money would have been spend equally on the poorest schools in NZ for the same type of curriculum, but alas it is getting spend on a 250 kids and their f amily who are mainly from overseas.
This schools should have never been in the shovel ready programm, if they can't pay builders atm or pay them with the fees they collect already then the best the should get is the wage subsidy, maybe a government loan – free of interest and repayable from a years after the loan was issues, see the exact same conditions other private businesses (not AIRNZ of course) have given.
For both the Government and the Greens, this was a dumb move. And i don't watch any of the guys that are so often spoken about here cause they have nothing to say of interest, but i see people every day, and this yesterday was a point of discussion. Tone: I can't stand this government giving money willy nilly to everyone and their dog. Try counter that with your 'its green". Good luck with that.
This was the most tone deaf decision this year. It wins the golden toilet seat.
In the meantime our kids sit in cold, damp, leaky, totally non green – can't give a fuck type building – schools and are told to wait a few more years for something better.
” We know state education has failed to respond to climate change. That’s why kids need a positive alternative.”
yeah, because like right now , we don’t give a shit and shovel money up the arses of people who will do everything to keep kids from poor people out. 24.000 a year is not affordable for 90% of people in this country. That is why the state fails in anything regarding climate change. Because it can’t be bothered doing something. And besides, if the private businesses such as this, that serve the very few, very rich and very conntected don’t get money where would people like our beige suits in parliament get jobs once they are done giving taxpayers money to private businesses.
It was money from the Covid Recovery fund for shovel-ready, applied-for, criteria-meeting construction projects that would boost local economies. Education is provided-for (or not) in another budget. Shaw has worked hard to boost those as well.
So State schools which have outstripped their capacity because of roll growth and are now way overcrowded, or old schools which are just crappy for clearly observed reasons, have to wait years for Ministry funded expansion and improvement plans. Yet a private school with wealthy feepaying parents scores 11 million odd. Dressing this up with green virtue signalling doesn't cut it. It's bullshit.
Labour set the rules whereby the money ($3B in a fund set up 1 April) was only available to business for projects impacted by the pandemic.
It's entirely separate from the PGF – that NZF got set up 3 years ago for provincial economic growth/community development spending.
As for the money spent on school buildings, a separate part of the education budget.
Integrated Schools are responsible for the upkeep of their buildings, as they own them.
It would be better for you to ask Jacinda those questions, Sabine. James told us he was approving budget recommendations, so it was a coalition funding initiative. If the concept of `Labour led' seems valid to you, give that a try with her.
Yes he was announcing with his Ministerial hat on (as Associate Minister of Finance) as I understood it, not as his leader of the Green party hat.
Seems that this fundamental constitutional point has been overlooked in the rush to condemn. I guess he could have said ‘I won't announce’ but then that would probably go against yet another constitutional expectation that the time for 'fighting/concerns' is before the decision is made while you are part of the team (ie coalition) making the decision.
In view of all the hoo-ha have I missed something here? Are people not able to see the nuances and difference between MPs/parties and Ministers in Govt?
In view of all the hoo-ha have I missed something here?
Not obviously. He apologised to GP members, but I didn't hear a specific reason for the apology, so I presume Green sectarianism required a ritualised formality – sufficiently general and bland to appease those into purity at the expense of coalition consensus.
Are people not able to see the nuances and difference between MPs/parties and Ministers in Govt?
Some commentators here qualify for that description. Those that went straight into shock-horror mode in response to his announcement, plus those for whom partisan ideology is meant to defeat the common good.
Well said.
I've appreciated your stance on the situation during the past couple of days, btw. I felt the need to refrain due to lack of explanation for the announcement (in msm) so, like Weka, I held off forming an opinion until James briefed us.
Understood and appreciated. My opinion crystallised over the last few days too; the communication was lacking although Chlöe Swarbrick did a very good job of responding to questions in her daily Facebook sessions. It should have been handled better and not left to me having to go on FB and watch long videos in search of the scant answers.
did you not go to the school to speak to the people there? that is why i asked you if you also asked these questions as i personally would have asked. 🙂
Cause that is why i asked you :). As for labour, well, its the lesser evil, i don't really expect anything from them. Talk to Jacinda, she is kinder gentler then Judith, but it seems as happy as to sponsor private business that serves no one but the very rich.
I'm beyond gutted with this. It's just a flash immigration hotel masquerading as a school.
Actually, it is a secure communication facility for Five Eyes and the 5G emissions will be high. \sarc
sorry no, it is a residence permit scam for the very wealthy and not much else.
And the government is funding it. But it has been 'green washed'.
O’kay
In other words, this Green School is a sound and valuable initiative …. but ideology.
Ideology embeds. Problem is, the world changes around it. Ongoing relevance of the ideology then comes into question. In times of rapid change (such as now) folks often attach limpet-like to some rock of ideology amongst the turbulence. Those going with the flow cruise on by, looking askance at the weirdos as they drift past…
oh if you can afford 48.000 a year for schooling a kid and get a permanent residence permit it sure is sound.
