Someone should tell the corporate media a good 50% of the country hardly even noticed the rugby world cup and of the rest most were over it on Sunday afternoon.
The way our corporate media have managed to suck any joy out of the RWC with their incessant clickbait stories that are a weird combination of braggadocio and insecurity has been amazing. And still, thtree days later, Susie Ferguson insults the intelligence of her listeners (again) by a) making her first question to Jacinda about the rugby then going for a gotcha. Seriously, there is more important things than trying to foot trip the PM over a three day old rugby match.
Ain't that the truth, I haven't heard one work mate discuss the world cup these last few months, I don't think anyone even knew it was on, I watched one game as I was staying in a motel and they had terrestrial telly, I would have watched more if it was accessible, the greedy bastards are killing the interest in the game in the name of short term profit.
Jimmy This is a place of relatively free expression of what is happening personally to you. Because someone expresses something different to what you feel or have experienced shouldn't be an opportunity for you to sneer at them and ask them if they work in a morgue.
You could have left those first two questioning sentences out. Why be combative and negative about other how other people's random comment about something. Like I am at present! But with a desire to get better interaction amongst us.
Excuse me greywarshark but I don't think Jimmy was being anything of the sort. His comment was a very Kiwi way of expressing his surprise with a smattering of humour thrown in.
Each to his own. It's not your place to tell others how to express themselves here – or anywhere else.
greywarshark should be warned to stay away from Taika Waititi's JoJo Rabbit. The kiwi comedy in that (kiwiism warning!) would blow his tiny little mind, especially as it is tempered with very serious themes and moral issues.
aom You don't understand much of what you see and read if you think I don't deeply concern myself with 'very serious themes and moral issues'. You are just a learner compared to where i come from. So soak up all you can and you might get wise.
It's not your place to come here and tell me not to express myself about what I think is important Anne. It is what you do yourself all the time, coming from a feeling of entitlement I think. And it goes against the Open Mike zeitgeist. So don't preach to me in your didactic way.
Do you ever stop and look and listen to yourself. ‘It is not your place’ you say to me. Is that classless speech? Are you really interested in democracy but rather talking down to others who haven’t reached your height of seniority in your profession?
Anne, consider your hand smacked by the TS's own Clayton's moderator- LOL.
But life has its comedy moments – and TS has its comedy juxtapositions of comments at times. Today's is a classic – G's reply to you has landed immediately under G's reply to aom. Read together (particularly the last two sentences in the reply to aom) they are laughable. Talk about lacking in self-awareness, and not looking and listening to one's self.
I was earlier unable to respond with anything other than an emoticon.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I think Greywarshark needs to learn to treat other people's comments with more care and attention. He/she seems occasionally vulnerable to misinterpretations. Perhaps a bit of a furlough and some internal reflection would be advisable before he/she starts laying down the law to other people who might wish to comment here.
Hi Greywarshark…apologies then as I was not meaning to offend anyone. Love the rugby, or hate the rugby, it is the most important thing to so many kiwis. I am not a huge fan myself but will follow the world cup. (and even the soccer world cup when its on).
I was simply amazed that people were not talking about it in some way at I feel the love's work place. For anyone that does work in a morgue, I did not mean to be nasty or put them down as they do an extremely important job that many people would probably not do.
Hi Jimmy – It was just a thought – we in NZ are too inclined to negativity I think. Also some people find rugby a bit of a faux way to come together in NZ. And find the brutal approach which shows up in spear tackling and the love of big men crashing into each other a bit pathetic as an example of the finest and most charismatic sport here.
Lately I looked at the local film called Bludgeon, and I reckon that would be a great sport for physical guys, and it involves armour that a man or woman could make themselves and use metal-working skills, so a steep learning curve and giving more individual satisfaction than rugby.
Fair bit of crash and bash there. But there is a code of conduct. But still some risk – I think blokes like taking on risk with judgment of how to avoid it. What did you think of Bludgeon? It's different, could be good. Might be an alternative to rugby, so we have more than one claim to fame eh?
We need to get more positive in NZ and talk to each other in a way that promotes that, and that aids conversation and helps in getting to know that person and what's good about them. That is something I think we need to work on in NZ – my opinion. So I throw in Bludgeon as an extra talking point to rugby.
Thinking about negativity. NZrs are said to be a bit dour, and our creative output can follow that. But perhaps we get insight through it in a way, but then have watch not to set in negative mode. Scandinavia is a place that has to do this also I hear – they can suffer from SAD.*
*Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.Oct 25, 2017
Ha! My workplace ranges in ages from early 20s to mid 60s, a few 100 people, all walks of life in Dunedin, men and women, and I haven't heard one mention or RWC or the ABs losing, what can I say but that is what I see. We have pools for Melbourne cup and other major sports but no one did one for the rugby. I've no doubt there are fans because people do play and I recall talk of a shield game, but seriously, it's a game being killed by its expense. I don't mind the game, but I don't mind any sport, I just don't favour any and have better things to spend my money on. Just my view.
There were a pile of flags at work in the last few weeks. Mostly because the plants were removed before we move. A few mad keen rugby nuts talking about something that I hadn't seen.
Some dribble in the papers that looked like more mindless advertising.
Personally I just ignored it. Have better things to waste time on.
I pretty much give up on sports activities when I finish doing them. These days physical activity is mainly restricted to the daily commuting to work on a e-bike and the weekend chores on it. Limited supply of enthusiasts for that as well as the rugby
It's less important as a game, as having once been a major community binding activity. Having fallen under the dual pressures of urbanization and professionalization, rugby is no longer a uniting communal obsession. Like the churches, its congregation are aging and diminishing.
Interesting perspective and quite relevant. A resurgence in anti-colonial sentiment (not that I want to stir the hornet's nest) – No Siree! Quite a few quite capable of stirring up shit, acting like missionaries and imposing their will all by themselves.
I know rugby is regarded by some here primarily through the lens of a fanatical culture war item, but I don't really care for the tiresome whining of the anti-rugby brigade so if you are not interested in discussing it – in the nicest possible way just don't comment and f**k off to anther topic. 🙂
So onto rugby.
If I were the NZRFU I would be alarmed at the general indifference the public has shown to the All Black's defeat. We are not "more mature' – it is just a huge number of people no longer give a shit. General interest in the game peaked twenty years and has been in decline ever since. Rugby is of no interest to an increasingly large percentage of the population. Kids nowadays have been alienated by an elite school system that actively discourages participation for fun as a burden on their winning. The game has been behind a paywall for a generation that has seen it's support base becoming increasing elderly, white and middle class. The focus on the apex means club and now provincial rugby has been gutted. The NPC is a now a complete farce – does anyone seriously believe Tasman has the best pool of provincial players in NZ?
The general public is chronically over exposed to rugby from February to December and is IMHO sick to death of saturation uncritical coverage in the corporate media. Outside a few pockets no one is interested in provincial rugby, there is to much super rugby and too many All Blacks tests. The NPC was once the engine of the game – home of tribalism, huge unwavering support and where the interest in the game was actually highest. Now? I don't think so, especially in Auckland where the complacency and disinterest of the NZRFU at the decline of rugby should be a huge sports media scandal.
Steve Tew will leave a game utterly hollowed out by professionalism. His whole era was characterised by increasingly desperate efforts to slow – but never halt – the decline of NZ's rugby power in the face of the huge wads of money being laundered through sports clubs in the Europe. In order to buy another season of All Black success, the NZRFU has destroyed the game below the elite level and now- in the light of the hiding the All Blacks just got – those chickens are coming home to roost at elite level as well. The NZRFU has never really had a plan to sustain rugby in NZ for a generation, and our well resourced sports media are not about to call them out on it.
The problem is the NZ media are basically PR for rugby, so the general public gets no sensible debate about the direction of the game, the dropping interest, it's massive over-exposure or the issues of player loss. No one wants to talk about how player loss has gutted the quality of the rugby championship and weakened the All Blacks depth. Once Ben Smith suddenly became over the hill and Reiko Ioane apparently lost interest in playing for the All Blacks after Hanson publically dissed his brother our lack of depth was exposed at first five and wing (why is no one asking Hanson about the reasons for Reiko's loss of form?) What difference would having Charles Piutau, Lima Sopoaga, Steven Luatua, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock and Jackson Hemopo made had they been available? Especially as they play in positions where we were totally found out like lose forward, lock, and wing. They won't, because it would be to imply all is not well in the three rings and the media are part of the circus.
