it is a wee bit confusing in the job market, – from a job vacancy ad on trademe jobs:
“We do not accept online applications if you wish to apply please email mxxxxxxd @ xxxx.net.nz.” (address edited for anonymity)
The breakdown by party support is interesting/amusing, with National Party supporters being the most “trusting” – or stupid, immoral, cognitively dissonant or whatever.
from Sunday on cycling;
two reporters left Te Atatu for TVNZ in the city, 13kms distance. With the motorist having to wait at the on-ramp for 20minutes and travel at approx 40km/h in traffic, find a park and walk the remainder, the cyclist arrived first travelling by cycle-way.
Aucklands transport problems according to Len Brown on Firstline require 60B investment, (under-investment for decades), with a 12B shortfall to be met by tolls, fuel tax proposals etc.
Although 600M could be invested in cycle-ways for Auckland, there would be a 20-1 long-term cost benefit according to cycle-safety specialist Glen Koorey.
from a cyclist-accident victim on the same article; “We have become such a mean-spirited nation…people used to say about Kiwis…” (encouraging things I imagine).
ahhh, missed it; what I haven’t missed are observations of the attitudes and emotions held by many motorists questioned by the media on their approach towards cyclists. freakin’ hicks.
The results of the Brain fade poll , reads as if the question asked was more like,
“Do you think John Key is a liar?”
That would explain the party split , nicely.
I recall somebody here , in the last week or so , saying their partner had been polled by Reids,
and one the questions was pretty much “do you think Key is a liar”
Reids wouldn’t change the question , after the poll result, would they? Na
Wouldn’t it be great if when publishing/referencing a poll the media had to supply the actual poll data, including the questions. Even better than that would be a declaration of whomever had commissioned the poll in the first place.
yes lanthanide, i should have added that the noted article did include the reference to it being a TV3 poll but as a general rule we both know the identity of those commissioning polls is largely anonymous.
“I recall somebody here , in the last week or so , saying their partner had been polled by Reids,
and one the questions was pretty much “do you think Key is a liar””
That is what they said, but they came back and corrected that the question asked of their partner was the polling question we are shown.
The dishonest and irresponsible work of Andrew Wakefield has claimed a victim
Wales has had low Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR) vaccination rates for some time … since about 1998, in fact, when Andrew Wakefield published his bogus study in the Lancet falsely linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
So what are you going to say when it comes out that the chronically sick 25 year old in question had already been immunised against measles?
By the way, according to the schedule the dead man should have been vaccinated years before the Wakefield study came out, as an infant, so I think its more likely that he had been immunised. Yet was so sick.
The point of vaccination is not just to protect yourself, but also to protect others.
How he contracted it in the first place is the real issue, not whether his particular jab didn’t work, or whether due to allergies he couldn’t get vaccinated, or whether his parents were nutty even before Wakefield’s fraud.
Bit of a climb down though innit joe, from has, to may! You get some credit, for the climb down, but its been sloppy from you lately, aer you ok?
No matter how hard McFlock tries to spin it, then pulls out the , * you should be guilty*, for not protecting others, what a legend you are McFlock /sarc!
What other illness did this unfortunate individual suffer from?
Article title:Measles Epidemic in Wales Has Roots in Antivax Movement.
Opening line of article: The measles outbreak in Wales may have claimed its first victim..
I never said “you should be guilty”.
I just think that people who refuse to vaccinate for no clear medical reason (e.g. egg allergy) are selfish idiots.
Population perspective: clear link.
Individual case perspective: who knows? There’s always the slim possibility he had some measles-like condition.
When attributing primary cause of mortality in individual cases there’s always oodles of theoretical wriggle room (from poor nutrition to undiagnosed heart problems), and you look set to use every inch of it. A bit like 50 years of tobacco industry wriggling – but then they were intentionally duplicitous, rather than wildly delusional, so I guess you’re not quite in their league.
Each year around Anzac Day, my electorate hosts a social event, the highlight of which is a lecture in memory of a popular former Labour MP who was killed in Crete in 1942. This year’s lecture was given by Nicky Hagar. The basis of the lecture was his latest book “Other People’s Wars”. It was gob-smacking stuff!
There were a number of former and even current senior military personnel – plus senior public servants – who were apparently only too willing to apprise Nicky of the behind the scenes activity particularly in relation to the war in Afghanistan. This was a measure of their profound concern for what they saw… and the blatant lies that we in New Zealand have been told about our involvement in that war. Politicians – on both sides of the fence and including Helen Clark – were tricked into believing we were there as peace keepers. The peace keeping played a role, but from all accounts it turned out not to be their primary function.
Add to that an over-all appraisal by Nicky about what he perceives is happening behind the political front, and I think there would be many here interested in what he had to say.
I know the lecture was recorded (sound-wise at least) and I think it might be possible for the Standard to seek to post that recording here. Labour MP, Phil Twyford would be the person to approach in the first instance, because he initiated the annual lectures and is still heavily involved.
Further to the above are two quotes from the book:
It would be nice for someone to pause and say, “Hell, we’re coming up to the 10th anniversary [Sept.11 attacks], are we better or are we worse?. I think the answer is we’re worse. How stupid are we to have allowed a reaction led by the United States that has actually made it worse for the world? – senior defence official.
People assume that politicians make decisions, but often they are busy, ill informed or actively excluded… The worst decisions were made by senior officials and military officers, often without [the ministers’] knowledge. – senior NZ government official.
People assume that politicians make decisions, but often they are busy, ill informed or
excluded… The worst decisions were made by senior officials and military officers, often without [the ministers’] knowledge. – senior NZ government official.
I think that is a salient point Anne and I’ve repeated it for me and any others who have had naive ideas about politicians and what they are doing with their time and influence while in the House and having some power.
In the USA it may be that the control of the country has largely passed out of the hands of those elected representatives who take their role for the people seriously. Where there is money there is power, which does seem to be a correct saying, and the budget of the Defence there is astro-astronomical. Scary stuff for sincere democracy believers.
I’d recommend anyone (everyone) read the book even though it is a big read.
It makes it pretty clear that senior defence people were determined to go against explicit government foreign policy (and directives) in order to preserve – or resurrect – their contact and ‘relationships’ with the US, UK and Australia. Ever since the nuclear ship ban and the suspension of ANZUS, parts of the defence leadership ran a de facto military foreign policy at odds with government policy, especially in the 2000s.
There’s a word for that, and when you need to apply it to the defence forces it is particularly concerning.
I am shocked that Hager’s book has received so little journalistic follow-through. There are stories in there that I would have thought any journalist worth their salt would have given an arm and a leg to have the opportunity to run with (if that isn’t mixing too many metaphors).
I am shocked that Hager’s book has received so little journalistic follow-through.
A bit of jealousy mixed with narrow, establishment thinking and a naive desire to be part of the American military scenario? Most of the MSM seem happy to go along with the authoritarian and anti-democratic flow if they think that is where their best interests may lie…
But it is heartening to know there were military and public service personnel who were willing to spill the beans in the interest of integrity and transparency.
“But it is heartening to know there were military and public service personnel who were willing to spill the beans in the interest of integrity and transparency.”
It certainly is – but no matter how heartening, I don’t think that’s the point. After all, the military went its own way despite the integrity of these people and their desire for transparency. The lack of ‘follow through’ reinforces that fact.
As with so many issues, the point is not about individuals and their motives (for good or ill). It’s about structures and institutional processes that bias against (or for) certain kinds of behaviours and, therefore, in favour of certain kinds of people with certain kinds of views.
The historical interweaving of the NZ military with the UK and then US military (training, experience under command, etc.) I imagine meant (and still means) that those with pro-UK/US leanings will have formed the useful overseas connections and ‘upward’ connections within the already established hierarchy that ensure they rise through the ranks and assume positions of power.
That process is common to all institutions – those who align themselves with powerful interests within and around the ‘system’ do better in the ‘system’. It’s Chomsky and Hermann’s point about the media and who ends up being an editor – the very people who agree with the direction.
The older I get the more I think that the interesting questions are hardly ever about motives, character, personal integrity, etc.. They are about the uses that structures make of people.
I’d love to hear the speech on audio or video.
Tried to go to the speech but it was sold out days early. I think you’ll find there is a keen interest for independent voices like Nicky Hager and, if it’s possible, maybe book a larger venue next time.
Thank for your efforts Anne in getting people like Nicky H to speak.
Thanks Paul. The effort was really put in by others including Phil Twyford. Yes, we are going to have to find a bigger venue. We have been fortunate thus far in attracting excellent speakers and the word has got around. So much so, people who are not associated with the Labour Party also want to attend. I think the recording was audio only but still well worth listening to. I will try and contact Phil Twyford and see if it’s possible to have it posted here.
Also from he Sunday Star Times http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8605428/Talking-about-a-New-Zealand-constitution
You should have a look at their poll and see what you think about it. It seems to be quite balanced and requires a bit of thought. They have a space for 130 words about your ideas for NZ which they may tweet.
I went to a meeting in the weekend hosted by a Nelson group. My feelings are that the appointed commissioners seem to be standing aside and leaving the bringing information and discussion to each region which has to find people with something to say and who can project their ideas. The visiting commissioners seem more like window dressing, and there does not seem to be a plan for a tour of the country by informative speakers, the appointees just attend the arranged meeting and give a quick run down of their instructions. Then at our meeting the speakers were invited to make their individual points.
There was a speaker from the country’s numerous old, white anti-Maori bigots, who also were a vocal group in the audience. Overturning agreements already reached, limiting the Treaty to a historical document with narrow meanings, and overturning decisions made already by eminent people in favour of Maori seemed to be their unswerving and bigoted goal. There was the usual white patronising and demeaning attitude to Maori heard from such people, mainly white-haired and probably old age beneficiaries, and I am one of this age so I can be reasonably objective. (Their thinking at base being – Maori are undeserving, they haven’t a case for consideration of their rights and wrongs, and that the decisions made by eminent people in favour of Maori stand for nothing)
Unfortunately for me, the bigot was the second speaker not the last. The first was a criminal lawyer who does good work and is aware of the need of the law to serve the citizens, poor and rich, and I am asking for the right to be able to access his submission paper for The Standard readers. (I now have that okay but have to speak to my advisor on how to go about putting it up tonight.)
But when the second speaker began and started with what to me is poisonous, backward diatribe that would have an acidic effect on good relations between Maori and pakeha and our moves forward to a better future, I had to leave. This man Bruce Moon was a co-author with John Robinson, David Round, Mike Butler, Hugh Barr, Peter Cresswell of a book called Twisting the Treaty – A Tribal Grap for Wealth and Power with a related web page headed Treatygate – The Conning of a Country which pitches it against one called Healing our History by Robert and Joanna Consedine. The large number of biased authors writing for the Twisting book make for a whiteout on the subject, one whole page of google is taken up with headings from their individual comments and initiatives.
