Defense, like lor’in’orda is a National party shibboleth. And they have failed to deliver. Worse they are planning to shrink it further.
Couple of quick questions…
* is the world in 2011 any safer than before, can we afford to let our gaurd down and be at the mercy of whoever decides to rip off our fisheries, threaten trade routes, attack our strategic partners and interests?
* is it right that we are allowing the private sector to take over key defense roles as opposed to keepig all military related activities independent? Will the corporations and mercenaries end up being the front line as has happened in Iraq with the US military?
The silence on this issue from the left is deafening.
The privatisation of the defence forces is disquieting for a host of reasons. So is Labour’s acquiescence. They have stated they are happy with basic concept of ‘civilianization’.
Vto, the McGillicuddies have been practicising with flour bombs since the 1970s, and furthermore have always been ‘civilianized’ – they also offered the cheapest defence policy. Clearly someone in the National Party has been reading their manifestos…
Putting on my right wing hat, I’d be very pissed off with that. Saving a couple dozen $K on civilianising a few hundred defence force personal’s positions sounds like very lefty government ideals gone mad…
But in this case case, this is the Nats + crew doing the cutting. Personally I think it’s better for our fighting forces to also have capable soldiers defending themselves and building infrastructure is just as important as the frontlines.
Saving a couple dozen $K on civilianising a few hundred defence force personal’s positions sounds like very lefty government ideals gone mad…
You clearly don’t know Left from Right very much. Firing Defence Force personal has nothing to do with Left ideals of community, socialism or direct employment. Quite the opposite.
The last 20 years is educational about defence. During the 1990s, despite how much the RWNJs seem to have a fetish for guns, National ran down the defence forces. Over the 2000s the Left leaning government began to built them up and now we have a National led government, again against their apparent desire to get in to wars and be a credible force, cutting them to the bare bones. This time though it also comes with guaranteed, no risk profits for their rich mates.
Defence is a core government service that also strategic information that you don’t want others to know, ergo, you should never contract any of it out.
I’m just saying, if it was Labour and co doing the cutting the right wingers would be crying blue murder and treason etc. I’m just trying to illustrate the hypocrisy.
I’m never going to marry you, quit the hints, your too limp and unimportant for my liking, you have no true courage, your not manly enough for me, you are sly, sloppy and second-rate and you ALWAYS take the easy way out- cheating, and lying.
You call yourself a wolf; please you are more like a sewer rat.
Bored, the National “Once Were Farmers”, “Once Were Conservatives”, “Once Were Small Businessmen” Party is now just a barely disguised and barely held back implementation group for economic neoliberals and corporate interests.
Anything which can degrade the nations sovereign strength and let them cut even more taxes for the rich boys is welcome by this bunch.
I was just saying to someone yesterday (echoing remarks by DTB), that we should have the local ability to make AK 101’s (or AK 103’s), ammunition and high explosives for our armed forces here in NZ. Relying on fragile Steyrs and imported parts from across the world is stupid in a time of peak oil and supply chain fragilities.
New Zealand needs to build up its local military, home and coastal defence capabilities, not strip it back.
I thought it was sad how that guy that developed lightweight diesel powered helicopter drones (24hr flight time) was bought out and jailed for hiding his Intellectual Property.
Shame our government didn’t capitalise on that kind of technology, could have really helped to give us kiwi-underdogs the edge.
No doubt it was illegal to withold the IP if that was part of the deal, I’m just pointing out that there was some serious potential in the product and tech which could have helped us, and it’s potential was ignored and wasted by our government. Simply yet another tech opportunity wasted and lost AFAIC.
“The silence on this issue from the left is deafening.”
Of for Flying Spaghetti Monster’s sakes – the government is making hundreds redundant throughout the civil sector on an almost daily basis!! It’s frickin’ hard to keep up with the next batch of sackings.
How about the Right taking Personal Responsibility in this matter? It’s right wing/National supporters who voted in this government – you guys deal with it. Why the feck do you expect the left to continually address policies that this government implements, and then some rightwingers happen to take exception to???
The Right claim ‘Personal Responsibility’ as one of their most basic tenets.
I see precious little of any National supporter taking personal responsibility for their government’s behaviour, thus far.
And a third question… how on earth did a trade trip turn into one that increased defence ties with India, including a defence advisor being located there at the same time as jobs are being lost in the military here? I’ve not seen any news about this pact (outside of the Stuff news item ). Nothing here about how, what, where this relationship will operate. It all seems a bit strange to me.
So first the government changed employment law to accommodate Warner Bros.
Then it bowed to Auckland Casino.
And most lately scraped to the insurance companies to protect them from public outrage over cover for Christchurch customers.
Last night on Campbell live the spokeperson for AMI excused insurance companies not doing the morally right thing on the grounds that it would cost money.
So only repairs get paid for on houses in red zones. And then the houses get demolished. The government pays GV, ie insurance companies get off the hook. Which means (among other anomalies) that uninsured Christchurch residents who will receive nothing from either the government nor insurance companies are going to be making a financial contribution to those who were insured…or more accurately, subsidising the insurance companies along with every other tax payer in NZ.
If the government hadn’t essentially bailed the insurance industry, public opinion may well have forced the insurance industry to ‘come to the party’ and either pay replacement value for badly damaged homes regardless of where rebuilding was located or pay for repairs of an order that would avoid land remediation (deep piles sunk to bed rock etc).
I made a comment last week to the effect that the government should compulsorily purchase land to the west of the city and that that land should be treated (for insurance purposes etc) as though it was the original land in the east.
But then, that would have put people’s needs first, cost us all a lot less money and placed insurance companies balance sheets second in the scheme of things.
What is this lot in government doing?
Hmm, not good.
Power in their hands
is not being used with integrity,
fairness and for overall benefit of the many.
How this lot is going about with overseas trade
can give rise to some foreboding.
With a sleight of their hands,
New Zealand’s free trade with other countries
can end up with us being handed over as free gift.
When the AMI chap was asked if the Replacement Insurance issue had been discussed when negotiating with Government, he looked uncomfortable and said that there had been discussions about many aspects, or words to that effect. It suggests that Mr Brownlie knew well what was about to happen but that presumably could not get in the way of Mr Key’s “good” news could it.
(At least the AMI chap fronted.)
I’m amazed to hear that its going to take as long as 6-8 weeks before households start receiving their offer letters from the Government’s deal. Everything is moving so sloooooowwwwly.
Its like its all being improvised on the spot and things which have been announced haven’t actually been thought through or back office systems actually set up to support them (you know, all those useless unproductive bureaucrats).
Christchurch is going to lose National the election. Chickens and roosts haven’t quite hit home time yet though.
It’s really like choosing one pig out of the same crowded shit filled sty. That’s what they call free choice I guess. Sorry I know that’s not much help.
The Government would not want publicity about, and comparisons drawn, regarding the dangers of ACC being privatised and run entirely according to the insurance model (and it’s not far from operating in that mode now). This is exactly what they do. Move heaven and earth to avoid paying out on large and/or longterm liabilities.
Most people’s impression of the reliablility of their insurer (or ACC) comes from their experiences with their less serious and costly claims. Most people never experience dealing with an insurer in the case of catastrophe and hence the dirty tricks they will employ to cheat claimants.
It’s how they make their owners all those glorious profits.
Question. If I had replacement insurance and my house went on fire but was deemed repairable, then insurance would pay repairs. But what if gales three days later were sufficient to knock over the remaining weakened structure? Surely full replacement kicks in.
So what’s the difference between a government mandated bulldozer knocking over weakened structures and a strong wind, second fire or an after shock?
I’m astounded that government is aiding and abetting insurance companies to shirk their responsibilities. No I’m not. I’m sickened and angry.
Again. They could/should have purchased land to the west and passed a law mandating the transfer of insurance policies from land lot ‘a’ to land lot ‘b’. Compulsory purchases are used for roading projects. Why not in the case of housing ‘half’ a city? Surely cheaper than paying GV on eastern properties?