It just makes no sense what so ever for the tax payers whose kids sit in cold, damp, over crowed schools with leaky roofs, shotty internet connection and not enough ipads for all kids, nor student aids and free school lunches. These are nice to have projects and thus are not getting anything.
The owners will be able to pay for the work the government is doing in no time.
If it is a refundable loan and then they can write that loan of as a business expense, and they could have had that loan from a bank then too.
Their application was valid and sound and the process for selection was shared across parties.
I suspect one of the keys to becoming a millionaire is getting other folk to pay for your stuff.
that however is very very true.
These guys will be very busy voting National soon in order to not pay taxes. But hey, they are very rich so its understandable.
NZ banks are appalling at investing in anything beyond housing loans. If they were doing their jobs then yes, we would not require any public subsidies like this.
James Shaw apology last night has left a gaping hole in The Green Party as far as their own political credibility, and more importantly their values and principles as an alternative left leaning party to support goes.
Shaw has on the one hand confirmed what we already knew about him..that he is a liberal free market green politician ( with all the numerous contradictions and unseemly contortions that involves ) but on the other hand he has shown us something new about himself…that he is a straight out gutless bullshitter ( “We were thinking about it in terms of building and constructions, not education") and worse than that it turns out Shaw is actually one of, and represents the interests of, the elitist greens that the working classes have always suspected that greens were being constantly drawn toward ideologically…probably one of the most self serving, narcissistic, political groups operating today….yuk, the Greens should have made Shaw step down…..not only is he an elitist prick, he is a stupid one, imagine doing this just before an election..what a fucking dummy.
+1
Adrian-Slight over-reaction there perhaps? Shaw realised he had made a dumb mistake and has now owned up.
Shaw is the man who saved the Green Party at the last election and has been largely instrumental in keeping it relevant during this term of government.
Adrian-perhaps you would like to compare the policies of the Greens to the other parties in order to justify your manic attack on the Party, rather than justify the attack on this relatively minor issue? For instance what do you think of their Wealth Tax?
The media climbed all over this comparatively small mistake in order to try to push the Greens below 5%.
@ bearded git, Over reaction? not at all.
For some reason half the people on this site don't seem to feel the need or believe it appropriate that citizens hold the politicians that they say represent them to any kind of account.
Lets just make it clear here what James Shaw just did…he knowingly and under the name of the NZ Green Party funded a private elite school to the tune of 12 million dollars..in direct contradiction to the stated aims of that party…why?,..seriously if that isn't plainly obvious to you and you really think he made a mistake, well then you are just being willingly stupid and there is no need for us to continue this conversation.
I agree with the last 10 words….maybe you should read the thread on Micky's post today.
Your personal dislike for James Shaw is making you vitriolic and unreasonable. James Shaw is highly regarded in Parliament across the spectrum of politicians.
+100
+1000
" James Shaw is highly regarded in Parliament across the spectrum of politicians" that says it all, thanks.
interesting. So you want the Green Party out of parliament. How would that work in terms of your politics? We'd then either have a Labour only govt, or a Lab/NZF one, or a Nat one. Please explain how this is an improvement on what we have now?
Labour 44 National 39 Act 6 NZF 4 Greens 4.9 Wasted 2.1
Say hello to PM Crusher.
Never happen Nats 35 act 3 tops
No what I want is just one political party in NZ that isn't headed by a liberal, free market elitist bullshit artist… I know that it is regarded as extremely unreasonable and almost radical around here to demand highly held values and principles from our selected political representatives… you and others here obviously don't and that's your prerogative, but I do, and sure as hell am not going to shift from that position or apologize for demanding that high bar from people whom I vote for.
Calling for the Greens co-leader to step down 8 weeks before an election IS a call for them to be out of parliament (I don't think you are naive enough to believe that such a move wouldn't drop the GP vote).
5 years in the role…
Does he have a track record of raising the party vote?
Does he nail the limited TV appearances he gets?
Is he making massive cock ups?
Under James Shaw's leadership, The Greens have been somewhere other than in Opposition; that is, at the levers of power, where we wanted them to be since forever and achieving as much as any small support party could ever hope to achieve, but, let's call for his head! Off with it!
Did you miss the media stories after the last election reflecting how his dogged work was all that stood between them and dropping below 5%.
I must have. What I do remember though is his ability to increase the Wellington Central party vote by 10% over two elections. I naively thought he could do something similar at a national level. The sooner we find out what Chloe can do instead, the better imo.
I would have thought a Green Party supporter would not be into cult-style political leadership heroism but I guess for some the symbolism of a pixie princess riding a snow white unicorn has a too strong a pull to resist. Chlöe Swarbrick is a more natural communicator than Jacinda Ardern who tends to come across as patronising and too polished at times, in my opinion. Mind you, I haven’t watched any of Jacinda Ardern’s Facebook videos (I avoid videos like Covid) so I cannot really compare 🙂
"Does he have a track record of raising the party vote?"