Some people who are focussed on one approach with a tunnel vision that pours all their energy on their chosen mission, are a horrible obstacle to gathering wide information and take up the precious time set aside for that purpose. I had better things to do. But I want to see healthy discussion on a good constitution. I don’t trust National to do anything good, they are increasingly adopting fascist, and anti-democratic policies.
My point that NZ government doesn’t care about families much and won’t support them is backed up by the Super Grans business. These people in power are self absorbed social climbers and wealthy isolated types. They could care about a fine racehorse with good breeding but ordinary people – no.
And budget advisory, that would admit there is a necessity, a demand for this, and in a climate where people have to apply for five jobs a day in a recession well there is a certain coherence if they just keep on denying reality.
Following on from some comments concerning the state of private aged care in NZ the other day, this article from ‘The Independent’ on the unfolding crisis in England, Wales and Northern Ireland might be of interest to some – particularly if there are jots to be joined or comparisons made with any debt burden among NZ’s private providers.
“part of a wider collapse in social care driven by spending cuts”. (sound familiar)
“solving the inevitably rocketing (fixed) costs of social care for the elderly and disabled is an issue expected to dog governments for decades to come”. (energy, food, wages, oh wait Ryman et al; will be able to pay lower wages).
Well, NZ Government is already working on the Euthanasia bill…… it will be introduced under the umbrella that there is too much suffering. Watch this space.
Canadian foreign minister John Baird is now a human rights champion!
April 29, 2013
Liberals and human rights activists will welcome the news that the formerly hard right Canadian foreign minister John Baird has made a spectacular and sudden conversion to being a champion of human rights.
After a Canadian friend of mine yesterday damned Mr Baird as “a disgusting piece of sh!t”, and urged me to “Google the useless f+ck” I decided to follow his advice and do a little bit of research on him. What I have found tends to reinforce my friend’s observation.
John Baird has developed a reputation as an hysterical opponent of the Kyoto Protocols, and he has been roundly denounced by virtually everybody who has come into contact with him. After observing Baird’s irresponsible conservation policies, Al Gore called them “a complete and total fraud” and accused him of trying to “mislead the Canadian people”. Baird’s conservation policies have been damned by David Suzuki as a “sham”. Activists at the Cancun climate conference in 2010 were scathing of his environmental policies and awarded Canada three “Fossil” awards for disrupting and undermining U.N. climate talks.
When he is not trashing the environment, John Baird likes to hang out with soldiers. He spent Christmas 2006 in Afghanistan with Canadian occupation troops.
Baird is an aggressive and shameless supporter of the Likud party in Israel, and last year he made a widely condemned statement that Iran was “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.”
Wow. He was a really cool guy. The nats gave him a hard time because he did not accord to their concepts of a parliamentarian but he was a very gracious person. On a marae he could not be matched and when talking to kiwis his ability to relate to them was phenomenal.
I had the pleasure of being at the Avondale Markets with him campaigning and I can honestly say that he was without his peers. Even though he was 400 kilometers from home it seemed he knew half the people. I was really, really impressed with his ability to relate to ordinary kiwis.
Labour MP and former Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia has died from health complications at his home in Tolaga Bay.
The 62-year-old, who is survived by three sons and one grandchild, was surrounded by family, friends and Parliamentary colleagues when he passed away a short time ago.
His condition deteriorated rapidly since his health problems were made public this morning.
The cause of his death has not been confirmed and his family has requested privacy.
RIP Parekura. Few would have a bad word to say about him. Shocking news.
Meanwhile, this piece of sh*t works for Auckland radio stations. I’ll be writing to them telling them what I think, and why I’ll be boycotting them and their ads – you may want to as well …
So Labour MP Parekura Horomia has passed away aged 62.
In unrelated news KFC's share price has dropped 20 points #toosoon
Jim Mora poses the Ironic Question of the Month
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Monday 29 April 2013
Jim Mora, Jonathan Krebs, Tim Watkin
Today, due to unforeseen circumstances, host Jim Mora found himself in the position of having ten minutes at the end of the program to fill up somehow. Being an experienced and competent operator, this was no problem for him. “We have a spare ten minutes,” he told his two guests, “so we’ll just have a chat about various issues that have come up lately.”
First up, he read out an exceptionally foolish statement by an English chemical analysis, who after she had debunked the false claims that Syria has used chemical weapons, had gone on to claim that even if the “evidence” was entirely false, the “rebels” had done it because they were “desperate”.
The Panelists, including Mora, actually did a good job here, discussing the Syrian question with intelligence and a degree of responsibility—thank God that Panel regulars Dr Michael Bassett or Barry Corbett or Garth “Gaga” George were not on today—and mentioned that the “rebels” were largely Al Qaeda terrorists.
Then, in a deadly serious tone, Jim Mora asked the following question: “Is there a tendency in our society for people to voice their opinion on subjects that they know nothing about?”
To their credit, both Jonathan Krebs and Tim Watkin stifled the guffaws and pretended to ignore the screaming irony of that screamingly funny question.
DISCUSS:
Is Jim Mora the world’s most brilliant deadpan comic? Or did he simply forget, for a brief time this afternoon, that the guest Panelists on his show have included such Ignorami for the Ages as John Barnett, Graham Bell, Barry Corbett, Garth “Gaga” George, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Nevil “Breivik” Gibson, Claudette Hauiti, and Jordan Williams?
Here it is, one more time. Enjoy…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * “Is there a tendency in our society for people to voice their opinion on subjects that they know nothing about?”
Hah1. The ‘voice of the people’, the everyman’s best, bester, bestest EVER friend Jum’, the wordsmuth, the intellect…… it’s just so overwhelming.
Save yourself the stress Morissey. Best policy is to just ignore the gittus.
I had some conversation with the guy a few years ago. Back then he promised how he was going to rejuvinate things.
Instead ….. same old shit, same old hacks, same old yearning to be liked, same old kaka to be perceived as the voice of reason…..
(Same shit – different stink).
Not sure why the Slacks et al bother these days – perhaps they just like the same brand of CHardonnay.
IF RNZ ever consider its time for a shapkeup – it’s be Mora in the afternoon, closely followed by Kethluk Guuuuurl in the mourn
Yes Tim I agree. The Mora Borer Show has become almost unlistenable. Coast, Breeze, whatever, at least they deliver what they promise. Often in my car 4-5 pm weekdays. As a consciously careful and attentive driver over the 33 km to home Radio Live and other talkback is just too dangerous. Mora seemed the safe bet.
Unfortunately it’s now just Aunty Affable and his unconscionable gushing over a series of wankers (in the main) who fancy themselves “celebs”. Thus emboldening them in the ignorant mouthing off of which Morrissey complains. I think the name’s Chris Wikaira, an aggressive wahanui on everything who brews yuppie fucking beer for God’s Sake. He’s one of the worst. If that’s not him I apologise to the less offensive Chris Wikaira. Not to overlook Mrs Brassy Voyeur Private Investigator………forget her name, Julia double barrelled something. David Slack is one of the few exceptions. He’s genuinely wry as well.
I think the obnoxious brewer you are thinking of is actually Neil Miller. Your concerns about him are entirely justified.
Chris Wikaira is a National Party-sympathizing dope that manages to say nothing serious or interesting whenever he is on the programme. Last time he was on, his Soapbox contribution consisted of a rant about what he reckons is the poor quality of contributions to the Minecraft discussion boards.
Publicly funded radio fulfills a very important role in our society, but “Afternoons with Jim Mora” always leaves me wondering why we’re publicly funding what is essentially talkback radio.
The five year old whom the pakeha school bus passed on by. Surprisingly, never bitter. Lovely man living magnificent wairua.
In brief answer to Morrissey: yes, ugly mouthing is not merely a tendency, it is positively encouraged. It’s in the nature of an opiate for dullards, their spittle then harnessed by unscrupulous self-promoters and careerists.
man, this Auckland Transport problem is gonna cost; “a multi-billion dollar shortfall”
-tolls
-fuel tax
-rates rises
-possible public transport tax
-congestion tax
(any 2 or more of the above)
“even this is not a silver bullet”- Simon Lambourne.
The Christchurch rebuild needs 17000 more workers before 18 months time passes.
Heard Joyce talking of the need for flexibility from “officials” and “immigration” in the same sentence.
more migrant workers will be required.
Apparently, there is no guarantee of the entire “private investment” counted on by the government for Christchurch.
Anyway – Those that may bother to get out of their little spaces, and away from blogs and PC or laptop screens:
01 May 2013:
Labour Action against the owners of Pak’n Save supermarket, at Royal Oak, Manukau Road, Auckland (just near the roundabout), due to decision by that employer to introduce and accept the new youth wage rate at about $ 11 per hour, below the minimum wage of $ 13 something, close to $ 14, as it applies to adults! Also are there other employment issues of staff employed there, First Union have more info. AAAP and others are preparing to take action and present a picket there.
As far as I know they used to have a collective agreement, but only on that site, and it appears to be under threat.
I encourage all in the area to join and support the workers at that supermarket, especially the youth ones, 16 to 19. They are in award negotiations and need all support. Also consider doing your shopping somewhere else, at least for a time, until they have come to the party to pay staff what they deserve.
The minimum wage, also there paid to largely migrant workers, is not sufficient to survive on, and it is an insult as it is. A living wage would be better, but we are fighting to simply even defend the minimum legal wage for those that will likely be short changed!
Also on 01 May 2013:
Joe Carolan communicated that due to a breakdown in negotiations with Mc Donald’s, there will be a 01 May picket outside McDonald’s in Queen Street at 03:30 pm on Mayday.
If any have questions about Mayday, perhaps do a search, look up Wikipedia or else, it has tradition with workers being shot and killed in Chicago some many years ago, for standing up for their worker’s rights, but Mayday is a celebrated Worker’s Day in many countries, in Europe, some countries in Asia, and for some here in Aotearoa NZ.
Labour Day is another affair, but some of us think that Mayday is the day to stand up, take a stand, join others and make a point. So a couple of pickets at mentioned venues will serve the purpose to a degree, and all are asked and invited to join!
The action at Pak’ Save Royal Oak, Auckland is planned for 08:30 am on Wednesday (“benefit day” for the unemployed), 01 May 2013 – MAYDAY!
Unemployed be mindful, a new, harsh, draconian regime for yours and other beneficiaries will start 15 July this year, due to law changes, so be prepared. Also sick and disabled, the onslaught and harassment will hit you and force you to look for work, so show solidarity thanks!