For those who wished to stay on in the east, insurance companies should have been made to pay for effective repairs….including deep piles etc. Where infrastructure was not going to be repaired and replaced, then council insurance payouts should have put towards the installation of quake resistant septic tanks and water tanks.
The trouble is the overseas reinsurers (who are faceless) are the ones saying to NZ insurance companies that they only have to repair unless a total right off; condition of reinsurance. A lot of money is being made off shore by little NZ.
Anyone considered the numerous TV (and internet ads) suggesting we change power companies?
Presumably the government is paying for these, but why? Aren’t we supposed to be looking for savings?
I did the whole powerswitch.org.nz thing a few years back, and following the ads decided to revisit – guess what, the results were the same.
Am I being paranoid in thinking there may be some ulterior motive, fiddling the inflation figures, downscaling the business of certain power companies?
I work in the electric power industry (for a meter reading company) and I tell you the one thing that keeps power prices up is the extensive ticket clipping and duplication throughout the industry. Everything is split up and contracted and subcontracted to point where people don’t know which company does what tasks in what area, and it is quite common for a work order to pass through 2 or 3 different companies before it even gets to someone that does it.
Yeah I went and had a look and wow I can save 150 a year for that I probably have to screw around signing odd bits of paper for direct debit permissions and all the other bull shit. But i’ll stick with who I am with. Because I dont want to have to hassle around every week, or when ever, just to save 3 bucks a week. and they have done nothing to warrant me changing anyway, and their call center is in NZ.
The same company came out as the cheapest – maybe lots of people didn’t know about this, but in a climate where ‘mum and dad investors’ might be interested in buy state assets it seems a strange coincidence for a govt to go messing with peoples power choices.
This line is bs “Cathy Odgers is expected to address one of Act’s weaknesses, its appeal to women and especially to young women.”
What was Heather Roy, an old male? Say what you want about Heather, she’s been pretty effective in her areas and she’s not unappealing to women…at least the women I know across a range of political beliefs seem to rate her. Hard to see how ‘Kate’ will be more appealing…
Yeah thats NACT spin. You don’t replace a known MP who has good name recognition and broad appeal (well, for an ACT MP anyways) with someone known only in highly politicised circles. Unless you have to.
WIMP-WALLOPING: Williams and Ralston vs. Pagani, 28.6.11
The Huddle, NewstalkZB, Tuesday 28 June 2011, 5.40 p.m.
Today’s Huddle is: Larry Williams, Bill Ralston, John Pagani.
This programme is nothing less than a travesty of broadcasting. It’s never any good, but nevertheless it’s quite interesting as an example of how voices of the right (actually, the extreme right) capture and dominate a discussion unless they are forthrightly challenged or resisted. It ostensibly aims to pit a right winger against a left winger to comment on issues in the news. Of course, it’s always two against one, as host Larry Williams is rabidly and bitterly right wing, and candidly pro-government in all his views. Williams habitually interrupts and scoffs at the liberal guest, and lets the right winger talk all over the left winger and butt in at will.
The right wingers are the usual suspects: Bill Ralston, his ghastly wife Janet Wilson, the superficially jolly but deeply racist and reactionary Jock Anderson, David Farrar, Michele Boag, Ellen Read. Until his death on September 22nd last year, perhaps the most obnoxious wimp-walloper of all was the notoriously rude and intolerant Graeme Hunt (RIP). But all of these people have the same modus operandi—none of them ever concedes a point, and they are encouraged and supported unconditionally by Williams.
Sadly, on “The Huddle”, as on so many other radio programmes, the appointed “left” voice is usually a patsy, playing pretty much the same role as the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters. Three of the regular patsies are Matt Nippert, John Pagani and Tim Watkin. It’s not that Nippert, Pagani or Watkin are incapable; every one of them is far more intelligent and better informed than any of the people named above, but they all lack one indispensable quality: courage. None of them ever challenges his opponents forthrightly. They are polite and good-humored to a fault; they make good strong points and then let Williams or the other guest snort in derision and make a disparaging, dismissive comment.
Anyway, let’s see how they walloped the wimp on Tuesday 28 June…
LARRY WILLIAMS: All right, first issue is Alisdair Thompson. What’s gonna happen to him? Why is it taking so long?
JOHN PAGANI: He’s got the lawyers in to plead his case. This is rank hypocrisy, because he is totally opposed to workers having the right to use lawyers in employment disputes.
WILLIAMS: [impatiently] Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Bill, what do you think?
BILL RALSTON: We’re seeing this lynch mob come out as they did for Paul Holmes and Paul Henry! It’s a liberal left lynch mob!
WILLIAMS: Yeah!
PAGANI: I take a bit of issue with the lynch-mob comment. He made those comments and—
RALSTON: [brusquely] Oh come on, John! The guy was set up by the liberal left lynch mob!
WILLIAMS: Mmmmm. Yeah!
RALSTON: The guy had no media skills! It was a liberal lynch mob!
WILLIAMS: Mmmmm, yeah. You’re right. Back in a minute, it’s 15 to 6.
——-ADVERTISEMENTS——-
WILLIAMS: We’re back with The Huddle. Issue number two: Vote For Change. Bob Harvey’s changed his mind on MMP, Bill!
RALSTON: It’s a discussion we need to have!
PAGANI: They don’t do themselves much favor, this anti-MMP mob. It’s a very secretive organization, it’s closed and non-democratic. There’s an excellent analysis of them on Tim Watkin’s Pundit site toda—
RALSTON: Arrrrggghh! Watkin’s a left-winger, and his views are biased! He has no credibility!
WILLIAMS: Yeah. All right, issue number three: Ian Wishart’s book about the Kahui twins.
RALSTON: I have no time for Ian Wishart. He’s not an investigative journalist.
—————————-
I remember a neighbour telling me in 1996 that Ralston was a “good left-wing man”, and even back then, I told her to look closer… the rot set in when he left his wife for Janet, then he turned against solo mothers (such as his ex-wife) with a vengeance. Then he extended that to all beneficiaries…
So, Ralston really is the Right-Wing Tosser I always thought him to be !
Like most reasonably discerning people, I make a habit of avoiding Commercial Radio if I can. But back in the early 90s, I’d occassionally listen to Ralston on 2ZB. Richard Griffin was a frequent guest on the programme. Both appeared at the time to have a basic default-setting of banal National Party apologetics.
Over recent years, I’ve only come across Ralston via his dreary, turgid weekly column in the Listener (pure filler material). Good to have my initial instincts all those years ago confirmed. Presumably his “ghastly wife” 🙂 🙂 🙂 Janet Wilson is also a Nactie ? Can’t say I could ever discern her personal politics from her TV current affairs days, but I have to admit her personality always irritated me a little (always preferred ‘Black Janet’ to “White Janet’).
That the authorities had no plan to deal with the aftermath of an earthquake disaster striking one of New Zealand’s main cities. Bloody useless. The bureacrats should be sued. Or at least placed in the stocks for public ridicule and tomato throwing.
Will be tough to execute your suggestion.
NZ has been kissing goodbye to bureaucrats. From being capped to being zapped.
They are not frontline but backroom operators – remember this government making a song and dance about efficiencies and other rhetorical claptrap?
Do you think it’s right for the far left to [deleted]
[lprent: *sigh* If you want to use something like that – then link to it and explain its relevance. Otherwise I just consider it to be diversion trolling. Next time I see you do it, you’ll get an educative holiday. ]
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike as it appears to be a different topic to that of the post it was on. ]
Be keen to see Cactus Kate ‘honestly’ defend her perfect candidacy, especially to Brash’s Exclusive Brethen mates, when she openly boasts to…
– extra marital relations with men(tick)
– weakness for hot male groupies (tick)
– has made a career out of assisting others give less money to governments to waste (tick)
– admitted recreational drug use (tick)
– likes champagne (tick)
– random bouts of tourettes (tick)
– a late night partying record equal to Winston Peters (tick).