Sanc…I should point out that, despite my comment above, I was glued to both RWC semi-finals for the whole game in the Hawea Pub….I think rugby is a wonderful game….just not quite in the league of climate change or Brexit for its implications.
Yeah, I love rugby as well. To the point I actually believe being good at it should possibly attract a government subsidy to keep th best players here. Take the money from defense, I'd rather see nationalism at Eden Park than cheering a parade of tanks.
Why do the best players need to stay here ? Our lack of depth IMO is because we have this boys club approach to only local players getting an AB gig, Via the super 15/16 whatever it is now which is a created, invite only league.
Brazil/Argentina haven't won their world cups in football with 'local' players exclusively. There's a world out there we should welcome our players going OS to. Geez the current world champs don't give their centre forward a game because he's not making the field at Chelsea, that's a position we should be in !
Our local game would probably flourish if more got a chance via the big names following the $$$ offshore. It's pure market forces etc a.k.a. professionalism, something the NZRU have mostly sucked at since day 1./
The decision was made years ago to focus on the All Black's brand and the creation of an elite player program to feed a steady stream of new All Blacks into the squad. Everything else was sacrificed – mass participation, club rugby, the NPC and now even Super Rugby – to that end. But No one is asking if that model is fundamentally flawed. The parade of clueless doofus mercenaries being churned out from our elite school system and academies is testament to the flaws in the current model, as is the decline interest and participation. These new generation elite players have had the red carpet rolled out for them since they hit about 14 years old, and are only used to winning and have a huge sense of entitlement to a fat professional salary. They are starting to bugger off once they realise that the All Blacks is a bit harder than they thought and they can get just as much dosh for half the effort playing in France. Being an All Black for an increasing number of these elite players is now a bit like making porno movies for a few years is for a whore – a sort of video CV for the better paying whales and sugar daddies.
An alternative does/did exist – get government funding for the cultural component of the game and emphasise mass participation, club and NPC level and a cut down professional competition including Australia. Accept the inevitable of overseas money luring away our best players (akin to Brazilians and Argentinians accepting their best players are all in Europe) and just work out a strategy to get them back in time to ensure we remain rugby world champions.
That way, when the current era of massively overpaid professional sport eventually eats itself (as it is showing signs of doing with the falling interest from people who can longer afford to watch, the obsolescence of the paywall TV model to fund it all and the increasing demand for low carbon – i.e. no flying everywhere – sport) at least you'll still have a game left to administer.
It won't happen, because unlike football, all the TV money goes to the union instead of the clubs, but the centralised contracts should go and players become free agents, able to move between teams across borders and still be available for national selection.
That would mean clear windows for international tests, just like soccer, which could if done right, also be of benefit to tier two nations and a way of growing the sport globally.
The same malaise has afflicted many of our sports, with the same depletion of overall participation, and the death of many of what used to be healthy local clubs.
In practice overseas clubs do affect a players availability for selection for a national side elsewhere, especially as clubs and national games overlap.
Would English clubs try to restrict NZ players being selected for the All Blacks ? You bet
I don't recall any club v country rows in English football for quite some time, with South American, African and Asian players turning out for their nations, even when tournaments are held during the season. Son Heung min from Spurs played in the Asian cup this year, for example, though the African cup of nations has now switched to the European off season recently.
The key is obviously well organised international windows for cups, qualification purposes and friendlies. Like I said above, it won't happen under the current system but it could with the necessary changes.
Boorish needs to remember that he is supposed to be following the will of the people, and not just his own – that is dictatorship. And for those who are going to trot out the bit about the referendum 'indicating the will of the people', I laugh at you. How can people make up their minds for some action based on unfair information, lies to deceive?? What gimcrack idea of democracy are you fostering? What sort of person are you who quotes prim verse out of a text which does not include the principle of straight and honest dealing?
To have a matter put before the people which will overturn or affect all of a country's policies is a major undertaking for them to consider carefully. To treat it as if they were voting to have a new library that would only stock records of UK writing and thinking, is an attempt at deception by a very devious, even criminally fraudulent group of politicians. And then to suggest that a mere simple majority is sufficient for such a proposal, and then set out to confuse the trusting or ignorant populace, is irredeemably malicious.
To call for a change within Parliament of an election date different from the normal, a snap election*, requires 66% or two-thirds of the House of the representatives of the people to make a rearrangement of that grouping who are mere servants of the people. Yet just a simple majority for a matter affecting and at the heart of all the people and country, that they are supposed to be serving!
This shows a wish to take power over the people and indeed the country. It is in effect, a coup planned by the unscrupulous, and those Members in the part of Parliament who stand for the people are putting up a desperate battle, using all the law and precedents that they can. These have been introduced to give the country a strong and reliable Parliament without a resort to violence to debase Parliament and then enable the winners to take control the country. (And there have already been murders in the political sphere, these should not be overlooked, as preliminary skirmishes.)
PS joe90 – I wonder how the photographers got a shot of Boorish in front of a poster about Sepsis and Infection? Or is this an example of photo-shopping – part of the playing around with images, leading to serious falsifying that the simple minds of we ordinary people have to examine carefully to form an opinion. No longer ‘seeing is believing’.
It's a scam. Someone pulls a empty cheque out writes brexit on it, then says sign here. Nobody is signing that without details put in. Blank cheque politics goes against every grain. Parliament is never going to ratify the deal, it would put their name on it, and for whatever reason… …Tory voters who want to stay in, or Labour voters who want to end austerity, or Libs who have said no. The only way to move on is to put the deal to the electorate in a referendum. Boris is an unelected leader of a minority party that demands the scam be accepted. Put up or shut up, put the deal to the people in a referendum, let them sign the cheque. Oh, and that means expat too.
Parliament has ratified the deal. They did so last week ,as per the procedure with the agreement to be tabled so that it becomes a public document
. It well known that the deal in this context is the full agreement between UK and EU negotiators.
Additional legislation and regulations follow too cover the fine details of the law over various aspects of Brexit : Agriculture , Fisheries, Financial Services, Immigration and so on.
PM Johnson is desperate for another general election (after 2 years and 4 months), but reluctant to rerun the Brexit referendum (after 3 years and 4 months.)
Why not rerun both at the same time, if only to clarify the 'mood' of a better-informed U.K. electorate? I see one parallel in the NZ National-led government claiming that their election win was a mandate for the massive transfer of public assets/wealth into private ownership, despite opinion polls at the time showing a clear majority of those polled were opposed.
Brexit will consolidate the already vast power and influence of U.K./multinational wealth. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
"Pigs rank at the top-most level in the structure, dogs coming next, and then other animals rank accordingly. Pigs are the rulers and the masters. That means they can rewrite or reinterpret commandments to ensure their benefit, and control over other animals." https://literarydevices.net/all-animals-are-equal/
I think you are confused about what Brexit will do . Its the EU that was consolidating power , especailly with the Euro ( which Britain almost by accident was able to avoid)
Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity.
The people of Greece even voted by a large majority against the EUs austerity deal, but as is Normal with the EU bureaucrats and financial mandarins they forced the Greek government to take even harsher medicine.
Like I said you seem to have 'forgotten' how much the EU is despised for its economic policies , not only in Britain.
Duke, I though it was more about bananas than mandarins – don't have a dog in this contest of ideas, but none of my 'elitist' academic colleagues are particularly thrilled about the possible net effect of Brexit on UK university research and teaching programmes.
Your suggestion to "Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity" is a good one – asking electorates about where they stand on important issues, by way of (binding) referenda, is a great idea IMHO.
In the UK, national referenda are not constitutionally binding, and since the UK has held only three national referenda [in 1975 (UK remaining in the EEC [Labour]), 2011 (voting system [Tory]), and 2016 (Brexit [Tory])], I can understand the reluctance for a fourth, particularly given the unsettling mess that the third delivered.
However, since there appears to be some uncertainty as to whether a simple majority of UK voters currently support Brexit (3 years and four months on), I just wondered if another general election (2 years and 4 months on) might be the perfect opportunity to test the current mood of the electorate on Brexit. After all, it’s an issue which some at least consider to have quite far-reaching consequences, more so even than cannabis which the NZ electorate will be voting on next year.