Obviously yes. But it's not on *him. It's on the party.
There are two co-leaders for a start, and it's hugely disrespectful to Davidson to talk about the party as if it is led by one white man in a suit.
That might very well be, the issue here is tho that most of the time Marama seems to be invisible. Maybe it is time for her to raise her profile.
yes, maybe you should. Instead of spending all this time dissing the suit, put some time into talking about Davidson and what she is doing.
Burning something down in the hope that something closer to the ideal form will magically appear does not have a good track record of success in politics, especially democracy.
In politics, they tend to water rather than burn down. I reckon there should be more bonfires of regulations in politics 😉
The trouble with most regulations bonfires that have been proposed is that they have been proposed in the transparent desire that nothing will grow to replace the incinerated regulations.
You'd have more credibility with that framing if you could prove that state schools are teaching the same curriculum as the Green School, eh?
Kids need to upskill to survive now. As long as state educators ignore this imperative private educators will be seen by the public as providing the only intelligent option.
"that he is a straight out gutless bullshitter ( “We were thinking about it in terms of building and constructions, not education") "
Having listened to the 30 min explanation by Shaw in the GP zoom last night, and then the 45min Q and A from members and the co-leaders, I think you are flat out wrong here. His indepth explanation of how government actually works, in this instance the process of development of the fund, how applications were received and dealt with, which people were involved (the four budget Ministers) and weren't involved (GP caucus), the speed at which massive decisions were being made during the first months of the pandemic, and the factors that affected his decision making. All of that was nuanced and real. I learned a lot and my guess is that I already knew more about how government works than you do.
Your comment appears to be based on nothing other than a large amount of antipathy towards Shaw because he wears a suit, and a desire to beat the Green Party with your anti-neolib stick despite the Greens having the most progressive set of left wing policies in parliament. Your position here is mind boggling.
For those that want to pay attention to what is happening, the Green Party education policy remains the same, and Shaw is completely behind that. The GP's other policies remain the same too.
How can we have any faith in a leader who does the opposite of Party policy.? This own goal is just so stupid at this time that it beggars belief. A guaranteed vote loser like this is more serious than you believe. I find it so disheartening that he did this when everything is at stake. Trying to sweep it under the carpet by making out it is trivial doesn’t work. Something miraculous needs to happen for us to get to 5%.
People make mistakes. He didn't intentionally go against party policy, he just failed to take it into account when looking at a project through an entirely different lens while under a lot of pressure.
I have more faith in Shaw now, because he immediately admitted the mistake and is making amends.
…because he immediately admitted the mistake…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/122568117/new-zealands-first-private-green-school-gets-117-million-from-government-for-campus-expansion?rm=a
Shaw says it's not true to say the Greens have abandoned their policy to not publicly fund private schools.
"Well that is our policy and this money doesn't go into the operations."
Asked if he was being cute, Shaw replied, "there's a balance of objectives we're trying to achieve here – remember that we are going through an unprecedented time with Covid-19''.
It's just a building, he says.
"In terms of the infrastructure spend, it is in many ways just another construction project.''
He's only become contrite under a barrage of justified criticism.
And speaking of justifying shit…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/122568117/new-zealands-first-private-green-school-gets-117-million-from-government-for-campus-expansion?rm=a
Part of the argument for GSNZ being approved as a shovel ready project, was the economic benefits it would bring to the Taranaki economy.
This has been reported as being $43m a year, according to a report prepared by Green School International and peer reviewed by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.
However, GSNZ has refused to release a copy of the report to Stuff.
“It has gone through all of the traditional and official checks and measures required by the government criteria for the shovel ready funding and GS (Green School) doesn’t feel it is our responsibility to justify this document.”
…our elitist green educators don't feel they have to.
There's murk here.
Legitimate general issue there about accountability and transparency (especially given Shane Jones' involvement) – but do the other businesses which receive investment from that fund have to release their business case details to the public, if the govt agencies involved don't as part of that process?
..but do the other businesses which receive investment from that fund have to release their business case …
If they don't they damn well ought to.
I was just moving on from this whole saga until I read GSNZ's big 'Fuck you, taxpayer."
I hope their flash laminated beams pull apart.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Typical-failure-mode-of-a-glulam-beam-under-destructive-bending-test_fig6_265034172
You are too kind.
If they don't they damn well ought to.
Businesses keep information that could benefit their competition confidential for the obvious reason that it could benefit their competition. There's no reason the government should require them to make that info public just to satisfy your curiosity.
NZ is a representative democracy, ie we elect people to represent us and then leave them to do that until the next election. They shouldn't keep information confidential unnecessarily, but neither should they publish info that should be confidential.
I hope their flash laminated beams pull apart.
The roof falling on them would teach those kids not to go to a private school, huh?
Its government money…I am so over this 'commercially sensitive' and 'legally privileged and confidential' shit. If they can't declare all…bugger off and find your putea from another trough.