– honest about all of the above (tick)
Use your brain lprent. Zetetic says that the comments of one act person are indicative of the misogyny of the far right. If that is true then the comments of bomber towards cactus are indicative of the misogyny and hate of the far left. Bomber’s stupid comment comparing Cactus to Graham Capill are in that vein. But you won’t find it in a link to bomber’s site because bomber deleted it, there are still comments that refer to it. Bomber also tweeted it. You can see screenshots of it here http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-quotes-of-day-bomber-in-gutter.html
So what’s the relevance lprent? If it is good enough to say that the stupid comments of one indicate the hatred of the right, then it’s equally valid to say that the stupid comments of one on the left indicate the hatred of the left.
[lprent: Then as I said – do the simple thing and link to it explaining why you think it is significant. Then readers can go, look and make up their own mind.
Otherwise what we see is just you spinning your own interpolation on whatever it is without relating it to the post (which you tried to do this time – but didn’t address the post at all). Your interpretations are notably quite suspect (to be precise they look like diversion trolling).
I have bumped this to OpenMike as it appears to be severely off topic
BTW: If I have to say the same thing again I’ll reduce my workload. ]
Do you think someone who admittedly swears like a trooper, uses illegal drugs, parties hard with male groupies and sleeps with other peoples husbands who she’s probably helped dodge taxes and boasts about it online is a good candidate for ACT.
…and really, blowing shit up off throwaway lines from twitter. Is that all she’s got ?
I think the comments made by Act’s Peter McCaffrey on the Act Party website trying to justify Cameron Browne’s “get raped” insult is indicative of the far right’s misogyny.
“The rot and decay at the heart of the global financial system is deepening and extending. This is the conclusion to emerge from the annual report of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released on Sunday.
The BIS, sometimes referred to as the central bankers’ bank, was one of the few institutions that pointed to the dangerous imbalances in the global financial system that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Three years on its annual report gives clear indications that another financial crisis is in the making.”
When the arch-capitalist bankers of the world get this twitchy, though, we can be assured they are planning their next move, whatever that may be (and its not just recommending reducing government debt and spending etc. etc.).
ACT on Campus Auckland vice-president Cameron Wayne Browne recently told somebody to “get raped.” Apparently he was having a heated debate on Facebook when he made the unacceptable comment. Being that rape is not acceptable under any circumstances, using such a chauvinistic remark is disgusting! The use of such derogatory language shows a lack of debating skill, not to mention a level of stupidity as thick as a short plank…
A few reflections, after returning from a visit to relatives in Sydney: firstly, you run into kiwis whichever way you turn; working, eating kebabs at the market, celebrating their birthdays at the pub, etc. Secondly, despite the political dialogue, which I shall get to shortly, an ordinary level of wellbeing is still pretty widespread, and not a reason for self-congratulation – being able to pay your bills, solve your problems and go out with your mates on Friday night is the default rather than the aspiration.
Political statements and current affairs shows are eerie in that the are virtually identical to those in NZ, but peppered with local examples. For instance, Joe Hockey promises tax cuts for “struggling Aussies” to be paid for by cutting down on the “bloated public service,” whose numbers were allegedly inflated by Julia Gillard. Instead of a boxer getting the sickness benefit for tennis elbow while training for a match, we were treated to a woman organising cat shows, carrying cages about while getting the sickness pension for a bad back. These are just two examples, but the overall tone was enough to turn you into a conspiracy theorist. It is as if the pollies and the MSM everywhere have silicone chips planted in their heads, so as to generate utterances formulated by an evil alien for world-wide distribution. It was very odd seeing Hockey saying identical sentences to those of Key or English, with a facial expression suggestive of actual thought. On the positive side, their ABC media watch is hard-hitting and really does call the media out for lying etc.
Looking at the NZ news from there; such as the plans to abolish public housing and reintroduce youth rates, I felt deeply puzzled by the apparent national indifference to the poor and low -paid, especially since there seems to be no positive plan beyond these plans, and I came to think that there are elements in NZ that actually want the poor to bugger off, or to somehow disappear from view. Another relative, waiting to pick me up from the airport, got into conversation with a woman who was also waiting for someone. “My husband left me with six kids,” she said, “Some people blame me for having them, but you just have to get on with it don’t you. It doesn’t make much difference financially whether I work or not, it’s still a struggle either way. I feel frightened every day.”
I/S brings our attention to a couple of things that’s happened lately. The first is this:
So, John Key goes to India seeking progress on a free-trade agreement, and comes back with closer defence ties. Its completely out of the blue, and quite alarming.
It appears that we’ve also signed up to some sort of the defensive pact with India as well as an FTA.
Another day, another 600 job losses – 300 from the NZDF (who will apparently be able to reapply for their old jobs, though with reduced pay and conditions – something which would be unlawful for any other employer), and 300 at a meat works in Waipukurau. This is what happens when you leave the market to “sort itself out”. This is what happens when the government sits on its hands and does nothing: ruined lives, insecurity, and misery.
Unbeflippinglievable! I have just heard on 3News, that the Warehouse and Paper Plus are “banning” Macsyna King’s forthcoming book. Where do they get off doing that? The 3 News reporter said that between them they have 195 “stores” (sic) and so that amounts to censorship, not that I would ever buy a book at the Whorehouse…
Normally, I don’t read books by Ian Wishart, (my blood pressure can’t take it), but I want to read this one, even if only to see what the woman has to say for herself. But have we become even more like the USA where this kind of thing would (from what I see) fine?
Actually, Vicky, there would be an even more compelling case for people to boycott Paper Plus until it gets rid of its “book reviewer” Kerre Woodham, and the Warehouse for its deleterious effects on local shops wherever it goes (not to mention its shoddy merchandise and the bored, overworked staff).
Kerre Woodham is their reviewer? Oh no…. I hadn’t known. Yet another reason, then.
The Facebook page shows a “mob mentality”, which my sister (!) who’s in favour of the boycott openly accused me of showing when I opposed the boycott! Insane…
It’s called free choice. The bookstores have the right to decide not to stock whatever they want. Where do you get off feeling that you can tell them that they MUST stock such-and-such book?
Anyway, the book will be sold through other vendors, so you will be quite able to read it.
The bookstores have the right to decide not to stock whatever they want.
And I have a right to boycott those “stores” (sic) and call for others to do so, as Gary McCormick reportedly is doing…
As the former Publishers Association head said on the radio this morning, it sets a very dangerous precedent. No book on a ‘controversial’ subject would be safe. I think most of it is a bunch of illiterate talkback listeners but some of it is simply an anti-Wishart campaign.
They’ve bombed TradeMe, and 87% against 13% on the poll, have got TradeMe refusing to sell it. So, what other vendors are those then?
I have absolutely no time for Wishart, but placing restrictions on books like this is a bit too uncomfortably like regimes and groups that ban, bowdlerize and burn books.
I have absolutely no time for Wishart, but placing restrictions on books like this is a bit too uncomfortably like regimes and groups that ban, bowdlerize and burn books.
According to NewstalkZB’s own website Bruce Russell “likes to bring his sense of humour to his overnight talk show, but the serious issues are also tackled.” It also claims that Russell “is widely read, and can talk with people on just about any subject they raise…” http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/featdetailnew.asp?recnumber=2&menu=3&menuitem=2
Well, let’s have a look how Russell performed last night from eight till midnight. Let’s check out that vaunted “sense of humour”, see how he tackles a very serious issue, and how his “wide reading” elevates the tone of his show….
28.6.11 NewstalkZB, 8:00 to 12 midnight
CALLER GEOFF: That lady who said Maori kids should be taken out of their homes and put into a Pakeha family was ridiculous.
BRUCE RUSSELL: It was a generalization.
CALLER: It wasn’t a generalization, it was downright backward.
RUSSELL: I don’t know why you’re upset and aggressive! The statistics show that 54 per cent of bashed kids are Maori!
Later another woman tells Russell that it’s not as simple as he says and his statistics are bogus. Such namby-pamby liberal claptrap infuriates this widely read host…
RUSSELL: See, I don’t agree with that disadvantage thing! Hopelessness is not a reason to bash your kids! Pacific Islanders don’t bash their kids. Why do I have to be careful with statistics?