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There are only a few days left to make a submission on Statistics New Zealand's consultation on sex and gender identity statistical standards. This represents a really important step for recognising the very real diversity of gender, including people with no gender, and ensuring everyone has the option to see ...
Since finishing the Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book, I’ve frequently dipped into that 176-page clip-art library, reshaping the cartoons to fit the 1920 x 1080 pixel format for Powerpoint presentations. I’ve also adapted many of the cartoons for the Cranky Uncle video series. Over the last few weeks, a few people ...
NewsHub Nation has launched a new podcast, "Supplementary Question". Their inaugural episode is about the OIA, and asks "is our most important transparency law fit for purpose?" While they interviewed Justice Minister Andrew Little and Ombudsman Peter Boshier for this, there's not actually a lot of them in there, and ...
Remember the Ruataniwha dam? The Hawke's Bay Regional Council wasted $14 million trying to push this environmental disaster through before the Supreme Court ruled that the land swap it relied on with DoC was illegal. At the end of it, they wrote off the money and sold the existing consents ...
For years we've had a housing crisis in New Zealand, driven by immigration-driven population growth and the market refusing to build enough houses (and enough of the right sort of houses) to meet it. As a result, people can't get homes, while Boomer landlords leech away their income and parasitical ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Drawdown Review 2020: How To Address Global Warming In A Responsible Manner Source: Project Drawdown Project Drawdown is a non-profit organization that relies ...
Dr Tim Chambers, Prof Nick Wilson, Jayne Richards, A/Prof Simon Hales, Dr Mike Joy, Prof Michael Baker (author affiliations*)Increasing water-related health threats, notably the waterborne campylobacter outbreak in Havelock North, have highlighted failings in NZ’s regulatory system for drinking water. In this blog we consider how the new Water ...
Yes, an election is in the offing – and we all know that elections can be polarising, as parties of the left and right square off against each other. But we should not allow our party and political allegiances to obscure the fact that, in a properly functioning democracy like ...
Dr Sommer Kapitan, Auckland University of Technology, and Dr Patrick van Esch, Auckland University of TechnologyThe Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill will limit vape sales at dairies and service stations to only three flavours, and make vaping illegal in smokefree areas. Vaping laws will be more ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Aug 2, 2020 through Sat, Aug 8, 2020Editor's ChoiceFive Years After Speaking Out on Climate Change, Pope Francis Sounds an Urgent AlarmThe encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ motivated many people ...
From some quarters, incessant scaremongering. From others, it’s a full-on tilt into touching the alarmist buttons a little too readily (uncertain times make for very captive audiences with this angle of attack). The (so-called) Opposition (and merely regarding them as that seems to be a far looser term now ...
National Party leader - Judith CollinsElections often bring out the best and worst in politicians. Some rise to the occasion and provide us with a clear vision for the future. While others wallow in resentment and controversy, over-relying on attack politics to try to attain the interest of voters.That’s been ...
The attempts to sabotage Corbyn's leadership seems likely to do more damage than Corbyn supposedly ever could have done, even if all the stories about him were true:I was reluctant to say anything but this is too important, the full story needs to be told.Don’t let anyone ever tell ...
Good day to everyone. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come here and talk to you all about my concerns regarding the government response to Covid-19. We’ve been living through this pandemic for, what seems like, years. Years and years and years. Why else would the National Party have ...
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list. New Zealand does not have a Minister of Labour. It has Ministers of Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety but there is no minister with responsibility for the labour market. That responsibility was abolished in 2012 when ...
Back in the Kyoto era, the international climate change regime included a Clean Development Mechanism to fund emissions reduction projects in developing nations. Essentially someone would certify that a project - e.g. building a windfarm, or installing energy-efficient lightbulbs - would reduce emissions over and above "business-as-usual". The project would ...
Claire Breen, University of WaikatoWith COVID-19 vaccine developers reporting promising results, it is probable we will one day face a major public health question: can the government compel New Zealanders to be vaccinated? Just as inevitably, some people will refuse a vaccine. As we have seen overseas with debates ...
As the classic MMP cartoon goes, just look at who is against it. Yesterday, the Hamilton City Council voted to use STV for its next two local body elections. The move was initially opposed by deputy mayor Geoff Taylor. The reason? Because a voting system which provided accurate representation and ...
On Wednesday evening (which in Parliament’s weird world technically was still Tuesday because urgency had been taken and so time stood still), MPs united to remove a pretty terrible piece of law from our statute books. No real fanfare or fireworks accompanied this action. Indeed, I didn’t even know about it ...
By Geoffrey Miller Prominent refugee advocate Murdoch Stephens says he is disappointed by Judith Collins’ reaction to Immigration New Zealand’s decision to grant refugee status to Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani. Judith Collins told media last month that “there’s a lot of concern in New Zealand about what they see as ...
Hello all. Judith here to talk about how National are going to take the election in September. The National Party prides itself its unity and cohesion. We are working together to deliver for New Zealanders. First of all, ee are a strong team. We are a very strong team. Our ...
Parliament has just begun the adjournment debate, signalling the effective end of this Parliament. So it seems like an appropriate time to assess Labour's term in office. Unfortunately, its a pretty dismal assessment. Labour campaigned on one thing: change. Not just a change in who got the top jobs and ...
Our climate change policies are insufficient to achieve our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, according to independent assessor Climate Action Tracker: New Zealand won’t be carbon neutral by 2050 without much stronger policies, says an independent analysis by Climate Action Tracker. The non-profit highlighted a lack of active ...
That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...
Can we postpone this year’s election? Quite frankly, the political parties don’t seem ready for it, and aren’t about to offer voters the necessary policy choices for the unprecedented times we’re in. We’ve ended up with a campaign focused on scandal, personality and leadership, with a policy void that’s worse ...
It is the last sitting day of Parliament, and the last question time before the House is dissolved. So, are there any questions about the damning findings of the Hit and Run inquiry, and how the government plans to bring the military back under democratic control? Of course not. ...
Property speculator - John KeyThe National Party must be in dire straits to have to rely on John Key to campaign on their behalf. Not only has the former PM been in the news claiming the recently released unemployment figures aren’t accurate, the fool has also been promoting the opening ...
Nothing Too Drastic: Few would dispute that the Left, today, are few in number. Is their failure to make the public aware of and act upon the manifest failures of the present system attributable to their lack of active energy and intelligence? Or, is it simply because the Left’s ideas ...
by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...
After I noticed that my name had been taken yet again in vain by my friendly antagonist Tom Hunter over at No Minister, I went over to see what the fuss was about. Nothing much, but then I discovered a post about the Operation Burnham Inquiry by Psycho Milt. I ...
The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 was extended today, until December 1st or the tenth sitting day following the resumption of Parliament after the election. It seems like a necessary extension. While we currently have eradicated the virus in New Zealand, it is still banging at the door, and ...
One of the government's key policies - extracted by NZ First as part of its coalition agreement - is the "Provincial Growth Fund": $1 billion a year spent on creating jobs in rural New Zealand. Yesterday the Auditor-General issued a report on the fund, finding that it lacks transparency, and ...
The Warehouse, one of New Zealand's biggest retailers, has decided to stop selling coal. Good. Coal is a dirty, polluting fossil fuel, and the less of it we have out there, the better. Retailers choosing not to sell it sends a clear message that this is not a fuel we ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and they show that unemployment actually dropped last quarter. All told, there are 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when the government took office. But before anyone thinks that the pandemic hasn't put people out of work, remember that this is for ...
Judy KavanaghI’m OK with wearing a CovidCard. But are you? There’s no point me doing it alone.The author modelling a (fake) CovidCard. I didn’t know much about the CovidCard proposal until I read Dave’s latest blog post. You would wear the card visibly on your person. It ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy can’t I use the battery from my electric car ...
As many good things come in threes (as the saying goes), we are happy to announce a third partnership between Skeptical Science and other websites. Fakebook.eco in Brazil is joining Klimafakten.de in Germany and Nauka o Klimacie in Poland to leverage translated rebuttal material and to make the information readily available in other ...
Green Party Co-leader James Shaw is awaiting the result of a precautionary COVID-19 test after travelling to the South Auckland area over the weekend. ...
The Auckland region moved to Alert Level 3 on 12 noon on Wednesday 12 August. The rest of New Zealand moved to Alert Level 2. Visit covid19.govt.nz for the latest information on alert levels, including an overview of restrictions in your area. ...
It's campaign time! The official countdown to Election Day is underway, with Labour supporters crowding into Auckland's Town Hall for our 2020 Campaign Launch. We recap some of the highlights below ...
It's campaign time! The official countdown to Election Day is underway, with Labour supporters crowding into Auckland's Town Hall for our 2020 Campaign Launch. We recap some of the highlights below ...
We've announced that we will expand the Flexi-wage programme to support up to 40,000 more people into work, or to help them start their own business. It's yet another way we're helping keep our economy moving by getting people into work and training. Read on to find out more ...
Business subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New ZealandersUp to 40,000 jobs to be supported by $311 million investment in keeping New Zealanders off the unemployment benefitRing-fenced fund to help unemployed start their own business ...
This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Government is stepping up action to deal with environmentally harmful products – including plastic packaging, tyres and e-waste – before they become waste. ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Graduation of Wing 340 2pm, 13 August 2020, The Royal New Zealand Police College [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege to be here today to celebrate the graduation of Wing 340. Let us begin by acknowledging the presence of Coalition Government colleague, Police Minister the ...
Transitional housing provides much needed support for Taumarunui whānau New emergency and transitional homes will help ease a housing shortage in Taumarunui and provide whānau with much needed support, say Māori Development Minister, Nanaia Mahuta and Whānau Ora Minister, Peeni Henare. The Ministers officially opened five two-bedroom units ...
Following the success of the phase out of single-use plastic shopping bags, the Government now has plans to phase out more single-use and problem plastics to reduce waste and protect the environment announced Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage. The proposals are to phase-out: some hard-to-recycle PVC and polystyrene ...
After 102 days we have our first cases of Covid-19 outside of a Managed Isolation or Quarantine facility in New Zealand. Shortly I will ask Dr Bloomfield to set out the details of the case. While we have all worked incredibly hard to prevent this scenario, we have also planned ...
An iwi-Crown approach programme to restore the Raukūmara forest on the East Coast of the North Island and boost employment opportunities for whānau, particularly rangatahi/young people, will receive $34 million funding, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage has announced. “Raukūmara Pae Maunga is a partnership with Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, and ...