Don't worry about the children, they'll have plenty of warning. And they can always slum it at the state school down the road for free while the problem's sorted…oh, that's right…that school hasn't even got it's $400,000 yet to fix the leaks.
You're entitled that opinion, and the businesses are entitled to the opinion that if the government's making a special offer to help them fund commercial infrastructure development, then commercial considerations apply.
It is a construction project, for buildings, not funding a Charter School from the Education Budget. People who cannot tell the legalistic difference or who cannot cope with it should sue the Government.
The more I think about, the more I appreciate that this happened because it highlights so many issues and reasons why political discourse in NZ sucks big time and why we make no meaningful progress and, in fact, seem to be going backwards.
It happened because Shaw's desire to promote Green gains during a campaign outweighed the predictable downside in this case. Neither he nor his staff caught the implications and managed expectations. Ongoing strategic comms failures in that machinery since Labour hired away some of their key people.
That too.
watching Clint Smith slag off Menendez on twitter was something to behold. NZ is such a small place at times.
Some days reading comment threads on TS or Twitter is anti-climactic.
guaranteed vote loser
Not a snowball's chance in hell! Since the funding already had coalition support before James agreed, pissed-off Greens can't see Labour or NZF as better options. So you think they will refuse to vote at all?
Human nature will prevail. Few folk persist in resentment at others in their tribe for long periods. Greens are even more inclined to tribal solidarity than others. Sometimes pragmatism must prevail over principle in politics. This is one such occasion. The disgruntled will gradually figure that out.
They will stick to their values and principles and punish the Green Party into the lush wilderness of purity and moral virtue where unicorns graze and pixies flatter around unencumbered by Covid. That will teach them to betray their loyal followers once and forever.
Indeed.. facepalm moment of the year for the Greens.
The trouble is you're trying to look at the situation through a lens of reason without political bloodlust.
The political and electoral environment we live in is one of emotion and insanity not reason. Funny thing is how some who dislike the Greens intensely and have no truck with them at all are now telling them what and how they should be doing things.
The decision was indefensible by Shaw and he apologised for that.
The project is defensible and worthy of funding, in my opinion. The $11.7 million would not have gone to a public school but to another shovel ready project or nowhere.
Your character assassination of Shaw is telling.
Exactly
Actually, the money is not just ‘sitting’ in a jar somewhere as it all has to be borrowed and paid back in future.
then maybe the issue is really that the Labour led government could not be bothered to add schools iwth leaky roofs and not enough classrooms to the shovel ready jobs. Cause it appears that there are quite a few schools that would like to be considered shovel ready, but they are told to wait for a better day or something.
Now that takes me back to my secondary school days in the early 1960's. The school was opened in 1955, just in time for the first of the new surge in post war children. But it leaked like a sieve. The DP announced at morning assembly to a great outburst of laughter,
"When you are walking down the corridors, please don't kick the bucket, they are there to catch the drips."
Leaky buildings have been with us for a very long time, schools are given funding for maintenance and other operational expenses as part of the Budget.
There are different pots of money for that. Unless they’re private schools they wouldn’t be eligible for CRRF AFAIK but that seems to lead into a political cul-de-sac because of the Green Party.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/122025481/government-allocates-126m-for-four-new-projects-in-national-school-rebuild-programme
Deep
didn't used to be able to do that without at least a .
have also only just noticed that the big gaps in comments have gone!!!
You mean the white space because of the non-breaking spaces?
yep.
Thanks to Lprent.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300094032/coronavirus-kiwis-push-kremlin-to-import-unproven-covid19-vaccine
Can these clowns import this vaccine without government approval?
If it completes trials successfully, they'll do pretty well out of it. Bit of a gamble though.
Are they Otago farmers?
A qualified maybe… medicines can be imported without medsafe and government approval and supplied under section 29 of the medicines act.
However you will struggle to find any medical professional in NZ who would vaccinate with a vaccine which had not be formally approved by Medsafe.
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/Profs/riss/unapp.asp
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/consumers/educational-material/WhereCanIFindInfoAboutVaccines.asp
You got any idea off the top of your head how deeply Medsafe look into the manufacturing side of things before they approve a vaccine or drug?
My general impression is that some former soviet countries might even be ahead of the west in general virology and stuff like phage treatments, so I find it plausible they could have developed an innovative safe and effective vacccine. Provided it's also manufactured up to standard.
My experience with stuff manufactured in Russia is the quality control is appalling, particularly given the stuff I was involved in would very likely get used in safety critical applications. Then there's the apparent low value put on health and safety in russia generally. So I'd be awfully wary of a vaccine produced in Russia, but probably more comfortable with a vaccine developed in Russia but produced somewhere else more reliable.
Review of manufacturing is a critical part of Medsafe's review and approval process it would be unlikely to be approved without an on site audit by an approved agency such as the EMEA, MHRA, FDA etc
It is not repayable as a loan but is a a taxpayers donation as a good idea like Partnership Schools.
More like the Transmission Gully PPP, which is a construction project just as the Green School is.