MALE CALLER: It’s due to savagery, animal instinct. These people have just come out of cannibalism. It’s still in their gene pool. Samoans are a very bad violent race as well.
FEMALE CALLER: They’re violent, and they won’t work! They have loads of money! They’re lazy!
RUSSELL: Well they are just enjoying life on the dole. No responsibility. I honestly don’t believe that because your land was taken off you, that you bash your kids. See Hone Harawira is a good example. The rhetoric and the racism that comes from that joker is appalling!
CALLER: It’s these flaming left liberals, Bruce! And why the hell are the police showing bloody cultural sensitivity to Maori?
RUSSELL: I’ve got quite a few e-mails here, all about the topic under discussion tonight. The first one reads: “Culture schmulture.” Thank you Jackie. “Why do we pay these dropouts to have children?” That was another Jackie. “It’s the warrior gene”, says Richie. Hello, Diane.
CALLER DIANE: I live next door to a Maori and he is so embarrassed. He wishes he was a Fijian! What’s the pronunciation these days, Maori or Marry?
RUSSELL: I’m afraid I’m still very condemning of the sort of lifestyle of people like Macsyna King. You come to the conclusion that some people should not be allowed to have children.
MALE CALLER: They have all this Treaty money, Bruce! But they spend it all on drink and weed!
RUSSELL: You would think they would be a very wealthy society and wouldn’t need to lay around on the benefit.
Im getting really sick of these redneck brownshirt douchebags/douchettes.
One thing wrong, there, Millsy. These people are bigots, not rednecks. Bruce Russell has done about as much work in the hot sun as he has “read widely”.
Please don’t confuse rednecks (i.e., working men) with moronic bigots.
All you need to know about the country’s commander-in-chief … headlines taken from Newstalk ZB:
1) 29/06/2011 13:56:01 No Kiwis caught in attack in Kabul – PM
2) 29/06/2011 17:46:00 Two SAS soldiers have been injured during a firefight with insurgents in Afghanistan today
That’s right. The Prime Minister knew diddly squat about what was going on in Kabul, and what NZ troops were doing, but that didn’t stop him pretending he did.
So, let’s ask again – who’s better informed on Afghanistan and the SAS? John Stephenson or John Key? A reporter who goes there and investigates, or a puppety-parrot?
I know. Between him and Murray Mc’Present’ it’s the worst foreign affairs team in living memory. I wonder how much input Mfat had into this ‘closer defence relationship’ with India surprise!!
this journo on the ground seems to be on the kabul story too BTW:
John Key recently sent out a personally addressed letter entitled Budget 2011 – Back to surplus sooner, better services for families. It was sent to people who are not National Party members or registered with National in any way and was mainly targeted at pensioners. There are two ways National might have attained the addresses that they sent their unsolicited letter to: 1. The Work and Income database. 2. The electoral role.
Yeah, could be something like that. But it’s definitely worth asking the question and it’ll be interesting to see the official response to the complaint Jackal has made to the Privacy Commissioner.
At last, we can see security camera footage of IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn gauchely propositioning a maid at the Sofitel Hotel, New York City on May 14, 2011.
Not happy with inferring that government could cure all sick beneficiaries within two years, when Bennett exclaimed the sickness benefit was on meant to be temporary, as if all illnesses last only two years. Bennett has gone further, her Ministry now believes forcing people into work will cure them, with the miracle that her department does not need to consider the nature of the illness, the unsuitable of the work. Work will set them free. Adequate work is a social right of all citizens, does not mean government can ignore the rest of the civil rights of citizens, their capacity, their needs, and force via threats to seek more than adequate work, inappropriate work, or be dismissed as a new class of untouchable marginalize and deprived. Has serfdom arrived under National? Surely not? Well you could move to Australia so ignore the role of government to run the economy fairly for all, hardly a choice.
What a mess this country is in .One of the worlds worst ongoing disasters and did the PM go to the UN for help? not that Ive heard .When all the available engineering brains in the country can work out what needs to be done with ChCh and create a blue print for future may be the Govt can get their bearings instead of this unqualified crap that they see as being the way forward .They have put the people of ChCh at the mercy of the insurance industry who clearly dont have the funds to finance all their obligations . AMI stadium is living proof a statement to that particular company .
Then we have our disintegrating democracy ,the same bunch of right wing fascists once again trying to rid the country of any true representation of the vote in our general elections.Hammering the masses out of their rights to any power in their govt .This govt should be put on a boat and feed to the sharks
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
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The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassy Dittman, Senior Lecturer/Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology), Research Fellow, Manna Institute, CQUniversity Australia With winter sports swinging into action, adults around the country have volunteered or been volunteered by others (humorously known as being “volun-told”) to coach junior sports teams. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University richardernestyap/Shutterstock Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to reduce or prevent discomfort crying, or to ...
Workers at a major ASB contact centre in Auckland have voted to take strike action and withdraw their labour following disappointing pay negotiations with the employer and an "offer" to workers that would leave them worse off than the previous year. ...
As the government tries to get the country back on track with a school phone ban, Tara Ward has an idea for where they should turn their attention to next.New Zealand students returned to school on Monday morning, but their cellphones did not. The government’s new phone ban began ...
The Labour Party is demanding Peters be stood down, saying "he's embarrassed the country" with a "totally unacceptable" attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. ...
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, whose members were victims of a China-backed cyber attack, is discussing forming a standing committee to deal with foreign influence. ...
The PSA is concerned that the voluntary redundancies being offered to staff by Stats NZ will impact on the agency’s ability to deliver on its core functions. ...
Results ranged from surprisingly yum to soul-destroying. I love cooking. The kitchen is a hearth of culinary creation, of sensory delights, of gastronomic poetry. I also can’t afford anything nice. Why does a pack of instant noodles and some milk cost ten bucks? I love you, Aotearoa, but I miss ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
He’s fine but it feels like I’m losing a friend and it’s making me bitter. How do I say ‘enough is enough’? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHey Hera,I’ve recently moved in with a girlfriend, her partner Steve, and his friend. We all live in a lovely little house. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Chartres, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney shutterstockAhmet Misirligul/Shutterstock You go to the gym, eat healthy and walk as much as possible. You wash your hands and get vaccinated. You control your health. This is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Hendriks, Research Fellow and Lecturer, Curtin University Children and young people may be seeing news headlines about men murdering women or footage of people rallying to call for action. Perhaps they or their friends have even gone to the protests. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University ABC “Bluey mania” shows no sign of abating. Bluey’s season finale, The Sign, was the most viewed ABC program of all time on iView. A “hidden” follow-up episode, aptly named The Surprise, created ...
Labour market figures came in softer than the Reserve Bank had forecast, but they won’t be enough to move the needle on interest rates, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Unemployment ...
The campaign will engage the community and encourage submissions on the bill to the New Zealand government by the closing submission deadline of Friday 31st of May 2024 4pm. ...
The paper raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand's political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency plays in that. ...
The Urban Habitat Collective was an attempt to built an innovative new form of apartment building in Wellington. Here’s why it failed, and why the idea could still work, writes co-founder Bronwen Newton. When we started the Urban Habitat Collective in November 2018, we thought we were starting a revolution, ...
Two decades ago this week, a controversial law that attempted to define ownership of the foreshore and seabed prompted a formidable display of outrage and kōtahitanga as 15,000 marched to parliament. Jamie Tahana looks back.‘Hīkoi, hīkoi,” they chanted by the thousands as the biggest Māori march in a generation ...
A Labour Party Member’s Bill aims to plug a culpability gap between manslaughter and health and safety breaches The post New push for corporate killing laws appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Terence O’Brien had the rare and no doubt undesired distinction of rising to one of the most exalted positions in New Zealand diplomacy, then being unceremoniously recalled to Wellington without explanation just when his career was at its zenith. What is perhaps more surprising is that he appears to have ...
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Why has New Zealand slipped from third to 12th on Quality of Death Indexes over the past decade or so? Hospice New Zealand Chief Executive Wayne Naylor has a list of reasons. “We don’t have a current national strategy – the Government hasn’t renewed our 2001 strategy, so we don’t ...