Government agencies and partners are working closer together to provide more Māori Housing through the Te MAIHI o te Whare Māori – the Māori and Iwi Housing Innovation Framework for Action (MAIHI). MAIHI is a kaupapa Māori approach that drives a system change to give effect and impact on Māori ...
Site work is soon to begin on Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway, the project to replace the former SH3 route through the Manawatū Gorge, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Phil Twyford was today in Woodville at the signing of a formal agreement by members of the Alliance ...
The Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) begins today and will focus on the major economic and social impacts of COVID-19 on the Pacific. FEMM is an important congregation of Economic Ministers and senior officials from around the region, and for the first time, the annual meeting will be ...
Cabinet has approved a formal apology and ex gratia payment to former soldier George Nepata, announced Defence Minister Ron Mark. This payment is to recognise the New Zealand Defence Force’s failure to provide Mr Nepata with a safe system of work in April 1989 when, as a result of an ...
A report undertaken by Ministerial Services into Iain Lees-Galloway’s ministerial expenditure has found no evidence of any inappropriate transactions or spending. Ministerial Services undertook a line by line review of all his expenditure, including staff and spouse expenses for the period 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2020. “I commissioned ...
Managed isolation charges for returnees will come into force from 12.01am Tuesday 11th August, after they passed their last cabinet milestone today, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. “The new charging system balances the rights of New Zealanders to return home and helps reduce pressure on the managed isolation and quarantine ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Henry Puna have welcomed the completion of phase one in the establishment of a travel bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Island. Negotiations on the text of an ‘Arrangement to Facilitate Quarantine-Free Travel ...
The Government has launched a new online, phone and onsite service to help New Zealanders connect to a range of employment support and products for workers and businesses affected by COVID-19, announced Minister of Education Chris Hipkins and Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni. Connected.govt.nz is a one-stop-shop for jobseekers, ...
Security guards contracted to the Ministry of Social Development will be paid at least the Living Wage from next month supporting the Government’s commitment towards fair pay and employment conditions, announced Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni. “MSD was among the first government agencies to pay its employees the living ...
The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today launched Te Mana o te Taiao, the Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy - a way forward that envisions Aotearoa New Zealand as a place where ecosystems are healthy and resilient, and people embrace the natural world. “Many of New Zealand’s plants and wildlife species ...
“Pacific languages, cultures and identity are essential to the health, wellbeing and lifetime success of our Pacific peoples and their communities in Aotearoa. The strength and resilience of Pacific Aotearoa is not only vital to their own prosperity but integral to the prosperity of all New Zealanders, and is particularly ...
· $38 million to help schools cover unexpected costs related to COVID-19 · $69 million upgrade for online learning · $107 million contingency funding to support school construction suppliers facing additional costs due to the lockdown. The Government is releasing $214 million from the COVID-19 response and recovery fund to ...
Despite the Government installing safety upgrades around the country, people should still take care around rail crossings, said Transport Minister Phil Twyford launching Rail Safety Week. Phil Twyford said installing safety infrastructure is crucial, but we are encouraging people to be more careful around trains too. “We’re making good progress ...
The Government is providing a cash injection to help Palmerston North City Council complete a programme to provide 78 social housing units for vulnerable tenants. The $4.7 million to build 28 units in the Papaioea Place redevelopment comes from the $3 billion set aside for infrastructure in the Government’s COVID-19 ...
A pest free Banks Peninsula/Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū is one step closer with a $5.11 million boost to accelerate this project and create jobs, announced Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage in Canterbury today. “This is a game changer for this ambitious project to restore the native wildlife and plants on Ōtautahi/Christchurch’s doorstep ...
A Government grant of $6.4 million will expand the Pettigrew Arena in Taradale with new indoor courts of national standard. “The project is likely to take 18 months with approximately 300 people employed through the process,” Grant Robertson said. “The expansion will increase the indoor court space up to 11 ...
The Far North tourist destination of Mangonui is to receive Government funding to improve waterfront infrastructure, open up access to the harbour and improve water quality, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. A total of $6.5 million from the $3 billion set aside in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund ...
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...
Cyclists and walkers will now have a safer way to get around Taupō, Tūrangi, and between Hamilton and Cambridge, with funding for shared paths and Te Awa River Ride, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. “The Te Awa River Ride is the latest part of massive growth ...
Six major cycle routes will be completed in Christchurch thanks to funding from the Government’s investment in shovel-ready infrastructure as part of the COVID-19 recovery Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. $125 million will be invested to kick-start construction and fund the completion of the following cycleway ...
Plans are underway for a brand new state-of-the-art hub for Whanganui’s justice and social agencies, following confirmation the ageing Whanganui Central Police Station is to be replaced. Police Minister Stuart Nash has announced $25 million in new infrastructure spending to improve facilities for the wider community, and for staff who ...
An adjustment payment has been made to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu under the relativity mechanisms in their 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The latest payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu are $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 respectively to ensure the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off the start of the Auckland NZ Upgrade Programme rail projects which will support over 400 jobs and help unlock our biggest city. Both ministers marked the start of enabling works on the third main rail line project ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects announced today include: $200,000 loan to Nuhaka Kiwifruit Holdings Ltd (operated by Pine Valley Orchard Ltd) to increase the productivity ...
Tenants in public and Māori housing may be benefiting from their own affordable renewable energy in future – a fund to trial renewable energy technology for public and Māori housing has today been announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Nanaia Mahuta. ...
Hokianga will receive $2.7 million to redevelop four of its wharves and upgrade its water supply, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Far North District Council will receive $1.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for the work on the wharves. “The work will include the construction of ...
A $350 million Residential Development Response Fund is being established to support the residential construction sector and to minimise the economic impact from COVID-19, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods has announced. “The Residential Development Response Fund will help to progress stalled or at-risk developments that support our broader housing ...
As part of a broader plan to divert waste from landfill, the Government today announced $10.67 million for new infrastructure as part of the Resource Recovery Network across the Auckland region. “This key investment in Auckland’s community recycling network is part of the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group ‘shovel ready’ projects ...
The Government is investing $45 million in the first stage of an ambitious urban development project for Tauranga that will employ up to 250 people and help the region grow, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the funding has been allocated out of the $3 billion ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
On 25 July 2020 several hundred people attended a seminar at Pipitea Marae in Poneke/Wellington, and several thousand more joined the discussion online, in the wake of Covid-19 and the lead-up to the general election to imagine an Alternative Aotearoa to that which ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Loh, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO COVID-19 has curtailed the activities of millions of people across the world and with it, greenhouse gas emissions. As climate scientists at the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station, we are routinely asked: does this mean ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Wilson, Professor of Public Health, University of Otago As New Zealand enters its second day at heightened alert levels to contain a community outbreak of COVID-19, we expect that it should only be a temporary setback. Four cases with no direct ...
Greens co-leader James Shaw has accused National of calling for the election to be delayed out of concern for their own self-interest, not democracy. ...
Māori are particularly vulnerable to conspiracy theories – especially ones that relate to the eradication of people – because that has been the reality for indigenous people. But if we’re going to protect our whānau from Covid-19, we need to engage, not block.If you’re Māori and on Facebook, chances are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bain Munro Attwood, Professor of History, Monash University The Conversation is running a series of explainers on key figures in Australian political history, looking at the way they changed the nature of debate, its impact then, and it relevance to politics today. ...
Confirmed cases of Covid-19 will now be sent straight to a managed quarantine facility by order of the Director-General of Health Thirteen new confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been identified - all linked to the four cases of community transmission that triggered a lockdown of Auckland this week. Under a new ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas McGee, PhD researcher, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, University of Melbourne No child should be denied her rights because her parents are LGBTIQ+, and no family should have to endure the indignity we did. These are the words of ...
The Minister of Conservation has appointed five new councillors and a new Chair to the New Zealand Game Animal Council. “Grant Dodson has been appointed Chair of the Game Animal Council and takes over from Don Hammond who has been Chair since ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Varela, Research Fellow, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Many economists think that earnings in super funds should be taxed at a relatively low rate, compared to labour earnings and other types of earnings ...
What the deputy leader of the opposition has been implying lately is more than “nonsense” – it represents a threat to one of New Zealand’s most powerful and undervalued assets, writes Duncan Greive.Things started getting interesting last Friday. National’s deputy leader Gerry Brownlee appeared on RNZ’s Morning Report to discuss ...
Latest from the Beehive We drew a blank, when we paid our morning visit to the Beehive website. Nothing had been posted since Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage announced the Government’s plans to phase out more single-use and problem plastics to reduce waste and protect the environment. Hmm. Let’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Wilson, Professor of Public Health, University of Otago As New Zealand enters its second day at heightened alert levels to contain a community outbreak of COVID-19, we expect that it should only be a temporary setback. Four cases with no direct ...
By Patricia Kamo in Port Moresby A bus driver in Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby says it is hard to force passengers to wear masks when they walk in. It is one of the measures put in place after the lifting of the country’s 14-day restrictions. Driver Mark Duma, ...
By RNZ News Senior Labour MP Grant Robertson has rejected opposition National’s suggestion that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern step back from announcements on covid-19 alert levels so close to a New Zealand election. National Party leader Judith Collins says it should be health officials, not the Labour leader, announcing changes ...
In the second episode of Alice Snedden’s Bad News, Alice goes to an event at parliament to try to talk with a group of ‘gender critical’ feminists – but things don’t go quite as planned.You’ve probably heard the term used in relation to high-profile people like JK Rowling, but what ...
Evening Report Video: This week in A View from Afar with Paul G. Buchanan and Selwyn Manning, we continue with our debate of how leaders around the world are embracing authoritarianism, isolationism, and in some cases, an abandonment of the rule of international law. A View from Afar is ...
The government has failed to meet its target of increasing the total number of police by 1800 officers in three years. But there are 1280 more officers than this time three years ago. ...
Greens co-leader James Shaw is isolating at home after a Covid-19 test following a campaign trip to the location of New Zealand's latest community cases Climate Change Minister and Green Party co-leader James Shaw has undergone a precautionary Covid-19 test after developing "minor cold symptoms" following a trip to South Auckland ...
A new New Zealand-made drama about life in lockdown was dropped from Prime’s schedule, just days before it was due to start. What’s going on? Peter Salmon reckons the perfect time to watch a New Zealand drama about a second-wave Covid lockdown is during a second-wave Covid lockdown. Prime disagrees, having ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Jacinda Ardern is Prime Minister for a good reason. She is an excellent communicator. She got the message about mask-wearing almost bang-on in her speech yesterday. She was correctly reported as saying:Aucklanders should use a mask if they leave the house to access essential ...