…like the Transmission Gully PPP …
And hasn't that gone well.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122520140/transmission-gully-to-open-by-september-2021-after-lengthy-negotiations
“It appears the agreement signed up to by the former government was loose and failed to protect taxpayers’ money. It seems to have been rushed through without the necessary due diligence being carried out.”
He said Wellingtonians and taxpayers “deserve to know exactly what has happened”.
“We want to make sure future governments aren’t left in the same predicament our Government has been.”
The Green School is not a Partnership School as per Paul Murphy’s comment @ 6, it is a Private School.
The CRRF funding is for construction of buildings.
The CRRF funding is not a PPP.
Transmission Gully is a construction project and PPP that is not going well.
The only dots one can realistically connect here are the ones relating to construction.
Everything else is misleading false comparison or equivalence.
Step aside from your focus of the green school, take a minute and look at a bigger picture, because there are larger issues than that. Don't lose sight of the forest for the tree's and all that, excuse the pun
First up this morning: She predicted our second wave, and she’s reviewing the global response. Former Prime Minister
@HelenClarkNZ
on what’s next in the course of this pandemic #nationnz
https://www.threenow.co.nz/live-tv-guide/three
It's live now
Morena whanau 
You got to love the way the left can turn on itself.
The only winner here is Judith.
It's our Achilles' heel.
Yup. The monumental obduracy of the ideologically obsessed is on full display with this one.
If the Green Party really is full of such idiots then I'm honestly conflicted about voting for them again.
I'm not sure which term to use. Is it virtue signalling, or identity politics, or just plain stupidity to do it all so publicly.
Now if I want to vote for a pro-environment party it looks like I'm faced with the charming choice between wasting my vote on the sub-5% Greens or the barely over 1% TOP.
FFS.
Or you hold your nose, admit people are flawed and vote Green.
It's logical isn't it.
The Greens are giving money to a private school, they are the devil incarnate. The world is going to end.
Simple solution: Vote for Judith Collins to be Prime Minister and Gerry Brownlee the Deputy. She is our saviour, he is or saviour. Everything, (well almost everything) will be wonderful with the world.
From further down your link
StoatsSome on the political left are so well adapted to negotiating tight spaces they actually have whiskers on their tails to help them reverse out of tight burrows.😆
When asked to define what his second-term agenda would be, Trump replied:
Gotta go with that!
.
Chinese New Zealanders not part of Major Party Support Re-alignment
.
Ethnic Chinese voters
Party-Vote Intention .. 2020 …. 2017
National ………………. 62% ….. 71.1% ….. Down 9.1 Points
ACT ………………………. 8.8% …… 2.0% ……. Up 6.8 Points
Labour …………………. 21% ….. 21.6% ……. Down 0.6 Points
NZF ……………………… .1.2% …… 2.4% ……. Down 1.2 Points
Green …………………… 0.8% ….. No Data
.
Preferred PM
Collins ….. 52.2 …… English … 58.5% … Down 6.3
Ardern …. 26.5 …. Ardern ….. 20.1% ….. Up 6.4
.
Satisfied : with the government's response to Covid-19 …. 74.7%
.
Support for:
End of Life Choice Act ….. 83.9%
Cannabis Legalisation …. 17.7%
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/424544/poll-shows-large-majority-of-chinese-new-zealanders-still-favour-national-over-labour
(found additional info on previous poll from 2017 articles)
What it indicates is to me is they are playing 'follow our local leader' and have little understanding of how politics works in NZ or what the various parties actually stand for. It will be interesting to see how that changes over the next couple of decades as their off-spring become eligible to vote.
Simpler: we have predominantly approved only the most wealthy migrants from that part of the world, so they back the party which supports the wealthy. Not the same as the 'support the current govt' thinking some commentators believe must apply. And certainly not ignorance of our political landscape.
"End of Life Choice Act ….. 83.9%"
How the fuck does this mesh with 孝 ?
"the young are burdened and oppressed by the old;"
https://china-journal.org/2016/03/14/filial-piety-in-chinese-culture/
Forget the Lincoln Project nonsense – the best ad around is from the latest cool old guy, Ed Markey, It's from his Democratic party Senate primary against the Pelosi-endorsed Joe Kennedy III. Effectively Markey is saying, "We should elect Biden, then pressure the crap out of him to do then right thing. You need me to help apply that pressure."
And speaking of the Lincoln Project ads, here Sam Seder convincingly elaborates on their real purpose. The ads are not aimed at converting Trump Republicans to voting Biden. Instead, they are aimed at persuading the left that Trump is merely an exceptionally atrocious individual – and not a natural outcome of Republicanism, or ideologically consistent with Republicanism. The correct response to the Lincoln Project ads is therefore, "thanks but no thanks."
The correct response to the Lincoln Project ads is therefore, "thanks but no thanks."
No. It's really not. The best response is pointing out that CovidCamacho is merely the embodiment of everything the Repugs have been working towards for decades.