I watched an interesting presentation by Tom Scott at the Royal Society called there is no Algorithm for Truth. He starts off with a challenge, what if a supposed algorithm for internet truth decides (correctly) that a no deal brexit is the best for the UK. The question being (to the audience) do you therefore accept this, or respond by trying to amplify your position? I think you should conduct the same thought experiment based on the fact that at least 40 something percent of the UK disagree with your position.
I didn't realise that 40% of UK were watching me for a lead. That is a serious responsibility and i will bear it in mind Nic the NZer. Are you Nic the ex Pom?
Good on Corbyn for getting his lines in when they are on offer. I think its quite weak rhetoric though as parliament forced Boris to do it. Would they rather he refused to ask for an extension over parliaments will here?
It is a fluid matter of possibilities and probabilities and who will vote for who in the UK. Knowing what the situation is in detail, would help to understand why certain things are/not being done.
This is an interesting piece on Johnson from aljazeera.
When you've previously agreed to do a favour for your boss and work the occasional cash in hand extra, at their suggestion, only to be told a couple of days after doing the last one it's now on the books.
Good on you mate.But you and your boss were equally responsible for tax evasion.Your not alone unfortunately.Ripping off genuine taxpayers seems to be a national sport.
It was only a few hours work, so not really about the money, more the being lied to.
And while I get the point about tax evasion, and certainly not mitigating it after the fact, unemployed people can earn up to $90pw without affecting entitlements, and with my hourly rate, it wasn't even near that much.
Well it doesn't matter now as I've paid the tax on the $60 I earned, including extra towards my student loan payment. It's okay, the country can afford light rail in Auckland after all.
No telling what we can achieve as soon as we stop off the books cash payments to babysitters.
If I leave $40 for a cleaner or gardener, I don't care if they do their paperwork properly.
When the multinational sharks start paying tax on their hundreds of millions of income before expenditure, then we can sweep up a few minnows who failed to declare a little bit of income here and there.
IRD will go after non-monetary earnings too. If you trade hours of your normal paid work for someone else's hours (or some veggies), your hours are taxable.
TA is talking about working for not much money, to put in other words he sounds poor, and that's what the fuck he is concerned about, and to improve that situation even slightly.
Not quite true, as some households on benefits bring in more than mine, yet they're still permitted to earn $90 pw on top, a third more than I was in line for, but as I implied, it's not a contest, and I certainly don't begrudge them that extra.
They still pay tax on it. I don't see the point you are trying to make. It seems as marty says, that the unemployed often get dragged into non-related points. That it is somehow ok for you to cheat on tax because unemployed people.
Okay, I was under the impression that someone not working and then earning such a small amount wouldn't pay any tax, but I checked it out and found I was wrong.
'Fun' result would be the election of a Boris "Let's get Brexit done" Johnson-led Tory govt combined with a narrow majority for ‘remain’ in a Brexit referendum rerun.
Rise of the right connected directly to 2008 financial collapse, when the wealthiest aren't jailed for their crimes, they will play. Brexit, Trump, used to be you can't take the money with you when you die, now it's what can you destroy with your money before you die. The planet, markets, economies, democracy, its a fire sale.
2 A investigation found a clandestine network of 14 large Facebook pages that exclusively promote content from The Daily Wire
They promote same content, at the same time, w/the same text
Collectively they have 8 million+ fans
3. Facebook's rules explicitly prohibit "coordinated inauthentic behavior" which it defines as "groups of accounts and Pages working together to mislead people about who they are and what they’re doing."
That's exactly what's happening here
4. Facebook says when it finds "coordinated inauthentic behavior" it will "remove all inauthentic and authentic accounts, Pages and groups directly involved"
Facebook admitted that these pages are acting deceptively, but it will not take them down
[…]
8. It's hard to overstate how good The Daily Wire is at gaming Facebook. While a average NYT article received 1871 engagements in September, the average The Daily Wire article received 15283 engagements
At any rate, I “lived” the 2015 election with my heart in my throat, particularly after Mauricio Macri was elected over the Peronist formula, effectively putting an end to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and all the good things she’d been doing (and some of the bad because, let’s be honest, there’s always going to be something bad/questionable).
[…]
Today I woke up to find out that not only did Argentina kicked Macri out unceremoniously, but former president CFK is now Vice President to Alberto Fernández
Today farming leaders and the Government announced a plan to join forces to develop practical and cost-effective ways to measure and price emissions at the farm level by 2025, so that 100 per cent of New Zealand's emissions will be on the path downwards. – Scoop
The cynic in me says the Agriculture lobby expects to hang on for just 2-3 years so that when National gets in they will drop the Plan.
I think we are being overwhelmed by freedom campers and should put limits on visitors – some places insist on sighting return tickets with dates that comply with visas, permits. Then visitors need to show they have enough money to sustain themselves for their holiday so they don't go round stealing, bludging and ripping the country off. We have NZ men who are enough trouble without adding more.
Rubbish-strewn campsites, home-made toilets and illegal felling of native trees by "arrogant and disrespectful" freedom campers at Lake Waikaremoana have shocked and saddened Ngāi Tūhoe.
Crikey! WTF with cutting down trees, that should never ever happen, what pricks for doing so.
Imagine a dedicated freedom camping task force in every region. They could police the freedom campers and share stories about their local area. If people felt a sense of importance about the land they are occupying maybe they would be better behaved.
Would also like to see recycling and rubbish facilities at designated spots as well as toilets. The way I see it, freedom camping isn't going away any time soon, so we may as well mange it instead.
Agree – manage it on location and limit it at the borders. It is not a big income earner, and we can do without these wandering would-be wilderness pretenders. Run the system of woofers as the main intake of long-term visitors, they would have jobs to go to with members who are registered. Lovely people, and a terrific asset to the country, forming friendships and helping out in a valuable way. They would have to be looked after to make sure that local ab-users of the system didn't take advantage, and vice versa.
I would not be surprised if the 'campers' are munters from NZ rather than further afield. The hunters mentioned in the story certainly are. Who brings their own toilet seat with them on holiday?
A third of New Zealanders are cutting down on their meat consumption or not eating any at all, new research shows.
The survey of more than 1000 people found that 31 percent have been limiting their meat intake over the past year, with a further 3 percent being vegetarian or vegan.
Health was cited as the most common reason people were cutting down on meat, followed by concern for the environment and animal welfare.
Some of the survey respondents named taste, nutrition and price as barriers to trying plant-based meat alternatives.
…Despite plant-based meat alternatives evolving from traditional options, the research says only a fifth of New Zealanders have tried this 'new generation' of foods. And a further 44 percent expressed they'd like to try them, including nearly half of those reducing their meat intake.
Vege sausages are $9 for 6 of them. I tried some vegan cheese the other day – man it was not good sadly.
YouTube stars raise over $6m to plant trees around the world
More than 600 creators and social media influencers join campaign to plant 20m trees
A group of YouTube stars have raised more than $6m (£4.7m) to plant trees around the world by rallying their huge numbers of subscribers.
The American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, was challenged on Reddit in May to plant 20m trees to celebrate reaching 20 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he posts videos of extravagant stunts.
He then teamed up with other YouTubers to create the #TeamTrees project with a target of $20m – each $1 donation will plant one tree. Launched on 25 October, the crowdfunder raised $5m in just 48 hours, with $1.75m coming from YouTube alone, which the team claims is a new fundraising record for the site.
How times have changed I can remember when a prominent Maori was grilled live about the same problems being talked about this morning.
Awsome mahi Mike Te gumboot fund for people with vulnerable emotions.
Totally agree with that statement Mike.
Congratulations to Te Netball Wahine.
I would love to go out and back up what I say and join the peaceful protest to protect our futures environment but that move would be putting myself in Check.
What I like about this research is that a few minor changes and our farmers will be mitigateing their carbon footprint. Another great point is the idea works with Papatuanuku and not trying to reinvent her or against her. Ka pai.
Researchers dig deeper in fight against climate change
Researchers have found deep soil holds potential to off-set greenhouse gas emissions and improve production for farmers.
Dr Mike Beare and his colleagues at Plant and Food Research have been studying how soils differ in their potential to store carbon, and the risk for carbon loss.