In this Herald Premium article, the NZ Herald’s Matt Nippert and Keith Ng pick through forecasts and data to find an economy doing better than anyone predicted. As Auckland confronts a second round of community transmission, the gap between predictions and reality might hold clues which can help government and ...
Labour's Grant Robertson has called National's claims on Covid-19 "ridiculous nonsense" while its leader Judith Collins tells Morning Report his accusations are "outrageous". ...
Epidemiologist Simon Thornley says the new virus outbreaks and lockdown responses are proof that New Zealand must, as the WHO has recently said, learn to live with the virus. “An outbreak was inevitable, and therefore lockdowns were never a viable ...
The return to lockdowns is devastating news, on a variety of fronts. From the health perspective there must now be the deep worry that despite all the steps taken during the earlier lockdowns and the border restrictions and quarantines, there is community ...
Coronavirus is back in our community, bringing with it anxiety, fear and uncertainty. If you’re feeling like you can’t face going through it all over again, here are some coping strategies. Aucklanders are once again being asked to dig deep, emotionally speaking, in preparation for another lockdown and the accompanying uncertainty. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Turney, Professor, Earth Science and Climate Change, UNSW Geological and archaeological records offer important insights into what seems to be an increasingly uncertain future. The better we understand what conditions Earth has already experienced, the better we can predict (and potentially ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Duncan, Associate Professor for the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University If we can do our grocery shopping under lockdown, we can vote under lockdown too. As much as supermarkets and pharmacies, the general election is an essential service ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Lindsey, Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, University of Melbourne Indonesia is still struggling to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Its fatalities are the worst in Southeast Asia, but so far ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Marschner, Professor of Biostatistics, NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney It’s hard to recall a time when we didn’t nervously await the announcement of Victoria’s daily COVID-19 case numbers each morning. It was certainly disconcerting when the state recorded more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Marshall, Academic, Landscape Architecture and Urban Ecology, University of Melbourne Volcanic plains stretching from Melbourne’s west to the South Australian border were once home to native grasslands strewn with wildflowers and a vast diversity of animals. Today, this grassland ecosystem is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Larsen, PhD candidate, Education & Psychology, University of New England Whether to hold a child back from starting school when they are first eligible is a question faced by many parents in Australia each year. If you start a child at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Morris, Professor, Institute of Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney Many international students in private rental housing in Sydney and Melbourne were struggling before COVID-19 hit. Our surveys of these students before and during the pandemic show it has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dallas Rogers, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney Public housing estate redevelopments that displace residents to other suburbs are highly disruptive whereas projects that allow them to remain are suggested to be better. We tested this assumption through two ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bell, Executive Director, The Conexus Institute; Associate Investigator, CEPAR, UNSW The past financial year has been one of the most volatile on record for stock markets, yet almost every Australian super fund has delivered similar returns. This not only demonstrates that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Suddendorf, Professor, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland Today, bags are everywhere — from cheap canvas ones at the supermarket to designer handbags costing up to US$2,000,000. But archaeological evidence shows we have been using mobile containers — bags and ...
Overly cautious politicians and bankers are forcing the Reserve Bank to look at even more extreme ways to stimulate our Covid-hit economy and revive inflation ...
Ardern: Newsroom social. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's warm and informal use of Facebook Live has helped convey vital COVID-19 messages in a clear and relatable way, according to a new academic study. Communication experts claim the honesty and ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 13, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ level two. More details here. Official information here. Get ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins calls for a delay in the election, an update on community transmission and testing, and businesses fearing the fallout of another lockdown.At this stage, the election is still scheduled to take place on September 19. But with the country’s largest ...
More than 50 people are in managed isolation at New Zealand's border facilities so they can attend the sentencing of the Christchurch gunman in person. ...
Legendary press gallery doyen Ian Templeton assesses two new studies of former Prime Ministers Jim Bolger and Mike Moore As the 2020 election looms, Fridays with Jim by Wellington writer David Cohen is a timely book. Three-time Prime Minister Jim Bolger's reflections on leadership are insightful. More controversial may be those ...
An announcement on wage subsidies might be needed to avoid job losses - but not everybody agrees the Government should signal its intentions sooner rather than later, writes Dileepa Fonseka Crowds of people spilled out onto the street in Mangere East as the midday deadline for Auckland's entry into Level 3 ...
What’s the science behind the changed position on mask use? Farah Hancock reports. Auckland’s Level 3 lockdown will look different to the last lockdown. This time there will be masks. They’re mandatory for people on domestic flights leaving Auckland and “strongly urged” for everyone else when in public. The Government ...
In the first of a series on Muslim girls and women in sport in New Zealand, Ashley Stanley speaks to Noha Nasef, an ocean swimmer comfortable competing under full cover, who wants women wearing a hijab to be a normal sight in sport. Noha Nasef chose to take up open water swimming because ...
It looks like the dream finale of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season before a sellout Eden Park crowd will be off-limits for fans this Sunday, leaving Jim Kayes unfulfilled. It’s not the news a bunch of middle aged, success-starved Blues fans were hoping for. “Hi Richard,” began the note from the ...
Criticism of the Government's Covid-19 response is far from new, and has often had merit. But the new National leadership's dark mutterings of a cover-up are taking New Zealand politics in a dangerous direction, Sam Sachdeva writes."We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, ...
The health workers and contact tracers are out on the front lines, but in the backrooms teams of mathematicians are running scenarios to figure out exactly what needs to be done, and how bad things could get. In big picture terms, fighting a pandemic is a numbers game, but with real ...
Yesterday’s announcement by the Reserve Bank that it will increase its money creation by an extra $40 billion dollars up to $100 billion over the next two years to buy government IOU’s off banks and rich investors sets an all-time record for money ...
The peerless Policy tool returns for its third edition, and it’s better than ever – fully geared to easily compare both parties and candidates across all the important issues.Campaigning might have been suspended for the rest of the week, along with much of normal life, but don’t let that stop ...
The novel coronavirus mutates as it travels between people and around the world. By sequencing the genome, we can try to work out which case is linked with another.As Aotearoa confronted its first cases of Covid-19 community transmission in more than 100 days, the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, ...
Ambiguity, uncertainty and unpredictability are three key indicators for stress, and Aucklanders in particular are going through all of those right now The late-night announcement by the Prime Minister was a blow to the pit of the stomach of many. We thought we had this, and maybe some of ...
Wellington company EightyOne has been banned from Twitter for its 'Trumbers' campaign criticising Donald Trump. To date more than 600,000 people have viewed 'Trumbers' on Twitter and it has been shared with the Republican Party and Donald Trump. As ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Royal Commission into Aged Care put the Secretary of the Federal Health Department, Brendan Murphy, firmly in his place when he tried to make an opening statement to attack claims by the senior counsel ...
“Your post goes against our community standards on nudity or sexual activity” was the terse message that Professor David Robie, director of the Auckland-based Pacific Media Centre, RSF’s Oceania partner, received from Facebook whenever he tried to share an article about press freedom in Melanesia, especially the Indonesian provinces of ...
And is he about to launch a coup against Judith Collins? Just asking questions here.Jacindamania was meek by comparison. Just as Ardern captured a nation from the role of deputy leader of the opposition in 2017, so it is with Gerry Brownlee in 2020. Relentless grouchy, Gerrymania is in full ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin announced Russia was the first country to register a vaccine offering “sustainable immunity” against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Developed by the Gamaleya Research ...
Power Play - Warnings another outbreak was bound to happen were not enough to prepare New Zealanders for the shock of seeing the country's largest city put back into level 3 lockdown. ...
Power Play - Warnings another outbreak was bound to happen were not enough to prepare New Zealanders for the shock of seeing the country's largest city put back into level 3 lockdown. ...
At lunchtime yesterday, Jacinda Ardern was easing into full campaign mode on the main street of Whanganui. Just a few hours later, news from Auckland turned her plans, and an election campaign, on its head. Justin Giovannetti reports from Whanganui and Wellington.Jacinda Ardern’s first day on the campaign trail outside ...
One bright spot amid the grimness of the Covid resurgence: the return of our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations of the pandemic by Chris McDowall.Over one hundred days, Covid-19 slowly slipped from my attention. I was aware of new cases reaching Aotearoa’s border, managed isolation breaches, relapses in ...
By RNZ News QR app codes are now mandatory for businesses and services, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield have revealed, as they announced new covid-19 cases in New Zealand. Dr Bloomfield said there was just one new confirmed case in managed isolation recorded today, ...
Justin Latif takes the temperature of his community in South Auckland, ground zero for the latest Covid-19 outbreak.Following the prime minister’s announcement on Tuesday evening, my messenger app began pinging with pictures and videos of people at the supermarket. But it wasn’t panic buying that I was seeing, rather there ...
Odessa To’o on Selina Tusitala Marsh’s picture book Mophead, which was just named the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year. I almost didn’t read this book because of the title. Mophead. Instantly recognisable as an insult for anyone with big hair, even though I’ve never been called it myself. The kids ...
Announcing the winners of the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The supreme prize of the night, the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award, goes to Selina Tusitala Marsh for her super-personal picture book, Mophead.Mophead is memoir and clapback and wild doodle; it’s the story of ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Human rights activist and lawyer Veronica Koman says the Indonesian government has asked her to return scholarship money amounting to 773 million rupiah (about US$70,000) which she received to undergo her master’s degree in Australia in 2016, reports CNN Indonesia. According to Vero – as she ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW With mask wearing in public compulsory in Victoria and recommended in New South Wales, many Australians are buying, wearing or making face masks for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Webber, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Scientists have been interested in the flora of New Guinea since the 17th century, but formal knowledge of the tropical island’s diversity has remained limited. To solve this mystery, our global team of 99 scientists from ...
Photographers John Sefton, in Auckland, and Lynn Grieveson in Wellington watched the return of Level 3 lockdown and Level 2 restrictions on Wednesday, a day of masks, businesses shutting or setting themselves up for limited access, supermarket queues and people exercising their relative freedoms. As the clock ticked down, Bunnings ...