“is merely the embodiment of everything the Repugs have been working towards”
Which is pretty much what Seder said in that clip. I think I might hang on to my remaining shreds of sanity and shut up on this topic.
Either way, LP screws the repugs for this election, and it will take years to get rid of the ~adjacents and tinfoil brigade.
The LP exists because (to paraphrase the oompah loompah) they're out here and the covidians are in there.
The enemy of my enemy might not be my friend, but if they're not in a position to attack me any time soon I might slip them some assistance.
Maybe the best thing is for the Lincoln Project ads is therefore, "Thanks but no thanks, we know trump is the best for America and the world."
That's a very creative misreading of what I actually wrote and of the content of the links I provided. Oh well, never mind.
I appreciate that. Seder is not the only one to try to shed some light. Your reference further back was on the mark when you mentioned 'remaining shreds of sanity.' The whole thing is insane. (America) Even the insane bits have grown side strains of insanity, and so on, and so on …
The only normal is that nothing is 'normal', anything goes.
Great perspective on refocusing Cinny .@ 7.
COVID-19 economic response measures.
Just one part of the total economic response is the " Summary of the Initiatives in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF) Foundational Package" that money has already been targeted for. The initiatives funded are extensive, swift and smart directing monies into areas not really given consideration before ( because of Covid19 impacts and a green influence).
The social well being investment is becoming more balanced imo and has begun to head into newer ways to distribute state spending. Non-profits also get a bite of the economic stimulus pie addressing issues at grassroots and have a future focus on sustainability and equality issues.
https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/summary-intiatives/summary-initiatives-crrf-budget2020
Along with the measures of Government response to Covid19 in February 2020 , Treasury have compiled this recent report on all post Budget monetary support across sectors including spending that is on top of the $50 billion CRRF package of which $ 14 billion remains.
https://treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/new-zealand-economy/covid-19-economic-response/measures
National's quickly stitched together- old policy posing as new- is pitiful as their response in the wider context of issues facing people in even the near future.
The old neoliberalism is implicit in their released Business policy and Freshwater policy. Along with National resurrecting an " people can eat shit pie – social investment" approach to have social ills racially profiled then privatised, the overall picture signals the intent to bring back the abnormal normal.
Though, I'd be happy to see Judith take her own medicine, the 90 day trial and no lunches enacted on her, that would make her gone by lunchtime early October !
Or for choices on offer there's ACT spinning their new dogma to sell elitism as "The Final Solution".
Tim McCready 🇳🇿 (@Tim_McCready) Tweeted:
Got an unexpected laugh with this line from @HeatherRoyNZ! #nationnz
https://t.co/C6Q6TBwuuz
Paddy, if you paste the full rather than shortened Tweet link here on a line of its own, it shows up automatically like this:
No-one knows what National's going to do beyond transport? What?
No-one even knows what National's going to with transport. Are their transport plans at their all piss and wind Northland double lane bridges level?
Maybe I should I contact Judith and ask her if she's better at bridges than Simon!
It will involve promising roads lol
Judith is performing the Dance of the Seven Veils.
So one veil covers a Kauri logging digger, another covers a 30km detour for private business, another veil covers jokes about prison sexual assault…
You’re focussing on the veils; you have to watch those eye-brows.
An example of a private business working with public sector funding and expertise for environmental outcomes: https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/122595142/aerial-footage-shows-off-8km-private-ecocorridor-project
Thanks Sacha for that. Still having problems with reply buttons and working through mobile apps permissions , share buttons etc. Samsung did a 253 item update and has downed even logging into online websites.
Should all indoor gatherings outside of work environments be banned until further notice?
I should not be lost that the spread of the virus is largely due to Church gatherings. Those people need to find an inner God for the next few months.
Silent masked gatherings might be OK – it's the singing and animated chats that do the harm.
We're treating Monday as back to office but at Alert Level 2.5:
masks at all times in the office.
Everyone's taken the test.
I'm reminded of the American woman who attended a mass church rally a few months back. When asked by a reporter if she is concerned about the spread of the virus she said:
"I'm covered in Jesus' blood so I’m safe.
Selfish mad cow. Not concerned with anyone else but herself. Hope she caught it.
There are a lot of dead Preachers by now.
It must be God's will that covid spreads back through New Zealand
The Covid Chorus with apologies to Bob…” with God on our side “
At level 2 regional travel will resume for Aucklanders. Apprehensive over the potential mobility of Covid19 across NZ next week given there's 25 new cases in last two days. Are alterations to crowd numbers a risk then in other regions, with risks like the first NZ wedding cluster ?
Me too. Only way our Government wins on this is if the planned relaxation of restrictions doesn't result in current Covid ripples becoming waves – in the (IMHO likely) event of increased community transmission they will be castigated for easing up too soon.
Slow and steady wins the Covid 'race'…
Can already see the headlines DMK created from Judith's screeching parrot, " Aaark they f#ked up again! "
when the shoe fits, wear it.
Barclay, Ross, Bennett, Falloon, Walker, Boag, Woodhouse, Bridge(s), Muller, Collins, Brownlee, Mitchell, Nick Smith, etc. etc., and all right-footers.