Many continuous pasture soils in New Zealand are stratified, with carbon levels declining rapidly with depth. "Where there is much greater potential to store additional carbon is below the surface soil," Beare said.
The potential lies beneath the top 15 centimetres.
Plant roots are an important source of the carbon that is constantly being fed into soils and help form the organic matter that improves soil health.
The problem is that even with plants that do send roots below that depth, most of the roots still tend to be concentrated near the surface.
"The challenge is to find productive and profitable plants that produce enough roots below ground," Beare says.
Farmers re-seed pastures every 10-to-15 years, to improve the pastures' production. During this pasture renewal, Beare said farmers could create a deeper topsoil.
Full-inversion tillage buries the carbon-rich top soil below 15cm and brings up the sub-soil material that is under-saturated in carbon
I agree every one is going to lose if we do not change the way we live to minimise our carbon footprint and become a carbon neutral society. We need to stop buying stuff and next minute literally they end up it Te Tangaroa or the dump. Some people are spouting doom and gloom because we have to become minimalist in every Facit of our lives. Reality is they don't want to change. If they don't get on the WAKA to becoming minimalist then I say they will lose.
Some days, I am filled with dread. Some nights, I have trouble sleeping. But I would not swap my job for any other.
As global environment editor for the Guardian, I report from the Amazon to the Arctic on the disappearing wonders of a rapidly deteriorating world. Along with a growing number of colleagues, I investigate who is affected, who is to blame and who is fighting back.
This is both depressing and exciting. The trends for the climate, the oceans, the forests and the soil are unrelentingly frightening. Humanity has never faced a more wicked problem than the collapse of these natural life support systems. Nobody is free of responsibility. Everybody has something to lose, especially those with the most power. The challenge is huge, urgent and beset with opponents. But change is happening nonetheless.
The primary challenge for a journalist is to make it feel personal. Without that, the science becomes abstract, global issues seem too huge to grasp, and it becomes difficult to relate to far off places and other species. Without that, the “environment” slips too easily into an elite pigeonhole for academics, policymakers and middle-class white people, when it should be recognised as the main driver of inequality, conflict and injustice. This is not just another subject; it is a prism through which to see the world.
I came to this view reluctantly. Starting as a cub reporter in Asia in the 1990s, I initially wrote about politics, finance and sport – issues that are traditionally considered newsworthy because they are fast moving, human-focussed and marketable. But the more I travelled as a foreign correspondent, the harder it became to ignore how the degradation of the air, water, soil and climate was threatening people, other species and future generations. These themes rarely made front-page news, but they were often the underlying cause of political tension, economic instability and psychological unease.
That's the way if you have the means Sue the people who are still wrecking our climate with pollution carbon emissions the oil producers.
Iwi leader Mike Smith takes OMV oil boss to International Criminal Court
Māori leader Mike Smith has shot the first arrow in a global war between indigenous communities and oil companies.
Smith has started legal proceedings in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV.
He said oil company executives deserved to stand trial for genocide and other climate crimes impacting on indigenous communities now and in the future
"They choose to put profit ahead of millions of people all over the world who will suffer the effects of climate change. It's a crime of global proportions. I know it sounds dramatic but that's because it is. We need to hold these people to account."
Smith is currently in Vienna, Austria where the OMV headquarters is based. He held a media conference outside their offices to announce the legal challenge.
"We managed to chase out all the rest of them and turn the government around so we're not taking anymore permits," Smith said.
Once we get rid of this lot then we become an exemplar to the rest of the world."
In July, Smith filed proceedings in the High Court against the Government for failing to protect Māori from climate change
Smith recently travelled to Mexico where he met with indigenous leaders from central and southern American tribes and First Nations people in Canada. He also attended the United Nations Indigenous Caucus earlier this year.
The indigenous groups would join Smith in starting legal proceedings against a number of oil bosses in the ICC based in The Hague, Netherlands.
We're expecting these companies to play dirty," Smith said.
Here we go people not respecting the beautiful creatures in our Wai Tuna being killed because they don't give a stuff. What a waste of a taonga and a precious resource.
The dead and dying eels were discovered by Napier resident Matiu Heremia encased in tonnes of mud that had been dumped on the banks of the Moteo River in February.
His video of the dead eels went viral on Facebook prompting MPI to investigate the council's practice and the council itself to halt all drain works while it undertook its own review.
Eight months later MPI said it had "insufficient evidence" to lay any charges
Matiu Heremia, who alongside family members, worked for hours to rescue eels that were still alive and return them to the river, said MPI's decision was "appalling."
"It's absolute bollocks. In that video [there were] tonnes and tonnes of eel in that mud. There's enough evidence there to prosecute as far as I'm concerned."
If that was me that hauled all those eels out of a drain I'd be in trouble … they'd come down on me like a tonne of bricks."
Many Māori caught illegally fishing were not treated with such leniency, he said.
The misleading information unit is needed in this day and age.
Katie the business close to the Tamarik Makaru city rail link will be happy that the government and council are putting a fund together to help for their loss of customers and profits.
The wild life of Australia are suffering from the huge bushfire what a shame.
Never mind Hine 4 years is not long then you can get a 100 vote majority kia kaha.
Ka pai to Te puea marae for looking after the homeless tangata and Wahine and who have bullying Tane. I say all Iwi should invest in Whare for Te tangata you know that old saying As Safe As Whare.
It looks like the new Crown unit to stop social media fake news is being used against me the sole purpose for the old white men who have the power who have been shaping our society since Rob Muldoon. It's time to kick these old farts out of power.
IE they blocked my devices this morning.
Ka kite Ano
I tried to stay out of the forestry debacle. But one does not sell Te Whenua to anyone it is a finite resource that needs to be kept in Kiwis hands or we will all become tenants in our own Aotearoa.
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Someone should tell the corporate media a good 50% of the country hardly even noticed the rugby world cup and of the rest most were over it on Sunday afternoon.
The way our corporate media have managed to suck any joy out of the RWC with their incessant clickbait stories that are a weird combination of braggadocio and insecurity has been amazing. And still, thtree days later, Susie Ferguson insults the intelligence of her listeners (again) by a) making her first question to Jacinda about the rugby then going for a gotcha. Seriously, there is more important things than trying to foot trip the PM over a three day old rugby match.
Ain't that the truth, I haven't heard one work mate discuss the world cup these last few months, I don't think anyone even knew it was on, I watched one game as I was staying in a motel and they had terrestrial telly, I would have watched more if it was accessible, the greedy bastards are killing the interest in the game in the name of short term profit.
Wow ….where do you work? The morgue? We have had plenty of talk at work about it over the last few weeks although its a lot quieter now!
Jimmy This is a place of relatively free expression of what is happening personally to you. Because someone expresses something different to what you feel or have experienced shouldn't be an opportunity for you to sneer at them and ask them if they work in a morgue.
You could have left those first two questioning sentences out. Why be combative and negative about other how other people's random comment about something. Like I am at present! But with a desire to get better interaction amongst us.
Excuse me greywarshark but I don't think Jimmy was being anything of the sort. His comment was a very Kiwi way of expressing his surprise with a smattering of humour thrown in.
Each to his own. It's not your place to tell others how to express themselves here – or anywhere else.
Agree – a pretty standard, funny and slightly pointed kiwi saying. I can't sense malice in that.
greywarshark should be warned to stay away from Taika Waititi's JoJo Rabbit. The kiwi comedy in that (kiwiism warning!) would blow his tiny little mind, especially as it is tempered with very serious themes and moral issues.
aom You don't understand much of what you see and read if you think I don't deeply concern myself with 'very serious themes and moral issues'. You are just a learner compared to where i come from. So soak up all you can and you might get wise.
It's not your place to come here and tell me not to express myself about what I think is important Anne. It is what you do yourself all the time, coming from a feeling of entitlement I think. And it goes against the Open Mike zeitgeist. So don't preach to me in your didactic way.
Do you ever stop and look and listen to yourself. ‘It is not your place’ you say to me. Is that classless speech? Are you really interested in democracy but rather talking down to others who haven’t reached your height of seniority in your profession?
Anne, consider your hand smacked by the TS's own Clayton's moderator- LOL.