Open mike 29/04/2013 
And sooner or later, the National Party will simply have to own up to the fact that the reason she was never chosen as Leader prior to her rolling Todd Muller a little less than a month ago was for very solid ones: the display of some truly ugly behaviour ...10 mins ago
The Waikato Regional Council is actually enforcing the RMA for once: Three Waikato farmers have been fined a total of $116,100 for illegally discharging farm effluent. [...] Gerard Wolvers from South Waikato, who has farmed for nearly 50 years, was convicted on three charges after an unknown amount of ...3 hours ago
The return of COVID-19 community transmission, with Auckland back in a level 3 lockdown and the rest of New Zealand at level 2, raises real questions about New Zealand’s upcoming general election.Polling day is scheduled for September 19 but the planned election process would actually start far earlier. All candidates were to be ...4 hours ago
Conspiracy theorist - Gerry BrownleeWhat on earth is going on with the National Party? Now that Crusher Collins is in charge, it seems like it’s their policy to say really dumb things just to get attention. Unfortunately it’s working, with most of the mainstream media bending over backwards to provide ...5 hours ago
The novel coronavirus mutates as it travels between people and around the world. By sequencing the genome, we can try to work out which case is linked with another. As Aotearoa confronted its first cases of Covid-19 community transmission in more than 100 days, the director general of health, Ashley ...6 hours ago
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Respecting the journal editorial process Each week we scan between 450 and 650 articles for relevance to Skeptical Science's remit: communication of the science of climate change itself the many affected branches of scientific inquiry by climate change. The 100+ journals we cover encompass a galaxy of expertise we cannot ...22 hours ago
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What to do to improve the public perception of the newly elected National party leader, when her performance so far has no doubt disappointed the expectations of her supporters? The answer is to get a National-supporting newspaper (the Herald) to organise a poll that could be guaranteed to provide an ...2 days ago
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From some quarters, incessant scaremongering. From others, it’s a full-on tilt into touching the alarmist buttons a little too readily (uncertain times make for very captive audiences with this angle of attack). The (so-called) Opposition (and merely regarding them as that seems to be a far looser term now ...5 days ago
The attempts to sabotage Corbyn's leadership seems likely to do more damage than Corbyn supposedly ever could have done, even if all the stories about him were true: I was reluctant to say anything but this is too important, the full story needs to be told.Don’t let anyone ever tell ...5 days ago
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by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...1 week ago
Green Party Co-leader James Shaw is awaiting the result of a precautionary COVID-19 test after travelling to the South Auckland area over the weekend. ...4 hours ago
The Auckland region moved to Alert Level 3 on 12 noon on Wednesday 12 August. The rest of New Zealand moved to Alert Level 2. Visit covid19.govt.nz for the latest information on alert levels, including an overview of restrictions in your area. ...1 day ago
Graduation of Wing 340 2pm, 13 August 2020, The Royal New Zealand Police College [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege to be here today to celebrate the graduation of Wing 340. Let us begin by acknowledging the presence of Coalition Government colleague, Police Minister the ...1 hour ago
On 25 July 2020 several hundred people attended a seminar at Pipitea Marae in Poneke/Wellington, and several thousand more joined the discussion online, in the wake of Covid-19 and the lead-up to the general election to imagine an Alternative Aotearoa to that which ...21 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Loh, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO COVID-19 has curtailed the activities of millions of people across the world and with it, greenhouse gas emissions. As climate scientists at the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station, we are routinely asked: does this mean ...34 mins ago
Greens co-leader James Shaw has accused National of calling for the election to be delayed out of concern for their own self-interest, not democracy. ...51 mins ago
Māori are particularly vulnerable to conspiracy theories – especially ones that relate to the eradication of people – because that has been the reality for indigenous people. But if we’re going to protect our whānau from Covid-19, we need to engage, not block.If you’re Māori and on Facebook, chances are ...56 mins ago
Confirmed cases of Covid-19 will now be sent straight to a managed quarantine facility by order of the Director-General of Health Thirteen new confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been identified - all linked to the four cases of community transmission that triggered a lockdown of Auckland this week. Under a new ...1 hour ago
Latest from the Beehive We drew a blank, when we paid our morning visit to the Beehive website. Nothing had been posted since Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage announced the Government’s plans to phase out more single-use and problem plastics to reduce waste and protect the environment. Hmm. Let’s ...2 hours ago
Greens co-leader James Shaw is isolating at home after a Covid-19 test following a campaign trip to the location of New Zealand's latest community cases Climate Change Minister and Green Party co-leader James Shaw has undergone a precautionary Covid-19 test after developing "minor cold symptoms" following a trip to South Auckland ...4 hours ago
Overly cautious politicians and bankers are forcing the Reserve Bank to look at even more extreme ways to stimulate our Covid-hit economy and revive inflation ...7 hours ago
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Legendary press gallery doyen Ian Templeton assesses two new studies of former Prime Ministers Jim Bolger and Mike Moore As the 2020 election looms, Fridays with Jim by Wellington writer David Cohen is a timely book. Three-time Prime Minister Jim Bolger's reflections on leadership are insightful. More controversial may be those ...10 hours ago
An announcement on wage subsidies might be needed to avoid job losses - but not everybody agrees the Government should signal its intentions sooner rather than later, writes Dileepa Fonseka Crowds of people spilled out onto the street in Mangere East as the midday deadline for Auckland's entry into Level 3 ...10 hours ago
What’s the science behind the changed position on mask use? Farah Hancock reports. Auckland’s Level 3 lockdown will look different to the last lockdown. This time there will be masks. They’re mandatory for people on domestic flights leaving Auckland and “strongly urged” for everyone else when in public. The Government ...10 hours ago
In the first of a series on Muslim girls and women in sport in New Zealand, Ashley Stanley speaks to Noha Nasef, an ocean swimmer comfortable competing under full cover, who wants women wearing a hijab to be a normal sight in sport. Noha Nasef chose to take up open water swimming because ...10 hours ago
It looks like the dream finale of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season before a sellout Eden Park crowd will be off-limits for fans this Sunday, leaving Jim Kayes unfulfilled. It’s not the news a bunch of middle aged, success-starved Blues fans were hoping for. “Hi Richard,” began the note from the ...10 hours ago
Criticism of the Government's Covid-19 response is far from new, and has often had merit. But the new National leadership's dark mutterings of a cover-up are taking New Zealand politics in a dangerous direction, Sam Sachdeva writes. "We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, ...10 hours ago
Propelled to the job at a time of crisis, Judith Collins is having an unexpected amount of fun. ...10 hours ago
Ambiguity, uncertainty and unpredictability are three key indicators for stress, and Aucklanders in particular are going through all of those right now The late-night announcement by the Prime Minister was a blow to the pit of the stomach of many. We thought we had this, and maybe some of ...10 hours ago
Photographers John Sefton, in Auckland, and Lynn Grieveson in Wellington watched the return of Level 3 lockdown and Level 2 restrictions on Wednesday, a day of masks, businesses shutting or setting themselves up for limited access, supermarket queues and people exercising their relative freedoms. As the clock ticked down, Bunnings ...22 hours ago
it is a wee bit confusing in the job market, – from a job vacancy ad on trademe jobs:
“We do not accept online applications if you wish to apply please email mxxxxxxd @ xxxx.net.nz.” (address edited for anonymity)
Poll on public attitudes to “brain fades”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10880335
The breakdown by party support is interesting/amusing, with National Party supporters being the most “trusting” – or stupid, immoral, cognitively dissonant or whatever.
from Sunday on cycling;
two reporters left Te Atatu for TVNZ in the city, 13kms distance. With the motorist having to wait at the on-ramp for 20minutes and travel at approx 40km/h in traffic, find a park and walk the remainder, the cyclist arrived first travelling by cycle-way.
Aucklands transport problems according to Len Brown on Firstline require 60B investment, (under-investment for decades), with a 12B shortfall to be met by tolls, fuel tax proposals etc.
Although 600M could be invested in cycle-ways for Auckland, there would be a 20-1 long-term cost benefit according to cycle-safety specialist Glen Koorey.
from a cyclist-accident victim on the same article; “We have become such a mean-spirited nation…people used to say about Kiwis…” (encouraging things I imagine).
ghost
There was an interesting discussion on transport in the city on radionz soon after 9am today.
ahhh, missed it; what I haven’t missed are observations of the attitudes and emotions held by many motorists questioned by the media on their approach towards cyclists. freakin’ hicks.
Yup TPTB (the backers of them at least), can’t wait to get tolls on roads all over AKL.
Just look at the mess that the nothern tunnel toll road has become!
NZ has become a *mean spirited nation* – Thats the result of being used as an experiment!
It seems the whale and his followers have been involved in a stoush over a Facebook page aiming at generating discussion over the (non) merits of Charter Schools. Here’s the page owner’s take on it.
http://howmelulaterseesit.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/beware-bullies-who-dont-want-you-to.html?spref=fb
an interesting read at the link
And this is what they teach in charter schools. Can you imagine that child ever being employable if they keep on believing that bullshit?
plenty of Exclusive Brethren employers dotted all through-out New Zealand.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Internet Blogger
The results of the Brain fade poll , reads as if the question asked was more like,
“Do you think John Key is a liar?”
That would explain the party split , nicely.
I recall somebody here , in the last week or so , saying their partner had been polled by Reids,
and one the questions was pretty much “do you think Key is a liar”
Reids wouldn’t change the question , after the poll result, would they? Na
Wouldn’t it be great if when publishing/referencing a poll the media had to supply the actual poll data, including the questions. Even better than that would be a declaration of whomever had commissioned the poll in the first place.
This was part of the standard TV3 Reid Research poll, so we know who commissioned it.
yes lanthanide, i should have added that the noted article did include the reference to it being a TV3 poll but as a general rule we both know the identity of those commissioning polls is largely anonymous.
Actually for the main political polling, it’s done by the newspapers or the TV networks or Roy Morgan.
Not sure why you’d want individual names for those polls.
Now for other polling, sure, we don’t necessarily know. But other polling doesn’t tend to be national-level political polls.
“I recall somebody here , in the last week or so , saying their partner had been polled by Reids,
and one the questions was pretty much “do you think Key is a liar””
That is what they said, but they came back and corrected that the question asked of their partner was the polling question we are shown.
So no conspiracy here, sorry.
Reids have done well to link Shearer with Keys’ lies.
The ambiguous question, helped in this regard . (that and Shearers memory)
Most ,surely would have answered that question ,with Key in mind.
That would explain party split
Would have been interesting if to know what angle the MSM would taken ,if Shearers’ memory hadn’t let him down.
The dishonest and irresponsible work of Andrew Wakefield has claimed a victim
Wales has had low Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR) vaccination rates for some time … since about 1998, in fact, when Andrew Wakefield published his bogus study in the Lancet falsely linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
So what are you going to say when it comes out that the chronically sick 25 year old in question had already been immunised against measles?
By the way, according to the schedule the dead man should have been vaccinated years before the Wakefield study came out, as an infant, so I think its more likely that he had been immunised. Yet was so sick.
The dishonest and irresponsible work of Andrew Wakefield
hasmay have claimed a victim.has most likely claimed a victim
The point of vaccination is not just to protect yourself, but also to protect others.