Maybe the secret of political survival in NZ is to have no standards, no shame, and a raison d'être of self-enrichment- the secret of National's success (largest party in parliament no less).
Many NZers get a kick out of denigrating do-gooders. Where do the Green's get off, advocating for environmental and societal sustainability, when they make hypocritical mistakes like this time and time again – it's unconscionable.
Time to cut Marama, Shaw and co. down to size (< 5%), eh – definitely achievable.
https://www.change.org/p/james-shaw-reduce-the-green-school-funding
8200+ signatures in 1 day – so very sad. We get the Governments we deserve.
Indeed, it is sad when a peaceful Green School in rural Taranaki is portrayed and treated as if it is the epicentre of Mordor and a fortress of evil capitalist parasites profiteering off the public purse.
It's remarkable to me that this one mistake could bring the Greens low (I really hope it doesn't) – FFS, tiny wee-brained lefties are now baying for Shaw's blood, and I'm sounding like Dennis Frank.
I can only hope that the standards some are holding the Greens to will be applied impartially to all other parties. This pandemic has many of us rattled and focussed on tomorrow's Covid numbers (cases and alert levels) at a time when Green party policies promoting long term sustainability and resilience are more crucial than ever, IMHO.
Inequality, precarity and sustainable ecosystems as elements of urban resilience
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0042098020904594
Rightly or wrongly, the Greens were on a pedestal, which carries a higher risk of tripping and causing injury. Some quarters [poll pun] have been trying to shoot the pixie princess off Cloud 9 and if/when that happens this Shaw shit show will be like a flea circus and pale in comparison.
Public resilience is wearing very thin, I agree. Just as well, the Election was postponed by only four weeks.
Well a shop that gets its premises built for it is at a bit of an advantage.
Well the owners of the very Green School NZ ™ are sure happy to not have to use any of their private money to build the very Green School NZ.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/asia/98140587/green-school-bali-where-there-are-no-walls-no-algebra-classes-and-no-limits
this is about the saddest indictment of these very rich people i can actually think of. Their kid did not do well in ordinary school NZ so instead of putting their considerable clout and money behind lobbying for better schools for all NZ kids, they went to Bali to study a 'green' school for the very rich kids like theirs. And then they came back and started building 'their own' schools for rich kids like theirs so that they don't have to go to the ordinary underfunded, crowded, leaky, cold, and standard schools of NZ, and our government gave them money for it.
Pathetic comes to mind, but i am sure that the kids of the Labour Party, NZFirst, the Green Party will be welcome at this school for a fee of course. And in order to pretend that they actually gave a shit about the country and the schools they gonna give a scholarship or three to one of the little poor urchins. How very very charitable of them.
Seriously i don't want to hear anything anymore about foreign students coming here for a few years of study. If we can open the borders for the kids of this school and their parents, then we can have the borders open of the fee paying kids of other people.
they could have done so much for the Schools of NZ , and instead its the parents of kids sitting in shitty schools for years on end that is going to finance their private little scheme.
btw, the owners of this schools are the HRV founders who sold for what i would guess many many millions their business and should thus be able to fund their own project.
Shame on Labour, NZFIRST and the Greens to allow this project to be funded by the public.
One little fact check – no one is coming in to the school from overseas – which is why they qualified as a business impacted by the pandemic.
And a second – this is money from a fund set up on 1 April to fund business projects impacted by the pandemic.
don't take it up with me, but rather with them
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12309056#:~:text=A%20groundbreaking%20school%20that%20puts,%2440%2C000%20for%20some%20overseas%20students.
Green School New Zealand has a focus on sustainability, but it doesn't come cheap, with enrolment and tuition fees costing up to $40,000 for some overseas students.
now we can argue that they can't come here now, but if they get a residence permit the families can come here, be put up in a quarantine hotel for 2 weeks and bingo.
so yes, is it.
and i urge you to read the article below from a few years ago as to why the very rich owners of this school created this school in the first place, for their very rich son who was not doing well in NZ public school. And rather then change the schools of NZ for all kids they are now building one with public funds.
This project should never have been in the fund in the first place. Nothing good will come from it for the government from it. Nothing. What. So . Ever.
here read it yourself, and then ask yourself if this is what we want to fund.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/asia/98140587/green-school-bali-where-there-are-no-walls-no-algebra-classes-and-no-limits
They would have little chance of getting a place in the queue for non Kiwis (engineers, skilled workers will have priority), so they are will not be receiving foreigners/foreign students during the pandemic.
So your earlier foreign students dig was plain wrong.
And they invested millions setting up the school themselves (its already half built).
The fund is for business that creates on-going jobs (and in this case foreigners bring some of the revenues in) – economic growth. Which is why it qualified.
Whether I would have set up a $3B fund for such investment in pandemic impacted businesses when there were plenty of capital spending nned for HB's and schools is another matter.