While women’s sport is exploding in Aotearoa and around the world, you still don’t hear a lot of talk about athletes and their periods, RED-S, breastfeeding and visible panty-lines. SASS (Suze and Sez Sports)Talk isn’t afraid to have that kōrero.LockerRoom founder Suzanne McFadden and Olympian broadcaster Sarah ...
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Responding to the long-awaited release of judges’ special allowances, including free air travel and hotels for spouses, generous sabbaticals, and access to limousines, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said: “In what world does your employer ...
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Lawyers representing two iwi as well as the Māori Women’s Welfare League on Wednesday asked the Court of Appeal to overturn last week’s High Court decision on the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision to summons Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Tribunal is currently investigating the Government’s decision to repeal section 7AA of ...
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ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
Defense, like lor’in’orda is a National party shibboleth. And they have failed to deliver. Worse they are planning to shrink it further.
Couple of quick questions…
* is the world in 2011 any safer than before, can we afford to let our gaurd down and be at the mercy of whoever decides to rip off our fisheries, threaten trade routes, attack our strategic partners and interests?
* is it right that we are allowing the private sector to take over key defense roles as opposed to keepig all military related activities independent? Will the corporations and mercenaries end up being the front line as has happened in Iraq with the US military?
The silence on this issue from the left is deafening.
The privatisation of the defence forces is disquieting for a host of reasons. So is Labour’s acquiescence. They have stated they are happy with basic concept of ‘civilianization’.
Didn’t the left experiment successfully with flour bombs in 1981?
Vto, the McGillicuddies have been practicising with flour bombs since the 1970s, and furthermore have always been ‘civilianized’ – they also offered the cheapest defence policy. Clearly someone in the National Party has been reading their manifestos…
Labour has not abandoned their support for much of the Neo-Liberal paradigm.
Makes you wonder how serious they are about being a credible alternative to national.
Putting on my right wing hat, I’d be very pissed off with that. Saving a couple dozen $K on civilianising a few hundred defence force personal’s positions sounds like very lefty government ideals gone mad…
But in this case case, this is the Nats + crew doing the cutting. Personally I think it’s better for our fighting forces to also have capable soldiers defending themselves and building infrastructure is just as important as the frontlines.
You clearly don’t know Left from Right very much. Firing Defence Force personal has nothing to do with Left ideals of community, socialism or direct employment. Quite the opposite.
The last 20 years is educational about defence. During the 1990s, despite how much the RWNJs seem to have a fetish for guns, National ran down the defence forces. Over the 2000s the Left leaning government began to built them up and now we have a National led government, again against their apparent desire to get in to wars and be a credible force, cutting them to the bare bones. This time though it also comes with guaranteed, no risk profits for their rich mates.
Defence is a core government service that also strategic information that you don’t want others to know, ergo, you should never contract any of it out.
I’m just saying, if it was Labour and co doing the cutting the right wingers would be crying blue murder and treason etc. I’m just trying to illustrate the hypocrisy.
I’m never going to marry you, quit the hints, your too limp and unimportant for my liking, you have no true courage, your not manly enough for me, you are sly, sloppy and second-rate and you ALWAYS take the easy way out- cheating, and lying.
You call yourself a wolf; please you are more like a sewer rat.
Bored, the National “Once Were Farmers”, “Once Were Conservatives”, “Once Were Small Businessmen” Party is now just a barely disguised and barely held back implementation group for economic neoliberals and corporate interests.
Anything which can degrade the nations sovereign strength and let them cut even more taxes for the rich boys is welcome by this bunch.
I was just saying to someone yesterday (echoing remarks by DTB), that we should have the local ability to make AK 101’s (or AK 103’s), ammunition and high explosives for our armed forces here in NZ. Relying on fragile Steyrs and imported parts from across the world is stupid in a time of peak oil and supply chain fragilities.
New Zealand needs to build up its local military, home and coastal defence capabilities, not strip it back.
I thought it was sad how that guy that developed lightweight diesel powered helicopter drones (24hr flight time) was bought out and jailed for hiding his Intellectual Property.
Shame our government didn’t capitalise on that kind of technology, could have really helped to give us kiwi-underdogs the edge.
Kiwi underdog? Dya mean the former National Party MP who lied to the receivers of his failed business about a significant asset he was hiding?
Get it right, the scumbag sold the IP with the business. Him trying to hide it was effectively theft.
No doubt it was illegal to withold the IP if that was part of the deal, I’m just pointing out that there was some serious potential in the product and tech which could have helped us, and it’s potential was ignored and wasted by our government. Simply yet another tech opportunity wasted and lost AFAIC.
“The silence on this issue from the left is deafening.”
Of for Flying Spaghetti Monster’s sakes – the government is making hundreds redundant throughout the civil sector on an almost daily basis!! It’s frickin’ hard to keep up with the next batch of sackings.
How about the Right taking Personal Responsibility in this matter? It’s right wing/National supporters who voted in this government – you guys deal with it. Why the feck do you expect the left to continually address policies that this government implements, and then some rightwingers happen to take exception to???
The Right claim ‘Personal Responsibility’ as one of their most basic tenets.
I see precious little of any National supporter taking personal responsibility for their government’s behaviour, thus far.
The silence from the left has been deafening for far too long.
The Real Left, not a vague imitation pretend left 😈
And a third question… how on earth did a trade trip turn into one that increased defence ties with India, including a defence advisor being located there at the same time as jobs are being lost in the military here? I’ve not seen any news about this pact (outside of the Stuff news item ). Nothing here about how, what, where this relationship will operate. It all seems a bit strange to me.
So first the government changed employment law to accommodate Warner Bros.
Then it bowed to Auckland Casino.
And most lately scraped to the insurance companies to protect them from public outrage over cover for Christchurch customers.
Last night on Campbell live the spokeperson for AMI excused insurance companies not doing the morally right thing on the grounds that it would cost money.
So only repairs get paid for on houses in red zones. And then the houses get demolished. The government pays GV, ie insurance companies get off the hook. Which means (among other anomalies) that uninsured Christchurch residents who will receive nothing from either the government nor insurance companies are going to be making a financial contribution to those who were insured…or more accurately, subsidising the insurance companies along with every other tax payer in NZ.
If the government hadn’t essentially bailed the insurance industry, public opinion may well have forced the insurance industry to ‘come to the party’ and either pay replacement value for badly damaged homes regardless of where rebuilding was located or pay for repairs of an order that would avoid land remediation (deep piles sunk to bed rock etc).
I made a comment last week to the effect that the government should compulsorily purchase land to the west of the city and that that land should be treated (for insurance purposes etc) as though it was the original land in the east.
But then, that would have put people’s needs first, cost us all a lot less money and placed insurance companies balance sheets second in the scheme of things.
And even after being bailed out by the Government, insurance companies are not going to cover Christchurch City Council assets any more.
What are you fraking doing, National.
What is this lot in government doing?
Hmm, not good.
Power in their hands
is not being used with integrity,
fairness and for overall benefit of the many.
How this lot is going about with overseas trade
can give rise to some foreboding.
With a sleight of their hands,
New Zealand’s free trade with other countries
can end up with us being handed over as free gift.
Protecting the profits of Big Business. It’s what they do.
When the AMI chap was asked if the Replacement Insurance issue had been discussed when negotiating with Government, he looked uncomfortable and said that there had been discussions about many aspects, or words to that effect. It suggests that Mr Brownlie knew well what was about to happen but that presumably could not get in the way of Mr Key’s “good” news could it.
(At least the AMI chap fronted.)
I’m amazed to hear that its going to take as long as 6-8 weeks before households start receiving their offer letters from the Government’s deal. Everything is moving so sloooooowwwwly.
Its like its all being improvised on the spot and things which have been announced haven’t actually been thought through or back office systems actually set up to support them (you know, all those useless unproductive bureaucrats).
Christchurch is going to lose National the election. Chickens and roosts haven’t quite hit home time yet though.