But life has its comedy moments – and TS has its comedy juxtapositions of comments at times. Today's is a classic – G's reply to you has landed immediately under G's reply to aom. Read together (particularly the last two sentences in the reply to aom) they are laughable. Talk about lacking in self-awareness, and not looking and listening to one's self.
Enjoy! kia kaha
Hi veutoviper,
I was earlier unable to respond with anything other than an emoticon.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I think Greywarshark needs to learn to treat other people's comments with more care and attention. He/she seems occasionally vulnerable to misinterpretations. Perhaps a bit of a furlough and some internal reflection would be advisable before he/she starts laying down the law to other people who might wish to comment here.
Hi Greywarshark…apologies then as I was not meaning to offend anyone. Love the rugby, or hate the rugby, it is the most important thing to so many kiwis. I am not a huge fan myself but will follow the world cup. (and even the soccer world cup when its on).
I was simply amazed that people were not talking about it in some way at I feel the love's work place. For anyone that does work in a morgue, I did not mean to be nasty or put them down as they do an extremely important job that many people would probably not do.
Agree… It is one of our few growth industries.
Hi Jimmy – It was just a thought – we in NZ are too inclined to negativity I think. Also some people find rugby a bit of a faux way to come together in NZ. And find the brutal approach which shows up in spear tackling and the love of big men crashing into each other a bit pathetic as an example of the finest and most charismatic sport here.
Lately I looked at the local film called Bludgeon, and I reckon that would be a great sport for physical guys, and it involves armour that a man or woman could make themselves and use metal-working skills, so a steep learning curve and giving more individual satisfaction than rugby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TflUa6IWNdk
Fair bit of crash and bash there. But there is a code of conduct. But still some risk – I think blokes like taking on risk with judgment of how to avoid it. What did you think of Bludgeon? It's different, could be good. Might be an alternative to rugby, so we have more than one claim to fame eh?
We need to get more positive in NZ and talk to each other in a way that promotes that, and that aids conversation and helps in getting to know that person and what's good about them. That is something I think we need to work on in NZ – my opinion. So I throw in Bludgeon as an extra talking point to rugby.
Thinking about negativity. NZrs are said to be a bit dour, and our creative output can follow that. But perhaps we get insight through it in a way, but then have watch not to set in negative mode. Scandinavia is a place that has to do this also I hear – they can suffer from SAD.*
*Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.Oct 25, 2017
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651
Ha! My workplace ranges in ages from early 20s to mid 60s, a few 100 people, all walks of life in Dunedin, men and women, and I haven't heard one mention or RWC or the ABs losing, what can I say but that is what I see. We have pools for Melbourne cup and other major sports but no one did one for the rugby. I've no doubt there are fans because people do play and I recall talk of a shield game, but seriously, it's a game being killed by its expense. I don't mind the game, but I don't mind any sport, I just don't favour any and have better things to spend my money on. Just my view.
There were a pile of flags at work in the last few weeks. Mostly because the plants were removed before we move. A few mad keen rugby nuts talking about something that I hadn't seen.
Some dribble in the papers that looked like more mindless advertising.
Personally I just ignored it. Have better things to waste time on.
I pretty much give up on sports activities when I finish doing them. These days physical activity is mainly restricted to the daily commuting to work on a e-bike and the weekend chores on it. Limited supply of enthusiasts for that as well as the rugby
I'd guess it really matters to 30% of the population….but only for a couple of weeks.
I mean come on, it's a game based on the random bounce of an odd-shaped ball.
' a game based on the random bounce of an odd-shaped ball. ' Sounds like an analogy for life really, as in the start when our eggie got fertilised.
It's less important as a game, as having once been a major community binding activity. Having fallen under the dual pressures of urbanization and professionalization, rugby is no longer a uniting communal obsession. Like the churches, its congregation are aging and diminishing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-50134723/singapore-the-artist-cutting-off-the-head-of-a-british-colonialist
Interesting perspective and quite relevant. A resurgence in anti-colonial sentiment (not that I want to stir the hornet's nest) – No Siree! Quite a few quite capable of stirring up shit, acting like missionaries and imposing their will all by themselves.
I know rugby is regarded by some here primarily through the lens of a fanatical culture war item, but I don't really care for the tiresome whining of the anti-rugby brigade so if you are not interested in discussing it – in the nicest possible way just don't comment and f**k off to anther topic. 🙂
So onto rugby.
If I were the NZRFU I would be alarmed at the general indifference the public has shown to the All Black's defeat. We are not "more mature' – it is just a huge number of people no longer give a shit. General interest in the game peaked twenty years and has been in decline ever since. Rugby is of no interest to an increasingly large percentage of the population. Kids nowadays have been alienated by an elite school system that actively discourages participation for fun as a burden on their winning. The game has been behind a paywall for a generation that has seen it's support base becoming increasing elderly, white and middle class. The focus on the apex means club and now provincial rugby has been gutted. The NPC is a now a complete farce – does anyone seriously believe Tasman has the best pool of provincial players in NZ?
The general public is chronically over exposed to rugby from February to December and is IMHO sick to death of saturation uncritical coverage in the corporate media. Outside a few pockets no one is interested in provincial rugby, there is to much super rugby and too many All Blacks tests. The NPC was once the engine of the game – home of tribalism, huge unwavering support and where the interest in the game was actually highest. Now? I don't think so, especially in Auckland where the complacency and disinterest of the NZRFU at the decline of rugby should be a huge sports media scandal.
Steve Tew will leave a game utterly hollowed out by professionalism. His whole era was characterised by increasingly desperate efforts to slow – but never halt – the decline of NZ's rugby power in the face of the huge wads of money being laundered through sports clubs in the Europe. In order to buy another season of All Black success, the NZRFU has destroyed the game below the elite level and now- in the light of the hiding the All Blacks just got – those chickens are coming home to roost at elite level as well. The NZRFU has never really had a plan to sustain rugby in NZ for a generation, and our well resourced sports media are not about to call them out on it.
The problem is the NZ media are basically PR for rugby, so the general public gets no sensible debate about the direction of the game, the dropping interest, it's massive over-exposure or the issues of player loss. No one wants to talk about how player loss has gutted the quality of the rugby championship and weakened the All Blacks depth. Once Ben Smith suddenly became over the hill and Reiko Ioane apparently lost interest in playing for the All Blacks after Hanson publically dissed his brother our lack of depth was exposed at first five and wing (why is no one asking Hanson about the reasons for Reiko's loss of form?) What difference would having Charles Piutau, Lima Sopoaga, Steven Luatua, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock and Jackson Hemopo made had they been available? Especially as they play in positions where we were totally found out like lose forward, lock, and wing. They won't, because it would be to imply all is not well in the three rings and the media are part of the circus.
Sanc…I should point out that, despite my comment above, I was glued to both RWC semi-finals for the whole game in the Hawea Pub….I think rugby is a wonderful game….just not quite in the league of climate change or Brexit for its implications.
Yeah, I love rugby as well. To the point I actually believe being good at it should possibly attract a government subsidy to keep th best players here. Take the money from defense, I'd rather see nationalism at Eden Park than cheering a parade of tanks.
Why do the best players need to stay here ? Our lack of depth IMO is because we have this boys club approach to only local players getting an AB gig, Via the super 15/16 whatever it is now which is a created, invite only league.
Brazil/Argentina haven't won their world cups in football with 'local' players exclusively. There's a world out there we should welcome our players going OS to. Geez the current world champs don't give their centre forward a game because he's not making the field at Chelsea, that's a position we should be in !
Our local game would probably flourish if more got a chance via the big names following the $$$ offshore. It's pure market forces etc a.k.a. professionalism, something the NZRU have mostly sucked at since day 1./
The decision was made years ago to focus on the All Black's brand and the creation of an elite player program to feed a steady stream of new All Blacks into the squad. Everything else was sacrificed – mass participation, club rugby, the NPC and now even Super Rugby – to that end. But No one is asking if that model is fundamentally flawed. The parade of clueless doofus mercenaries being churned out from our elite school system and academies is testament to the flaws in the current model, as is the decline interest and participation. These new generation elite players have had the red carpet rolled out for them since they hit about 14 years old, and are only used to winning and have a huge sense of entitlement to a fat professional salary. They are starting to bugger off once they realise that the All Blacks is a bit harder than they thought and they can get just as much dosh for half the effort playing in France. Being an All Black for an increasing number of these elite players is now a bit like making porno movies for a few years is for a whore – a sort of video CV for the better paying whales and sugar daddies.