How he contracted it in the first place is the real issue, not whether his particular jab didn’t work, or whether due to allergies he couldn’t get vaccinated, or whether his parents were nutty even before Wakefield’s fraud.
Bit of a climb down though innit joe, from has, to may! You get some credit, for the climb down, but its been sloppy from you lately, aer you ok?
No matter how hard McFlock tries to spin it, then pulls out the , * you should be guilty*, for not protecting others, what a legend you are McFlock /sarc!
What other illness did this unfortunate individual suffer from?
Article title:Measles Epidemic in Wales Has Roots in Antivax Movement.
Opening line of article: The measles outbreak in Wales may have claimed its first victim..
I never said “you should be guilty”.
I just think that people who refuse to vaccinate for no clear medical reason (e.g. egg allergy) are selfish idiots.
Population perspective: clear link.
Individual case perspective: who knows? There’s always the slim possibility he had some measles-like condition.
When attributing primary cause of mortality in individual cases there’s always oodles of theoretical wriggle room (from poor nutrition to undiagnosed heart problems), and you look set to use every inch of it. A bit like 50 years of tobacco industry wriggling – but then they were intentionally duplicitous, rather than wildly delusional, so I guess you’re not quite in their league.
Each year around Anzac Day, my electorate hosts a social event, the highlight of which is a lecture in memory of a popular former Labour MP who was killed in Crete in 1942. This year’s lecture was given by Nicky Hagar. The basis of the lecture was his latest book “Other People’s Wars”. It was gob-smacking stuff!
There were a number of former and even current senior military personnel – plus senior public servants – who were apparently only too willing to apprise Nicky of the behind the scenes activity particularly in relation to the war in Afghanistan. This was a measure of their profound concern for what they saw… and the blatant lies that we in New Zealand have been told about our involvement in that war. Politicians – on both sides of the fence and including Helen Clark – were tricked into believing we were there as peace keepers. The peace keeping played a role, but from all accounts it turned out not to be their primary function.
Add to that an over-all appraisal by Nicky about what he perceives is happening behind the political front, and I think there would be many here interested in what he had to say.
I know the lecture was recorded (sound-wise at least) and I think it might be possible for the Standard to seek to post that recording here. Labour MP, Phil Twyford would be the person to approach in the first instance, because he initiated the annual lectures and is still heavily involved.
Further to the above are two quotes from the book:
It would be nice for someone to pause and say, “Hell, we’re coming up to the 10th anniversary [Sept.11 attacks], are we better or are we worse?. I think the answer is we’re worse. How stupid are we to have allowed a reaction led by the United States that has actually made it worse for the world? – senior defence official.
People assume that politicians make decisions, but often they are busy, ill informed or actively excluded… The worst decisions were made by senior officials and military officers, often without [the ministers’] knowledge. – senior NZ government official.
Thanks, Anne. It is significant stuff, and I would be interested to see or read Hager’s latest lecture.
People assume that politicians make decisions, but often they are busy, ill informed or
excluded… The worst decisions were made by senior officials and military officers, often without [the ministers’] knowledge. – senior NZ government official.
I think that is a salient point Anne and I’ve repeated it for me and any others who have had naive ideas about politicians and what they are doing with their time and influence while in the House and having some power.
In the USA it may be that the control of the country has largely passed out of the hands of those elected representatives who take their role for the people seriously. Where there is money there is power, which does seem to be a correct saying, and the budget of the Defence there is astro-astronomical. Scary stuff for sincere democracy believers.
Eisenhowers departure speech warning of the dangers of the military industrial complex
I’d recommend anyone (everyone) read the book even though it is a big read.
It makes it pretty clear that senior defence people were determined to go against explicit government foreign policy (and directives) in order to preserve – or resurrect – their contact and ‘relationships’ with the US, UK and Australia. Ever since the nuclear ship ban and the suspension of ANZUS, parts of the defence leadership ran a de facto military foreign policy at odds with government policy, especially in the 2000s.
There’s a word for that, and when you need to apply it to the defence forces it is particularly concerning.
I am shocked that Hager’s book has received so little journalistic follow-through. There are stories in there that I would have thought any journalist worth their salt would have given an arm and a leg to have the opportunity to run with (if that isn’t mixing too many metaphors).
A bit of jealousy mixed with narrow, establishment thinking and a naive desire to be part of the American military scenario? Most of the MSM seem happy to go along with the authoritarian and anti-democratic flow if they think that is where their best interests may lie…
But it is heartening to know there were military and public service personnel who were willing to spill the beans in the interest of integrity and transparency.
“But it is heartening to know there were military and public service personnel who were willing to spill the beans in the interest of integrity and transparency.”
It certainly is – but no matter how heartening, I don’t think that’s the point. After all, the military went its own way despite the integrity of these people and their desire for transparency. The lack of ‘follow through’ reinforces that fact.
As with so many issues, the point is not about individuals and their motives (for good or ill). It’s about structures and institutional processes that bias against (or for) certain kinds of behaviours and, therefore, in favour of certain kinds of people with certain kinds of views.
The historical interweaving of the NZ military with the UK and then US military (training, experience under command, etc.) I imagine meant (and still means) that those with pro-UK/US leanings will have formed the useful overseas connections and ‘upward’ connections within the already established hierarchy that ensure they rise through the ranks and assume positions of power.
That process is common to all institutions – those who align themselves with powerful interests within and around the ‘system’ do better in the ‘system’. It’s Chomsky and Hermann’s point about the media and who ends up being an editor – the very people who agree with the direction.
The older I get the more I think that the interesting questions are hardly ever about motives, character, personal integrity, etc.. They are about the uses that structures make of people.
You have hit the nail, on the head!
Structure exists to ensure a couple of things, primarily:
1: Control
2: To ensure that the structure which are necessary to support society, and humanity’s best social interests, remain broken!
To what end!
I’d love to hear the speech on audio or video.
Tried to go to the speech but it was sold out days early. I think you’ll find there is a keen interest for independent voices like Nicky Hager and, if it’s possible, maybe book a larger venue next time.
Thank for your efforts Anne in getting people like Nicky H to speak.
Thanks Paul. The effort was really put in by others including Phil Twyford. Yes, we are going to have to find a bigger venue. We have been fortunate thus far in attracting excellent speakers and the word has got around. So much so, people who are not associated with the Labour Party also want to attend. I think the recording was audio only but still well worth listening to. I will try and contact Phil Twyford and see if it’s possible to have it posted here.
See Anne at 9 above concerning Nicky Hager’s speech.
Message for Paul, karol, prism, Puddleglum, muzza and anyone else who is interested:
Phil Twyford will be posting the Hagar lecture on Red Alert as soon as he’s received it. Will keep you posted.
Mark Steel on the demonisation of the poor and the dickensian meanness of neoliberalism plus an extra on the french revolution.
On the present submission time for a constitution. First Chris Trotter makes important points.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/not-debating-constitution.html
Also from he Sunday Star Times
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8605428/Talking-about-a-New-Zealand-constitution
You should have a look at their poll and see what you think about it. It seems to be quite balanced and requires a bit of thought. They have a space for 130 words about your ideas for NZ which they may tweet.
I went to a meeting in the weekend hosted by a Nelson group. My feelings are that the appointed commissioners seem to be standing aside and leaving the bringing information and discussion to each region which has to find people with something to say and who can project their ideas. The visiting commissioners seem more like window dressing, and there does not seem to be a plan for a tour of the country by informative speakers, the appointees just attend the arranged meeting and give a quick run down of their instructions. Then at our meeting the speakers were invited to make their individual points.
There was a speaker from the country’s numerous old, white anti-Maori bigots, who also were a vocal group in the audience. Overturning agreements already reached, limiting the Treaty to a historical document with narrow meanings, and overturning decisions made already by eminent people in favour of Maori seemed to be their unswerving and bigoted goal. There was the usual white patronising and demeaning attitude to Maori heard from such people, mainly white-haired and probably old age beneficiaries, and I am one of this age so I can be reasonably objective. (Their thinking at base being – Maori are undeserving, they haven’t a case for consideration of their rights and wrongs, and that the decisions made by eminent people in favour of Maori stand for nothing)
Unfortunately for me, the bigot was the second speaker not the last. The first was a criminal lawyer who does good work and is aware of the need of the law to serve the citizens, poor and rich, and I am asking for the right to be able to access his submission paper for The Standard readers. (I now have that okay but have to speak to my advisor on how to go about putting it up tonight.)
But when the second speaker began and started with what to me is poisonous, backward diatribe that would have an acidic effect on good relations between Maori and pakeha and our moves forward to a better future, I had to leave. This man Bruce Moon was a co-author with John Robinson, David Round, Mike Butler, Hugh Barr, Peter Cresswell of a book called Twisting the Treaty – A Tribal Grap for Wealth and Power with a related web page headed Treatygate – The Conning of a Country which pitches it against one called Healing our History by Robert and Joanna Consedine. The large number of biased authors writing for the Twisting book make for a whiteout on the subject, one whole page of google is taken up with headings from their individual comments and initiatives.
Some people who are focussed on one approach with a tunnel vision that pours all their energy on their chosen mission, are a horrible obstacle to gathering wide information and take up the precious time set aside for that purpose. I had better things to do. But I want to see healthy discussion on a good constitution. I don’t trust National to do anything good, they are increasingly adopting fascist, and anti-democratic policies.
There is an academic Dr Paul Moon at AUT so don’t confuse the two. This link has something about him.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/auckland-city-harbour-news/8382933/Key-bits-of-history
‘neonicotinoids’ may yet Bee banned’
so much for “SuperGrans” to the rescue…
and don’t expect the Army to be able to afford picking up the pieces
My point that NZ government doesn’t care about families much and won’t support them is backed up by the Super Grans business. These people in power are self absorbed social climbers and wealthy isolated types. They could care about a fine racehorse with good breeding but ordinary people – no.
And budget advisory, that would admit there is a necessity, a demand for this, and in a climate where people have to apply for five jobs a day in a recession well there is a certain coherence if they just keep on denying reality.
Thoughts and prayers to Parekura Horomia and his whanau.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10880438
Yes. Best wishes to Parekura and his whanau and friends.
Na, kia noho te Atua o te rangimarie ki a koutou katoa, Amene.
Following on from some comments concerning the state of private aged care in NZ the other day, this article from ‘The Independent’ on the unfolding crisis in England, Wales and Northern Ireland might be of interest to some – particularly if there are jots to be joined or comparisons made with any debt burden among NZ’s private providers.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-5bn-care-home-crisis-that-is-seeing-record-numbers-of-providers-close-their-doors-8591849.html
“part of a wider collapse in social care driven by spending cuts”. (sound familiar)
“solving the inevitably rocketing (fixed) costs of social care for the elderly and disabled is an issue expected to dog governments for decades to come”. (energy, food, wages, oh wait Ryman et al; will be able to pay lower wages).