The objection about money for the rich, also applies to the Americas Cup funding and subsidising film-making.
yes, they build a school for their son, and they should finish it, they have enough money, on which we can rest assured they paid as little in taxes as rich people as these get away with. But hey, money must be made and if we can get free money, even better. Just don't expect us to pay taxes or vote for Labour :).
And yes, they are actively trying to get rich people from overseas to send their kids there, they have it costed and are just now in a bit of a lurch cause there aren't enough rich people to pay for their'unschooling' green school.
And this fund does nothing to create jobs, as far as i am aware the only ones currently having work are the builders. At the very best they will be a trickle down – or rather a pissing down – on the locals that gett o be janitor, cook, cleaner, just like the locals in that fancy school in Bali. Who also are too poor to send their kids to this amazing school for primarily white people. 🙂
Nothing anyone here has said so far is anything else that any National or Act supporter here has said in defense of public money going to private enterprise. In fact all the Green supporters and their Labour allies currently sound like they are auditioning for Act.
It may have been intended and frankly i would not be surprised to hear again of this school and not in a good way,
And the very sad thing is that we have to vote for that. Cause its not as bad as Judith. Vote 2020 Labour /NZFirst/Green cause we are not as bad as National/Act.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/121938943/the-taranaki-parents-out-to-change-how-we-school-our-kids
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/115162629/hundreds-of-applicants-seek-nine-teaching-jobs-at-countrys-first-green-school
They will eventually, otherwise there's very little point in building it.
You seem to be conflating things there. There will always be kids that do badly in mainstream schools. Nothing to do with the run down state of buildings thanks to National. It's about the core philosophy of state schools, what they think is important to teach, and how they teach it. The best lobbying in the world is unlikely to change that.
"Teachers were no longer hung up on his spelling, or whether his stories were shorter than the other kids', or whether he wrote on the lines. They cared about his ideas."
I have friends whose kids have been like this. Those kids did better in Steiner schools or being homeschooled. Low income households, before you go off on a rant about privilege.
I'm hoping that down the line schools like the Green School can be accommodated in the system that integrates private schools into the state system and thus influences the state system, or at least gives options for kids who need to be in alt education.
Our place is directly under the Green X23A flightpath into Auckland airport. Just now another Covid capsule quietly sneaked in delivering its masked occupants coughing and spluttering grim death.
11 community cases today and we are having to open up on Monday. This is an indication the country is going to have to live with it.
Masks on, people.
One of my Akl customers is going home tonight again. this is the second time she rode out lock down here in Rotorua. Ahh, to be wealthy in NZ, rules don't apply. In the meantime the poor sap in a bus with no face covering will get a 300 NZD fine.
First WHO warns that children can spread, yet there is no requirement to use masks in schools next week in Auckland.
World evidence that children do spread the virus has led WHO to recommend the use of masks in schools for children.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12360273
Now this turns up – children can retain the virus (in the nose) for three weeks and so we have a perfect storm. Outbreaks through schools and into homes and then workplaces and then out of Auckland.
That would require an end to our elimination policy (permanent social distancing and masks in schools until there is a vaccine), or a resumed lockdown nationwide and delay of the election to November.
Given the likely cause, government policy on mask wearing will be cited and they will be blamed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53946420.
The information about the three week carry duration should give the government pause about schools being open next week – or at least require mask use and social distancing.
One thing that i have observed here is people are using the app before coming in, they wait outside for the customers in the shop to leave first and quite a few wear masks. So at least here in Vegas people are trying to keep their community safe.
But i do expect the virus to travel from Sunday midnight on. No easy solutions here.
Jamie-Lee Ross explains his reasons for marching in Auckland:
""This is not the country I grew up in, where [the] military are on checkpoints in and out of Auckland.”"
Might not have been a pandemic back then, Mr Ross!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300094774/coronavirus-police-disappointed-but-no-punishment-for-500-protesters-breaching-lockdown
I thought that JLR took time out for quiet reflection. He must have spent the time looking in a mirror as he doesn't seem wiser after that remark about using the military. Actually JLR it is good that the forces can do some peacetime support work for their own country, they will feel good being able to help their own when needed.
Funny how soldiers stand to attention then march. Ross is marching to get attention.
And then who takes responsibility for the spread, the individual who overides risks to others and wants to leave Auckland for a wedding , or the Government?
Or the same evangelical group who have now admitted to carrying on hallelujah sessions together in secret?
And that's why all the residents of West and South Auckland have been advised to line up for a COVID test. If we all went to a testing site right now there would be insufficient testers / swabs etc. We are talking big numbers.
Respect.
And that's why all the residents of West and South Auckland have been advised to line up for a COVID test. If we all presented at a testing site right now there would be insufficient testers / swabs etc. We are talking big numbers.
The spy sandflys could not touch Eco Maori so they setup my Tamariki an set the courts onto them the under underbelly Of New Zealand's is full of rotting people. They don't like Eco Maori showing the World their true colours hence the VENDETTA.
https://youtu.be/KSN7Nz4ECQM