An alternative does/did exist – get government funding for the cultural component of the game and emphasise mass participation, club and NPC level and a cut down professional competition including Australia. Accept the inevitable of overseas money luring away our best players (akin to Brazilians and Argentinians accepting their best players are all in Europe) and just work out a strategy to get them back in time to ensure we remain rugby world champions.
That way, when the current era of massively overpaid professional sport eventually eats itself (as it is showing signs of doing with the falling interest from people who can longer afford to watch, the obsolescence of the paywall TV model to fund it all and the increasing demand for low carbon – i.e. no flying everywhere – sport) at least you'll still have a game left to administer.
It won't happen, because unlike football, all the TV money goes to the union instead of the clubs, but the centralised contracts should go and players become free agents, able to move between teams across borders and still be available for national selection.
That would mean clear windows for international tests, just like soccer, which could if done right, also be of benefit to tier two nations and a way of growing the sport globally.
+1, Sanctuary.
The same malaise has afflicted many of our sports, with the same depletion of overall participation, and the death of many of what used to be healthy local clubs.
In practice overseas clubs do affect a players availability for selection for a national side elsewhere, especially as clubs and national games overlap.
Would English clubs try to restrict NZ players being selected for the All Blacks ? You bet
I don't recall any club v country rows in English football for quite some time, with South American, African and Asian players turning out for their nations, even when tournaments are held during the season. Son Heung min from Spurs played in the Asian cup this year, for example, though the African cup of nations has now switched to the European off season recently.
The key is obviously well organised international windows for cups, qualification purposes and friendlies. Like I said above, it won't happen under the current system but it could with the necessary changes.
Don't think that we have any tanks.
Arent the LAV a sort of modern version as they have a cannon , especially against demonstrators in cities which cant put up much resistance.
NZ LAV = APC replacement
Did the APC have a turret mounted cannon like the LAVs do?
Off the top of my head the NZ APCs had .50 cal only.
Technically the NZ LAVs are infantry fighting vehicles (= APC with cannon stuck on top). Basically a more heavily armed infantry taxi.
I'd rather be dead in a ditch than agree to a Brexit delay.… okay, just this once..https://twitter.com/AP/status/1188876292457934851
Boorish needs to remember that he is supposed to be following the will of the people, and not just his own – that is dictatorship. And for those who are going to trot out the bit about the referendum 'indicating the will of the people', I laugh at you. How can people make up their minds for some action based on unfair information, lies to deceive?? What gimcrack idea of democracy are you fostering? What sort of person are you who quotes prim verse out of a text which does not include the principle of straight and honest dealing?
To have a matter put before the people which will overturn or affect all of a country's policies is a major undertaking for them to consider carefully. To treat it as if they were voting to have a new library that would only stock records of UK writing and thinking, is an attempt at deception by a very devious, even criminally fraudulent group of politicians. And then to suggest that a mere simple majority is sufficient for such a proposal, and then set out to confuse the trusting or ignorant populace, is irredeemably malicious.
To call for a change within Parliament of an election date different from the normal, a snap election*, requires 66% or two-thirds of the House of the representatives of the people to make a rearrangement of that grouping who are mere servants of the people. Yet just a simple majority for a matter affecting and at the heart of all the people and country, that they are supposed to be serving!
This shows a wish to take power over the people and indeed the country. It is in effect, a coup planned by the unscrupulous, and those Members in the part of Parliament who stand for the people are putting up a desperate battle, using all the law and precedents that they can. These have been introduced to give the country a strong and reliable Parliament without a resort to violence to debase Parliament and then enable the winners to take control the country. (And there have already been murders in the political sphere, these should not be overlooked, as preliminary skirmishes.)
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_election#United_Kingdom
PS joe90 – I wonder how the photographers got a shot of Boorish in front of a poster about Sepsis and Infection? Or is this an example of photo-shopping – part of the playing around with images, leading to serious falsifying that the simple minds of we ordinary people have to examine carefully to form an opinion. No longer ‘seeing is believing’.
It's a scam. Someone pulls a empty cheque out writes brexit on it, then says sign here. Nobody is signing that without details put in. Blank cheque politics goes against every grain. Parliament is never going to ratify the deal, it would put their name on it, and for whatever reason… …Tory voters who want to stay in, or Labour voters who want to end austerity, or Libs who have said no. The only way to move on is to put the deal to the electorate in a referendum. Boris is an unelected leader of a minority party that demands the scam be accepted. Put up or shut up, put the deal to the people in a referendum, let them sign the cheque. Oh, and that means expat too.
Parliament has ratified the deal. They did so last week ,as per the procedure with the agreement to be tabled so that it becomes a public document
. It well known that the deal in this context is the full agreement between UK and EU negotiators.
Additional legislation and regulations follow too cover the fine details of the law over various aspects of Brexit : Agriculture , Fisheries, Financial Services, Immigration and so on.
PM Johnson is desperate for another general election (after 2 years and 4 months), but reluctant to rerun the Brexit referendum (after 3 years and 4 months.)
Why not rerun both at the same time, if only to clarify the 'mood' of a better-informed U.K. electorate? I see one parallel in the NZ National-led government claiming that their election win was a mandate for the massive transfer of public assets/wealth into private ownership, despite opinion polls at the time showing a clear majority of those polled were opposed.
Brexit will consolidate the already vast power and influence of U.K./multinational wealth. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Dont think any party in UK wants that.
I think you are confused about what Brexit will do . Its the EU that was consolidating power , especailly with the Euro ( which Britain almost by accident was able to avoid)
Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity.
The people of Greece even voted by a large majority against the EUs austerity deal, but as is Normal with the EU bureaucrats and financial mandarins they forced the Greek government to take even harsher medicine.
Like I said you seem to have 'forgotten' how much the EU is despised for its economic policies , not only in Britain.
Duke, I though it was more about bananas than mandarins – don't have a dog in this contest of ideas, but none of my 'elitist' academic colleagues are particularly thrilled about the possible net effect of Brexit on UK university research and teaching programmes.
Your suggestion to "Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity" is a good one – asking electorates about where they stand on important issues, by way of (binding) referenda, is a great idea IMHO.
In the UK, national referenda are not constitutionally binding, and since the UK has held only three national referenda [in 1975 (UK remaining in the EEC [Labour]), 2011 (voting system [Tory]), and 2016 (Brexit [Tory])], I can understand the reluctance for a fourth, particularly given the unsettling mess that the third delivered.
However, since there appears to be some uncertainty as to whether a simple majority of UK voters currently support Brexit (3 years and four months on), I just wondered if another general election (2 years and 4 months on) might be the perfect opportunity to test the current mood of the electorate on Brexit. After all, it’s an issue which some at least consider to have quite far-reaching consequences, more so even than cannabis which the NZ electorate will be voting on next year.
I watched an interesting presentation by Tom Scott at the Royal Society called there is no Algorithm for Truth. He starts off with a challenge, what if a supposed algorithm for internet truth decides (correctly) that a no deal brexit is the best for the UK. The question being (to the audience) do you therefore accept this, or respond by trying to amplify your position? I think you should conduct the same thought experiment based on the fact that at least 40 something percent of the UK disagree with your position.
I didn't realise that 40% of UK were watching me for a lead. That is a serious responsibility and i will bear it in mind Nic the NZer. Are you Nic the ex Pom?
No. Neither if us has a particular right to speak for the UK in general I would say.
There is an algorithm for Truth
Its called Theology. Thats why it the idea, if used in politics is totally unworkable.
Jezza puts the needle in.
https://twitter.com/Doozy_45/status/1188872295051345920?
Good on Corbyn for getting his lines in when they are on offer. I think its quite weak rhetoric though as parliament forced Boris to do it. Would they rather he refused to ask for an extension over parliaments will here?
It is a fluid matter of possibilities and probabilities and who will vote for who in the UK. Knowing what the situation is in detail, would help to understand why certain things are/not being done.
This is an interesting piece on Johnson from aljazeera.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/boris-johnson-britain-prime-minister-190722183952925.html?utm_source=website&utm_medium=article_page&utm_campaign=read_more_links
The letter was unsigned and was the exact text in the Benn Act about asking for an extension.