Well, NZ Government is already working on the Euthanasia bill…… it will be introduced under the umbrella that there is too much suffering. Watch this space.
Canadian foreign minister John Baird is now a human rights champion!
April 29, 2013
Liberals and human rights activists will welcome the news that the formerly hard right Canadian foreign minister John Baird has made a spectacular and sudden conversion to being a champion of human rights.
After a Canadian friend of mine yesterday damned Mr Baird as “a disgusting piece of sh!t”, and urged me to “Google the useless f+ck” I decided to follow his advice and do a little bit of research on him. What I have found tends to reinforce my friend’s observation.
John Baird has developed a reputation as an hysterical opponent of the Kyoto Protocols, and he has been roundly denounced by virtually everybody who has come into contact with him. After observing Baird’s irresponsible conservation policies, Al Gore called them “a complete and total fraud” and accused him of trying to “mislead the Canadian people”. Baird’s conservation policies have been damned by David Suzuki as a “sham”. Activists at the Cancun climate conference in 2010 were scathing of his environmental policies and awarded Canada three “Fossil” awards for disrupting and undermining U.N. climate talks.
When he is not trashing the environment, John Baird likes to hang out with soldiers. He spent Christmas 2006 in Afghanistan with Canadian occupation troops.
Baird is an aggressive and shameless supporter of the Likud party in Israel, and last year he made a widely condemned statement that Iran was “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.”
Oh! There is one person who thinks that Baird is all right. He has been praised for his “bold leadership” by THIS fellow….
http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/netanyahu-bomb-un.jpg
But all this has changed suddenly! John Baird has now joined the struggle for human rights!
Read the following and cheer….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22322999
In terms of guise and process alone and mark it, not personal at all, shades of last appointment of Race Relations Commissioner ?
RIP Parekura Horomia.
RIP.
Wow. He was a really cool guy. The nats gave him a hard time because he did not accord to their concepts of a parliamentarian but he was a very gracious person. On a marae he could not be matched and when talking to kiwis his ability to relate to them was phenomenal.
I had the pleasure of being at the Avondale Markets with him campaigning and I can honestly say that he was without his peers. Even though he was 400 kilometers from home it seemed he knew half the people. I was really, really impressed with his ability to relate to ordinary kiwis.
Best wishes to his whanau.
Labour MP and former Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia has died from health complications at his home in Tolaga Bay.
The 62-year-old, who is survived by three sons and one grandchild, was surrounded by family, friends and Parliamentary colleagues when he passed away a short time ago.
His condition deteriorated rapidly since his health problems were made public this morning.
The cause of his death has not been confirmed and his family has requested privacy.
Read more: Labour MP Parekura Horomia dies, age 62 – Story – Politics – 3 News http://www.3news.co.nz/Labour-MP-Parekura-Horomia-dies-age-62/tabid/1607/articleID/295933/Default.aspx#ixzz2RpOsKktE
Very sad. A good man with a big heart.
A very sad loss. May he rest in peace.
RIP Parekura. Few would have a bad word to say about him. Shocking news.
Meanwhile, this piece of sh*t works for Auckland radio stations. I’ll be writing to them telling them what I think, and why I’ll be boycotting them and their ads – you may want to as well …
Speaking of wankers, the wankers at David Farrar’s troll farm are comparing him to Thatcher.
Who is rikdog?
So sad to read of the passing of Parekura Horomia. R.I.P
Jim Mora poses the Ironic Question of the Month
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Monday 29 April 2013
Jim Mora, Jonathan Krebs, Tim Watkin
Today, due to unforeseen circumstances, host Jim Mora found himself in the position of having ten minutes at the end of the program to fill up somehow. Being an experienced and competent operator, this was no problem for him. “We have a spare ten minutes,” he told his two guests, “so we’ll just have a chat about various issues that have come up lately.”
First up, he read out an exceptionally foolish statement by an English chemical analysis, who after she had debunked the false claims that Syria has used chemical weapons, had gone on to claim that even if the “evidence” was entirely false, the “rebels” had done it because they were “desperate”.
The Panelists, including Mora, actually did a good job here, discussing the Syrian question with intelligence and a degree of responsibility—thank God that Panel regulars Dr Michael Bassett or Barry Corbett or Garth “Gaga” George were not on today—and mentioned that the “rebels” were largely Al Qaeda terrorists.
Then, in a deadly serious tone, Jim Mora asked the following question: “Is there a tendency in our society for people to voice their opinion on subjects that they know nothing about?”
To their credit, both Jonathan Krebs and Tim Watkin stifled the guffaws and pretended to ignore the screaming irony of that screamingly funny question.
DISCUSS:
Is Jim Mora the world’s most brilliant deadpan comic? Or did he simply forget, for a brief time this afternoon, that the guest Panelists on his show have included such Ignorami for the Ages as John Barnett, Graham Bell, Barry Corbett, Garth “Gaga” George, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Nevil “Breivik” Gibson, Claudette Hauiti, and Jordan Williams?
Here it is, one more time. Enjoy…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Is there a tendency in our society for people to voice their opinion on subjects that they know nothing about?”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hah1. The ‘voice of the people’, the everyman’s best, bester, bestest EVER friend Jum’, the wordsmuth, the intellect…… it’s just so overwhelming.
Save yourself the stress Morissey. Best policy is to just ignore the gittus.
I had some conversation with the guy a few years ago. Back then he promised how he was going to rejuvinate things.
Instead ….. same old shit, same old hacks, same old yearning to be liked, same old kaka to be perceived as the voice of reason…..
(Same shit – different stink).
Not sure why the Slacks et al bother these days – perhaps they just like the same brand of CHardonnay.
IF RNZ ever consider its time for a shapkeup – it’s be Mora in the afternoon, closely followed by Kethluk Guuuuurl in the mourn
Yes Tim I agree. The Mora Borer Show has become almost unlistenable. Coast, Breeze, whatever, at least they deliver what they promise. Often in my car 4-5 pm weekdays. As a consciously careful and attentive driver over the 33 km to home Radio Live and other talkback is just too dangerous. Mora seemed the safe bet.
Unfortunately it’s now just Aunty Affable and his unconscionable gushing over a series of wankers (in the main) who fancy themselves “celebs”. Thus emboldening them in the ignorant mouthing off of which Morrissey complains. I think the name’s Chris Wikaira, an aggressive wahanui on everything who brews yuppie fucking beer for God’s Sake. He’s one of the worst. If that’s not him I apologise to the less offensive Chris Wikaira. Not to overlook Mrs Brassy Voyeur Private Investigator………forget her name, Julia double barrelled something. David Slack is one of the few exceptions. He’s genuinely wry as well.
Helpful redirection would be appreciated.
I think the obnoxious brewer you are thinking of is actually Neil Miller. Your concerns about him are entirely justified.
Chris Wikaira is a National Party-sympathizing dope that manages to say nothing serious or interesting whenever he is on the programme. Last time he was on, his Soapbox contribution consisted of a rant about what he reckons is the poor quality of contributions to the Minecraft discussion boards.
That horrible P.I. is Julia Hartley-Moore.
Indeed North.
Publicly funded radio fulfills a very important role in our society, but “Afternoons with Jim Mora” always leaves me wondering why we’re publicly funding what is essentially talkback radio.
Respects for Parekura Horomia.
The five year old whom the pakeha school bus passed on by. Surprisingly, never bitter. Lovely man living magnificent wairua.
In brief answer to Morrissey: yes, ugly mouthing is not merely a tendency, it is positively encouraged. It’s in the nature of an opiate for dullards, their spittle then harnessed by unscrupulous self-promoters and careerists.
Haere ra Parekura Horomia, takoto mai, e koro.
man, this Auckland Transport problem is gonna cost; “a multi-billion dollar shortfall”
-tolls
-fuel tax
-rates rises
-possible public transport tax
-congestion tax
(any 2 or more of the above)
“even this is not a silver bullet”- Simon Lambourne.
The Christchurch rebuild needs 17000 more workers before 18 months time passes.
Heard Joyce talking of the need for flexibility from “officials” and “immigration” in the same sentence.
more migrant workers will be required.
Apparently, there is no guarantee of the entire “private investment” counted on by the government for Christchurch.
Brian Easton will have a few words to say on the austerity program in the economy on radionz between 8.30 and 9 I think.
No Combrendo, still, aye, Standardistas?
Anyway – Those that may bother to get out of their little spaces, and away from blogs and PC or laptop screens:
01 May 2013:
Labour Action against the owners of Pak’n Save supermarket, at Royal Oak, Manukau Road, Auckland (just near the roundabout), due to decision by that employer to introduce and accept the new youth wage rate at about $ 11 per hour, below the minimum wage of $ 13 something, close to $ 14, as it applies to adults! Also are there other employment issues of staff employed there, First Union have more info. AAAP and others are preparing to take action and present a picket there.
As far as I know they used to have a collective agreement, but only on that site, and it appears to be under threat.
I encourage all in the area to join and support the workers at that supermarket, especially the youth ones, 16 to 19. They are in award negotiations and need all support. Also consider doing your shopping somewhere else, at least for a time, until they have come to the party to pay staff what they deserve.
The minimum wage, also there paid to largely migrant workers, is not sufficient to survive on, and it is an insult as it is. A living wage would be better, but we are fighting to simply even defend the minimum legal wage for those that will likely be short changed!
Also on 01 May 2013:
Joe Carolan communicated that due to a breakdown in negotiations with Mc Donald’s, there will be a 01 May picket outside McDonald’s in Queen Street at 03:30 pm on Mayday.
If any have questions about Mayday, perhaps do a search, look up Wikipedia or else, it has tradition with workers being shot and killed in Chicago some many years ago, for standing up for their worker’s rights, but Mayday is a celebrated Worker’s Day in many countries, in Europe, some countries in Asia, and for some here in Aotearoa NZ.
Labour Day is another affair, but some of us think that Mayday is the day to stand up, take a stand, join others and make a point. So a couple of pickets at mentioned venues will serve the purpose to a degree, and all are asked and invited to join!
Thank you.
The action at Pak’ Save Royal Oak, Auckland is planned for 08:30 am on Wednesday (“benefit day” for the unemployed), 01 May 2013 – MAYDAY!
Unemployed be mindful, a new, harsh, draconian regime for yours and other beneficiaries will start 15 July this year, due to law changes, so be prepared. Also sick and disabled, the onslaught and harassment will hit you and force you to look for work, so show solidarity thanks!