I was staying loyal to AMI, now I am wavering… any recommendations
It’s really like choosing one pig out of the same crowded shit filled sty. That’s what they call free choice I guess. Sorry I know that’s not much help.
AA – according to my sources most likely to pay out in the event of disaster.
Do you know who provides the insurance to AA?
No idea
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/4981220/More-disaster-insuring-a-home-up-50pc
Looks like Australian finance giant Suncorp (who also owns Vero)
Well now, that’s interesting CV because Vero was an insurance company I was told had been instructed to ‘drag their heels’ on payouts to ChCh victims.
The Government would not want publicity about, and comparisons drawn, regarding the dangers of ACC being privatised and run entirely according to the insurance model (and it’s not far from operating in that mode now). This is exactly what they do. Move heaven and earth to avoid paying out on large and/or longterm liabilities.
Most people’s impression of the reliablility of their insurer (or ACC) comes from their experiences with their less serious and costly claims. Most people never experience dealing with an insurer in the case of catastrophe and hence the dirty tricks they will employ to cheat claimants.
It’s how they make their owners all those glorious profits.
Question. If I had replacement insurance and my house went on fire but was deemed repairable, then insurance would pay repairs. But what if gales three days later were sufficient to knock over the remaining weakened structure? Surely full replacement kicks in.
So what’s the difference between a government mandated bulldozer knocking over weakened structures and a strong wind, second fire or an after shock?
I’m astounded that government is aiding and abetting insurance companies to shirk their responsibilities. No I’m not. I’m sickened and angry.
Again. They could/should have purchased land to the west and passed a law mandating the transfer of insurance policies from land lot ‘a’ to land lot ‘b’. Compulsory purchases are used for roading projects. Why not in the case of housing ‘half’ a city? Surely cheaper than paying GV on eastern properties?
For those who wished to stay on in the east, insurance companies should have been made to pay for effective repairs….including deep piles etc. Where infrastructure was not going to be repaired and replaced, then council insurance payouts should have put towards the installation of quake resistant septic tanks and water tanks.
The trouble is the overseas reinsurers (who are faceless) are the ones saying to NZ insurance companies that they only have to repair unless a total right off; condition of reinsurance. A lot of money is being made off shore by little NZ.
from not by
Anyone considered the numerous TV (and internet ads) suggesting we change power companies?
Presumably the government is paying for these, but why? Aren’t we supposed to be looking for savings?
I did the whole powerswitch.org.nz thing a few years back, and following the ads decided to revisit – guess what, the results were the same.
Am I being paranoid in thinking there may be some ulterior motive, fiddling the inflation figures, downscaling the business of certain power companies?
What do you mean that “the results were the same?”
I work in the electric power industry (for a meter reading company) and I tell you the one thing that keeps power prices up is the extensive ticket clipping and duplication throughout the industry. Everything is split up and contracted and subcontracted to point where people don’t know which company does what tasks in what area, and it is quite common for a work order to pass through 2 or 3 different companies before it even gets to someone that does it.
Yeah I went and had a look and wow I can save 150 a year for that I probably have to screw around signing odd bits of paper for direct debit permissions and all the other bull shit. But i’ll stick with who I am with. Because I dont want to have to hassle around every week, or when ever, just to save 3 bucks a week. and they have done nothing to warrant me changing anyway, and their call center is in NZ.
The same company came out as the cheapest – maybe lots of people didn’t know about this, but in a climate where ‘mum and dad investors’ might be interested in buy state assets it seems a strange coincidence for a govt to go messing with peoples power choices.
Cactus Kate on the ACT list?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10734367
This line is bs “Cathy Odgers is expected to address one of Act’s weaknesses, its appeal to women and especially to young women.”
What was Heather Roy, an old male? Say what you want about Heather, she’s been pretty effective in her areas and she’s not unappealing to women…at least the women I know across a range of political beliefs seem to rate her. Hard to see how ‘Kate’ will be more appealing…
Yeah thats NACT spin. You don’t replace a known MP who has good name recognition and broad appeal (well, for an ACT MP anyways) with someone known only in highly politicised circles. Unless you have to.
WIMP-WALLOPING: Williams and Ralston vs. Pagani, 28.6.11
The Huddle, NewstalkZB, Tuesday 28 June 2011, 5.40 p.m.
Today’s Huddle is: Larry Williams, Bill Ralston, John Pagani.
This programme is nothing less than a travesty of broadcasting. It’s never any good, but nevertheless it’s quite interesting as an example of how voices of the right (actually, the extreme right) capture and dominate a discussion unless they are forthrightly challenged or resisted. It ostensibly aims to pit a right winger against a left winger to comment on issues in the news. Of course, it’s always two against one, as host Larry Williams is rabidly and bitterly right wing, and candidly pro-government in all his views. Williams habitually interrupts and scoffs at the liberal guest, and lets the right winger talk all over the left winger and butt in at will.
The right wingers are the usual suspects: Bill Ralston, his ghastly wife Janet Wilson, the superficially jolly but deeply racist and reactionary Jock Anderson, David Farrar, Michele Boag, Ellen Read. Until his death on September 22nd last year, perhaps the most obnoxious wimp-walloper of all was the notoriously rude and intolerant Graeme Hunt (RIP). But all of these people have the same modus operandi—none of them ever concedes a point, and they are encouraged and supported unconditionally by Williams.
Sadly, on “The Huddle”, as on so many other radio programmes, the appointed “left” voice is usually a patsy, playing pretty much the same role as the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters. Three of the regular patsies are Matt Nippert, John Pagani and Tim Watkin. It’s not that Nippert, Pagani or Watkin are incapable; every one of them is far more intelligent and better informed than any of the people named above, but they all lack one indispensable quality: courage. None of them ever challenges his opponents forthrightly. They are polite and good-humored to a fault; they make good strong points and then let Williams or the other guest snort in derision and make a disparaging, dismissive comment.
Anyway, let’s see how they walloped the wimp on Tuesday 28 June…
LARRY WILLIAMS: All right, first issue is Alisdair Thompson. What’s gonna happen to him? Why is it taking so long?
JOHN PAGANI: He’s got the lawyers in to plead his case. This is rank hypocrisy, because he is totally opposed to workers having the right to use lawyers in employment disputes.
WILLIAMS: [impatiently] Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Bill, what do you think?
BILL RALSTON: We’re seeing this lynch mob come out as they did for Paul Holmes and Paul Henry! It’s a liberal left lynch mob!
WILLIAMS: Yeah!
PAGANI: I take a bit of issue with the lynch-mob comment. He made those comments and—
RALSTON: [brusquely] Oh come on, John! The guy was set up by the liberal left lynch mob!
WILLIAMS: Mmmmm. Yeah!
RALSTON: The guy had no media skills! It was a liberal lynch mob!
WILLIAMS: Mmmmm, yeah. You’re right. Back in a minute, it’s 15 to 6.
——-ADVERTISEMENTS——-
WILLIAMS: We’re back with The Huddle. Issue number two: Vote For Change. Bob Harvey’s changed his mind on MMP, Bill!
RALSTON: It’s a discussion we need to have!
PAGANI: They don’t do themselves much favor, this anti-MMP mob. It’s a very secretive organization, it’s closed and non-democratic. There’s an excellent analysis of them on Tim Watkin’s Pundit site toda—
RALSTON: Arrrrggghh! Watkin’s a left-winger, and his views are biased! He has no credibility!
WILLIAMS: Yeah. All right, issue number three: Ian Wishart’s book about the Kahui twins.
RALSTON: I have no time for Ian Wishart. He’s not an investigative journalist.
—————————-
Was that transcript for real, or a pisstake?
Which one would you hope for? 🙂
I’m in dread to think…
If real, Bill Ralston has turned into a very strange man.
I remember a neighbour telling me in 1996 that Ralston was a “good left-wing man”, and even back then, I told her to look closer… the rot set in when he left his wife for Janet, then he turned against solo mothers (such as his ex-wife) with a vengeance. Then he extended that to all beneficiaries…
It’s for real. I did not make up a single thing.
So, Ralston really is the Right-Wing Tosser I always thought him to be !