Cover letters made it clear Johnson wasnt 'asking for it' at all. Parliament made him do it.
When you've previously agreed to do a favour for your boss and work the occasional cash in hand extra, at their suggestion, only to be told a couple of days after doing the last one it's now on the books.
Wont be doing that again.
Good on you mate.But you and your boss were equally responsible for tax evasion.Your not alone unfortunately.Ripping off genuine taxpayers seems to be a national sport.
It was only a few hours work, so not really about the money, more the being lied to.
And while I get the point about tax evasion, and certainly not mitigating it after the fact, unemployed people can earn up to $90pw without affecting entitlements, and with my hourly rate, it wasn't even near that much.
unemployed people can earn up to $90pw without affecting entitlements,
What that fuck has that got to do with it? They are supposed to pay tax too.
ISTR back in the day that there was some threshold ($200?) of undeclared income that IRD didn't give a damn about.
A few hours work isn't the problem. "Family trusts" and corporate tax sandwiches are the problem.
You could well be right that IRD don’t “give a damn”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116799972/revenue-minister-stuart-nash-queries-ird-over-staff-engagement-rate-of-29
Well it doesn't matter now as I've paid the tax on the $60 I earned, including extra towards my student loan payment. It's okay, the country can afford light rail in Auckland after all.
No telling what we can achieve as soon as we stop off the books cash payments to babysitters.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/100078541/cash-payments-will-always-leave-a-trail-inland-revenue-says
“A cash job is any payment on which tax is not paid. That might be the $40 you leave out for your house cleaner, $50 for a babysitter or $1000 for a plumber fixing your shower.”
As long as they don’t tax paper boys 😉
paper boys have gone extinct I think
Right, and the good old posties are next. No wonder they want to do away with paper voting. Mailboxes are only good for junkmail nowadays.
If I leave $40 for a cleaner or gardener, I don't care if they do their paperwork properly.
When the multinational sharks start paying tax on their hundreds of millions of income before expenditure, then we can sweep up a few minnows who failed to declare a little bit of income here and there.
IRD will go after non-monetary earnings too. If you trade hours of your normal paid work for someone else's hours (or some veggies), your hours are taxable.
TA is talking about working for not much money, to put in other words he sounds poor, and that's what the fuck he is concerned about, and to improve that situation even slightly.
Still has absolutely nothing to do with benefit abatement rates.
exactly – an unrelated issue not connected other than the unemployed often get dragged into non-related points.
Not quite true, as some households on benefits bring in more than mine, yet they're still permitted to earn $90 pw on top, a third more than I was in line for, but as I implied, it's not a contest, and I certainly don't begrudge them that extra.
yet they're still permitted to earn $90 pw on top
They still pay tax on it. I don't see the point you are trying to make. It seems as marty says, that the unemployed often get dragged into non-related points. That it is somehow ok for you to cheat on tax because unemployed people.
Okay, I was under the impression that someone not working and then earning such a small amount wouldn't pay any tax, but I checked it out and found I was wrong.
I am poor, but relatively speaking, I'm not really.
'Why not rerun both at the same time,'…splendid suggestion =the 'best out of 3' ..option!
'Fun' result would be the election of a Boris "Let's get Brexit done" Johnson-led Tory govt combined with a narrow majority for ‘remain’ in a Brexit referendum rerun.
Rise of the right connected directly to 2008 financial collapse, when the wealthiest aren't jailed for their crimes, they will play. Brexit, Trump, used to be you can't take the money with you when you die, now it's what can you destroy with your money before you die. The planet, markets, economies, democracy, its a fire sale.
How Facebook coddles and promotes RWNJ's and their freeze peach above all others.
https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1188797290527498240
2 A investigation found a clandestine network of 14 large Facebook pages that exclusively promote content from The Daily Wire
They promote same content, at the same time, w/the same text
Collectively they have 8 million+ fans
3. Facebook's rules explicitly prohibit "coordinated inauthentic behavior" which it defines as "groups of accounts and Pages working together to mislead people about who they are and what they’re doing."
That's exactly what's happening here
4. Facebook says when it finds "coordinated inauthentic behavior" it will "remove all inauthentic and authentic accounts, Pages and groups directly involved"
Facebook admitted that these pages are acting deceptively, but it will not take them down
[…]
8. It's hard to overstate how good The Daily Wire is at gaming Facebook. While a average NYT article received 1871 engagements in September, the average The Daily Wire article received 15283 engagements
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1188797290527498240.html
https://popular.info/p/facebook-allows-prominent-right-wing
Argentinian buoyed by the election of a centre-left candidate.
At any rate, I “lived” the 2015 election with my heart in my throat, particularly after Mauricio Macri was elected over the Peronist formula, effectively putting an end to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and all the good things she’d been doing (and some of the bad because, let’s be honest, there’s always going to be something bad/questionable).
[…]
Today I woke up to find out that not only did Argentina kicked Macri out unceremoniously, but former president CFK is now Vice President to Alberto Fernández
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/28/1895561/-My-hopes-shot-up-this-morning
The cynic in me says the Agriculture lobby expects to hang on for just 2-3 years so that when National gets in they will drop the Plan.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1910/S00190/world-first-plan-for-farmers-to-reduce-emissions.htm
World first – I hate that term now. We were the world's first to drop our drawers and go freest market. Prostitutes are more practical.
I think we are being overwhelmed by freedom campers and should put limits on visitors – some places insist on sighting return tickets with dates that comply with visas, permits. Then visitors need to show they have enough money to sustain themselves for their holiday so they don't go round stealing, bludging and ripping the country off. We have NZ men who are enough trouble without adding more.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/402025/arrogant-and-disrespectful-freedom-campers-sadden-ngai-tuhoe
New Zealand Te Ao Māori
'Arrogant and disrespectful' freedom campers sadden Ngāi Tūhoe 3:19 pm today
Rubbish-strewn campsites, home-made toilets and illegal felling of native trees by "arrogant and disrespectful" freedom campers at Lake Waikaremoana have shocked and saddened Ngāi Tūhoe.
Crikey! WTF with cutting down trees, that should never ever happen, what pricks for doing so.
Imagine a dedicated freedom camping task force in every region. They could police the freedom campers and share stories about their local area. If people felt a sense of importance about the land they are occupying maybe they would be better behaved.
Would also like to see recycling and rubbish facilities at designated spots as well as toilets. The way I see it, freedom camping isn't going away any time soon, so we may as well mange it instead.
Agree – manage it on location and limit it at the borders. It is not a big income earner, and we can do without these wandering would-be wilderness pretenders. Run the system of woofers as the main intake of long-term visitors, they would have jobs to go to with members who are registered. Lovely people, and a terrific asset to the country, forming friendships and helping out in a valuable way. They would have to be looked after to make sure that local ab-users of the system didn't take advantage, and vice versa.
I would not be surprised if the 'campers' are munters from NZ rather than further afield. The hunters mentioned in the story certainly are. Who brings their own toilet seat with them on holiday?
bottle wall, sounds like Kiwis to me.
Too many tourist freedom campers as well, and councils restricting where Kiwis can camp because of that is fucked up.
I wondered why the White Helmets didn't show up to help the Kurds
Not just about fighting fires either
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/15b19407-31f2-4709-ab99-580b6a66dc72
Speaking of the Kurds you may find this interesting (if you haven't already read it) https://www.voltairenet.org/article207992.html
I wonder what the white helmets will do with the latest handout from Thrump.
They could donate it to the OPCW of course
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/opcw-losing-credibility-as-even-more-revelations-surface-on-douma-755a0621710b
Hey thanks Brigid
Hadn't come across those links
Jonathan Steele is a brave man!He was one of the few decent journalists at the Guardian, but now mostly writes for Middle East Eye
Good work citizens
Surely cost would be one of the main reasons?
Yeah I would have thought so too
Vege sausages are $9 for 6 of them. I tried some vegan cheese the other day – man it was not good sadly.
That's the way we need to plant billions of trees to slow Global warming and Sea level rising.
The more people that understand global warming the sooner we will ramp up the changes needed to minimise it.
YouTube
YouTube stars raise over $6m to plant trees around the world
More than 600 creators and social media influencers join campaign to plant 20m trees
A group of YouTube stars have raised more than $6m (£4.7m) to plant trees around the world by rallying their huge numbers of subscribers.