Like most reasonably discerning people, I make a habit of avoiding Commercial Radio if I can. But back in the early 90s, I’d occassionally listen to Ralston on 2ZB. Richard Griffin was a frequent guest on the programme. Both appeared at the time to have a basic default-setting of banal National Party apologetics.
Over recent years, I’ve only come across Ralston via his dreary, turgid weekly column in the Listener (pure filler material). Good to have my initial instincts all those years ago confirmed. Presumably his “ghastly wife” 🙂 🙂 🙂 Janet Wilson is also a Nactie ? Can’t say I could ever discern her personal politics from her TV current affairs days, but I have to admit her personality always irritated me a little (always preferred ‘Black Janet’ to “White Janet’).
Unexpected Earthquake Observation #120;
That the authorities had no plan to deal with the aftermath of an earthquake disaster striking one of New Zealand’s main cities. Bloody useless. The bureacrats should be sued. Or at least placed in the stocks for public ridicule and tomato throwing.
Will be tough to execute your suggestion.
NZ has been kissing goodbye to bureaucrats. From being capped to being zapped.
They are not frontline but backroom operators – remember this government making a song and dance about efficiencies and other rhetorical claptrap?
Do you think it’s right for the far left to [deleted]
[lprent: *sigh* If you want to use something like that – then link to it and explain its relevance. Otherwise I just consider it to be diversion trolling. Next time I see you do it, you’ll get an educative holiday. ]
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike as it appears to be a different topic to that of the post it was on. ]
Be keen to see Cactus Kate ‘honestly’ defend her perfect candidacy, especially to Brash’s Exclusive Brethen mates, when she openly boasts to…
– extra marital relations with men(tick)
– weakness for hot male groupies (tick)
– has made a career out of assisting others give less money to governments to waste (tick)
– admitted recreational drug use (tick)
– likes champagne (tick)
– random bouts of tourettes (tick)
– a late night partying record equal to Winston Peters (tick).
– honest about all of the above (tick)
Yes the perfect candidate.
http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2011/04/act-sequel.html#282247340283307413
…and then to see Brash defend her candidacy to the electorate.
Jeez Polly, excitable little lass methinks. Sounds like shes selling, but is anybody buying? Suspect not…….
Use your brain lprent. Zetetic says that the comments of one act person are indicative of the misogyny of the far right. If that is true then the comments of bomber towards cactus are indicative of the misogyny and hate of the far left. Bomber’s stupid comment comparing Cactus to Graham Capill are in that vein. But you won’t find it in a link to bomber’s site because bomber deleted it, there are still comments that refer to it. Bomber also tweeted it. You can see screenshots of it here http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-quotes-of-day-bomber-in-gutter.html
So what’s the relevance lprent? If it is good enough to say that the stupid comments of one indicate the hatred of the right, then it’s equally valid to say that the stupid comments of one on the left indicate the hatred of the left.
[lprent: Then as I said – do the simple thing and link to it explaining why you think it is significant. Then readers can go, look and make up their own mind.
Otherwise what we see is just you spinning your own interpolation on whatever it is without relating it to the post (which you tried to do this time – but didn’t address the post at all). Your interpretations are notably quite suspect (to be precise they look like diversion trolling).
I have bumped this to OpenMike as it appears to be severely off topic
BTW: If I have to say the same thing again I’ll reduce my workload. ]
Forget Bomber and his off kilter comparisons…
Do you think someone who admittedly swears like a trooper, uses illegal drugs, parties hard with male groupies and sleeps with other peoples husbands who she’s probably helped dodge taxes and boasts about it online is a good candidate for ACT.
…and really, blowing shit up off throwaway lines from twitter. Is that all she’s got ?
PFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTT…
Amoral and self interested. Perfect ACT material.
Aha. New age of Feminism!
I think the comments made by Act’s Peter McCaffrey on the Act Party website trying to justify Cameron Browne’s “get raped” insult is indicative of the far right’s misogyny.
An “educative holiday” at one of those nice socialist re-education camps
Warnings from the central bankers’ bank
“The rot and decay at the heart of the global financial system is deepening and extending. This is the conclusion to emerge from the annual report of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released on Sunday.
The BIS, sometimes referred to as the central bankers’ bank, was one of the few institutions that pointed to the dangerous imbalances in the global financial system that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Three years on its annual report gives clear indications that another financial crisis is in the making.”
Except this is not a crisis of finance. Its a crisis of the broader capitalist system of which the financial sector is but one part of.
When the arch-capitalist bankers of the world get this twitchy, though, we can be assured they are planning their next move, whatever that may be (and its not just recommending reducing government debt and spending etc. etc.).
Asshole of the Week Award – Cameron Browne
ACT on Campus Auckland vice-president Cameron Wayne Browne recently told somebody to “get raped.” Apparently he was having a heated debate on Facebook when he made the unacceptable comment. Being that rape is not acceptable under any circumstances, using such a chauvinistic remark is disgusting! The use of such derogatory language shows a lack of debating skill, not to mention a level of stupidity as thick as a short plank…
A few reflections, after returning from a visit to relatives in Sydney: firstly, you run into kiwis whichever way you turn; working, eating kebabs at the market, celebrating their birthdays at the pub, etc. Secondly, despite the political dialogue, which I shall get to shortly, an ordinary level of wellbeing is still pretty widespread, and not a reason for self-congratulation – being able to pay your bills, solve your problems and go out with your mates on Friday night is the default rather than the aspiration.
Political statements and current affairs shows are eerie in that the are virtually identical to those in NZ, but peppered with local examples. For instance, Joe Hockey promises tax cuts for “struggling Aussies” to be paid for by cutting down on the “bloated public service,” whose numbers were allegedly inflated by Julia Gillard. Instead of a boxer getting the sickness benefit for tennis elbow while training for a match, we were treated to a woman organising cat shows, carrying cages about while getting the sickness pension for a bad back. These are just two examples, but the overall tone was enough to turn you into a conspiracy theorist. It is as if the pollies and the MSM everywhere have silicone chips planted in their heads, so as to generate utterances formulated by an evil alien for world-wide distribution. It was very odd seeing Hockey saying identical sentences to those of Key or English, with a facial expression suggestive of actual thought. On the positive side, their ABC media watch is hard-hitting and really does call the media out for lying etc.
Looking at the NZ news from there; such as the plans to abolish public housing and reintroduce youth rates, I felt deeply puzzled by the apparent national indifference to the poor and low -paid, especially since there seems to be no positive plan beyond these plans, and I came to think that there are elements in NZ that actually want the poor to bugger off, or to somehow disappear from view. Another relative, waiting to pick me up from the airport, got into conversation with a woman who was also waiting for someone. “My husband left me with six kids,” she said, “Some people blame me for having them, but you just have to get on with it don’t you. It doesn’t make much difference financially whether I work or not, it’s still a struggle either way. I feel frightened every day.”
I/S brings our attention to a couple of things that’s happened lately. The first is this:
It appears that we’ve also signed up to some sort of the defensive pact with India as well as an FTA.
The other is a bit more blasé but goes towards John Key’s promise to lower wages:
Unbeflippinglievable! I have just heard on 3News, that the Warehouse and Paper Plus are “banning” Macsyna King’s forthcoming book. Where do they get off doing that? The 3 News reporter said that between them they have 195 “stores” (sic) and so that amounts to censorship, not that I would ever buy a book at the Whorehouse…
Normally, I don’t read books by Ian Wishart, (my blood pressure can’t take it), but I want to read this one, even if only to see what the woman has to say for herself. But have we become even more like the USA where this kind of thing would (from what I see) fine?
Actually, Vicky, there would be an even more compelling case for people to boycott Paper Plus until it gets rid of its “book reviewer” Kerre Woodham, and the Warehouse for its deleterious effects on local shops wherever it goes (not to mention its shoddy merchandise and the bored, overworked staff).
Kerre Woodham is their reviewer? Oh no…. I hadn’t known. Yet another reason, then.