The American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, was challenged on Reddit in May to plant 20m trees to celebrate reaching 20 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he posts videos of extravagant stunts.
He then teamed up with other YouTubers to create the #TeamTrees project with a target of $20m – each $1 donation will plant one tree. Launched on 25 October, the crowdfunder raised $5m in just 48 hours, with $1.75m coming from YouTube alone, which the team claims is a new fundraising record for the site.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/29/youtube-stars-fundraise-plant-trees-around-the-world
Kia Ora 1 News.
A election in Britain this year.
The Grenfield fire was shocking heap of people lives lost.
I can remember watching Greece it was the a movie that shaped cultures.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I think that protecting our futures environment is important.
Suicide is a waste of people lives and very sad.
I agree with Moana Jackson.
That's awesome Pharmacist being given a clearance to administer measles vaxcernations.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Breakfast.
How times have changed I can remember when a prominent Maori was grilled live about the same problems being talked about this morning.
Awsome mahi Mike Te gumboot fund for people with vulnerable emotions.
Totally agree with that statement Mike.
Congratulations to Te Netball Wahine.
I would love to go out and back up what I say and join the peaceful protest to protect our futures environment but that move would be putting myself in Check.
Ka kite Ano.
What I like about this research is that a few minor changes and our farmers will be mitigateing their carbon footprint. Another great point is the idea works with Papatuanuku and not trying to reinvent her or against her. Ka pai.
Researchers dig deeper in fight against climate change
Researchers have found deep soil holds potential to off-set greenhouse gas emissions and improve production for farmers.
Dr Mike Beare and his colleagues at Plant and Food Research have been studying how soils differ in their potential to store carbon, and the risk for carbon loss.
Many continuous pasture soils in New Zealand are stratified, with carbon levels declining rapidly with depth. "Where there is much greater potential to store additional carbon is below the surface soil," Beare said.
The potential lies beneath the top 15 centimetres.
Plant roots are an important source of the carbon that is constantly being fed into soils and help form the organic matter that improves soil health.
The problem is that even with plants that do send roots below that depth, most of the roots still tend to be concentrated near the surface.
"The challenge is to find productive and profitable plants that produce enough roots below ground," Beare says.
Farmers re-seed pastures every 10-to-15 years, to improve the pastures' production. During this pasture renewal, Beare said farmers could create a deeper topsoil.
Full-inversion tillage buries the carbon-rich top soil below 15cm and brings up the sub-soil material that is under-saturated in carbon
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/116646839/researchers-dig-deeper-in-fight-against-climate-change
I agree every one is going to lose if we do not change the way we live to minimise our carbon footprint and become a carbon neutral society. We need to stop buying stuff and next minute literally they end up it Te Tangaroa or the dump. Some people are spouting doom and gloom because we have to become minimalist in every Facit of our lives. Reality is they don't want to change. If they don't get on the WAKA to becoming minimalist then I say they will lose.
Some days, I am filled with dread. Some nights, I have trouble sleeping. But I would not swap my job for any other.
As global environment editor for the Guardian, I report from the Amazon to the Arctic on the disappearing wonders of a rapidly deteriorating world. Along with a growing number of colleagues, I investigate who is affected, who is to blame and who is fighting back.
This is both depressing and exciting. The trends for the climate, the oceans, the forests and the soil are unrelentingly frightening. Humanity has never faced a more wicked problem than the collapse of these natural life support systems. Nobody is free of responsibility. Everybody has something to lose, especially those with the most power. The challenge is huge, urgent and beset with opponents. But change is happening nonetheless.
The primary challenge for a journalist is to make it feel personal. Without that, the science becomes abstract, global issues seem too huge to grasp, and it becomes difficult to relate to far off places and other species. Without that, the “environment” slips too easily into an elite pigeonhole for academics, policymakers and middle-class white people, when it should be recognised as the main driver of inequality, conflict and injustice. This is not just another subject; it is a prism through which to see the world.
I came to this view reluctantly. Starting as a cub reporter in Asia in the 1990s, I initially wrote about politics, finance and sport – issues that are traditionally considered newsworthy because they are fast moving, human-focussed and marketable. But the more I travelled as a foreign correspondent, the harder it became to ignore how the degradation of the air, water, soil and climate was threatening people, other species and future generations. These themes rarely made front-page news, but they were often the underlying cause of political tension, economic instability and psychological unease.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/28/everybody-has-something-to-lose-the-exciting-depressing-life-of-a-climate-writer
That's the way if you have the means Sue the people who are still wrecking our climate with pollution carbon emissions the oil producers.
Iwi leader Mike Smith takes OMV oil boss to International Criminal Court
Māori leader Mike Smith has shot the first arrow in a global war between indigenous communities and oil companies.
Smith has started legal proceedings in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV.
He said oil company executives deserved to stand trial for genocide and other climate crimes impacting on indigenous communities now and in the future
"They choose to put profit ahead of millions of people all over the world who will suffer the effects of climate change. It's a crime of global proportions. I know it sounds dramatic but that's because it is. We need to hold these people to account."
Smith is currently in Vienna, Austria where the OMV headquarters is based. He held a media conference outside their offices to announce the legal challenge.
"We managed to chase out all the rest of them and turn the government around so we're not taking anymore permits," Smith said.
Once we get rid of this lot then we become an exemplar to the rest of the world."
In July, Smith filed proceedings in the High Court against the Government for failing to protect Māori from climate change
Smith recently travelled to Mexico where he met with indigenous leaders from central and southern American tribes and First Nations people in Canada. He also attended the United Nations Indigenous Caucus earlier this year.
The indigenous groups would join Smith in starting legal proceedings against a number of oil bosses in the ICC based in The Hague, Netherlands.
We're expecting these companies to play dirty," Smith said.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/116938671/iwi-leader-mike-smith-takes-omv-oil-boss-to-international-criminal-court
Here we go people not respecting the beautiful creatures in our Wai Tuna being killed because they don't give a stuff. What a waste of a taonga and a precious resource.
No-one will be prosecuted over the death of potentially hundreds of long-finned eels dug up and dumped by Hawke's Bay Regional Council workers clearing a drain, the Ministry for Primary Industries says.
The dead and dying eels were discovered by Napier resident Matiu Heremia encased in tonnes of mud that had been dumped on the banks of the Moteo River in February.
His video of the dead eels went viral on Facebook prompting MPI to investigate the council's practice and the council itself to halt all drain works while it undertook its own review.
Eight months later MPI said it had "insufficient evidence" to lay any charges
Matiu Heremia, who alongside family members, worked for hours to rescue eels that were still alive and return them to the river, said MPI's decision was "appalling."
"It's absolute bollocks. In that video [there were] tonnes and tonnes of eel in that mud. There's enough evidence there to prosecute as far as I'm concerned."
If that was me that hauled all those eels out of a drain I'd be in trouble … they'd come down on me like a tonne of bricks."
Many Māori caught illegally fishing were not treated with such leniency, he said.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/402185/no-prosecutions-over-eel-deaths-that-followed-work-by-hawke-s-bay-regional-council
Kia Ora 1 News
The misleading information unit is needed in this day and age.
Katie the business close to the Tamarik Makaru city rail link will be happy that the government and council are putting a fund together to help for their loss of customers and profits.
The wild life of Australia are suffering from the huge bushfire what a shame.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Never mind Hine 4 years is not long then you can get a 100 vote majority kia kaha.
Ka pai to Te puea marae for looking after the homeless tangata and Wahine and who have bullying Tane. I say all Iwi should invest in Whare for Te tangata you know that old saying As Safe As Whare.
They don't even want to share one seat.
Ka kite Ano
Kia ora they blocked my phone.
https://youtu.be/LHCob76kigA
It looks like the new Crown unit to stop social media fake news is being used against me the sole purpose for the old white men who have the power who have been shaping our society since Rob Muldoon. It's time to kick these old farts out of power.
IE they blocked my devices this morning.
Ka kite Ano
I tried to stay out of the forestry debacle. But one does not sell Te Whenua to anyone it is a finite resource that needs to be kept in Kiwis hands or we will all become tenants in our own Aotearoa.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/402225/forestry-conversions-rules-totally-out-of-control