The Facebook page shows a “mob mentality”, which my sister (!) who’s in favour of the boycott openly accused me of showing when I opposed the boycott! Insane…
It’s called free choice. The bookstores have the right to decide not to stock whatever they want. Where do you get off feeling that you can tell them that they MUST stock such-and-such book?
Anyway, the book will be sold through other vendors, so you will be quite able to read it.
I agree.
But what I really want to know is: Will the book be sold by other vendors in which The Warehouse or Paper Plus have an interest?
Cos this boycott is gonna drum up some pretty awesome publicity for whoever does retail the book, eh?
Which would make the whole thing seem a wee bit cynical IMHO…
And I have a right to boycott those “stores” (sic) and call for others to do so, as Gary McCormick reportedly is doing…
As the former Publishers Association head said on the radio this morning, it sets a very dangerous precedent. No book on a ‘controversial’ subject would be safe. I think most of it is a bunch of illiterate talkback listeners but some of it is simply an anti-Wishart campaign.
They’ve bombed TradeMe, and 87% against 13% on the poll, have got TradeMe refusing to sell it. So, what other vendors are those then?
Is this the new “counter-intuitive” marketing ploy to increase publicity for a book?
I have absolutely no time for Wishart, but placing restrictions on books like this is a bit too uncomfortably like regimes and groups that ban, bowdlerize and burn books.
That’s exactly the issue! It’s well scary…
I wonder if they will boycott the David Bain book that Joe Karam is writing?
The people who need to read the book are forensic psychiatrists and the police team investigating the death of Chris and Cru.
NewstalkZB Personalities
No. 1: BRUCE RUSSELL
According to NewstalkZB’s own website Bruce Russell “likes to bring his sense of humour to his overnight talk show, but the serious issues are also tackled.” It also claims that Russell “is widely read, and can talk with people on just about any subject they raise…”
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/featdetailnew.asp?recnumber=2&menu=3&menuitem=2
Well, let’s have a look how Russell performed last night from eight till midnight. Let’s check out that vaunted “sense of humour”, see how he tackles a very serious issue, and how his “wide reading” elevates the tone of his show….
28.6.11 NewstalkZB, 8:00 to 12 midnight
CALLER GEOFF: That lady who said Maori kids should be taken out of their homes and put into a Pakeha family was ridiculous.
BRUCE RUSSELL: It was a generalization.
CALLER: It wasn’t a generalization, it was downright backward.
RUSSELL: I don’t know why you’re upset and aggressive! The statistics show that 54 per cent of bashed kids are Maori!
Later another woman tells Russell that it’s not as simple as he says and his statistics are bogus. Such namby-pamby liberal claptrap infuriates this widely read host…
RUSSELL: See, I don’t agree with that disadvantage thing! Hopelessness is not a reason to bash your kids! Pacific Islanders don’t bash their kids. Why do I have to be careful with statistics?
MALE CALLER: It’s due to savagery, animal instinct. These people have just come out of cannibalism. It’s still in their gene pool. Samoans are a very bad violent race as well.
FEMALE CALLER: They’re violent, and they won’t work! They have loads of money! They’re lazy!
RUSSELL: Well they are just enjoying life on the dole. No responsibility. I honestly don’t believe that because your land was taken off you, that you bash your kids. See Hone Harawira is a good example. The rhetoric and the racism that comes from that joker is appalling!
CALLER: It’s these flaming left liberals, Bruce! And why the hell are the police showing bloody cultural sensitivity to Maori?
RUSSELL: I’ve got quite a few e-mails here, all about the topic under discussion tonight. The first one reads: “Culture schmulture.” Thank you Jackie. “Why do we pay these dropouts to have children?” That was another Jackie. “It’s the warrior gene”, says Richie. Hello, Diane.
CALLER DIANE: I live next door to a Maori and he is so embarrassed. He wishes he was a Fijian! What’s the pronunciation these days, Maori or Marry?
RUSSELL: I’m afraid I’m still very condemning of the sort of lifestyle of people like Macsyna King. You come to the conclusion that some people should not be allowed to have children.
MALE CALLER: They have all this Treaty money, Bruce! But they spend it all on drink and weed!
RUSSELL: You would think they would be a very wealthy society and wouldn’t need to lay around on the benefit.
et cetera, ad absurdum, ad nauseam…
Why don’t just go and dress up in white and burn a fucking cross at the local domain.
Im getting really sick of these redneck brownshirt douchebags/douchettes.
Im getting really sick of these redneck brownshirt douchebags/douchettes.
One thing wrong, there, Millsy. These people are bigots, not rednecks. Bruce Russell has done about as much work in the hot sun as he has “read widely”.
Please don’t confuse rednecks (i.e., working men) with moronic bigots.
Studies in leadership, chapter one.
All you need to know about the country’s commander-in-chief … headlines taken from Newstalk ZB:
1) 29/06/2011 13:56:01
No Kiwis caught in attack in Kabul – PM
2) 29/06/2011 17:46:00
Two SAS soldiers have been injured during a firefight with insurgents in Afghanistan today
That’s right. The Prime Minister knew diddly squat about what was going on in Kabul, and what NZ troops were doing, but that didn’t stop him pretending he did.
So, let’s ask again – who’s better informed on Afghanistan and the SAS? John Stephenson or John Key? A reporter who goes there and investigates, or a puppety-parrot?
I know. Between him and Murray Mc’Present’ it’s the worst foreign affairs team in living memory. I wonder how much input Mfat had into this ‘closer defence relationship’ with India surprise!!
this journo on the ground seems to be on the kabul story too BTW:
https://twitter.com/#!/jeromestarkey
National in Breach of Privacy Law
John Key recently sent out a personally addressed letter entitled Budget 2011 – Back to surplus sooner, better services for families. It was sent to people who are not National Party members or registered with National in any way and was mainly targeted at pensioners. There are two ways National might have attained the addresses that they sent their unsolicited letter to: 1. The Work and Income database. 2. The electoral role.
They could have used the occupation section of the electoral role and sent it to all those who described themselves as being ‘retired’.
Or retarded, as only an idiot would believe those leaflets
Yeah, could be something like that. But it’s definitely worth asking the question and it’ll be interesting to see the official response to the complaint Jackal has made to the Privacy Commissioner.
‘roll’ btw.
Thanks VoR. Note to self. Don’t blog after a hard day.
From today’s Herald – John Armstrong
Couldn’t have put it better
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10735152
STRAUSS-KAHN IN ACTION
WORLD EXCLUSIVE!!
At last, we can see security camera footage of IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn gauchely propositioning a maid at the Sofitel Hotel, New York City on May 14, 2011.
Just click on the following….
http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Karloff,%20Boris/Annex/Annex%20-%20Karloff,%20Boris%20(Bride%20of%20Frankenstein,%20The)_05.jpg
Not happy with inferring that government could cure all sick beneficiaries within two years, when Bennett exclaimed the sickness benefit was on meant to be temporary, as if all illnesses last only two years. Bennett has gone further, her Ministry now believes forcing people into work will cure them, with the miracle that her department does not need to consider the nature of the illness, the unsuitable of the work. Work will set them free. Adequate work is a social right of all citizens, does not mean government can ignore the rest of the civil rights of citizens, their capacity, their needs, and force via threats to seek more than adequate work, inappropriate work, or be dismissed as a new class of untouchable marginalize and deprived. Has serfdom arrived under National? Surely not? Well you could move to Australia so ignore the role of government to run the economy fairly for all, hardly a choice.
What a mess this country is in .One of the worlds worst ongoing disasters and did the PM go to the UN for help? not that Ive heard .When all the available engineering brains in the country can work out what needs to be done with ChCh and create a blue print for future may be the Govt can get their bearings instead of this unqualified crap that they see as being the way forward .They have put the people of ChCh at the mercy of the insurance industry who clearly dont have the funds to finance all their obligations . AMI stadium is living proof a statement to that particular company .
Then we have our disintegrating democracy ,the same bunch of right wing fascists once again trying to rid the country of any true representation of the vote in our general elections.Hammering the masses out of their rights to any power in their govt .This govt should be put on a boat and feed to the sharks